Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1980. / Also available in print.

Managers in social care are being relied upon to lead and implement substantial change within the sector. Yet the prevailing view is that the pressure being put on managers by managerialism and the increase in the business aspects of their role is in conflict with social care managers’ values, causing concern and challenging managers’ identity. Additionally, managers in social care are presented as being part of the same homogenous group as social work managers, a potential misrepresentation, which again has consequences for how managers identify with their role. This study aimed to explore and explain how social care managers are experiencing their manager identity and how they categorise themselves from a group perspective. This research was undertaken using a critical realist philosophical approach. The key theoretical framework used is social identity theory. The study findings have achieved the overall aim of the research, establishing that social care managers appear not to be experiencing any conflict in their identities, that managerialism is accepted by managers and seen to be necessary, and that managers’ values, formed in childhood, are a key aspect of how they undertake their managerial role. In addition, social care managers are not the same as social work managers, their social identity is a synthesis of the multiple groups they are members of with the dominant group being social care, because of this they cannot be viewed as being within the same homogenous group. Neither is the social care manager role distinctive from manager roles in other sectors, however how they undertake the role is. The significance of the study is the contribution to both the existing social care literature and the literature on social identity theory.

M.A. (Social Science) / The study was undertaken based on the perception that a recently , established welfare organisation was experiencing stalemate. During the study it became apparent that an organisation can be defined in terms of an organic analogy, that is, that organisations develop in life cycles which are affected by the environment. The environmental influences affect the organisation's culture, strategy, structure, processes and services to the clients. The survival of any organisation depends on its adaptability and ability to design technology to enable it to obtain and to utilize resources more efficiently. In other words, organisations are dependent on their environment. Newly established organisations however, are ill-equipped to make the necessary assessments and forecasts regarding their environment and resources. The newness of the organisation has significance in that structures are not in place or formalised enough to monitor the environment. Additionally, the organisation could be caught up in the euphoria of the 'utopian fantasy' resulting in inferior decision-making. Using the Thomas model of research and development in Grinnell (1982) a technology was designed to facilitate not only the survival but the continued growth of the organisation being studied. The problem was analyzed by a study of the development of the organisation concerned and a comparison to organisational life cycle theory.

Thesis (M. A. (Social Work)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / Refer to the document

Bibliography: pages 157-165. / The new political dispensation gave way to much questioning of the importance of the organs of civil society, and the role they play in development of our society. Civic Associations are but one of such institutions of civil society, and this study seeks to explore the role they will continue to play in a post-apartheid South Africa (SA). Civics truly played a major role in bringing about democracy in our country. Now the political changes that have occurred forces Civics to redefine their role within a democratic society. Widespread speculations are that Civics will focus in development and/or that they will be watchdogs to government. This is a qualitative study and data was collected mainly through interviews (structured and unstructured) and use of secondary sources. The study was conducted in Khayelitsha in the period July to December 1995, before the local government elections. Two Civic organisations participated in this study, that is, Western Cape United Squatter Association (WECUSA) and South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) of Khayelitsha. The respondents were mainly members of the executive committees of the two organisations. The sample was drawn through non-probability sampling, using purposive and snowball sampling. This allowed the researcher an opportunity to choose respondents who best meet the purpose of the study. The major conclusions of the study are that Civics are aware of the need to redefine their role, though to date they have achieved very little in this regard. The perception is that Civics will continue to exist, and shift their focus to development work. The other role that Civics see themselves as playing is that of acting as watchdogs to government. This view is rejected by some people because of the close relationship that Civics have with the political parties. Civics are aligned to specific political parties, for example, both Civics (WECUSA and SANCO) who participated in this study are aligned to the African National Congress (ANC). In the local government elections, these Civics canvassed people to vote for the ANC. The findings of the study have also shown that Civics are playing a significant role in their communities. They are concerned with provision of basic services such as water, electricity, building of roads, schools and health facilities. The major challenge that still remains facing Civics is for them to redefine their role and the question of their alliance with political parties.

This research is an exploratory study of thirty human service agencies' programs to link their services to informal helpers in their communities. The helpers were persons identified as important helping resources to persons in their own social networks, who were often also clients of the service agency. The thirty agencies were drawn from across the nation, and served several different types of client populations and needs. Models from practice and theory suggest that linkages between the formal and informal caregiving systems should be modeled after primary relations, informal and personal in character. Research and literature on organizations suggests, however, that the formal service system tends to impose its own standards of control and accountability on its linkages. This research sought to determine how agency context influenced the structure of relationships between agency staff and informal helpers. Specifically, what organizational attributes are barriers to informally structured relationships? Does the perception of the program mediate the influence of organizational attributes on the relationship structure? The data were gathered through intensive site visits, using discussions, observations, and document reviews, from which case studies and content analyses were prepared. Multiple item scales were constructed to measure several attributes of the agency context, the program innovation, and the staff-helper relationship. The scales constructed range in reliability from alpha = .29 to .93. A conceptual model described the predicted relationships among the variables, from which seven hypotheses were derived. Pearson correlations, partial correlations, and multiple regression were used to test the hypotheses statistically. Case materials were used to supplement the statistical analyses. The pattern of associations found in the study was more complex than initially proposed. High program unit formalization was the single best predictor of high formalization of the staff-helper relationship, while a supportive work climate was a good predictor of informal relationships between agency staff and informal helpers.

It is the purpose of this research to examine the interactions between organizations and the work of coordinating agencies in influencing those interactions using social exchange theory. A model was developed, incorporating elements of exchange theory, and the components of that model examined in the community. Techniques of change and the outcomes of activities of the coordinating agency were examined in an effort to develop a "case study" of a coordinating agency's activity in the community. Historically, social services were provided in the community through informal, often familial, networks. With the urbanization of society, social services have become more formalized and specialized with a remarkable increase in the number of individual agencies. Movement from a "growth" to a scarcity economy and new federalism as well as concern with duplication, overlap, and gaps in services have led to an interest in the coordination of these activities. The Area Agency on Aging, considered by many to be a forerunner to the Allied Services Act, was implemented in 1973 by the federal government for the purpose of coordinating services to the elderly in the community. The goal of the Area Agency is the development of a comprehensive coordinated community service system. The activities of six such coordinating agencies as well as the social service organizations in their areas were studied to determine the explanatory value of social exchange theory. Additionally, attitudes of service providers toward various tactics for community change as well as the perceived outcomes of coordinating agency activities were investigated. The study of the Area Agency on Aging as a coordinating agency in the community was accomplished in two waves of data collection. The first, consisting of indepth interviews with 84 individuals in six areas, took place from May through July of 1975. The second wave involved indepth interviews and a mailed survey. Data were collected from 191 individuals in 126 agencies in three areas, urban, rural and urban/rural mixed. The data were coded and analyzed by computer to determine trends and relationships. The interview schedules were analyzed for specific cases. These objective and subjective data were used to "reconstruct" this study of interaction and coordination. A model, Organizational Interaction Model, was derived utilizing social exchange theory. This model contains the elements of commodities: funding, information, access to influentials, clients, staff and technology; valuing criteria: integration, status, world view, autonomy, domain and power; and arenas of exchange: planning, contracts and letters of agreement, hearings and meetings, evaluation and monitoring, and client transfers. These elements were examined, and their explanatory value for activities in the community involving organizations and coordinating agencies was determined. Change techniques, involving varying types as well as levels of intervention, were studied in terms of their perceived appropriateness by community organizations. The data suggested changes in activities of coordinating agencies, social planners, and makers of policy. Perceived outcomes of coordinating agency activity over the past three years show positive impacts in the community generally, though individual impacts vary. Finally, the implications of these findings are discussed for coordinating agencies as well as local and federal policy makers, with suggestions for future research. Social exchange theory offers rich ground for the study of community service systems and the coordination of interactions within corrrnunities.

Professional schools have realized for some time that there is an uncomfortable gap between the requirements of their academic curriculum and the realities of a professional job. The skills required, performance level and final product, are noticeably different in the academic world than in the work world. This void between what is required in school and what is required on the job, has become of increasing concern as larger numbers of academically qualified students compete for a decreasingly smaller number of jobs. Additionally, institutes of higher education, caught in current day fiscal realities, are under pressure from both students and the community to produce programs that are relevant to the external world and practitioners who are trained to function in that world. With these realities in mind, the School of Social Work at Portland State University applied for and received a grant from the Social Rehabilitation Services of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare to begin to examine those skills which are required by middle management personnel in the human service field. The purpose of the project was to develop a curriculum for social work students whose career goals were in the areas of administration, management and planning and which would also include performance measures on which to test for competency. The project was thus entitled, “Performance in Management.”

No description available.

"April 2004." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 583-599). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.