The Promise of Management for Youth Work

Abstract

Writers of youth work textbooks and handbooks have generally felt or been obliged to include a chapter on ‘management’. Much is promised following the application of its precepts. Early commentators such as Stanley were not only concerned to expedite the efficient administration of the club, but also to establish the correct relationship between Lady Managers and their superintendents (1890). Russell & Rigby stressed the importance of leaving a very high degree of discretion with the worker or leader (1908, p. 77) and the significance of attention to detail in the design of youth work plant (ibid., pp. 40–52). The cult of efficiency and the rise of Taylorism (Taylor, 1911) was much in evidence and by 1919 Baker had devoted an entire book to a ‘Course on the Scientific Management of Clubs for Boys’. A number of later writers continued in these traditions (Henriques, 1933; Brew, 1943; Leighton 1972; Matthews, 1975) and by the late 1970s, management was vaunted in most official utterances and reflected in the publications aimed at youth workers. However, it did not consistently achieve such prominence.