Orienting Social Work Employees in Interdisciplinary Settings: Shaping Professional and Organizational Perspectives

Abstract

The orientation period provides social work administrators in interdisciplinary settings with an opportunity to socialize or acculturate social work employees to an ideology regarding departmental goals, services to clients, and role expectations. An acculturation approach to orientation implies a process that takes place over time to communicate the complex knowledge base unique to social work, thereby helping workers function in a particular interdisciplinary organization. Where non-social work perspectives predominate, such as in mental health clinics, hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, or schools, the new employee is likely to encounter competing points of view regarding services to clients. Those aspects of the organization and professional role stressed during orientation will be understood implicitly by new employees as critical to their future success in the organization. This article identifies the functions of orientation and describes the methods, process, and content of orientation.