Social Work Practice with Communities and Organizations
Social Work Assignment.
Title: Practising social work with communities and organisations.
- Minimum - 1000 words.
- Five references - minimum. (Use the textbook as one reference followed by another four other references). (APA 7th edition format is important).
- Textbook for the subject: Generalist Practice with Organizations and Communities by Karen K. Kirst-Ashman, Grafton H. Hull Jr.
- https://sg1lib(dot)org/book/5005562/4b3325
Question:
Discuss, with examples, how social work supervisors could leverage on the functions of supervision to enhance the social workers’ efforts in networking with grassroots organisations. Appraise ONE organisational culture dynamic that will challenge the supervisory relationship when carrying out these functions.
Some things to note and questions to ask yourself when doing the assignment:
- Focus on macro level practice and skills.
- Support your answers with examples.
- Contextualisation of the assignment answer is important.
- Three functions of supervision are administrative, educational and supportive.
- For organisational culture dynamics in the question, please refer to:
https://www(dot)executiveagenda(dot)com/application/files/3616/2085/3781/five-dysfunctions-brochure.pdf
(The five cultural dynamics that will affect supervisory relationship)
15% of the total marks will be given for good grammar, structure, CORRENT in-text citations and relevant list of CORRENT references in the appropriate APA (7th edition) format.
Social Work Practice with Communities and Organizations
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Social Work Practice with Communities and Organizations
Supervision is an integral part of social work services because it determines the service quality, the social workers' professional development, and job satisfaction. Over the years, it has enabled social workers to mirror their performances and develop innovative solutions to social work challenges (Kirst-Ashman & Hull Jr, 2014). With the supervisory environment, social workers can critically assess their knowledge, skills, and values and understand the work they are undertaking (Baines et al., 2014). Social work supervisors provide administrative, educational and supportive supervision to less-experienced social workers. They are qualified and licensed professionals with specialized training and several years of experience in social work (Bourn & Hafford-Letchfield, 2017). The information exchange between the supervisor and social workers during supervision aims to promote professional growth and development. The primary objective of supervision is to ensure that social workers deliver effective and appropriate services in the community. They also play a major role in connecting social workers with other experts in the external environment by leveraging on the supervisory functions.
One of the ways social work supervisors could leverage the functions of supervision to enhance the social workers' efforts in networking with grassroots organizations is through education. Education is a significant method of training social workers. It focuses on the social workers' development of knowledge, skills, and attitude (Davys et al., 2017). In this function, supervisors intend to develop new insights, perceptions, and ways of delivering social work services. For example, they educate social workers on therapeutic methods and provide directions to enable supervisees how to best help their clients (Doel & Shardlow, 2017). Education also serves as a tool for connecting social workers with other social work organizations by instilling specific skills needed to network. For instance, it enhances communication skills, promotes teamwork and collaboration, encourages comprehension of alternative viewpoints, and develops creative skills for social workers (Kadushin & Harkness, 2014). Therefore, supervisors should invest more resources in educating social workers to enhance their efforts in networking with grassroots organizations.
Another way is by organizing conferences, seminars, and stress management workshops for social workers. Attending a conference, a seminar, or a stress management workshop is an excellent way social workers can network, build their skills and learn about cutting-edge practices in the field (Schmidt & Kariuki, 2019). It allows them to interact with more experienced social workers and other leaders in the same field. Supervisors can encourage the supervisees to attend conferences of grassroots organizations, especially those that offer workshops in social work services. Through conferences and workshops, supervisors play a supportive function of supervision, whose purpose is to minimize job-related stress in social workers (Kirst-Ashman & Hull Jr, 2014). Doing so helps maintain a required practice standard and creates a suitable workplace. In this function, supervisors act as team leaders interested in increasing staff morale and motivation. They can achieve this by leading stress management workshops to discuss coping strategies (Kadushin & Harkness, 2014).
Another way is by promoting and maintaining ethical standards of work. This technique creates compliance with the organizational policies and those of grassroots organizations. Baines et al., 2014) noted that maintaining ethical standards strengthens relationships between social workers and external stakeholders. For example, it allows individuals to open up to each other and communicate freely. Earning trust from social workers allows grassroots organizations to network and form a cordial relationship with the workers and other key stakeholders. This approach is the quality assurance dimension within social work supervision (Bourn & Hafford-Letchfield, 2017). According to Davys et al. (2017), ethical aspects related to social work supervision show that supervisors should act ethically towards the social workers.
There is a moral obligation to attain the leg...