Role Ambiguity in Public Welfare Organizations

Social work administrators in social service organizations face an increasingly hostile environment with changing demands. The curricula in schools of social work attempt to keep pace with the need for administrative content but not for much-needed content in financial management. The national survey described here found a gap in the extent to which schools respond to this need, the content that is being taught, and how it is being taught. The continuing gap in the curriculum is of concern to social work educators and practitioners alike.

A Day Late and a Dollar Short: A National Survey of the Teaching of Financial Management in Schools of Social Work

This article discusses exploratory quantitative and qualitative research into the training and education needs of social work managers in Ireland from four sectors of service, the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Probation Service, hospital social work and non-governmental (NGO) social work sectors. 176 questionnaires were distributed. (56 were returned; a response rate of 32%), 3 focus groups were held with 15 participants and 3 individual interviews were conducted with social work managers. They were asked to identify their postgraduate training, their span of responsibilities, the level of management training they had participated in, and the gaps in their management training. While 82% of this sample of social work managers had post qualifying training and education, which enhanced their social work skills rather than their management skills, none had received social work management training. Three out of 56 had completed a Masters degree in Health Service Management. The probation service, laudably, was the only sector that provided management training. However this training was problematic to the managers as it was perceived as not geared for the social work fi eld. The research participants experienced grave misgivings at their lack of management training and prioritised their training needs as including strategic management, cost benefi t analysis, organisational management and fi nancial management. This research clearly identifi ed the need for social work management training and supports the immediate establishment of programmes that address this need in order to enhance existing service delivery.

Social work management in Ireland: Time for education and training

This article describes the development of and experience with a management skills development laboratory as an alternative mode of providing 1st-yearpracticum instruction for graduate students in social work Several forms of field practice instruction are examined, the literature in field practice in management is discussed, and a model for laboratory instruction is explicated Findings after the 1st year of using the laboratory method of skill training reveal that (a) it is expensive, (b) it is demanding of faculty time, (c) student selection for the laboratory requires much attention to student learning capabilities, and (d) the laboratory is at best a simulated practice arena, but the laboratory provides an excellent learning arena for students who learn from peers, who learn under pressure, and who relate easily to several instructors Further, the laboratory offers excellent opportunities to use a wide range of teaching methodologies, to expose students to management situations that they might not e

Jack A. Ellis Msw

Papers

Skill training for social welfare management