Social Work Leadership: A Missing Ingredient?

LEADERSHIP; MANAGEMENT literature; SOCIAL services; ORGANIZATIONAL behavior; INDUSTRIAL management; OCCUPATIONAL training

The article analyzes the construct of leadership embodied in management literature in social work and the emphasis placed on training for leadership in the organizations. Leadership is a major theme in the literature of organizational behavior and in business management training. The idea of leadership carries with it the idea of setting a pace or influencing others. This article considers why leadership, which seems so significant an aspect of the professional role, has not received more attention in social work training and in the professional construct. Although the concept of leadership is not emphasized in the literature of other professions such as medicine and law, these professions have more effective access to powerful political and economic interests and enjoy a relatively higher leadership position in a variety of arenas than does the social work professions. In the past, social workers achieved positions of influence and leadership. This article considers why this seems to be less true at the present time and what social work training can do to help overcome this lacuna.