Doctoral Degrees (Social Work)

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    Essential professional competencies of social work supervisors an a non-profit welfare organisation
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-03) Parker, Lorien; Engelbrecht, Lambert; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Social Work.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Social work supervisors who possess essential professional competencies will have a positive influence on their supervisee, the organisation, and the end service user. They bring about professional growth and change, which encourages the development and maturity of the social worker, resulting in optimum practice. These are key responsibilities of the supervisor, who should be competent to offer supervision at a level that is beneficial to the ecosystem of supervision within the organisation. According to South African policy documents, social work supervisors should be competent to fulfil the expectations and requirements of their position. This implies that supervisors are equipped for their position as social work supervisors, and that they possess the skills, knowledge and experience that are critical for social work supervisors. However, the literature reveals that supervisors are not well prepared for their position, they do not receive training prior to their appointment, and there is no focus on the identification or development of their competencies. There are no policy documents or research papers that explore the essential professional competencies of supervisors. This aspect is critical to examine further, as there is an identified need in South African policy documents to increase the retention and quality of services of social workers, and competent supervisors can contribute significantly to solving this problem. A competent supervisor will lead to a competent supervisee, thus benefitting the organisation and the service user. This study explored and described the essential professional competencies of social work supervisors in a non-profit welfare organisation. This was done by examining which competencies are deemed essential for supervisors, and how they are implemented or experienced. By exploring a conceptual framework for supervisors in South Africa and considering a model and definition of competence within the context, the development and importance of professional competencies could be better understood and explored. An instrumental case study design was deemed the most appropriate design for the research, as it provided a clear context for the research topic to be explored. The study further assumed an exploratory and descriptive research design in order to provide a detailed description of the phenomenon being studied, namely the essential professional competencies of social work supervisors. A qualitative approach was used in the study in order to explore the topic at hand, as it was complementary to the explorative and descriptive research design. Data was gathered Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za by means of a semi-structured interview schedule, which was administered during individual face-to-face or telephonic interviews. This allowed for data to be gathered that provided a rich description of the research topic. The design of the semi-structured interview schedule was based on the information obtained from the literature review chapters. The findings from the empirical investigation reveal that the two main categories in which supervisors should be competent are foundational and functional competencies. Foundational competencies include four subthemes, namely that supervisors should be competent in: emotional intelligence; anti-discriminatory supervisory practices; professional relationships; and ethical practices and legal knowledge. The functional competencies focused on three main subthemes, namely that supervisors should be competent in: balancing the three supervision functions (administration, education and support); implementing the supervision process; and possessing specific managerial competencies for the non-profit organisation (NPO) sector. The findings indicate that supervisors are not fully equipped for their position, and that they require training and equipping in order to understand and implement the competencies that are essential for their practice. Furthermore, the findings show that supervisors have a high workload, they are responsible for a large number of staff, and their supervisory responsibilities are often over-shadowed by structural issues. Supervisors in South Africa need to be competent in balancing their supervision responsibilities alongside the middle management responsibilities that they are expected to bear. Recommendations were made on four of the systems involved in supervision. Specific recommendations were made for each theme, subtheme and category. The general recommendations focus on: supervisors prioritising their competencies and creating opportunities to practise them and improve in them; organisations needing to emphasise the importance of professional competencies, specify them in supervisors’ job descriptions and encourage opportunities for competencies to be learnt and practised; training institutions needing to offer more training in foundational and functional competencies, on both an undergraduate and postgraduate level; and finally, ethical and legal bodies needing to incorporate competencies into policy documents and to facilitate national development programmes to operationalise foundational and functional competencies.