ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the nature of organizations and social work agencies, particularly as experienced by social work practitioners and explores the theoretical perspectives on and dimensions of organizations and discusses the engagement, assessment, and planning processes with organizations. It highlights the social worker's interface with organizations and the ways in which organizational functions shape professional practice and describes the social systems, as well as from the integration of contemporary theories of organizations. The top-down, hierarchical authority or impersonality of relationships among members is often an aspect of bureaucracies that challenges employees. In a sharp contrast with bureaucracy, project teams consist of a group of people who collectively work on organizational challenges or opportunities through committee or task force structures. Dimensions of organizations that influence practice and the social worker's experience.
