The of Badwall, OConnor and Rossiter - Case Study Example

Case Study: Badwall, O’Connor and Rossiter Introduction Nick Gould and Mark Baldwin’s Social work, Critical Reflection and Learning Organization provides a comprehensive approach to human services as a learning experience and its relevance to social services. It functions as a valuable guide to theories in human needs and response systems in the ambit of social work and as such provides a valuable guide for social workers. The case study by Badwall, O’Connor and Rossiter presented in Gould and Baldwin’s work is particularly instructive. It provides an analysis of different perspectives in social work theories such as individual perspective, system perspective, structural perspective and community perspective. The paper focuses on Badwall, O’Connor and Rossiter’s case study and examines each of the perspectives and identifies the strengths of each of the main characters, the conflicts contained in the case study. This paper is therefore divided among the different perspectives. The individual perspective is discussed first as a lead into identifying the core characters’ strengths and the conflicts. The systems perspective is set out next with a description of what takes place within the institutional system. This is followed by a presentation of the structural perspective and the focus is on how institutionally embedded injustices influences specific family members and the family as a whole. The structural perspective also examines how race, class, gender and/or other oppressive stereotyping impacts the family’s experiences and their understandings of themselves and others. The community perspective follows the structural perspective in this paper. The community perspective is examined one social problem that exists in this community is identified as well as its root causes. I. Individual Perspective There are number of organizational changes such as anticipatory, reactive, incremental, strategic and changes through tuning, adaptation, reorientation and recreation. These changes are unavoidable in the human organization and have consequences for the way that individuals respond. Human responses in this changing environment are diverse. In this regard, anticipatory changes are characterized by the changes in an organization that can be anticipated and can be prepared for by virtue of planning and proactive strategies. Reactive changes refer to changes made in response to an unanticipated situation within the organization. Incremental changes occur by virtue of the introduction of new subsystems to the organization’s constructs. Strategic changes take place when an alteration in the organization results in the application of a new strategy as a means of taking the organization in a more appropriate direction. Individuals respond to these changes in diverse ways. Some of the different ways that individuals respond to these different institutional changes can be characterized by unrealistic optimism or feelings of shock on acceptance of the reality of the situation or they can view those changes as constructive institutional direction. These responses are manifested in different ways. They can be manifested by laughing it off or regarding those changes with suspicion or by simply accepting those changes without question. Essentially organizational change or any alteration to normative structures can be perceived differently by individuals. II. Strength of main characters Amy is a professor in the department of social work with eight years of experience. She wanted to work in the health agency and took a year-long sabbatical in order to connect her academic experience with the practical reality of working in the field. She was determined to expose the link between the university’s social work program and the community’s social work. With this motivation, Amy joined the health agency and began work as an assistant to the receptionist. Amy took this post because she felt that it provided an effective opportunity for her become more acquainted with the staff members and clientele. Amy also thought that by taking the post it could help her learn about the structural premise of the organization such as its objectives, health programs and other projects and services. During her post Amy became familiar with a project designed to help the homeless. As a receptionist assistant she became acquainted with a number of issues taking place within the organization. Of particular concern to Amy was racial disparity and the threats and verbal abuse encountered by receptionists of color. As Amy observed: Informally, the women of color in the organization confided in me about the racism they encountered in the job. The discussions were filled with pain, anger, hopelessness and desperation, in addition to a sense of connection, safety and relief (Badwall, O’Connor and Rossiter 2004, 151). Patricia is the health agency’s health promoter and as such, she is responsible for the field work of the students who enter the organization for practical experience. In addition to working with Amy, Patricia met with different teams in the organization in order to gain an understanding of what the concept of social justice meant for different teams. Heeraj is a staff member within in the health agency and he was involved in discussions with Amy about racial oppression within the organization. Cumulatively, input from Patricia and Heeraj and from Amy’s own observations informed that the organization is comprised of more white workers than workers of color. As Amy concluded: Racially there were clear hierarchies at the agency. The organization was dominantly made up of white workers, mainly white women (Badwall, O’Connor and Rossiter 2004, 154). III. Core conflicts Neo-liberal reforms by Canada’s government created tensions between health agencies and individuals. These tensions gave way to a number of problems particularly the abrogation of social housing, reduction in welfare and a number of constraints on core human services as a result of budget cuts. Ultimately a number of service agencies were closed and homelessness increased as a result. With homeless on the rise, the agency took initiatives to support those who were affected by homelessness. The primary source of conflict within the organization existed among the employees. At the core of this conflict was racism. This conflict compromised the organization’s ability to appropriately focus its attention on lending support to marginalized individuals. For example: Once discussions about the race moved from informal spaces within the agency to the anti discrimination committee, staff members who worked closely with homeless populations began associating the anti-discrimination work exclusively with anti racism efforts and did not feel issues around the class were being adequately addressed (Badwall, O’Connor and Rossiter 2004, 152). Ironically, social work is aimed at eliminating the attendant evils of racism from society. Yet, the social work organization itself emerges as a place in which the attendant evils of racism exist. Theoretically at least: Social work situates itself with the social justice. Within the context of this organization, social justice was a practice workers engaged in with their clients. Social justice was seen as something outside of ourselves, something we fought for, for our client and out in the community (Badwall, O’Connor and Rossiter 2004, 155). IV. Systems Perspective Organizational systems are the various elements within the organization and their interrelations between various factors. For example in a school, there are a number of systems and subsystems within its institutional framework. Moreover, there are a number of elements that necessarily interact in the course of their respective functions. For instance, the principal interacts with the teaching staff, and the teaching staff interacts with the students. There is also interaction between the teaching staff and the students’ parents. Each of these elements and their direct and indirect connectedness are all systems. Put another way, systems can be described as administrative systems as they function around two core groups and their relationships; teachers and students. Each of these systems are interconnected and how these systems are perceived is referred to as the system perspection. Systems have essential characteristics and they are related to constant change which is in turn dynamic and complex. As a result of constant change in a system, it achieves new results within an organization. Systems are very complex because they consist of a number of subsystems that invariably interact with one another. One of the important results of the system is homeostasis that brings equilibrium in the structure and function of the organization. Kelso (1995) notes that when things occur that encourage change, it may result in dramatic changes for the whole operation of the system. Ultimately, what this means is that change results in change and even the smallest of changes can have far reaching consequences. Moreover, change is a significant instrument for accommodating the growth of systems and for organization strategies (Eidelson 1997, 42-71). The case study conducted by Badwall, O’Connor and Rossiter demonstrates that are a number of systems and sub-systems within the organization such as the relationship between the receptionist and other employees, the relationship between the clientele and staff, the relationship between the administrators and the relationship between the marginalized people and the health agency. Each of these relationships and their interconnectedness are systems within the organization. The problems and issues existing between the employees will certainly affect the achievement of the organization’s objectives. With an increase in the number of the marginalized and socially displaced individuals as a result of the Canadian government’s neo-liberal reforms, the agency is committed to responding to these increases. However issues within in the reception area relative to racism are spilling over to negatively impact the agency’s commitment to marginalized and socially displaced individuals. The main problem is reflected in the following observation recorded by Badwall, O’Connor and Rossiter (2004): I worked closely with the receptionist team to collaborate around exploring various strategies that might support anti- racist change. I attempted to highlight how difficult this role was in my location as a woman of color working in an agency that is affected by racism. What people of different color was experiencing was the direct result of white supremacy and white norms of intervention (Badwall, O’Connor and Rossiter 2004, 152). Moreover, management fails to take the measures necessary for putting an end to the manifestations of racism within the agency. Perceptions are that since the majority of the organization is white, empathy with a minority of persons of color is lacking and therefore does not engender sufficient incentive for preventative action. When incidents of racist conduct are brought to the management’s attention, the response is typically one of blame-shifting. The position taken is usually one that attributes the conflict to people of color in that they are not performing their duties satisfactorily. In fact it was recorded in Badwall, O’Connor and Rossiter’s (2004) case study that: Within the context of the organization, women of color who were recipient of racial abuse were told that they were not performing their job duties adequately (153). V. Structuralism Structuralism is social science approach to the study of human society that gained currency in the early twentieth century (Baert and da Silva 2010, 12). The concept of structuralism in social theory and social work is used more in terms of the mental phenomena model rather than in the physical phenomena model. Structuralism theorists consider society as a whole structure where the individual behavior is assigned lesser importance. The society is considered as a system of organization. As Green (1987) observes: The most difficult aspect of structuralism is that these structures are not based on concrete or physical phenomena as they are in biological or other sciences but based on cultural realities such kinship organization or tales (773). Ferdinand de Saussure, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Jacques Lacan and Lévi-Strauss are some of the thinkers that made significant contributions to the theory of structuralism. Levi Strauss, who is considered one of the most influential structuralism theorists, explained that society is comprised of unconscious psychic structures which exist in all human societies (Green 1987, 773) . The underlying idea in the theory of structuralism is that the individual does not have an independent identity that is separate and apart from the social organization. The individual derives meaning when he/she acts as a part of the whole system. Marx also claimed that the structure of the society is a major reason for the exploitation of its members (Green 1987, 773). The case study describes various conflicts occurring in a health agency organization. The conflict originated out of attempts to generate organizational change. As previously noted, these changes were obviated by neo-liberal government policy changes in Canada. These changes necessitated the cessation of social housing, welfare reduction, agency closure and the decimation of the social safety network among other social insurance decreases. Each of these reforms are directly related to the organization’s social services. These broad structural changes can have significant consequences for the individual within the organization as it impacts the persons that they are sworn to serve and it impacts the quality of the services they deliver. Substance abuse can be seen more visibly in the agency which as an example of individual impact. The family members exhibit aggressive behavior in the organization. The cancellation of the social housing resulted in the increased homelessness. Other policy level reforms caused marginalization among race and class levels. Each of these realities are the impact of the institutionally embedded injustice within the agency. According to the structural perspective, the marginalization and exploitation of the marginalized will always occur as a result of the poor social structure or the sudden social structural change. According to Karl Marx the exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie was due to the structural imbalance of the society (Delanty and Isin 2003, 88). The major reason for this exploitation was symptomatic of the capitalist society. It was a major social injustice confronted during the conflict examined in Badwall, O’Connor and Rossiter’s case study. The racism among the employees also existed internally. Therefore, a healthy platform for solving the class and race related issues was necessitated. The working conditions were intolerable because of the racist name-calling and threatened physical assault by clients. Open discussion of race and class issues did not form a part of the agency’s constructs. This is one of the reasons for the internal conflict within the informal private space of the organization. The agency has a subliminal norm system that is intrinsically dominated by white norms. The unfair institutional arrangement also causes imbalances among the employees which can lead to conflict. The family experiences a situation filled with pain anger, hopelessness and desperation, in addition to seeking to achieve a sense of connection, safety and relief. VI. Community Perspective. Klasssen notes of community perspectives that: Community, in the human context, refers to a group of people that share things in common and have mutual vested interests (n.d.). From a community perspective society is viewed in a broader sense. The social capital and all other resources in the community are used for the mutual and equal development for the common good. The community perspective is therefore more closely connected to the concept of development. World level projects and supportive programs are carried out in the entire world for the development of the entire people. In the Community perspective the interaction and interconnection between the members of the society is much more solid and stronger. Issues of inequality such as racial and class discrimination are major problems that confronted the health agency organization in Badwall, O’Connor and Rossiter’s case study. The organization has failed to respond to these challenges and has neglected to create a healthy platform for an open discussion of the racial and class level discrimination. The employees were therefore not in a position to work freely. For instance, racial name-calling directed toward employees left those targeted feeling humiliated. The existing norms on racial and class equality were supportive of and reflective of the whites’ perspectives and values. A workable solution to these issues would be for opening discussions on the issues and the conflicting perspectives. The organization’s legislative body should also be reformed so that anti-harassing and anti-discriminations laws can be implemented for employee protection. The organization ought to establish a quality circle. The intolerable working condition resulting from the racist name-calling and threatening atmosphere cannot continue as it is disruptive to the efficiency and quality of the organization’s services. The root cause of the social issue is a domino effect emanating from the legislative body. The legislative body itself can without consciously attempting to, create racial discrimination. A client needs assessment exercise should be undertaken. In the needs assessment exercise, the needs of the each employees should also be collected individually and steps taken to ensure that each individual’s needs are satisfied as far as it is humanly possible to do so. The social workers should work together collectively and should organize a forum for the employees. The objective of this exercise is to create a space for the employees to freely explore and address their discrimination grievances. VII. Role of social worker The social worker is required to assess the systems within the organization as a means of evaluating the interrelationship between various subsystems such as the relationship between the administrators and staff, the relationship between the staff, the cooperation among the employees and various projects, strategies and its implementation. The social worker is then required to understand the effect of the structure on the social change. This case study demonstrates that the marginalization of the people occurs as a result of and response to the poor social structure or sudden social structural change. If a social worker wants to successfully engage in social work in the community he/s will be required to understand the community organization and the people within the organization. Conclusion This paper presented the theoretical practice of social work by reference to the case study conducted by Badwall, O’Connor and Rossiter. The case study drew attention to different organizational learning, experiences and theories by examining perspectives in the context of social change. These perspectives were the individual, system, structural and community based. The individual perspective reveals the strength of the characters in the case study and the core of the conflict outlined in the case study. There are various systems in the organization which are interlinked together. The effective cohesion of these factors determines how well the organization responds to and adjusts to social change. Bibliography Badwall, H.; O’Connor, P. and Rossiter, A. (2004) “Living Out Histories and Identities in Organizations: A Case Study from Three Perspectives”. Cited in Gould, N. and Baldwin, M. Dr. (eds) Social Work, Critical Reflection, and the Learning Organization. Ashgate Publishing. Baert, P. and da Silva, F.C. (2010) Social Theory in the Twentieth Century and Beyond. Polity. Delanty, G. and Isin, E. (2003) Handbook of Historical Sociology. SAGE Publishing. Eidelson, R. J. (1997) “Complex Adaptive Systems in the Behavioral and Social Sciences”, Review of General Psychology, Vol. 1(1): 42-71. Green, T. (1987) Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music and Art, Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO. Klassen, P. (n.d.) “Community Perspectives”. CFC Community First Consulting. http://comres.pbworks.com/Community-Perspective#BackgroundandRationale (Retrieved August 21, 2010). Kelso, J.A.S. (1995) Dynamic Patterns: The Self-Organization of Brain and Behavior.MIT Press. Read More