Article
The Authorization and De-authorization of Individual Social Workers Within a Small Group
Social Work with Groups
(2005)
Abstract
This article reports on the results of a pilot study which focused on how a self-analytic group of individual social workers in a group task force at a managed mental health care outpatient clinic authorized and de-authorized themselves and others in the exercise of a group task. The article explores the interpersonal conveyance of authority across egalitarian working relationships and aims to examine and identify the conditions and contexts that may be associated with the authorization and de-authorization (i.e., the encouragement or discouragement of expression, respectively) of self and others. The purpose of this examination was to promote a better understanding of how social workers in managed mental health organizations may better exercise their authority. This study found that the exercise of authority by social workers in a managed care setting was found to be associated with a number of factors, including collaboration, perception, gender, age, and early socialization experiences.
Keywords
- social workers,
- managed care,
- authority,
- task groups,
- authorizing processes
Disciplines
Publication Date
May 25, 2005
Publisher Statement
This is the metadata for an article published by Taylor & Francis in Social Work with Groups Journal on May 23, 2005, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J009v29n01_05
Citation Information
Bransford, C.L. (2006). The authorization and de-authorization of individual
social workers in a small group. Social Work with Groups, 29(1), 45-62.