Essential Business Skills for Social Work Managers: Tools for Optimizing Programs and Organizations

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.

Andy 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, 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.