Assessment of Organizations

Volume 3. Social Work Practice
II. Assessment and Intervention with Specific Populations
Michael J. Austin

Michael J. Austin

University of California, Berkeley, School of Social Welfare, Berkeley, California, US

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Catherine M. Vu

Catherine M. Vu

University of California—Berkeley, School of Social Welfare, Berkeley, California, US

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Abstract

Social workers are better trained to assess clients and their families than they are equipped to assess the public or nonprofit human service organizations in which they work. This chapter is designed to equip practitioners with multiple perspectives with which to assess their workplaces and inform decision making inside and outside the organization. Using a systems framework, human service organizations can be assessed from four different points of view: direct service workers, middle and senior managers, external funders, and clients. The systems perspective provides a framework for assessing the reciprocal interaction between all four perspectives and how staff members interact and adapt to the changing external factors related to clients and funders. These four different perspectives provide the foundation for a comprehensive assessment of an organization.

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