There has been an upsurge of research and scholarly interest in social administration since the mid-1970s. The general outlines are plain to see: Course offerings expanded and enrollments increased in specialized concentrations in the traditional professional programs of social work, public health, and public administration. Specialized journals devoted to social work administration, mental health administration, and human services administration made their appearance. Books on esoteric management topics like financial management, budgeting, personnel, and cost studies appeared alongside those on the classic subjects of fund raising and accounting. More than a dozen general administration textbooks have been published in the last...

To reconcile their constituentsʹ simultaneous beliefs in less and in more governmental involvement, legislators in the United States have increasingly used contracting.¹ They find people are more accepting of ʺgovernment funding and standard setting if nongovernmental organizations deliver the public goods and services.ʺ² This reconciliation strategy has inherent conflicts, however, which have created a ʺphilosophical and administrative messʺ³ that is unlikely to be cleaned up because many groups have vested interests in its maintenance.⁴ This ʺmessʺ is characterized by complex questions of accountability.

Social welfare policies in the United States vary significantly by community.⁵ Without national policy implemented in ʺa...

Managers from different agencies, positions, and backgrounds present remarkably similar verbal portraits of their work. In the language, magnitude, and passion of their reactions to managing contracted services, they make ʺgame playingʺ the appropriate metaphor for articulating their experience.¹ This metaphor was not part of the conceptualization or conduct of the research; however, most managers make specific reference to game playing, and all use the language of games in their descriptions of what they do and why. Managers find contracted services ʺcrazyʺ; the game metaphor keeps them from succumbing to ʺcraziness.ʺ

The paradoxical nature of contracted services makes the metaphor...

Whatever drives managers to play the game of contracted services, they do so with a striking clarity of purpose. NPA managers have unique perspectives based on education and experience. These perspectives help them sort out the administrative, ethical, and political issues they confront and help them frame their strategies for dealing with GFOs.¹

Several managers, for different reasons, characterize NPAs and GFOs as partners. Because one executive directorʹs NPA, which serves the homeless, believes government and NPAs should be ʺworking in a partnership,ʺ the director seeks government funding, even though the pursuit requires more time and effort than does private...

Despite the unambiguous legal obligation of NPAs to provide services, the effort to comply is hampered by the contradictions and inefficiencies that characterize contracting. Periodically, the GFO audits the NPAʹs programmatic and financial performance under the contract. These audits can take many forms; but generally, the more money involved in the contract, the more complex and stringent the monitoring.

In relating what he expects in the upcoming programmatic audit for a small, simple service, a $35,000 federal contract for a snack program, a manager describes the scope of any audit. He explains that the GFO defines what a snack is,...

While managers try to comply with contracts, they simultaneously seek change so that contracts will more closely conform with reality. Managers perceive a problem begging for change when GFO requirements conflict with clientsʹ needs, with the functioning of the contracting system, or with the capacity of the NPA to respond. To correct the problem, they pursue changes in program models, contractual obligations and rights, definitions of compliance, contracting processes, or funding levels. Managers use process-oriented strategies to develop the capability to effect any change that may be necessary and they use goal-oriented strategies when a target is identified.

Managers believe...

To comprehend the ethical problems managers face with contracted services, it is essential to understand not only their ʺgeneral conception of right and wrong,ʺ but also their perception of the conceptions of right and wrong held by their NPAs and by the GFOs with which they contract. When the ʺgeneral conception of right and wrongʺ of manager and NPA or of manager, NPA, and GFO coincide, ʺattitudes and actionsʺ appear to be based on this shared conception, even if the conception conflicts with contractual requirements.¹ Managers do not consider it ʺwrong,ʺ and indeed may consider it ʺright,ʺ to effect the...

Beyond what managers say they do to effect compliance, change, or ethical practice is their perception of the meaning and impact of accountability for both NPAs and GFOs. This accountability, while theoretically unilateral, is mutual, reflecting the symbiotic relationship between GFOs and NPAs.¹ Each needs the other, just as any game to be played requires an opponent. Therefore, understanding NPAsʹ accountability to GFOs requires understanding the interactive nature of that accountability.²

A manager succinctly states her perception that GFOs view contracted services as GFO-controlled.

Another problem in contracting with the city is that youʹre not truly contracting with them as...

The contracted services game is not one game; it is at least two disguised as one, as if one team came onto the field to play baseball and the other to play football.

In the absence of a firm theoretical basis for government-nonprofit relations, neither government officials nor nonprofits have managed to develop a meaningful and coherent set of standards in terms of which to guide their interactions. Rather, both sides have tended to view the relationship from their own perspective and to apply standards that are rigid and absolute.¹

To play this rather bizarre amalgam of a game, managers...

Most NPAs providing human services receive government funding. All managers in those that do, therefore, are obliged to play the contracted services game. Beyond the skills identified for playing the game, what should be the prerequisites for these managers? There is an ongoing scholarly debate about whether managerial demands and prerequisites are the same in different types of organizations.¹ For NPA managers of contracted services, prerequisites are the skills and perspective the job demands from them, as well as the freedom and support the NPA provides.

While the administrative and political challenges of contracted servicesʹ management may require extraordinary skills,...