Abstract

Shrinking resources and the increasing complexity of clinical decisions are stimulating research in knowledge-intensive computer applications for the delivery of social services. The expected benefits of knowledge-intensive applications such as expert systems include improvement in both the quality and the consistency of service delivery, augmentation of institutional memory, and reduced labour costs through greater reliance on paraprofessionals. This paper analyses the likely impacts of knowledge-intensive systems on social service organisations, drawing on trends in related service-delivery fields, and on known impacts of computer applications in organisations. A structural change may be anticipated: decision making and planning functions will shift increasingly from social service professionals to administrators