Bio:

Dr. Preston has over ten years of professional experience in the fields of child welfare, public assistance, and mental health. His practice experience as an administrator, manager, supervisor, and direct-service worker encompasses public sector, private sector, and not-for-profit human service organizations in Arizona and Alaska. Dr. Preston has conducted a number of organizational analyses for the State of Alaska's Department of Health and Social Services and has served on several statewide advisory committees.

Research Interests:

• Child welfare
• Human services management and public management
• Management training
• Organizational behavior and organizational theory
• Research Methods
• Work motivation and work stress

Current Projects:

• Work stress in county-based public welfare and child welfare agencies
• Impact of contextual factors on the activity patterns of public sector human service managers
• Methodological rigor in social work management research

Recent Publications & Presentations:

Journal Articles
Preston, M. S. (2008). "The Direct Effects of Field of Practice on Core Managerial Role Competencies: A Study Across Three Types of Public Sector Human Service Agencies" Administration in Social Work, 32:2.

Preston, M. S. (2005). "Child Welfare Management Training: Towards a Pedagogically Sound Curriculum" Administration in Social Work, 29:4.

Preston, M. S. (2004). "Mandatory Management Training for Newly Hired Child Welfare Supervisors: A Divergence Between Management Research and Training Practice?" Administration in Social Work, 28:2.

Preston, M. S. (in revision). "Does Office Location Influence the Work-related Activity of Public Sector Human Service Managers?: The Effects of Rural Practice Settings on Core Managerial Competencies" (Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory).

Presentations
Preston, M.S. (2008, June). Job Demands, Job Control, and Feedback Seeking: The strain-buffering effects of proactive behavior. 2008 International Work, Well-being, and Performance Conference, Sheffield, England.

Preston, M. S. (2007, August) Karasek's Job Demands-Control Model: Is instrumental feedback the missing second-order moderator? Academy of
Management Conference, Philadelphia, PA.

Preston, M. S. (2006, October) Karasek's Job Demand-Control Model: A Review, Critique, and Extension. International Conference on Social Stress Research, Portsmouth, NH.

Preston, M. S. (2006, February) The Impact of Field of Practice on Human Service Managerial Activity: Testing Yukl's Tri-dimensional Leadership Theory. Council on Social Work Education Conference, Chicago, IL.

Preston, M. S. (2005, February) An Empirical Analysis of the Development of Child Welfare Management Training Curricula. Council on Social Work Education Conference, New York, NY.

Preston, M. S. (2004, August) An Exploratory Study on the Impact of Rural Office Location on Human Service Management. Academy of Management Conference, New Orleans, LA (selected for presentation in the shared-interest track).

Preston, M. S. (2004, August) Child Welfare Management Training: Suggestions for a Pedagogically Sound Curriculum. Academy of Management Conference, New Orleans, LA.

Preston, M. S. (2004, January) The Development of Child Welfare Management Training Curricula: An Empirical Analysis of Current Practice. International Academy of Business and Public Administration Disciplines, New Orleans, LA.

Preston, M. S. (2001, August) Mandatory Management Training for Newly Hired State Child Welfare Supervisors: A Disconnect between Practice and Reality. Academy of Management Conference, Washington DC.

Last updated April 3, 2008.