 A Multi-paradigmatic Interdisciplinary Framework for Human Service Systems

Abstract

Increasingly, human service systems are complicated by interprofessional spaces, quickening technological change, and social uncertainty. New guides built on existing research, practice, and interdisciplinary knowledge can lead practitioners through these complexities. Targeted toward an interdisciplinary audience, this article introduces four mechanisms to navigate the practical realities of human services organizations. The first, paradigms of organizational analysis, centers on embedded assumptions within human services organizations and their implications. The second, an organizational health paradigm, focuses on organizational health and functioning. The third, an ethical paradigm, incorporates interdisciplinary ethics across various disciplines. The final integrates these mechanisms along four practical pillars of human services systems: policy, organizations, community, and planning/evaluation that incorporate context, focus, and application of organizational practice activities. This framework aims to reduce analytical complexity, comprehensively guide practitioners in understanding contemporary human services systems, and apply these integrated dimensions across policy, organization, community, and planning/evaluation in human services settings.