Important Skills Relevant to Social Work in Organizational Analysis - Article Example

Important skills relevant to Social Work in Organizational Analysis Contrary to the belief that social work is one of the easiest, non tasking jobs one can ever have, it is a career that requires one to posses crucial skills that should be adaptable to different sets of scenarios. Social work is a complex phenomenon in nature because it involves working across diverse races, ages, religion, cultures, geographical locations, belief systems, classes, health, expectations, political affiliations, disabilities and sexual orientations. These differences are evident in the manner in which the different problems get presented, understood and relayed by people. Unlike other careers, social work gets characterized by different approaches to problems despite the fact that they could be of substantial similarity. A person has to possess several skills in order to be considered an effective social worker. Social work involves a lot of interaction with people and human behavior. Social workers need to have a wide range of research and theoretical base that inform the understanding of people and situations and circumstances that they face. This research and theoretical base will come in handy when formulating the course of action fit for a circumstance. As a social worker, one needs to know how experiences get understood, perceived and relayed by people, and the subsequent positive and negative impacts on life situation and human behavior. Social workers need to improve their practice skills with regard to current research and available evidence (Germaine and Gitterman 2008, p.62). Communication skills are first on the list of must-have skills for any social worker. It is literally impossible to be an effective social work practitioner if one lucks the necessary communication skills required. Social workers should be able to comprehend what a client is undergoing and the causative factors of certain behaviors and trends. Without being able to communicate, and communicate effectively, none of this is possible. It is essential to gain access into the mind of the person in order to decipher their thought process. This is only achievable through communicating with the person. By excellent communication, the social worker is able to hear how others collect and form their feelings and thoughts (Wood and Middleman 1999, p.97). Excellent communication helps the social worker to build a relationship and create a rapport with a person. This is vital in organizational analysis to be able to gain information and share experiences that would inform future action and open up new avenues. Proper communication has profound impacts on social work. Developing relationships with the recipients of social work is crucial though, care has to be taken to ensure that the social worker remains within the boundaries of professionalism (Trevithick 2005, p.82). Human beings have a need to be understood, accepted and to have a purpose and meaning. These people are the majority of social service users. Whereas some people turn to family and friend to meet this need, others look at social work professional. A social worker uses verbal communication skills in her line of work every day. Social workers may at times modify communication styles severally in a single day to enhance their effectiveness with colleagues, community members and clients alike (Jones and May 1999, p.35). Social workers depend on the level of strength in verbal communication in a wide array of settings such as giving testimony before legislators, and advocating for the client in whatever circumstance. Writing communication skills are also essential in organizational analysis. Formality perpetuates that if it did not get written down on paper, then it probably never occurred. This is the first lesson learnt in social work practice, especially if the social work programs are accountable to private or public funders (Wood and Middleman 1999, p.64). Newly inducted practitioners improve their legitimacy and gain the trust of their colleagues and supervisors through writing comprehensive, concise and conclusive progress notes, reports, recommendations and correspondence. As a social worker moves up the ranks, they will have to prepare grant proposals to front a case for financial support. A social worker also gets expected to come up with proposals, including writing evaluation reports and plans (Powers, Wenocur and Hardcastle 2011, p.37). Observation skills are essential in social work. Social workers should be in a position to draw conclusions based on what is visible. A client should not have to express their feelings, moods and thoughts for the social worker to get an inclination of what the problem could be. Through observation, a social worker ought to be able to identify and analyze what the issue facing the client could be. This also comes in handy particularly when the client either has poor oral communication skills or will not exercise whatever communication skills they possess, just to frustrate the social worker. Observation skills are a must have for any social worker to be able to carry out their duties. Psychosocial assessments, a critical part of human behavior analysis, use senses to look into and record both verbal and non verbal responses. Observation skills put the social worker a step ahead in the game (Trevithick 2005, p.77). Organizational analyses in social work depend on the self awareness of the social worker. The level of efficiency of any social worker is dependent on the degree of self awareness. Social workers rely on the use of one in therapeutic relationships to formulate and refine increased awareness of assumptions, biases, motivations and expectations. The theory behind this school of thought is that, before one is able to deal with another person’s issues, they should become competent in exploring, observing and articulating how their own feelings and thoughts affect personal behavior, and the impact of personal behavior on others. Heightened self awareness facilitates the ability of a social worker to point out counter transference and transference issues and to use this information to analyze treatment intervention quality. Social awareness would act as a deterrent factor in as far as negative social welfare practice gets concerned (Jones and May 1992, p.118). Critical thinking is a skill essential for social work practice. Proper organizational analysis has to employ critical thinking. This is because how social work practitioners interpret information obtained through interviews, observations, consultation and research has a profound influence on the diagnosis, assessment, evaluation and treatment of the client. Through critical thinking, the social work practitioner gets compelled to put into perspective how personal expectations, motivations, biases and assumptions influence how he examines data and draws conclusions from it. Critical thinking is crucial because it looks into the aspects of human behavior and character that do not easily meet the eye. One has to be of an analytical mind before he can identify the problems affecting a client (Germain and Gitterman 2008, p.56). Decision making skills are thought to be universal. This is an utter fallacy of thought. We are all capable of making decisions. It is the decisions that we make and how these decisions affect us and other people that matters. Social work practitioners get charged with the responsibility of making crucial decisions that directly affect the life of the client. These sensitive decisions have to be made after keen examination of clients, and facts surrounding the case. Analytical skills come into play here. The decisions made by the social workers should be informed by the well being of the social service recipients. The ability to make the right decisions consistently is essential in social work service delivery (Cournoyer 2010, p. 89) Most social work is therapeutic in nature. It gets aimed at correcting wrongs made or preventing wrong thing from happening. It employs therapy in its undertakings. Social workers need to possess therapeutic skills, which get needed in their field of work. This usually gets coupled with psychological, social and emotional counseling. A social worker must be able to counsel clients in the way that they should act or behave in a bid to correct wrongful behavior (Wearing and Hughes 2007, p.115). Self care in social work is a crucial element. A social worker should make sure that they make the necessary precautions and protect themselves in their line of duty. This is because some aspects of social work require one to work with morally decadent members of society like juvenile delinquents, gang members, ex cons and people on probation. Self care is enhanced through carrying out background checks on the client, and finding out any disturbing information before hand. This will help the social worker prepare and guard themselves against negative eventualities. When visiting unfriendly parts of the neighbourhood, social workers should protect themselves against possible attacks by having police officers or private guards accompany them. Any meetings with clients that are considered a threat should be conducted openly in public places to reduce the chances of any harm occurring (Jones and May 1999, p.89). Self care may be hindered through crossing the professional line and building a personal relationship with the client. This could be dangerous because the social worker may fall victim to whatever negative schemes planned by some clients. The social worker could be in harms way if they do not carry out an extensive background check on the client (Jones and May 1999, p.90). Human service organizations are sites of professional practice. This is because it is through human interaction and analysis and examination of human behavior that can come up with codes of conduct that guide interpersonal relationships. Social work professional practice gets based on treating others the same way they would have others treat. Social work practice gets informed through the organization of human service. Bibliography Cournoyer, B. R., 2010. The Social Work Skills Workbook. New York: Cengage Learning. Gitterman, A. & Germain, C.B., 2008. The Life Model of Social Work Practice. New York: Columbia University Press. May, J. & Jones, A., 1992. Working in Human Service Organisations: A critical introduction. Frenchs Forest: Pearson Education Australia. Powers, P. R, Hardcastle, D. & Wenocur, S., 2011. Community Practice: Theories and Skills For Social Workers. New York: Oxford University Press. Trevithick, P., 2005. Social work skills:A practice handbook. New York: Open University Press. Wearing, M. & Hughes, M., 2007. Organisations and management in social work. London: Sage. Wood, G. G. & Middleman, R. R., 1999. Skills for Direct Practice in Social Work. New York: Columbia University Press. Read More