Automating the Social Work Office

Summary

Social work was not originally an office-based profession, but has become so in the past few decades. In the process, the information technology of social work practice has changed relatively little. Social work practice has yet to develop unique computer applications, comparable to developments in medicine, law, architecture, education and other fields. Most interest in computer applications in social work to date has been clerical and made use of off-the-shelf applications. The potential of currently available technology for office automation in social work offers the prospect not only Tor important productivity improvement, but also for a means to dealing with unmet needs and for humanizing the environment of the social work office. Realizing such gains, however, will require new forms of organizational coordination.

Key Words:

• Social work office
• social agency
• office automation
• information processing