Essential Business Skills for Social Work Managers
Many social workers find themselves in management positions within a few years of graduating from MSW programs. Most of these jobs are in nonprofit human service organizations in which, increasingly, business acumen is necessary to maintain grants and donations, start new programs, market services to clients, supervise the finance function, and understand the external environment.
This book teaches MSW students and early-stage social work management practitioners the essential business skills needed to manage programs and organizations; to improve their overall management toolkit for finding a better job or getting promoted; and, ultimately, to gain parity with other managers holding MBA degrees and working in the human service space.
This text can serve as a desk reference for managers to troubleshoot various situations. It is also appropriate for social work macro practice courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as courses that cover human resource management and financial management.
Andrew J. Germak, MBA, MSW, is executive director of the Center for Leadership and Management and professor of professional practice at the School of Social Work at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. His prior appointment at Rutgers was executive director of the Institute for Families, where he served for over three years. Previously, Germak served as president and CEO of the Mental Health Association of Morris County, Inc., and also held a variety of leadership and direct service positions in the nonprofit human service sector. He has authored editorial columns and letters appearing in leading publications, such as the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times. His 2010 academic article, Social Entrepreneurship: Changing the Way Social Workers Do Business, has been widely influential. Germak received his MBA from NYU Stern School of Business, his MSW from the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College in New York, and his BA in Psychology from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
Essential Business Skills for Social Work Managers
Tools for Optimizing Programs and Organizations
Andrew J. Germak
First published 2015
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2015 Andrew J. Germak
The right of Andrew J. Germak to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Germak, Andrew J.
Essential business skills for social work managers: tools for optimizing
programs and organizations/by Andrew J. Germak.
pages cm
1. Social work administration. 2. Management. I. Title.
HV40.G46 2015
361.00684dc23
2014021750
ISBN: 978-0-415-64392-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-64393-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-77603-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Adobe Caslon and Copperplate
by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK
To all of my former and current co-workers,
students, teachers, and mentors
from whom I have learned and continue
to learn so much about this work.
CONTENTS
Yes, I have written a book that combines the fields of business and social worktwo subjects that do not often go together, I realize. Admittedly, some in our field may have an adverse reaction to my embrace of business practices. Still, my experience tells me that the trend is unavoidable despite what may be ideological objections from some in the social work field. Having pursued my Master of Social Work (MSW) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) in recent years and managed various social work programs and projects in the process, it continues to concern me how few business management conceptsmost often taught in MBA programsare explored in social work educational programs and utilized by social workers in the management and leadership ranks of human service organizations.
Social work managers often wonder why those MBAs are taking over the leadership of human service programs and organizations. I believe social workers are losing leadership ground to other professionals because we are not learning enough about the business side of our work, which has become a necessary aspect of successful social work management.
It is widely known that many social workers find themselves in supervisory and management positions within a few years of graduating from MSW programs. Many of these jobs are in nonprofit human service organizations in which, increasingly, business acumen is necessary to maintain grants and donations, start new programs, market services to clients, supervise the finance function, understand the external environment, and so forth. Even within public-sector settings, many of these business skills are still relevant and necessary. Yet, our training generally does not place enough emphasis on the depth of management acumen a social worker needs to succeed as an organizational manager and leader.
Therefore, I present you with this introductory book describing these necessary business management skills in one place. I have written this book for students and social work managers from my perspective as a fellow social work manager. There is a saying in management, Its lonely at the top, which describes the feelings of isolation that managers and leaders experience as they advance within organizations. I have felt this way plenty of times in my career. My hope is that this book can help minimize some of the loneliness that you may feel as you rise in your career.
My students and colleagues often ask me why I decided to pursue an MBA after my MSW. I usually tell them that I wanted to run a nonprofit organization and needed to obtain more business management skills than were taught to me during my MSW program in order to land the job I wanted. Each day in my role as a nonprofit manager and executive (and still today in my administrative academic position), I have drawn on the knowledge base of my MBA training, as well as the social work foundation of my MSW. I find this combination to be optimal for managing a human service operation.
Additionally, students in MSW classes that I teach have asked me if getting an MBA is required to move up the ladder in social work management (they know that I have one and want to know my inside opinion). The MBA is an arduous albeit rewarding path to take, but admittedly it is not for everyone. I truly believe that this book could help you forego, or at least delay, the MBA. Getting an advanced business degree may not be as necessary as some might think to reach the top of a human service organization, and believe me when I tell you that it is quite expensive to pursue this path!
In summary, this book should help social work undergraduate and MSW students, and early-stage social work management practitioners: (1) understand the essential business skills needed to manage programs and organizations; (2) improve their overall management toolkit for finding a better job or getting promoted; (3) serve as a desk reference for managers to troubleshoot various real-world situations; and (4) ultimately, gain parity with other managers and leaders holding MBA or other management degrees and working in the human service space.
