Browsing by Author "Mtombeni, Tirelo Esther"

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    Reflections of newly qualified social workers on the execution of their management tasks in non-government organisations
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-03) Mtombeni, Tirelo Esther; Engelbrecht, Lambert K.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Social Work.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Social welfare organisations, both nationally and internationally are faced with the challenging task of adapting and converging to a socio-economic policy agenda as a result of global neoliberal reform. Due to socio-economic policy changes and expectations resulting from neoliberalism, social welfare organisations are shifting away from their traditional philanthropic ideology towards operating from business principles of cost-efficiency and management. The influence of neoliberalism within the social welfare context has been documented by various scholars. However, while research has identified the impact of neoliberal managerialism on social work practice, there has been little to no effort in exploring this from the perspective of newly qualified social workers (NQSWs), who are being increasingly expected to demonstrate management knowledge, skills, and capabilities in order to meet organisational targets. This study attempts to identify and explore the execution of various management tasks from the perspective of NQSWs in order to gain an understanding of what management tasks are expected, and how these tasks are executed by NQSWs. The study was particularly interested in the execution of time management, workload management, human resource management, financial management, risk management, change management and programme management as key tasks for the NQSW. The study approach was qualitative and interpretivist, adopting an exploratory and descriptive research design. Through a combined purposive and snowball sampling approach, fifteen NQSW participants from various non-governmental welfare organisations in the country participated in the data collection process by means of a semi-structured interview; due to COVID-19 restrictions, these interviews were conducted telephonically. Data was analysed thematic analysis and pattern matching was used for verification. The key findings indicate that NQSWs execute several important management tasks despite not necessarily being occupants of specific levels of management. The findings further indicate that NQSWs execute these management tasks over and above their frontline intervention responsibility. It is often in the process of rendering services that NQSWs find themselves executing specific management tasks. Participants identified several challenges in this informal management role The recommendations with respect to the findings is that, regardless of one’s position on neoliberal management influence within the welfare context, this is a reality for up-and-coming social workers; training institutions would benefit from integrating management training into the curriculum, adopting a combined bureaucratic and empowerment management approach, that enables social workers to function in a neoliberal environment while retaining the values of the profession. Training institutions and NGOs needs to synchronise the preparation process with the expectations of practice within the work environment in order to ensure optimal performance of these tasks by NQSWs which is equally not at the expense of rendering effective services to the client system.
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    Reflections of newly qualified social workers on the execution of their management tasks in non-government organisations
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-12) Mtombeni, Tirelo Esther; Engelbrecht, Lambert Karel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Social Work.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Social welfare organisations, both nationally and internationally are faced with the challenging task of adapting and converging to a socio-economic policy agenda as a result of global neoliberal reform. Due to socio-economic policy changes and expectations resulting from neoliberalism, social welfare organisations are shifting away from their traditional philanthropic ideology towards operating from business principles of cost-efficiency and management. The influence of neoliberalism within the social welfare context has been documented by various scholars. However, while research has identified the impact of neoliberal managerialism on social work practice, there has been little to no effort in exploring this from the perspective of newly qualified social workers (NQSWs), who are being increasingly expected to demonstrate management knowledge, skills, and capabilities in order to meet organisational targets. This study attempts to identify and explore the execution of various management tasks from the perspective of NQSWs in order to gain an understanding of what management tasks are expected, and how these tasks are executed by NQSWs. The study was particularly interested in the execution of time management, workload management, human resource management, financial management, risk management, change management and programme management as key tasks for the NQSW. The study approach was qualitative and interpretivist, adopting an exploratory and descriptive research design. Through a combined purposive and snowball sampling approach, fifteen NQSW participants from various non-governmental welfare organisations in the country participated in the data collection process by means of a semi-structured interview; due to COVID-19 restrictions, these interviews were conducted telephonically. Data was analysed thematic analysis and pattern matching was used for verification. The key findings indicate that NQSWs execute several important management tasks despite not necessarily being occupants of specific levels of management. The findings further indicate that NQSWs execute these management tasks over and above their frontline intervention responsibility. It is often in the process of rendering services that NQSWs find themselves executing specific management tasks. Participants identified several challenges in this informal management role. The recommendations with respect to the findings is that, regardless of one’s position on neoliberal management influence within the welfare context, this is a reality for up-and-coming social workers; training institutions would benefit from integrating management training into the curriculum, adopting a combined bureaucratic and empowerment management approach, that enables social workers to function in a neoliberal environment while retaining the values of the profession. Training institutions and NGOs needs to synchronise the preparation process with the expectations of practice within the work environment in order to ensure optimal performance of these tasks by NQSWs which is equally not at the expense of rendering effective services to the client system.