Administrative practice in successful human service collaboratives

As human service needs increase and become more challenging to address the administrators of many social service organizations are developing collaboratives to make more efficient and effective use of their agency and community resources. The type of administrative practice used to create and sustain successful human service collaboratives needs to be understood for the impact it can have on practice, higher education and policy development.;Through the use of qualitative research methods this dissertation addresses how administrators practice in successful human service collaboratives. More specifically, through this study, the researcher interviewed 28 administrators of some of the most successful collaboratives in one community to determine how they functioned in a collaborative environment. In addition, the administrators were observed at meetings of the collaborative partners and focus groups were conducted in some of the collaboratives in the most advanced stages of collaboration. The findings show which components of administrative practice are most commonly implemented by administrators in successful human service collaboratives. These components are implemented in three phases of collaboration which are: (1) bringing partners together; (2) working together; and (3) outcomes of working together. The components of administrative practice that are implemented in each of these phases are addressed in the findings of this dissertation.