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University-community partnerships are receiving increased attention in an era of rapid change and fragmented resources. This case study of a multi-county consortium of social service agencies in collaboration with four graduate social work programs and two foundations represents an innovative approach to building a partnership through the use of a consortium as a mediating structure. With a focus on training, research, policy development, and a think tank, specific implications for developing agency-university partnership are identified. The case is embedded in the expanding literature on university-community collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article traces the history and impact of federal support for social work education, through section 707 of the 1967 amendments for the Social Security Act in the United States. Section 707 is best understood within the context of social work's long- standing interest in creating a rational, federally guided, professional public social service to provide benefits to individuals, children, and families. One of the historical roots to the evolution of section 707 can be traced to the 1962 amendments to the Social Security Act, which focused attention on the severity of the cases managed in state and local social service programs. Slowly, a momentum began building up for federal support of services to welfare recipients. A remarkable boost was given by a report in 1961, that promoted the usefulness of social services in reducing public welfare roles. The 1962 amendments required state social service agencies to strengthen staff competence by developing in-service and pre-service programs.

This article focuses on the process of the U.S. government's management of cutbacks of federal, state and local funds for human services and programs in the 1980s. The cutback of federal, state, and local funds for human service agencies and programs have caused confusion, anxiety, and frustration both for those staff who remain employed and staff who are terminated. As reality takes hold, many staff begin to wonder why they are affected to such an extent by the cutback process; and although the policies of the current administration are one reason for cutbacks, there are many, and more important, others. The second set of causes of organizational decline are internal to human service agencies and include the continuous political vulnerability of human service agencies as well as their organizational climate. An organization's climate also affects its capacity to function effectively and includes issues such as poor communication between management and staff, role confusion, obsolescence, suspicion of outsiders, and the absence of an internal system with self-evaluating and self-correcting capacity.

The article describes the factors contributing to the declassification of social work positions and offers a set of strategies for future action. The phenomenon of declassification is complex and relates to the larger area of personnel planning and utilization. In addition to social work education and professional standards. declassification Is affected by federal legislation, In-service training. continuing education, career mobility, program planning and organizational politics. By identifying the issues that affect declassification of social service positions, the authors have put together a series of strategies to help combat this trend. The strategies include communicating with significant action, lobbying, arousing public awareness, disseminating Information of Innovative social work. Interventions, promoting continuing education and validating social service positions. Hesitation will compound a situation that seems to be escalating, and declassification will become more widespread.

The article compares social services for the elderly in the U.S. and in Great Britain. Social services for the elderly in the U.S. have always suffered law priority in the expenditure of public funds and low status in the public eye. Sporadic outbursts of public indignation over news of old people made homeless by urban renewal or killed in nursing home fires fail to arouse and maintain sufficient concern for the health and welfare of the elderly. Care of the elderly has also received insufficient attention from social workers. The large caseloads of people receiving old age assistance in public welfare systems are symptomatic of both society's failure to adequately define and meet the needs of old people and the frustration of social workers trying to do the best they can. In nursing homes too, social work consults ants often lack the time, the resources, and in some cases the skill to meet the social and emotional needs of long-term health care patients. In England, services to the aged are much more comprehensive and better developed, with social work intervention playing a pivotal role.

The article sets forth detailed guidelines for mergers of human service agencies deduced from the literature and the findings of a survey of 16 large and small mergers. A merger of organizations into a new corporate unit can be one of the more drastic alterations that occur in the workplace. Employees perceive these changes as a threat to personal job security and job satisfaction. A survey was conducted in 1987, in which a 20-page questionnaire was sent to 32 human service agencies in the U.S. that were partners in a merger during the years 1973 to 1986. The survey focused on how a merger is implemented relative to finance, governance, organizational structure, public relations, management systems, and service delivery.

Presents information on a peer group formed to assess the demands on deans involved in organizational change. Composition of the group; Questions which faced the group; What impact was made by the peer group.

Presents information on case studies of changes associated with nonprofit organizations. Identification of case similarities and differences; Role played by the administration; Reference to cross-cultural themes found.

This section introduces a series of articles on the integration of human services.

The authors' purpose in this study is to define and highlight socially inhibited behaviors among managers, explore the implications of these behaviors for the workplace, identify ways to assist inordinately shy managers, and help staff to understand and relate mote effectively when subjected to an inhibited manager. The authors search for the origins of shyness, surveying the various perspectives in personality theory and within the concept of situational causality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cited is evidence that most public child welfare agencies operate as monolithic bureaucracies with rigid lines of authority and top-down decision making that often is uninformed by worker experience. Lacking structures for modification, these agencies are characterized by slow change and by frustration and resistance within the staff The authors illustrate how organizational change can take place in human service organizations through staff empowerment and collaborative action research. The change strategy in the case study centered around the creating of ‘learning laboratories’ where new approaches were identified and tested, leading to spin-offs of innovation and experimentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the authors draw upon their management consulting experience in the profit and non-profit sectors to develop a framework for increasing our understanding of a complex leadership transition process. A framework of administrative issues is proposed around the themes of timing, legacy, personal reactions, successors, coping with the lame duck period, and managing the transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No abstract available for this article. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

No abstract available for this article. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

No abstract available for this article. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite the emergence of programs for training administration specialists in social welfare, most lower and middle-management jobs will continue to be filled by direct service practitioners who have little or no formal preparation for this kind of practice. This paper argues that the transition from direct service to supervisory management is characterized by a number of social-psychological discontinuities and impediments to effective socialization that should be explicitly recognized and addressed in educational programs. The paper concludes with several suggestions regarding ways in which degree and staff development programs might be designed to facilitate preparation for supervisory management. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Presents an overview of the impact of changes at the state and federal levels on local county governments. Responsibilities of the governments for the delivery of mental health services; Development of managed mental health care strategies; Re-emergence role of the state; Uncertain role of the county.

No abstract available for this article. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Both researchers and practitioners have become increasingly concerned with the plight of elderly mental hospital patients who are often inappropriately confined in state hospitals and then discharged form these facilities with little preparation for survival or attention given to the quality of community resources. This paper proposes the establishment of a new community care setting, a sub-acute center (SAC), which is designed to meet present inadequacies in the mental care system for the aged and combines elements of a foster home and a protective setting with a mental health aftercare component for more effectively preparing the elderly for independent community living. the SAC combines at least three concepts which are discussed: (a) the receiving staiton; (b) continuity of care; and (c) advocacy. The professional SAC staff and aides have many potential roles to play as practitioners, spokesmen, educators, consultants, and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction to guest editorials is presented in which the authors discuss topics including the views of pracademics on the changes in management practice in public and nonprofit settings, the changes in editorial focus on evidence-informed management practice, and leadership development.

An introduction to this special issue of the "Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment" is presented.

The call for increased attention to the biopsychosocial perspective in social work practice is now decades old in the USA. And yet the challenge of teaching and learning from this perspective for those with limited background in biology calls for more inter-disciplinary examples to assist students with the process of engaging in theory-informed practice. In addition to identifying the key elements of human biology, this review of the literature focuses on four examples of client behaviors that receive little or no attention in most current textbooks on the inter-disciplinary nature of human behavior in the social environment; namely, the psychobiology of sleep, the sociobiology of eating, the neurobiology of post-partum depression, and the behavioral endocrinology of menopause. This review concludes with implications for practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emerging literature on fatherhood is contributing to the reframing of public perceptions of low-income nonresident fathers by focusing on father presence rather than absence. Insights into how and when fathers contribute to their children beyond financial support provides for a strengths-based perspective to engage fathers in services provided for their children. A review of this literature includes practice implications related to the need for: (a) father engagement training for agency staff, (b) father-friendly programs and services, (c) child support policy reform, and (d) more research on the issue of fatherhood in the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emphasis on evidence-informed practice (EIP) in human service organizations aimed at improving service quality and client outcomes has increased in recent decades. Research has suggested that the organizational context shapes EIP, yet few studies have explored the agency-based activities that constitute this form of practice. This survey of 473 managers and frontline practitioners in 11 county human service organizations examines EIP activities in agency settings. Analysis of responses to open-ended questions identifies the specific cognitive, interactive, action, and compliance dimensions of EIP, including challenges. EIP emerges as complex and nonlinear, shaped by organizational environment, practitioner perspectives, and client needs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on the practice research in social work which is an evolving phenomenon. Topics include examines it is both influenced by changes in social work practice and shaped by developments in social work research and an agreed definition of practice research in social work has proved somewhat elusive, though Fisher et al.'s entry in the Oxford Bibliographies in Social Work is helpful in this regard.

Focuses on the selection of personnel for human and rehabilitation services. Techniques for identifying job proficiency; Provisions of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines; Development of a test program for personnel.