The Managing Care Reader

Edited by Jill Reynolds et al,
Routledge and Open University,
ISBN 0415297893,
£17.99

This reader was produced in conjunction with an Open University course targeted at managers. The changing demands and the conflicting pressures on managers in social care are captured well.

The book is divided into four sections:front-line management, the values of care, changing contexts for managerial work, and the need to create a learning and developing organisation. There are 39 extracts in the four sections so each is short and some are slight.

The strength of the book is its mix of classic texts with more contemporary explorations of management dilemmas in social care.

Some of the contributions, however, give important insights into management challenges: Beresford and Croft give practical ideas about how to embrace user participation, while Horwath and Morrison provide a helpful section on using the assessment framework for children in need to drive organisational change.

As a source this book offers valuable ideas and references to enable the reader to explore topics in more detail. It is a useful addition to departmental libraries but probably too fragmented to be useful to the individual reader.

Terry Bamford is chairperson, Kensington and Chelsea Primary Care Trust and a member of the General Social Care Council

If you would like to order this book please call 020 8652 2043 or email books@communitycare.co.uk