Darlyne Bailey

Using participatory research in community consortia development and evaluation: Lessons from the beginning of a story

This article explores the first eighteen months of the development of a community-based consortium project that employs the methodology of participatory action research. Using the Community-Based Consortia Development (CBCD) framework to identify critical phase-specific issues, the author illustrates the applicability of lessons learned from the project to the utilization of the participatory philosophy and process for the empowerment of communities.

The Contextual Impact of Social Support Across Race and Gender: Implications for African American Women in the Workplace

Over the past 2 decades, the interrelationship among the concepts of social support, stress, and psycho-physiological well-being has undergone much scrutiny in the professional literature. More recently, the many challenges posed by the reality of this countrys increasingly diversified workplace have received attention by both social work practitioners and researchers alike. The area that remains largely unstudied is the intersection of these two fields of study. The research reported here specifically addresses the question: What do we know about social support that can be used to effectively facilitate workplace diversity? The central focus of this article explores the relationship between social support and stress as differentially experienced by African American women, White women, and White men both within and outside the workplace. Of particular interest is the relationship between the social support and well-being in these contexts. Based on the findings of a 3-year study, this article reports on research conducted with a larger study of health promotion and stress and begins with an exploration of types and sources of social support and stress as they relate to issues of gender, race, and context. The article continues with a description of the research methodology. A

An integrative framework for the evaluation of community-based consortia☆

Abstract Much attention is being paid to the role of community-based consortia in addressing social service issues. As such, evaluators, program planners, and organizational leaders must have a clear understanding of the consortium development process and the elements which contribute to its efficiency, effectiveness and accountability. This article offers one framework to further this understanding. Synthesizing eight consortium components, a life cycle model of consortium development, and a participatory research methodology creates an evaluation framework which provides developmental information and allows for continuous improvement of the consortium process. An overview of a current community-based consortium evaluation is provided to illustrate the applicability of this framework.

Creating a Bureau-Adhocracy: Integrating Standardized and Innovative Services in a Professional Work Group

This paper explores the organizing dilemmas of professionals who work in small organizations that attempt to provide standardized and innovative services with the same staff. Mintzberg (1979) suggested that the bureau-adhocracy would be the most appropriate form for coping with such conditions but did not elaborate on how it might develop or be maintained over time. The longitudinal the case study reported here supports this claim and goes further in two fundamental areas with respect to the smaller professional enterprise: First, it describes some of the learning processes involved in the creation of this hybrid, and second, it suggests the existence of two definable stages in the forms development, i.e., naive and mature.

Assessing Quality in Social Work Education: focus on diversity

ABSTRACT This paper reports on the development and implementation of the ability to Value a Diverse World in an American school of social work. The paper begins with a review of assessment in social work education, and then a framework for assessing learning is presented that builds on the pioneering work done at Alverno College and elsewhere. Prior to developing the diversity ability, faculty identified a set of eight abilities they wanted graduates to have, based on input from 14 stakeholder groups. The ability to Value a Diverse World was selected for implementation first, and a detailed description of the ability was developed which includes six developmental levels and possible assessment activities. Appropriate curriculum revisions were made based on the ability description and implemented in pilot sections of a new course. The paper concludes with a discussion of the impact implementing the diversity ability has had on curriculum and teaching in general.

Managerial tensions: Personal insecurity vs. professional responsibility.

Abstract Protecting and nuturing the managerial supervisor is the topic addressed in this paper. The human service system is undergoing dramatic change, as agencies are downsizing, merging, and outsourcing. In this context, employment-at-will, whistle-blowers, and trade unionism for professionals have emerged as issues. Managerial supervisors face serious dilemmas in these situations including the need to provide more support for workers who face increased job demands and job insecurity. Supervisors are also contending with new roles and demands that may conflict with their concept of professional behavior. The paper concludes with suggestions for how organizations can support supervisory managers and staff in this challenging time.

Post‐modern International De‐velopment: Intervelopment and Global Interbeing

Outlines a post‐modern approach to international and global development conceived during a visit to Ghana in the autumn of 1992. First offers a critique of modern development′s techno‐bureaucratic, unsustainable over‐consumption ethos and its accompanying practices of Western expert imperialism. With the conception of post‐modern de‐velopment, intervelopment, infuses the ailing sustainable development paradigm with an affirmative radical humanist and relationally interconnected manifesto. Envisages a new synthesis between sustainable development and the practice of intervelopment: global interbeing – a way of experiencing an emancipated, harmonious, economically equitable, and culturally diverse world. Discusses the impact of intervelopment and global interbeing on the life and work of organization and international development practitioners.

Partnered Practice: Building on Our Small Group Tradition

ABSTRACT Social work has a rich history of developing strategies to facilitate change in the midst of complex social realities. Our work with small groups is a central part of that knowledge base. Todays world calls for social workers to create and participate in groups that include other professions and client systems, forming partnered webs of practice. Group work philosophy, theory, and skills can be effectively applied to this work with multidisciplinary teams, interorganizational alliances, and in family-centered and community-based practice. We propose an approach to partnered practice, transferring the knowledge of social group work to current practice contexts in innovative ways. The article concludes with proposed criteria for effective partnered practice and its implications for social work.

Life Scripts as Sources of Reward for Women Executive Directors

Twenty-five female and twelve male executive directors of social service agencies were interviewed about their early childhoods, job histories, the current rewards obtained from their jobs, and their criteria for effective social service leadership. An exploratory analysis of these data revealed a clear resonance between values and scripts learned early in life and intrinsic rewards experienced on the job. The linkage was especially pronounced for the female executive directors in relation to the themes of service to others. The implications of this linkage are discussed for social service leadership and leadership in general.