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Social Work Management and Practice: Systems Principles 2ed

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This edition reflects the widespread acceptance of the application of systems principles to the practice and management of social work. Despite this acceptance, political trends and policy shifts have created a culture of managerialism and effectiveness which, argue the authors, often fails the people it aims to protect. They maintain that orthodox practice based on service standards and specifications, performance indicators and competencies is damaging to the ecology of clients' lives, as well as to the perceived value of social care work. The authors maintain a commitment to the belief in the power of social work to bring about real and positive change. To achieve this change, social care practitioners and managers must be able to analyze critically the nature of social probelms at the level or organizations, families, communities and individuals, and to question their own assumptions and beliefs about these systems. The text develops the concept of systems as ''networks of conversation'', moving away from the reliance on mechanistic or biological metaphors which can have limited application to social concepts.
Preface to second edition. 1. A history of systems ideas in social work. 2. Key principles of a systems approach. 3. The application of Bateson's ideas in family therapy and wider systems. 4. Towards an ecology of social work practice. 5. Case studies in social work practice. 6. A systems approach to management of social work. 7. Managing organisational change: case studies in social work management and organisational change. 8. A systems approach to social work education. 9. Developments in systems ideas. Bibliography. Index.

Review from the first edition:

'The writers question many of the assumptions under-lying current social work practice, proposing changes not only in policy, resources and practice but also in the theories and language used to describe them.'

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