CONTRACTING AND NEGOTIATION - EFFECTIVE PRACTICES OF SUCCESSFUL HUMAN-SERVICE CONTRACT MANAGERS

This article identifies effective practices that successful human serv ice contract managers use in the negotiating and contracting process. It is important to identify these practices because modem governments, specifically state and local governments, increasingly contract for s ocial services. Yet, there continue to be barriers to contracting for services, including the manager's approach. Interviews were held with managers in the area offices of Massachusetts' Department of Social Se rvices (DSS). Interview responses were processed and formatted for use in a computer-assisted analysis program. Practices of successful cont ract managers were compared with those of less successful managers. An alysis identified eight effective practices that successful managers u se or use more than less successful managers in the contracting and ne gotiation process.