Summary recommend for macro students

Reviewer's Comments

Gibelman, Margaret. (2003). Navigating Human Service Organizations: Essential Information for Thriving and Surviving in Agencies. Lyceum Books, Inc., Chicago. 221 pages. $31.95 paper.

Reviewed for THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER by Andrea K. McCarter.

Navigating Human Service Organizations is a valuable book in that it provides a clear, easy to read and understand manual of the complicated subject of agencies and macro practice in social work. The book would be most useful to social work students as a supplemental text in macro level practice classes. Students interested in management, supervision, director positions, and leadership will find an introductory and explanatory reading of the ins and outs of macro level social work practice. First time social work directors will also find this book useful in descriptions of leadership styles and work environments.

The chapter titles listed in the table of contents provide an excellent overview of what can be expected in the book. There are twelve chapters in Navigating Human Service Organizations:

• Getting to Know the Human Service Organization
• Distinguishing Features of Organizations
• How Organization are Financed
• Who Has the Power? Roles in Human Service Organizations
• Supervision within the Organizational Setting
• The Work Environment
• Social Work Practice in Host Settings
• Conditions of Work
• The Changing Environment of Organizations
• Internal Sources of Organizational Change
• Coping with Change
• Lending a Helping Hand: Making your Organization Better

Each chapter consists of an introduction letting the reader know what to expect from the chapter. Case examples and text boxes with examples of agency forms, policy manuals and budgets, and research and historical information are included throughout the text of each chapter. Each chapter also contains a bulleted list of the key points, discussion questions, and additional readings as a summary section.

Navigating Human Service Organizations provides clear definitions of terminology used in describing different types of organizations, financing and budgeting, and organizational policies and practices. An overall theme the author continually includes is the Code of Ethics. Throughout the discussion of agency work and leadership, the reader is encouraged to consider ethical behavior and practices in social work.

I highly recommend this book for macro level social work students seeking an initial understanding of working and supervising in agencies, as well as social work educators teaching macro practice courses. It is becoming increasingly important for social workers to stay in positions of authority and leadership in the social work field, thus increasing the need for education in understanding and working effectively in agencies of all sizes.

Reviewed by Andrea K. McCarter, BSSW, MSSW, CMSW. McCarter is a Doctoral Student and Research Assistant/Adjunct Faculty at the University of Tennessee College of Social Work in Knoxville.

This review appeared in the Winter 2005 issue of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER magazine.