Open System Management: A Curriculum for Managers in Child Welfare

The Resource Program has developed a management curriculum for managers in child welfare.

This family-centered curriculum presents a vision and process for making an agency's organizational culture more open and effective. The curriculum supports directors of county departments of social services and others as they lead their agencies through an organizational development process that involves

• Assessing the organization's culture and, where appropriate,
• Moving toward a more "open" organizational culture.

Research for the development of this curriculum was based on discussions with social services leaders, assessments and dialogues in several counties, and on technical assistance to participating counties.

The curriculum is now available as a four book series that contains:

1. The conceptual framework behind Open System Management
2. An instrument for assessing an organization's culture
3. A dialogue tool used to bring the organization together around common outcomes
4. A case-study in organizational development illustrating the use of the concept and tools, and
5. A how-to guide that offers a blueprint for management changes that will directly affect (and improve) human services delivery.

To learn more, follow this link to our Books and Resources page.