New Organizational Challenges for Human Service Work

Gradual economic, political, and social changes have introduced new circumstances for the organization of internal activities. Restructuring aimed at decreasing costs and improving quality has become characteristic both the private and public sector.

The restructurings have also affected human service work, and have implications for the working environment of different professions, as well as for the efficiency of operations. The pressure to maintain high productivity as well as a high level of quality is becoming an increasingly important to gain a competitive advantage. This actualizes the issue of how the actors in the human service sector deals with the new demands. Knowledge of this issue is of vital importance for the working environment of the employees, as well as their well-being and health.

The volume New organizational challenges for human service work illustrates the new situation in the human service sector, and analyzes its consequences in terms of quality and productivity, as well as working environment. By gathering the works of established international researchers in the field of human service work, New organizational challenges for human service work gives a comprehensive view of the area of human service work, and will be essential to researchers and practitioners in the human service field.