Declining public social service resources: a managerial problem

Declining budget conditions in many social service settings suggest that education must provide future graduates with very different managerial skills. When human service organizations are perceived as evolving political structures, populated with a variety of individuals who represent diverse values and claims, resource scarcity often results in growing conflict and a preoccupation with individual and subunit survival. This changing organizational context will require increasing political skill on the part of managers as well as an ability to harmonize new approaches with prior service values in achieving consensus around solutions to service delivery problems.