Frameworks for resolving value conflicts in social work practice: A case study

Abstract

This article will discuss how two theoretical frameworks can be useful in the analysis of conflict situations in social work practice. By viewing situations from the perspective of competing and differing values, social workers are able to come to respect the positions of those with whom they are in conflict. The respect that emanates from being empathic and validating towards another's values is crucial for negotiating resolution to difficult conflict situations.     

Technology Investment Trends

SUMMARY

Social service agencies across the country are investing in a wide range of technological, business process reengineering, and organizational change projects. These projects include:

? ? using technology to connect social workers to enable collaborative case management;

? ? building databases with sophisticated querying applications that allow quick, effective decision making at the front-line and management levels; and

? ? expanding the number of ways clients can access services through the use of the Internet, kiosks, electronic benefit transfers, etc.

Successful projects have a clearly identified business need and a strategy for addressing that need. This strategy includes understanding the process, organizational and technological context, evaluating alternative means of meeting the need, and developing a solid program management plan.     

Big Data in Social Welfare: The Development of a Critical Perspective on Social Work's Latest “Electronic Turn”

ABSTRACT

“Big data” initiatives that aim to bring together and mine data from multiple databases across government and non-government agencies promise new insights into the delivery of social services. However, as debates in other disciplines have shown, big data poses challenges as well as opportunities. This article provides an overview of the ethical issues in relation to big data, which extends into an examination of the practice issues for big data applied to the social welfare sector. In particular, the claims for objectivity made for big data are problematised through an exploration of what data are available in social welfare and the processes of big data collection and analysis, which are different from, but related to, data integrity. The aim is to stimulate debate within the sector in order to contribute to the development of a critical, cautious, but open approach to social work's latest “electronic turn”.     

Educator Sexual Misconduct and Texas Educator Discipline Database Construction

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research is to describe Texas educator sexual misconduct (ESM) by examining 8 years of sanctions issued to educators (N = 1415) for either sexual misconduct or inappropriate relationships with students or minors. We first examine Texas ESM from the perspective of quality database construction and then describe the demographic characteristics of educators sanctioned for ESM between 2008 and 2016. Differences in the demographic characteristics of educators sanctioned for ESM vary according to the definition of ESM employed by the state education agency. Younger and early career educators are more likely to engage in inappropriate relationships with students or minors, whereas older and later-career teachers are more likely to engage in sexual misconduct as that term is defined by the state education agency. Over one-third of educators sanctioned for ESM were either new to the profession or new to their school district when sanctioned. Recommendations are offered for database construction, policy, and practice.     

A “Nutcracker” Theory of Modern Organizations: A Conflict View

Abstract

This paper presents a point of view toward formal organizations which departs from the equilibrium models contained on both bureaucratic and open system theory. Specifically, a conflict perspective is taken in terms of which organization disequilibrium is understood to be typical of organizations as a consequence of their being continually subject to the threat of withdrawal of monetary and non-monetary supports from both internal members and external publics with which organizations are interdependent. The factors contributing to these circumstances of conflict are attributed to recent maturations of rights of citizenship and participatory democracy, the social organization of these sources of conflict are termed the “nutcracker” effect.     

Agency Practices Affecting Social Workers Who Treat Substance-Abusing Clients

Abstract

This study interviewed 115 MSWs with substance abuse training working in general social service agencies to determine if they viewed their settings as facilitating or hindering their work with substance-abusing clients. This study builds on the work of Lightfoot and Orford (1986) who found that social workers were more hindered than helped by their agencies' practices regarding substance-abusing clients.

Results: A majority of workers viewed their agencies as facilitating substance abuse-related work through support from supervisors and administrators, availability of substance abuse training, workers' freedom to choose clients, and opportunities to supervise others on substance abuse-related issues. Supervisor data corroborated these findings. This is a hopeful sign for the profession contrasting with considerable social work literature documenting the profession's historic ambivalence toward substance-abusing clients.     

Business IN Society: The Social Contract Revisited

Abstract

Perhaps no theoretical perspective better supports evolving expectations of corporate social responsibility than social contract theory. Centuries old, this dominant theory has proven to be highly influential in Western contexts, as it encompasses both institutional and moral consideration. The relationship between business and society has become increasingly significant in recent years as businesses must respond to rapid global change, pressing externalities, and serious societal concerns, many of which cannot be adequately attended to by any party alone. This paper offers an evolutionary perspective of the social contract in light of modern day realities and shifting societal expectations. Implications are derived from both moral and pragmatic arguments to suggest that the implied social contract is meaningfully evolving in new directions both in terms of theory and practice, most particularly regarding business purpose, leadership, and social responsibility.     

Promoting Constructive Conflict from a Conflict Transformation Perspective: The Case of Community-Based Collaboration in Korea

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on developing constructive conflict management in community-based collaborations for macro social workers. Using a conflict transformation perspective as a conceptual framework, we identified significant factors and their dynamic relationships in promoting constructive conflict in the context of 5 community-based collaborations in Korea. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that responsive coordination was a strong predictor of increased perceptions of constructive conflict. Further, a multiple mediator model indicated that open communication was indirectly associated with perceived constructive conflict by enhancing both equal decision-making and responsive coordination. We conclude by highlighting practical implications of our study.     

e-Tools and Organization Transformation Techniques for Collaborative Case Management

SUMMARY

Welfare and workforce development reforms propel individual agencies into formal partnerships with one another. Collaborative Case Management is the cooperative delivery of social services to common clients. This paper describes technological tools and organization transformation issues for collaborative case management. A road map for a successful transition includes a shared vision, business/technology requirements, an information management strategy, redesigned jobs and processes, and a change management strategy.     

Symbolic control: Issues of empirical description of agencies and agents

This paper arose out of the empirical requirements to describe and position agents and agencies of symbolic control concerned with the regulation of social relationships, consciousness, disposition and desire. These requirements led to a differentiation of agents in terms of their function and discourse and their segmentation through their specialized fields of activity and their stratification according to hierarchical position in a given field. This model generated a sensitive differentiation and segmentation which provides the social basis for expected differences in interests, motivations and identifications of functionally similar agents operating in different fields of activity. The model raises general issues of social class allocation and the relation between theory and methods.     

Social comparison,group identity and professional identity. A study with bank clerks

Abstract

This study consisted of analyzing several hypotheses derived from Tajfel and Turner's social identity theory (Tajfel and Turner, 1979) within a real-life situation. We identified the intergroup relations among three banks in Brazil as an ideal chance to test the salience hypothesis (Oakes & Turner, 1980; Doise & Sinclair, 1973) and also the relationship between discrimination and social identity (Brown et al. 1983b). In general, results did not support the hypotheses, and alternative explanations of results, in terms of the groups ' real life conditions, are discussed.     

Microsocial Implications of the Macrostructural Distribution of Social Resources

Abstract

The general purpose of this paper is to develop an explanation of how the macrostructural distribution of social resources affects the microsocial structure of personal social networks and, therefore, constraints on individual purposive action.

Specifically, the paper attempts to provide a theoretical integration for two sets of recent findings; those noting status-related variations in personal network structures and those noting differential success in occupational attainment as a function of personal network structure and use.

It is suggested that the effects of macrosocial and microsocial structure on purposive action in general can now be understood using a social resources perspective.     

Civil Savior and Scapegoat

Abstract

In this paper, the Nova Scotia experience is used to depict the grassroots perspective of providing compassionate services in an increasingly dispassionate society and to stimulate analysis by front line workers on what is happening to community-based services. Particular attention is paid to the role of small agencies by providing a snapshot of the struggles associated with being small. In the end, the purpose of speaking out is to challenge policy makers to make more informed and benevolent decisions on social welfare.     

Computer Acceptance by Social Workers

Summary

Much has been said and written concerning the influence of intrinsic personal and professional factors on the use of computers in general and in the social services in particular. For example, much has been made of the negative attitudes of professional personnel towards computer use. Little data however has been forthcoming to demonstrate the accuracy of this viewpoint. Theoretical analyses of the computerization process have mentioned three general issues in overcoming the imputed outcomes of these negative attitudes.

An ex post facto study on computer acceptance by social workers, employed in municipal social service agencies (MSSA) in Israel, where a computerized case management system was implemented, was conducted. The impact of (1) intrinsic attitudes towards computer utilization in Human Services; (2) organizational factors; and (3) system design related factors on system acceptance was explored. It was found that readiness to computerize was related mainly to organizational and system design factors and not, contrary to expectations, to intrinsic attitudes of social workers. Implications of these findings on system implementation are discussed.     

Children's Understanding of Emotion Communication in Families

SUMMARY

There is a paucity of research on children's awareness of how emotion communication varies within relationships. Indeed, we operate on the assumption that a very significant function of emotion is to regulate interpersonal interaction. In this essay we discuss how children come to understand such phenomena as: (a) emotional-expressive behavior can have powerful interpersonal consequences; (b) relationship dimensions such as degree of power and closeness interact with intensity of emotion in how emotion is communicated; and (c) maintenance of relationship quality (e.g., equilibrium, attenuation, or deepening) requires different strategies of emotion communication. Among the constructs that we address are several that are useful for understanding the dynamics of interpersonal communication; they have also proven their utility over a considerable period of time. However, these constructs derive from social psychology and family systems; they have not been systematically investigated from a developmental perspective     

Mothers and fathers’ experiences of high conflict past two years post separation: A systematic review of the qualitative literature

Abstract

Within a child custody context, this article systematically reviewed the available qualitative research of post separation, high conflict, co-parenting relationships. Separated parents’ experiences of high conflict were reportedly embedded in pervasive mistrust and disdain, and underpinned by concerns over differing parenting styles, or the other parent’s ability to adequately care for the child. The factors that potentially maintained conflict were parental concerns regarding the child’s safety and well-being when in the care of the other parent. The factor that potentially escalated conflict was disdain directed at the other parent’s concerns. Recommendations for future research and implications for social policy for these families are discussed.     

Accessibility in Rural Social Service Agencies

ABSTRACT

This study explores the degree that social service agencies are aware of the ADA, the degree that agencies perceive they comply with the ADA, and the barriers these agencies face in making their services accessible. The directors of 28 randomly selected rural social service agencies in a midwestern state completed semi-structured telephone interviews. Interviews explored respondents& knowledge of the ADA, barriers rural agencies face in providing accessible services, types of accommodations they have made and degree of fit between the ADA and rural agencies. The findings suggest that while the ADA is not a significant burden for rural agencies, there is a need for enhanced training and outreach.     

Social capital: A useful concept for social work?

Abstract

In recent years, Australian governments at all levels have adopted social capital and related concepts to frame social policy. Hence, these ideas provide the backdrop within which much contemporary social work practice and social policy development occurs. Despite extensive coverage of social capital concepts in the social science literature there has been limited discussion of their application to social work practice. In this paper we review the origins and meaning of social capital. We then turn to a discussion of its application to progressive social work as well as a consideration of the criticisms of social capital concepts. We introduce a synergy model of social capital formation that incorporates a dual focus on local community networks and the role of the institutions of government, non-government agencies and business in the creation of social capital. The paper concludes with consideration of how a synergy approach can be applied in, and developed through, social work practice.

Karen Healy and Anne Hampshire lead a three year research project entitled: ‘Creating Better Communities: A Study of Social Capital Creation in Four Communities’. The study examines processes of social capital creation in urban, regional and rural contexts. The study is jointly funded by The Australian Research Council and The Benevolent Society     

Using Refugee Stories in Social Work Education

ABSTRACT

Facilitating the adjustment of refugees can be a challenging task for social workers because these involuntary migrants are often both culturally different and psychologically traumatized. Powerful stories about the refugee experience can, therefore, be valuable tools in the preparation of social workers. They can be used to build background knowledge, because they document the experiences of refugees and the sociopsychological effects of those experiences. They can also be used to complement and illustrate theory and are especially valuable, because they permit us to see the receiving country and its agencies from a refugee perspective. Last, they can effectively raise issues for discussion and/or further investigation. This pedagogical potential is illustrated by reference to eight short stories, one biography and a collection of first-person narratives.     

The Policy Outputs and Conflicts of Large Communities from an Interorganizational Viewpoint

Abstract

An interorganizational framework is employed to merge elitist, pluralist, and dialectic perspectives on the community in this pilot study of 36 large United States cities.

An interorganizational framework is employed to merge elitist, pluralist, and dialectic perspectives on the community in this pilot study of 36 large United States cities.

Where organizations fail to abound, power may be wielded by an organized elite over an unorganized mass, thereby creating the conditions of polarized conflict, undampened by the crosscutting and issue-specific lines of coalition and conflict existing in organizationally richer environments. The indicators of community decentralization did indeed have independent effects upon the absence of conflict, measured by flouridation of the municipal water supply.

Decision by coalition lends special significance to linkage-providing organizations, such as large-scale and diversified municipal government. The idea of organizations with plural interests and values suggests that centralized governments either are weak or exist in organizationally barren communities; neither alternative is conducive to collective community action. The finding follows that seven different community outposts, each one requiring interorganizational cooperation, were positively affected by the scale and diversification of municipal government and/or by its decentralization.

All of this suggests that various small conflicts serve to prevent large ones in the multiorganizational setting and that the power of organizations, even government agencies, depends upon their capacity for coalition-formation, whatever the degree of their political autonomy.