An exploratory study of administrative practice in collaboratives

Collaboration is practiced often in the human services, however, in the lit erature there has been minimal focus on administrative practice in a collab orative environment. This article describes the results of a study that was conducted to explore how traditional administrative functions and processe s are applied in a collaborative environment. Interviews were conducted wit h twelve social work administrators in human service agencies in southern C alifornia. The findings show that there are some areas of administrative pr actice that may be implemented differently in a collaborative. The themes t hat describe these differences focus on the following administrative functi ons and processes: relationship building, participatory planning, collectiv e decision making, coordinating and sharing of tasks, problem solving/confl ict resolution, and facilitative leadership. Each theme is described in thi s article. (C) 2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.