Below are a variety of resources, links and articles related to non-profit management and leadership. We have several opportunities to get you connected with programs that showcase content relevant to your profession. Take a few moments to expand your knowledge by browsing through the selected resources.
The Monday Morning Manager (MMM) is a curated weekly Newsletter that will arrive in your inbox every Monday. You will find articles where leaders share their path to management, successes, challenges and lessons learned as they climbed up the ladder.
It highlights our Human Service Management Competencies and can serve as an excellent resource to those striving to improve their management skills.
Sign up below to subscribe to MMM and stay connected!
Our webinars address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion which is not only a responsibility of a leader, it is the most essential priority. Leaders in human service organizations need to be vocal about this and intentional in their efforts to prioritize this. Each webinar touches on a broad scope of topics such as the challenges that can come from amplifying the work and strategies for responding proactively to the issues of race in the workplace.
Teaching & Learning modules on Leadership and Management coming soon!!
There is much work to be done in preparing social work managers with the competencies necessary to meet the leadership challenges of the future. Social work management, like many other institutions, is experiencing a leadership gap as many current human services managers/administrators are planning on retiring in the coming years while those social work managers who would be logical choices to fill these vacating positions are either also approaching retirement age, or insufficiently prepared for management roles.
The Network for Social Work Management’s competencies can assist those who are preparing for management and leadership in human services agencies and thereby provide organizations with capable and effective social work managers.
The competencies were initially drafted based on an extensive review of the management literature, field surveys, focus groups and reviews by experts in the field. This set of competencies was then vetted by practicing managers through a survey followed by input from senior thought leaders in management and leadership. A revised set of competencies was again reviewed over a two-day summit with senior managers and several NSWM board members with extensive input and feedback incorporated.
The current set of competencies has been thoroughly reviewed and revised, and includes citations that offer evidence in support of the management competencies. This is intended to be a ‘‘living document’’ that evolves over time to meet the changing needs of organizational management in the social work profession. The work on the next revision began in 2024 and and an updated set of competencies will be published in early 2025.
Self assessment is the key to more targeted professional development. The Human Service Management Competencies is also available as a guidebook for professionals which details competencies, along with performance indicators, which are necessary for the successful management of both public and private nonprofit organizations.
The guidebook provides the framework to four domains: Executive Leadership, Resource Management, Strategic Management and Community Collaboration. Each framework is described in detail and a checklist is provided for self-assessment. The guidebook is a professional development tool that allows you to gauge your current skill-set by providing you with key indicators on where you can improve.
This guidebook also offers a supervisor’s assessment portion that professionals can use to garner feedback from their managers. The checklist can also be used by organizations to identify criteria for selecting and developing managers.
Download the guidebook today or contact info@socialworkmanager.org
Human
Service Organizations: Management, Leadership &Governance Journal (formerly called Administration in Social Work) is the official journal of the Network.
This highly respected, peer-reviewed journal is available 24/7 with a subscription. The journal is dedicated to current research, policy, and practice in nonprofit and public sector human service management and organizations.
Members of the Network for Social Work Management (NSWM) can receive an annual online subscription to the Human Service Organizations:
Management, Leadership & Governance journal at a special society member rate of US$20. Contact +44 (0)20 7017 5543 (UK), 1(215) 625- 8900, option 4 (US) or societies@tandf.co.uk to subscribe.
This is an invaluable resource for your students and your library can subscribe for online access to the articles!
Dr. Karen Hopkins is Professor and Co-Director of the Human-Centered Leadership in Health and Human Services Certificate at the School of Social Work, University of Maryland. She is the Academic Coordinator for the Graduate MSW/MBA dual degree and teaches courses in human service management and leadership and performance management. Her research with nonprofit and public agencies is related to supervision, management, and leadership practices and outcomes, performance management, workforce development, and organizational learning and capacity building. She is a national peer reviewer for the Standards of Excellence Institute certification for nonprofits. She has served on the Boards of the Network for Social Work Management, Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR), and the Association of Community Organization and Social Administration (ACOSA). She is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Human Services Organizations: Management, Leadership, and Governance journal. She received a PhD from the University of Chicago, MSW from the University of Pittsburgh, and a BS from the Pennsylvania State University.
Bowen McBeath is a Professor in the School of Social Work and Hatfield School of Government Division of Public Administration at Portland State University, and a Visiting Professor of Sociology at the University of Science and Technology Beijing. He has held scientific appointments with the University of California Berkeley, the Oregon Social Learning Center, and Beijing Normal University. He received his MSW and Ph.D. in Social Work and Political Science from the University of Michigan.
Dr. McBeath is interested in: drawing organization-environment boundaries in the delivery of human services; supporting human service model development and management science; and building spaces for organizational and managerial innovation, improvisation, and learning. Current research interests concern: the organization and financing of human services, including performance-based contracting and relational contracting; organizational and managerial factors informing work practices and outcomes; and the development of learning organizational cultures promoting innovative, community-based, and service user-centered care. He is also involved in NIH- and W.T. Grant Foundation-funded intervention studies evaluating sibling, parent, and peer relationship skill development for at-risk populations, notably child welfare.
A Fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research, Dr. McBeath has served the organization in many leadership positions. He has received international and national awards and honors for his scholarship and research, serves on the editorial boards of numerous social work research journals, and consults with national, state, and local human service organizations. He is the co-editor-in-chief of the journal Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership, and Governance.
Interested in writing for the journal? Please visit the Taylor and Francis website for more information, and/or click here to view the submission guidelines. Want to serve as reviewer for HSO? Please email the Editors-in-Chief: Professor Karen Hopins (University of Maryland) and/or Professor Bowen McBeath (Portland State University)
Volume 48, Issue 5, November-December 2024, Page 555-581.
Volume 48, Issue 5, November-December 2024, Page 602-616.
Volume 48, Issue 5, November-December 2024, Page 582-601.
Volume 48, Issue 5, November-December 2024, Page 540-554.
Volume 48, Issue 5, November-December 2024, Page 632-648.
