Social Services - Essay Example

Social Services According to Stoesz and Karger p3), social services are “a series of collective interventions that contribute to the general welfare by assigning claims from one set of people who are said to produce or earn the national income to another set of people who may merit compassion and charity”. The two authors also define social welfare policy as that which “regulates the provision of benefits to people to meet basic life needs, such as employment, income, food, housing, health care, and relationships” (p3). On the other hand, privatization is taken to mean the provision of services by parties other than government. There exists a debate between two opposing camps; Liberals and Conservatives. The Conservatives feel that the government is too big already and should therefore desist from engaging in the provision of social services to those in need. In other words, the provision is such a big problem that the government alone cannot handle. Their claim is based on the fact that the government’s services are bloated with bureaucratic procedures which means that time is severely wasted. In addition, the lack of competition also implies the lack of incentives to provide better services and more waste of limited resources. Yet again, Conservatives believe that government efforts could contribute to the establishment of a social welfare state which soon ushers socialism, and matures into communism. The other camp however believes that social services involve providing solutions to a monumental problem – a task that can only be accomplished by a “big” government. In other words, liberals believe that the problem of poverty can only be solved through government intervention. The following debate on Social services is based to a wide extent on the thirteenth chapter of Kindle, Midgley, Browns and Karger’s book, Controversial Issues in Social Policy. Based on a debate arises between people who believe social welfare is a government’s affair and the people who think that it is too big a problem for the government to handle alone Argument for: 1. Since Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are not likely to change with changes in political activities for instance when there is an election and there is a change in political leadership, they are best suited to offer social services. The government will call for bids from private organizations to offer required services and with a well laid down criteria. The government may then chose the organization that best qualifies to provide social services with due regard to their competence and experience. The contract will be legally bidding once it is awarded and it will spell out the terms and condition of the contract. The government agency will have on site survey and evaluation and even carry out audit on the organization’s financial records to make sure that all set requirements are being met. 2. The NGOs will have been evaluated on the basis of their ability and the most qualified will been given the task of delivering services to the targeted population. The government will have saved a lot of resources in funding structured management to provide the services and as a result the services will have been maximized. This will also minimize bureaucracy and operational costs. The organization will use only methods that have worked before but will not waste resources on methods that have not worked since its aim is to make profit from the contract. 3. NGOs will be in a better positioned to deal with the employees more effectively than government agencies since they will put in place policies that are in line with different government requirements like anti-discrimination policies. These policies will be thoroughly evaluated during the evaluation process of the contract. People employed by the organization will work under the terms and conditions of the contract. Should any employee fail to deliver as per the contract, it they are easier to reassign duties, correct or even fire than if they were an employee of the government. 4. Non-Governmental Organizations or companies are more efficient in utilizing community resources than government agency because they are smaller and can make decisions and act faster. The resources are diverse and may include collaboration with universities or other colleges to offer mentoring to people with interest to pursue careers related to social services and mobilizing the institutions’ resources towards the same course. In addition, in collaboration with other organizations or churches, they can use volunteer opportunities like the LIONS club does; which government agencies may not utilize successfully. 5. People will have several opportunities to exhibit their ability in the arena of social services by using their resourcefulness to offer services to those in need. Arguments AGAINST: 1. Government contracts may not work for social services but may work for some other functions. Government contracts have been abused leading to wastage and fraud as is the case in the Department of Defense of the United States of America where a 40USD machine bolt cost 1887USD, a toilet seat cost 640USD and 57USD screw cost 76USD. Contracts are appropriate means to deliver those goods that have proper reviews and quality controls. These are some of the things that can easily be quantified; dealing with non-quantifiable things would be more difficult to deal with. Services to people cannot be quantified by accountants but must be rendered with utmost compassion. 2. Non-Governmental Organizations are not free of bureaucratic procedures. Since management of projects require several steps in review process, some people may not posses the necessary technical expertise and skills to manage very complex issues. The existence of more resources implies that an organization can better meet challenges in the field as it offers service to people in need. Evaluation is needed if the right services have to be delivered. Imprecision and calling for aid is important if certain needs have to be met. The process of delivering services exposes the service deliverer to some unforeseeable situations which means that constant re-evaluation of the required resources is important. 3. A government agency has necessary policies that govern the performance of duty, discrimination, and personnel relationships among others that will enhance delivery of services. Since the government has a large work force there will be no disruption of service delivery due to vacation, sickness or other requirement of workers. Government agency also have crossed trained workers that will enable them meet the needs of the people. 4. The fact that a government is large, doest not mean it is inefficient and sluggish in offering services. Similarly, NGOs are not necessarily effective because they are smaller. The government has agreement with universities, colleges and other government agencies which can provide needed expertise if they are not available in the agency required to deliver the social services. Most of government agencies also have volunteer programs that can meet a given requirements. 5. Individuals who have interest in social service careers will get abundant opportunities to show compassion and even advance into other areas like project management. Evaluation Both sides of the debate talked about political influence, followed by availability of labor, then human resource management in an organization, efficiency and flexibility of organization and lastly careers in social services. The debate appeared like literature written at different periods of time and merely addressing the authors. Dr Stoez put forward three points; the functions of a private sector and civic culture are the same, nearly all social changes emanates in the private sector and private sector is the source of dynamism of information age. Mr Colby failed to address these issues but was rather concerned with the private sector controversy. The debate could have better been made by including references and providing documents, and including graphics. The debate was biased towards the two divergent views and could have otherwise produced better alternatives if this were not the case. Read More