Browsing by Author "Wynee, Thea T."

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Potential factors contributing to harmful supervision of social workers
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03) Wynee, Thea T.; Engelbrecht, Lambert Karel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Social Work.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Supervision of social workers in South Africa is mandatory, as determined by the Supervision Framework for the Social Work Profession in South Africa. However, it is questionable whether frontline social workers are experiencing supervision practices as helpful. Recent international and local research reports indicate that in many instances supervision is not fulfilling its intended functions and goal, leaving supervisees vulnerable to inadequate and even harmful supervision. Harmful supervision may be defined as supervisory practices that result in psychological, emotional and/or physical harm or trauma to the supervisee, owing to factors such as the supervisor’s disinterest and lack of investment in supervision, power relations, generational and cultural differences and lack of resources. This research reports on potentially harmful supervision practices based on experiences of frontline social workers in a variety of social welfare organisations in the Western Cape, South Africa. Certain findings generated from a purposive, qualitative and exploratory study by means of individual interviews with 20 social workers suggest that supervision may often become a mere “box-ticking exercise”, is crisis driven and “on the run”, and is frequently reduced to little more than compliance checking. Some of these participants experience minimum support and consequently feel at risk and vulnerable. This research document contains two literature chapters. The first explores the current literature on supervision and its intended purposes and functions in order to generate a clear framework of what supervision is supposed to entail. The second extrapolates potentially harmful supervision practises drawing on work from other fields of expertise. Chapter four comprises the empirical study, where data was collected from participants and presented in an integrated manner detailing the specific potential factors contributing to harmful supervision. In chapter five, concrete recommendations are posed to supervisors, managers of organisations and policymakers to curb these potentially harmful supervision practices. The main conclusions drawn from these findings established that harmful supervision practise is indeed occurring and that supervision is no longer reaching its intended functions. This is due to the fact that the checks and balances in place are falling away, as they are being used merely as a formality. If supervision was returned to its all-encompassing purpose, supervisors and supervisees alike would reap the benefits of its practise. While time constraints and lack of training for supervisors are valid points as to why supervision is not happening correctly, this is not an excuse for this type of malpractice, which should be treated as a serious offence. Supervision is crucial for the benefit of practitioners, but if not carried out correctly is causing more harm than good.