Course Title: Managing Community Service Organisations

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Managing Community Service Organisations

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

HUSO2152

City Campus

Postgraduate

365H Global, Urban and Social Studies

Face-to-Face

Spring2010

Course Coordinator: Kate Driscoll

Course Coordinator Phone: +(61 3) 9925 8287

Course Coordinator Email: kate.driscoll@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 37.2.15


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Nil


Course Description

Australia has a large and growing community sector which contributes to lives of individuals and communities, and the nation more broadly in responding to a vast array of social, cultural, environmental and political issues. From small beginnings, the community sector in Australia is now a myriad and diverse network of more than 700,000 organisations. This loose sector provides services, support and advocacy across the social policy spectrum.

New millennium shifts in the role of the state mean the community sector is now required to do more, deliver more and dissent less. The growing interest from government in the not-for-profit sector has resulted in a blurring of boundaries between government and community organisations, and increasing interdependence in some policy areas between the state, market and civil society. For government, partnering with the sector has become a key approach for the delivery of social policy.

Against this background, many agencies working on a diverse range of issues across the community sector, including climate change and energy costs, the status of women, human rights, Indigenous culture and rights, homelessness and other social issues, remain at the vanguard of social change. As advocates for reform, these organisations push both the community sector and government to new ways of engaging with and thinking about public policy issues and sector reform.

The course will focus on analysis of the economic, political, social and cultural forces shaping the community sector, and the responses which community sector managers have developed in order to respond to the policy challenges and demands now facing the sector. Using a mix of locally based community organisations as case examples, the course will investigate the arrangements, relationships and strategies adopted for managing these new circumstances. Particular emphasis will be on governance arrangements; the creation of partnerships within and beyond the sector with government and business; the use of policy research and evidence; and the importance of leadership.


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

Students will devopment their understanding of community sector management trends and issues


At the completion of this course students should be able to: -

• Understand and critique organisation theory and community sector management;

• Identify key policy developments and issues for community services organisation management;

• Examine and critique community services organisation management trends and developments; and

• Provide organisational analysis and review which is well written, evidence based and soundly argued.


Overview of Learning Activities

The course will be offered as a weekly seminar series, with guided readings, seminar discussions, simulation exercises and case studies.


Overview of Learning Resources

Resources will include references on community management theory, as well as both research reports and field-based material drawn from community sector organisations.


Overview of Assessment

You will be required to complete a number of assignments in order to demonstrate your learning.