Mining Our Strengths

Abstract

Practicing social work managers, all graduates from an administration concentration in a school of social work, responded to a mail survey which asked them to identify the current practice domains, the importance of thirty-seven managerial skills to their practice, and the extent to which the advanced management curriculum, the field practi-cum and the foundation social work curriculum had prepared them for practice in these areas. Respondents were employed in managerial positions in the social services and reported confidence in their level of preparedness for managerial work. Thus this case study suggests that an M.S.W. program can offer sufficient specialized training in management. Respondents identified interpersonal skills as the most critical skills for management practice. Each of three curriculum components provided adequate preparation; however, the administration curriculum and field practice were most closely matched to the skills required for practice. Interestingly, the foundation curriculum was seen as providing less adequate preparation for the important interpersonal skills. Curriculum implications of the study include the need for reinforcement of the core interpersonal skills and strengthening supplemental skills in the advanced management concentration; better integrating and sequencing the acquisition of skills in the field placement; and strengthening the foundation curriculum to include macro practice interpersonal skills.

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