Ethical Dilemmas in Human Service Management: Identifying and Resolving the Challenges Cheryl A. Hyde Human service managers are called on to make a variety of difficult decisions that often involve fundamental conflicts in values. Such conflicts constitute ethical dilemmas. This qualitative exploratory study examines how human service managers (N �40), from the United States, identify and resolve ethical dilemmas. The dilemmas identified by the managers tended to result in the restriction of missions, programs, services and practice methods. The resolution of these ethical problems often rested on following the very rules that created the dilemmas. Additional strategies included consultations and reliance on abstract principles, specifically those of one’s spiritual faith. Missing, however, were systematic or evidence-based procedures for resolving challenges that often threatened the very goals of the human service agencies. The need for more careful training in the area of ethical problem solving that maintains the vision of human services is presented. Keywords Ethical Dilemmas; Solution s; Human Service Managers; Qualitative Methods Human service managers constantly are called upon to make difficult decisions with regard to service provision, staff support, resource acquisition, and program development. At the heart of many decisions are fundamental conflicts in values: accessibility versus efficiency, social change versus security, or compassion versus compliance. Such conflicts constitute ethical dilemmas, the resolution of which often involves prioritizing and then selecting from a set of competing values and attendant actions. While the importance of ethical conduct is widely acknowledged in the human services, how managers identify and resolve ethical issues has received relatively ISSN 1749-6535 print/1749-6543 online/12/040351-17 # 2012 Taylor & Francis http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17496535.2011.615753 Cheryl A. Hyde, PhD, MSW, is Associate Professor at the Temple University School of Social Work. She serves as Coordinator for the Community and Policy Practice Concentration and Coordinator for the Education, Training and Community Outreach Core of the Center for Intervention Practice and Research. Her primary areas of interest are organizational change, community capacity building, social movements and macro practice ethics. Correspondence to: Cheryl A. Hyde, School of Social Work, College of Health Professions and Social Work, Temple University, 1301 Cecil B. Moore Ave, 517 Ritter Annex Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA. Email: [email protected] ETHICS AND SOCIAL WELFARE VOLUME 6 NUMBER 4 (DECEMBER 2012) http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17496535.2011.615753 little attention (but see Levy 1982; Manning 2003). As a partial means of addressing this gap in the scholarship, I examine how 40 managers, from US human service agencies, name and then address ethical dilemmas in their organizational practice. Based on this analysis, I d.

1. Ethical Dilemmas in Human Service
Management: Identifying and Resolving
the Challenges
Cheryl A. Hyde
Human service managers are called on to make a variety of
difficult decisions
that often involve fundamental conflicts in values. Such
conflicts constitute
ethical dilemmas. This qualitative exploratory study examines
how human
service managers (N �40), from the United States, identify and
resolve ethical
dilemmas. The dilemmas identified by the managers tended to
result in the
restriction of missions, programs, services and practice
methods. The resolution
of these ethical problems often rested on following the very
rules that created
the dilemmas. Additional strategies included consultations and
reliance on
abstract principles, specifically those of one’s spiritual faith.
Missing, however,
were systematic or evidence-based procedures for resolving
challenges that
often threatened the very goals of the human service agencies.
The need for
more careful training in the area of ethical problem solving that
maintains the
vision of human services is presented.

2. Keywords Ethical Dilemmas;
Solution
s; Human Service Managers; Qualitative
Methods
Human service managers constantly are called upon to make
difficult decisions
with regard to service provision, staff support, resource
acquisition, and program
development. At the heart of many decisions are fundamental
conflicts in values:
accessibility versus efficiency, social change versus security, or
compassion
versus compliance. Such conflicts constitute ethical dilemmas,
the resolution of
which often involves prioritizing and then selecting from a set
of competing

3. values and attendant actions.
While the importance of ethical conduct is widely
acknowledged in the human
services, how managers identify and resolve ethical issues has
received relatively
ISSN 1749-6535 print/1749-6543 online/12/040351-17
# 2012 Taylor & Francis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17496535.2011.615753
Cheryl A. Hyde, PhD, MSW, is Associate Professor at the
Temple University School of Social Work. She
serves as Coordinator for the Community and Policy Practice
Concentration and Coordinator for the
Education, Training and Community Outreach Core of the
Center for Intervention Practice and
Research. Her primary areas of interest are organizational
change, community capacity building,
social movements and macro practice ethics. Correspondence to:
Cheryl A. Hyde, School of Social
Work, College of Health Professions and Social Work, Temple
University, 1301 Cecil B. Moore Ave, 517

4. Ritter Annex Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA. Email:
[email protected]
ETHICS AND SOCIAL WELFARE VOLUME 6 NUMBER 4
(DECEMBER 2012)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17496535.2011.615753
little attention (but see Levy 1982; Manning 2003). As a partial
means of addressing
this gap in the scholarship, I examine how 40 managers, from
US human service
agencies, name and then address ethical dilemmas in their
organizational
practice. Based on this analysis, I discuss some of the
implications for ethical
practice in, as well as maintaining the values of, human service
organizations.
Overview of Human Service Management and Ethics Resources

5. Human services signify society’s commitment and ability to
care for its
vulnerable, marginalized or challenged populations through the
provision of
social benefits and services (Brodkin 2010). In the United
States, the human
service sector is composed of nonprofit, public and for-profit
organizations that
literally address human needs and concerns from birth to death.
In recent
decades, the sector has been buffeted by broad social, political
and economic
trends including increased privatized and contracted services,
the rise of
consumer-driven groups and movements, and the dominance of
a conservative
ideology in government. The environment within which human

6. service organiza-
tions operate is challenging, at best, and more often chaotic and
hostile.
Managerial work in the human services is informed by a
complex, and at times
contradictory, set of demands and functions. Human service
agencies manifest a
number of unique characteristics including people as ‘raw
material’ (the clients),
the primacy of client�worker relationships, considerable
contingency planning
with interventions, work that is emotionally and morally laden,
and the gendered
composition of staff and client populations (Hasenfeld 2010).
Human service
managers, then, need to be attuned to the altruistic, human
relations, business
and service delivery aspects of their organizations.

7. Human service managers can draw from several ethical codes
and guidelines
for principles that apply to their practice, as well as that of their
staff. For
example, social work practitioners, a significant part of the
human services
workforce, are steeped in that profession’s code of ethics,
though these codes
vary by country. For US social workers, the NASW Code
(NASW 1996) does include
a specific standard (3.07) that holds social work administrators
responsible for
ensuring adequate resources, supervision, and a working
environment that
upholds ethical practice; however, much of the code’s focus is
on clinical

8. situations.
In the United States, for example, the National Network for
Social Work
Managers (NNSWM) (2004) has delineated 14 competency
areas, one of which is
‘Ethics’ that includes:
. commitment to meeting the needs of clients within the purview
of the
services offered by the organization;
. commitment to the work and the organization that transcends
personal
desires;
352 HYDE
. loyalty to the mission of the organization; and
. commitment to the social work values of social justice, equity

9. and fairness.
The small body of social work literature on ethical managerial
practice focuses
primarily on three related themes: supervision, risk
management, and quality
assurance of staff and programs. In particular, Reamer (2000a,
b, 2004, 2005a, b,
2008) has drawn attention to the critical import of
organizational protocols and
standards as strategies to minimize risk and error (see also
Kirkpatrick et al.
2006; Lynch & Versen 2003; McAuliffe 2005). There is not,
however, an extensive
managerial code of ethics comparable to that of the Clinical
[US] Social Work
Federation (see Loewenberg et al. 2000) within social work.
There also is a body of literature within social work that

10. identifies common
(usually clinical) ethical conflicts and their resolution
(Loewenberg et al. 2000;
Manning 2003; Reamer 1990; Rhodes 1991). Among these
approaches is the
strategy of ‘ethical screening’, in which values or principles are
rank ordered and
a decision is reached when a given principle is met. For
example, the current
version of the Loewenberg et al. ethical screen prioritizes these
principles (from
most to least compelling): protection of life, equality and
inequality, autonomy
and freedom, least harm, quality of life, privacy and
confidentiality, and
truthfulness and full disclosure (2000, p. 69). The authors assert
that this screen

11. is used only if the dilemma cannot be resolved by following the
NASW Code of
Ethics. More recently, blended models of ethical decision
making have been set
forth. Such frameworks offer a step-by-step resolution strategy
that incorporates
the inclusion of professional values, views of key stakeholders,
available
resources, peer consultation and thorough examination of the
pros and cons of
all possible options (see Reamer 2004).
Human service managers of nonprofit agencies can access a
number of model
ethical guidelines (for US examples, see websites of Maryland
Association of
Nonprofit Organizations, Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit

12. Organizations,
Utah Nonprofits Association, and the Independent Sector).
Emphasis tends to be
on legal compliance, fiscal obligations, public disclosure,
conflicts of interest
and responsible fundraising (White 2010). These standards,
however, do not
specifically address the unique challenges of human service
organizations.
For public-sector managers, the American Public Human
Services Association
and its affiliates (including the National Association of Public
Child Welfare
Administrators, National Staff Development & Training
Association, National
Association of State TANF Administrators and IT