Abstract
The adoption of the social development approach in South African social service organisations continues to challenge and stretch organisations in many directions. The frontline social worker navigating this terrain, carrying the bulk of direct services and undertaking various management tasks, is confronted with personal trauma, resource constraints, organisational issues, ethical dilemmas as well as the pressure of inclusive and representative service delivery. An exploratory descriptive qualitative empirical study using a case study research design was undertaken with the main aim being to explore and describe the management tasks of frontline social workers in the NPO sector in Port Elizabeth. Semi-structured individual interviews were held with frontline social workers and one focus group was held with middle managers. The study's findings revealed the aspects contributing towards undertaking management tasks, the experiences of executing management tasks and the consequences of doing so. This paper presents the management strategies utilised by frontline social workers.
Highlights
REVIEW Weinbach and Taylor (2015:6) provide the following broad definition of social work management: “management is certain activities performed by social workers at all administrative levels within human service organisations that are designed to facilitate the accomplishment of organisational goals.”
Because of the depth of the overall study findings, this paper reports on the findings only pertaining to following objective: To determine the consequences of frontline social workers executing management tasks
This article presented the findings in respect of the consequences of frontline social workers undertaking management tasks
Summary
AND LITERATURE REVIEW Weinbach and Taylor (2015:6) provide the following broad definition of social work management: “management is certain activities performed by social workers at all administrative levels within human service organisations that are designed to facilitate the accomplishment of organisational goals.” Management tasks in social work are executed by the frontline social worker, the middle manager/supervisor and the top level manager/director. Weinbach and Taylor (2015:8) identify the following non-exhaustive list of the various management tasks: Analysing situations and conceptualising what is happening; Identifying problems and opportunities for addressing them; Balancing competing goals; Setting priorities for themselves and others; Working effectively with others who may not share all of the same values; Representing the organisation to staff members and in the community; Serving as a role model for paid staff and volunteers; Keeping others on track; Resolving interpersonal conflicts; Adhering to and ensuring that others adhere to ethical standards; Handling finances responsibly and reducing expenses whenever possible; Making difficult (often unpopular) decisions; Supporting decisions of others with which they themselves may disagree. THEMES, SUBTHEMES AND CATEGORIES PERTAINING TO THE CONSEQUENCES OF FRONTLINE SOCIAL WORKERS UNDERTAKING MANAGEMENT TASKS Table 1 provides an overview of the themes and subthemes identified from the findings
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