Cultural Competence and Importance of Social Work - Research Paper Example

Defining Cultural Competence and Highlighting its Importance Regarding Social Work Defining Cultural Competence and Highlighting its Importance Regarding Social Work Abstract This paper has been written in order to highlight the importance of NASW Ethical standards which are developed in 2001 so that social workers can have a sense of direction while doing their jobs in various parts of the world. The social workers’ job lies in their ability and power to improve the living conditions of suppressed factions in the communities of the world. The strength of social linkages within the society is going to determine the effectiveness of the operations. Finally, social workers around the world have to prove their effectiveness by doing things practically and fulfilling their pledges and promises in order to win the trust of the public. Introduction The cultural competence is defined as one’s ability to adopt cultural norms and ways of a certain locality or geographical area in order to appear native to local population. Humans do not like to trust outsiders and foreigners whereas, they hate to do business with them and therefore, it is imperative for businesses and social workers to win trust of the local population before getting on with their work in an area (Brien, 1998). However, cultural adaptation is an important step because culture is the software of human mind and because of this reason; people like to engage with those individuals who share their philosophy towards life. The multinationals are famous for conducting cultural recons before entering into the foreign culture. Defining Cultural Competence and Need to Align Operations with Normative Outlook of the Society The culture that is not known to an organization but it plans to enter it is referred as alien culture. The term is used to highlight the seriousness and severity of the situation because organizational participants must remain awake to the fact that they cannot afford to make mistakes because slight cultural misunderstanding will cause all operations to jeopardize at once (Jackson, 2009). The organizations which operate on an international level always keep locals on their front-desks in order to make themselves appear as indigenous as possible to citizens of the particular society. The globalization has been turning work related culture of the entire world to become Americanized with the passage of time and the attempt remained a worthwhile one as well because professional cultures of emerging markets which had been considered centric to futuristic trade world are already giving into the process of adopting American ways of doing and getting things done (Muntaner, 2013). However, according to leading anthropologists, the companies cannot adopt every culture of the world which is apparently the most prominent demand of doing international operations in every walk of life but the experts are consistently suggesting the organizations to bring positive cultural change in order to cause the local culture to adapt to their ways. The professional dress-code of jackets and ties is pretty much applicable in all parts of the world whereas, English is considered international language and in recent years, use of traditional English has decreased and the application of American version is on the rise. Formal Business is Getting Informal: Importance of Trust in Social Work The culture of calling second names during a professional meeting is also dying out and people are very comfortable to consider each other buddies while doing business. The challenge of cultural adaptation is more serious and severe in case of organizations that are working in the field of social work. The social work is all about helping the poor and suppressed in terms of becoming respected citizen of the country or society (Saleebey, 1996). The process of helping the unfortunate cannot be accomplished without winning the trust and as mentioned earlier people do not trust outsiders and foreigners. Based on the above argument, it can be established that social workers have to comprehend and understand the issues of local population and should also work side by side with the governments in order to appear more culturally induced into the community. Soul of Social Work The whole idea behind modern social work is based on organizational ability and power to win the hearts and minds of the local population. Additionally, above all else, humans are known to respond well towards compassion and if social workers do practice compassion then there is no question about the coming of a day when they will win the trust of the people. The kindness is a language that a blind can read and a duff can hear so social workers are guided to do their job of bettering human life and they will not have to worry about winning the hearts and minds of people (Canda, 1988) and that is for sure. The social workers have to identify the problems in the community and then work hard and fast in order to solve them and once they have solved the notable number of issues in the society then people will have nothing to do but to trust the organizations. The organizations which are working to bring change in the community must not fall lethargic and keep on doing their job. They have to continue moving from one change initiative to another because social work is ideally defined as one series of projects which cause development of the society upon achieving its milestones. The general public will no doubt lose its faith in a particular organization once it drops lazy and therefore, its ability to get things done becomes compromised. The condition gets worst when organizational leaders start talking meaningless things and initiate to throw lifeless promises and pledges unto the public. In the way, they almost certify their incapability of getting things done and that is why, all trust which was earned in the past becomes nothing more than a lost treasure. NAWS Ethical Code and Cultural Standards The NAWS provided with the most generic and applicable set of rules which can make cultural adaptation rather simple in nature. The key standards are described as follows: - Ethics and Values: The organization must not act against local ethical codes and must abide by the cultural realities of the societies for instance, in Islamic cultures liquor and close social contact with females are prohibited and therefore culturally unacceptable so social workers must avoid such engagements (NASW , 2001) Self Awareness: In less developed countries people are often encouraged to tell white lies but social workers must not give into unethical and illegal practices of the society (NASW , 2001) Cross Cultural Study: Social workers must study the cultural ways of the society before starting operations in the alien setup. However, partnering with locals in this regard will not be a bad idea (NASW , 2001) Service Delivery: The social workers must deliver their promises and pledges in order to sustain trust of the public (NASW , 2001) Empowerment and Advocacy: The social workers must work in order to empower the poor and suppressed in the society whereas, they are also responsible for raising voice for social equality in the community as well (NASW , 2001) Workforce Diversity: The social organizations must hire people from all regions of the society in order to appear equal employment opportunity provider in the eyes of locals (NASW , 2001) Education: The social workers must work to support acquisition of education and knowledge in the society while, the provision of free or inexpensive education must also be promoted (NASW , 2001) Cross Cultural Lingual Skills: The social workers must also have language experts who can help them in the process of getting their word across to local population easily (NASW , 2001) Cross Cultural Leadership: The leading and authoritative roles must be well scattered in the organizations and one race, social and economic class should not be allowed to gather unjust level of power (NASW , 2001) The true challenge for social workers is to establish social relations with the help of which they are going to serve their goals and objectives. The social workers do not have any formal authority and therefore, they need to convince authoritative people to use their power for letting social activists to do their job. The cultural competence and sensitivity are going to help social workers in increasing their cultural acceptability and therefore, their job of bettering the society will get a lot easier. The NASW standards are nothing but rough guidelines which should be used by social workers to enhance their acceptance in the particular society and it can be accomplished by honoring local ways and languages. Conclusion This paper is written in order to reveal the true nature of social work and the relevant importance of cultural competency. The social workers are primarily responsible for supporting suppressed and unfortunate factions of the populations and therefore, their ability to deliver the promises and pledges is the key to become successful in their field of work. Additionally, cross cultural adaptation and sensitivity are also important for social workers operating all over the world. References Brien, A. 1998. Professional Ethics and The Culture of Trust. Journal of Business Ethics Vol 71 No. 4, 391-409. Canda, E. 1988. Conceptualizing spirituality for social work: Insights from diverse perspectives. Social Thought Vol 14 No. 1, 30-46. Jackson, T. 2009. From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice (Politics and Culture in Modern America). University of Pennsylvania Press, Pennsylvania. Muntaner, C. 2013. Invited Commentary: On the Future of Social Epidemiology—A Case for Scientific Realism. American Journal of Epidemiology Vol 178 No. 6, 852-857. NASW . 2001. NASW Standards for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice. NASW, New York. Saleebey, D. 1996. The Strengths Perspective in Social Work Practice: Extensions and Cautions. Social Work Vol 41 No.3, 296-306. Read More