ABSTRACT

This Discussion of the Special Issue addresses four interlocking questions of importance for social work macro practice: (1) What is the trajectory of macro practice in schools of social work?; (2) What should be included in a 21st century macro practice curriculum?; (3) How can schools of social work promote research on organizations, managers, and leaders; and (4) What under-explored research topics in organizational and management practice exist? The Discussion links major themes among the 10 commentaries comprising the Special Issue in order to provide some perspective on longstanding concerns to social work scholars. In essence, we transition from a discussion of the commentaries, to situating the concerns of the commentaries in the social work academy. Our central argument is that calls for a strengthening of social work macro practice education and research should be directed at deans and directors. Yet deans of schools of social work are middle managers within complex academic institutional hierarchies. They must regularly compete and collaborate with other deans for resources, interest, and status. Thus, it is incumbent upon macro practice educators and researchers to clearly demonstrate what macro practice education and research do for schools of social work vis-à-vis other professional schools and universities. If macro practice professors cannot argue convincingly and succinctly for their investments in more public fora, then deans and directors may not either. Our argument holds for academic innovators in competitive knowledge industries as much as it does for social entrepreneurs and organizational leaders in competitive human service industries.

摘要

本特刊的讨论解决了对社会工作宏观实践的重要性的四个相互联系的问题：（1）社会工作流派中宏观实践的轨迹是什么？（2）21世纪宏观实践课程应包括什么？（3）社会工作流派如何促进对组织，经理和领导者的研究；（4）在组织和管理实践中存在哪些尚未探索的研究主题？讨论将特别主题的10条评论中的主要主题联系在一起，以便为社会工作学者长期关注的问题提供一些观点。从本质上讲，我们从对评论的讨论过渡到在社会工作学院中解决评论的问题。我们的中心论点是要求加强社会工作的宏观实践教育和研究应针对院长和董事。然而，社会工作学校的院长是复杂的学术机构层次结构中的中层管理人员。他们必须定期与其他教务长竞争并合作以获取资源，兴趣和地位。因此，宏观实践教育者和研究者有责任明确证明宏观实践教育和研究相对于其他专业学校和大学对社会工作学校的作用。如果宏观实践教授不能为在更多公共论坛上的投资而有说服力和简洁地争论，那么院长和董事可能也不会。