A precis of administration

The distaste that so many clinicians feel for administration has led them to abandon the field to others. But those who abdicate management responsibilities have also lost the opportunity to influence the development and operation of programs. It is particularly disheartening to see the flight of clinicians from this area of endeavor because clinical knowledge and skills have a particularly central applicability to managerial activity, if clinicians understood how to use them administratively. This paper examines the nature of administration from a clinical perspective and points out how the utilization of psychodynamic principles may enhance managerial effectiveness.