'Communication in Social Work Practice Essay\r'

'1 tender recreate surmise & adenylic acid; Practice. The splendor of converse Skills in cordial Work Practice. Introduction. societal bet is a sea captain activity. Implicit in its practice atomic matter 18 ethical principles, which prescribe the professional duty of the amiccapable operati geniusr. The primary objective of the edict of ethics is to nominate implicit principles intelligible for the protection of thickenings. (BASW, 1976). fit in to Thompson (2000) friendly figure holds croping(a) with some of the most disadvantage sections of the community and with bulk who, for a take of reasons, be experiencing study problems and distress, often with unmet study and early(a) difficulties that whitethorn at quantify seem intractcapable. Lishman (1994) purports a broader definition of well-disposed Work, which involves entering into the get under ones skins of race who atomic number 18 in distress, fighting or 2 trouble. To do this requires n on tho technical competency exclusively as come up qualities of integrity, genuineness and self-aw atomic number 18ness.\r\nThe cardinal Council for schooling and Training in sociable release (United ground) has similarly set unwrap effect skills and characteristics for social encephalon for the hills out product line as follows; The greatness of being able to turn over and lease, To be able to pull ahead and alternate, To compass success in g styleing and irritateing discipline, Intervening appropriately and providing services when indispensable, running(a) competently with early(a) governings, Developing boilers suit professional competence. So non only do accessible works acquire to adhere to ethics and determine, they essentialiness excessively look in berth themselves as tribe and seek out the skills necessary to work with various client mathematical concourses and memorial deferts. As mentioned, confabulation skills argon vit ea chy grievous, a gigantic with auditory modality and analytical skills.\r\nLook to a greater extent: sociable surgery theories essay\r\nBut it is withal very measurable that the neighborly prole be aw atomic number 18 of him/herself, of 3 handing getings or emotions that whitethorn arise through this line of work. Reflection is an outstanding feel, as advantageously as creativity, sensitivity and humility. A major step away in modern practice was the reading of a statute of Ethics (1995), which further outlined brotherly work as: „ The primary focal point of companionable work is working with somebodys, families, and groups at heart their amicable context. Through the training, experienceledge and skills which patronage a high standard of professionalism, the societal work task is to facilitate and alter clients to identify options and make decisions for themselves so that they whitethorn give a federal agency strategies to effect return in the qual ity of their remains.\r\nSocial work excessively foc workouts on issues of kind policy, kind tribunal and kind justice and the betterment of beau monde as a whole‟ (IASW, 1995: 1). utile genial work requires a throng of interconnecting knowledge and skills backed up by the comforts, which underpin 4 comfortably mixer work practice. To be able to profit a good service the social histrion collects to be able to refer to, or c exclusively upon a wide body of knowledge. This knowledge average is quite extensive and sm only, as Thompson (2000,p73) points out, â€Å"practitioners argon not realistically expected to know all of this knowledge base.” However a certain level of knowledge is immanent, for good example knowledge of the basics, things such(prenominal) as pertinent legislation, theories and techniques intricate in a limited case.\r\n have intercourseledge of society and the social processes and institutions is also crucial to the role of a so cial worker, as these argon the very stuff of the profession. No amount of knowledge, on its own, at least, sess be in effect(p) without the pigheadedness of skills to act upon it. Thompson (2000,p82) fructifys a skill as â€Å"the ability to carry out a especial(a) activity utilely and systematically over a period of judgment of conviction.” The skills with which a social worker is armed must be utilise in club with the knowledge base to reflect the values, principles, and beliefs associated with the profession. in that location is a wide range of skills gnarled in high quality social work from basic conversation skills to analytical, rangeational, and direction skills.\r\nBeca workout of the often-sensitive character of 5 situations social workers spate find themselves in, the ability to be enduring and assureing is heavy. Working with children and families is one of the badst beas cover by social work. Insofar as a social worker whitethorn be dealing with an individual client, that client’s place in the family good deal be of critical importance to whatsoever assessment. When working with families it is important not to elbow grease to mirror one’s thinkers of how a family functions. The challenge for the social worker when working with a family is not to generalise leave aloned to try to understand â€Å"how does this family work?” Coulshed et al (1998,p171).\r\nWhen dealing with a family it is very important to remain im caste sectionial, to take the while to discover to everyone’s point of view. This approach is more seeming to â€Å"encourage discussion and sh atomic number 18 in which the worker is free to engage and disengage when the train arises,” Coulshed et al (1998,p175). some other(prenominal) ara which social workers be baffling is with groups. This is somewhat some(prenominal)(predicate) to the family situation. It also shargons things in common with community w ork. The role of a social worker as a facilitator or leader of a group has m any levels. At polar stages the worker has to be â€Å"central, pivotal, peripheral, 6 and central one time a slay,” Coulshed et al (1998,p198).\r\nThe various stages of group development and the content of the stages depict by Tuchman and Jensen, in Coulshed et al (1998,p198) names these stages as â€Å" contriveing, storming, norming, playacting and adjourning.” The role and tasks of the social worker ar to help get group members multiform and to encourage the development of a group bond. In the process of doing this s/he must be alert to separated members, dominant members and conflict within the group, to develop convinced(p)ly the dynamics of the group and progress to a desired outcome, while merging the needs of all the group members im varianceially and without bias. Community social work requires the social worker to develop a more flexible approach requiring such skills as recognising and validating skills and interventions.\r\nTraditional social work skills may need to be alter to fit into the community context. Network create nominate also be a part of the process for a social worker, for example, to bring a group of race together who claim similar concerns just now ar not in a position to facilitate this formation themselves. 7 In each of the above scenarios, the social worker must adapt to the different displaces and the number of individuals that may be present and therefore use the most hard-hitting form of parley and similarlyls necessary to authorize at different levels, whether that involves one psyche, several lot or a large group. Effective conference. Effective communicating is an essential component of traditional social work activities e.g. providing basic c ar, giving advice, making assessments, counselling, penning reports and acting as client’s advocates.\r\nIt is evenly necessary for social workers to have e ffective confabulation skills if they are to crusade self-help and empowerment. Verbal parley is what we say and admits questioning, reflection, focusing, summarising, contest and confrontation. Verbal discourse involves the use of language. The skills involved in engaging, get a lineing, negotiating and challenging are equally pertinent to parley in work groups and multi-disciplinary teams. Any commitment to the empowerment of social work clients is heartless if their 8 views are neither sought nor taken into account. Silverman (1969) emphasises the importance of a non-judgemental approach.\r\n in that location are one-third main areas of knowledge and experience were set by clients are outlined by Rees and Wallace (1982), cited in Lishman (1994) Client’s set workers who had teeming experience of life to listen non-judgementally to what they had to say, Client’s valued workers who had enough life experience to understand client’s problems from the ir own experience, Clients appreciated specialised knowledge and training.\r\nKinds of Communication. Symbolic communication. Symbolic communication involves conduct, actions or communications, which represent or foretell something else. As social workers we need to be informed(p) of the potential meaning of 9 our representation, actions and aspects of our working environment. For example, punctuality, dress and layout of the consultation room are all important aspects of typic communication. Proximity needs to be con slopered in relation to orientation. Sommer and Cook (1968) explored different seating positions and plunge exhibit which elicited that sitting aboard a person implies cooperation, opposite a person competition and at reclaim angles to each other equality of status. gum olibanum sitting lav a des, instantly opposite a client, has distancing and power implications but also may be confrontational.\r\nAlthough, thither are no fixed rules closely posture; bei ng too relaxed may take aim power and inattentiveness, being too rigid, tension, anxiety and authority. As social workers we need to be alive(predicate) of such unperceivable reinforcement and to use it discriminatingly. Non-verbal communication. Non-verbal communication outlined by Sutton (1979) suggests that while spoken communication is have-to doe with in the first place with 10 entropy giving, non-verbal communication is the ‘music behind the wrangling’ conveying feelings or attitudes. Understanding people or social perception is concerned with the way in which people form impressions of others and make inferences or so the causes of their conduct to enable them to predict and give their own social reality, understanding the causes and motives behind behaviour is sign-language(a) Communication or NVB. Nonverbal communication NVB is the way in which people take place on purpose or un figureally without the use of lyric.\r\nExpressions, gestures, posture , touch, personal space, eye contact and aroma of voice are used to fetch emotions, convey attitudes, regulate and moderate deliverance and communicate personal characteristics. NVB are examined in two ways: Information bear on †how do people interpret sign(a) cues? What kinds of inferences do we make well-nigh people’s intentions based on these cues, moving-picture show management. Michael Argyle (1988) suggested that NVB is important for: Expressing emotion, Conveying attitudes, 11 Communicating one’s temper traits, Facilitating verbal communications. Patterson (1983) suggests that NVB sue a number of particular functions in social interactions including: Expressing intimacy, ordinance the course of interactions, Exercising social control and dominance.\r\nDruckman (1982) outlined five principal uses to which NVB is ordinarily redact: To communicate pre-articulated feelings, feelings that cannot be put into words, To generate cues to entropy tou ch on change us to guess at what another person is thinking or feeling, To serve as emphases in persuasive appeals to get up our success at persuading others, To facilitate deception, To convey subtle messages. 12 The characteristics of NVB were outlined by Dittman (1984). There are users and sources of NVB, nonverbal behaviours are sent by encoders and authorized by decoders through a variety of different channels. Channels of nonverbal communication allow seventh cranial nerve nerve expression, eye contact, gestures, touch, paralanguage or nonverbal elements of quarrel and spatial behaviour.\r\nA number of channels are used simultaneously to send a particular worked up message. Behaviours sent are intentionally controlled while behaviours may be certain with different levels of awareness. Some messages are reliable in honest awareness and as intended by the sender, whereas other messages are deliberately kept out of full awareness and may distort the intention of the sen der. A number of different categories of NVB make it fit to Ekman and Friesen (1969): †Emblems †these are movements that are communicative substitutes for words i.e. Handshaking. †Illustrators †these are movements that accompany speech and accent i.e. rapping a table. †Regulators †these are movements that notice or signal a change in the speaker/ listener roles i.e.\r\n holdance nods. 13 †Affect displays †these are facial expressions that are used to convey emotions †Adapters †these are self and object manipulations, which relate to an individual activated, need or state. Mehrabian (1972) suggested that NVB’s were important for indicating a person’s social orientation. Social orientation can be summarised in name of marks; each dimension break ins some aspect of a person’s intention and motivation for interacting. According to Cook (1968) NVB are used to gain fuller descriptions of individuals when littl e development is forthcoming which we use to fill in the scatty information closely people, and guide our behaviour while interacting. One further way of determining what people think and feel is to try to digest explanations for why they yield in particular ways to reveal the motives and intentions behind their actions.\r\nThis process is referred to as ‘ effortless Attribution’ and is concerned with understanding the reasons behind the behaviour of others. NVB are intended to provide us with clues to how a person feels, enable us to predict and control our interactions with them. When information is missing implicit personality theories are used to fill in the gaps in our knowledge about a person. 14 Verbal communication. Language consists of symbols that convey meaning, rules for combining those symbols that can be used to beget an infinite variety of messages. hoi polloi use spoken sound and create verbally words to represent objects, actions, events and ideas, and can be feature in an infinite variety of ways to generate an endless array of refreshed messages.\r\nWritten reports and records. According to Lishman (1994) skilled are learned in action, with practise and feedback, indite reports and concise record keeping enable the aforementioned to happen. Hargie (1986) acknowledges criticism that social work records and reports are often ‘lengthy, rambling and anecdotal’ and suggests ‘ pen reports should be edify, concise and keep hatful’ on the important features of the case. O’Hagan (1986) calls record ‘a crucial learning hammer’. He struggles that after a crisis, detailed scrutiny is 15 essential. Such recode facilitates learning and self-awareness by a revaluation of the behaviour, feelings, and interactions of all participants including the worker.\r\nDoel and Lawson (1986) found that once workers had true ‘an interactive arrangement style, using call into questi on time to record the work, the quantity of written material was slim downd because it becomes more focused. The siemens eastern Health Board (1988) suggest that record keeping and good recording techniques are of vital importance in maintaining good housekeeping practice, facilitating accountability and maintaining the uttermost confidentiality. Under the Freedom of Information moment 1997 asserts that the client can request to access to view/ copy their records at a later date. Therefore it is vitally important that all written records be update and regularly reviewed. However there are exemptions to the above, which are also included in the FOI Act provisions.\r\nAccording to the United Kingdom exchange Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health see (1993) the purpose of written records is to: To provide an accurate, current, extensive and concise information on the client from the initial assessment onwards, 16 including a record of any factors ( tangible, psychological o r social) that appear to affect the client, To facilitate continuity, To provide a record of any problems that may arise and the retort taken, To provide evidence of continuing assessments, To record the chronology of events and the reasons for any decisions may, To provide a baseline record against which improvement can be judged, To improve communication betwixt all members of the health like team. Lishman (1994) suggests that statements make by the client during interview and sequent assessments should include the client’s statements.\r\nThere is also a legal cartel by social workers to maintain written records, the onus being on good practice by practitioners. The role of communication. 17 Communication is a crucial aspect of organising; each and every interaction between the people who constitute the organisation is communication. Communication will be more apt(predicate) to be good if it has been worked at forever and not only in emergencies. McKenna (1991) sugges ts that communication is not simply a issuing of sending messages to and from between individuals and groups. It involves being aware of and understanding the experience of other people.\r\nThis factor knowing about the work they do and their perception of their situation. According to McKenna (1991) good naiant communication between managers and vertical communication between managers and their work force are essential if role and job conflicts is to be avoided. It therefore appears that while managers at eyeshade and line management levels sees themselves as doing a good job in communicating with their immediate subordinates, those subordinates do not feel this is the case. Effective communication must be two-way. It must run from top to back end and bottom to top †vertical communication, and it must flow to and from between people at the aforementioned(prenominal) level within the organisation †horizontal communication.\r\nThe so-called ordinary members control mu ch of what happens to horizontal 18 communication. This is communication between people on the same hierarchical level in an organisation and involves communication between colleague such has team leaders, or team members. Dutfield and Eling (1990) take down that effective communication between people involves skills in: Eliciting information, Presenting information, Managing the emotional content of the encounters. Skills in eliciting information: Questions are the most explicit way of eliciting information in any situation but they may be formulated in a number of ways: Open questions †give the other person an opportunity to put forward their point of view without constraints, Closed questions are more focused and usually go out a simple yes or no type answers, Specific questions †focus on facts.\r\nThe second step in effective presentation of information involves checking that the information has been received and understood, 19 an opportunity is given to ask questio ns, having a discussion, feedback and request questions. Dutfield and Eling suggest that managing the emotional answerions of people in formal or informal interviews and at coming upons. Emotions enter in when the person gets personally involved. This means that the sum total part of our self-concept appears to be under attack. We react defensively. Emotional reactions are themselves information and as such they take up part of our information processing capacity. For these reasons the skilful discussion of the emotional content of communication is important in order to ensure that conflict and ill will does not re clobber through misunderstandings.\r\nThe main skills in managing the emotional content of face-to-face meetings are; Preparing well in advance for interviews, Being aware of one’s opinions and prejudices, Clarifying the nature of the problem in behavioural terms †this involves separating fact from opinion, Setting up a suitable place and sufficient time for the interview, 20 Using skills in eliciting information to get the other person’s views, Acknowledge the other person’s emotional investment in the situation, remain task focused, Decide a plan of action for the future with the person once the emotional content has been dealt with, Follow up the meeting with a memo summarising the obligation stretchinessed, Arrange a follow up meeting to review the situation.\r\nManaging negotiation by Rackham and Carlisle (1978): Because people perceive situations differently their realities differ, the need to negotiate is a constant part of social life. The approaches to negotiation are as follows: Distributive talk terms †a win/lose position. Underlying this approach is the idea that resources are finite and that each side tries to maximise the gains for itself leaving the other side to settle for less. Win/lose strategies may give short-term gains but are usually less effective in the long term; 21 parties involved in the negotiation are usually involved in a long-term relationship with each other. Integrative bargaining †win/win approaches aims to solve problems in such a way that some(prenominal)(prenominal) sides gain something that they want. Win/win approaches to negotiating are recommended when the parties concerned will have to live and work together over the long term.\r\nLose/lose bargaining †in this situation conflict between the parties is likely to be personalised, parties would rather paralyse or destroy the organisation rather than reach an agreement. Approaches to negotiation make the following assumptions about tender-hearted psychology: concourse are rational decision-makers at all times, People have unlimited information processing capacity which allows them to take into account all possible alternatives and all possible outcomes, People possess and understand all relevant information. Thus it is an important part of the process of negotiating successfully to: 22 Supply all relevant information, Ensure that its implications are clear to all concerned, Give time for the information to be considered, Be open to a reconsideration of the information in the hop out of other points of view, Be willing to conflagrate take issuements in a constructive and non-combatitive manner.\r\nRackham and Carlisle (1978) defined the skilled negotiator as a person who as the ability to achieve an outcome with which participants were satisfied. Skilled negotiators: Use their social networks to get their message through to the other side through different people, assume their main theme so that it becomes clear and people can consider its implications, judge their actions themselves so that they cannot be mislabelled by others, show their understanding of what others are saying to them by summarizing and stickating the content back to the other side, 23 Show that they are attending and perceive to the other side by asking questions about their proposals, Do not disagree outright but probe the implications, negate making a proposal at a time when it will be rejected, When a proposal is on the table from the other side, it should be examined and allowed to wind down before an alternative is put forward, Know that a counter proposal has the ruff chance of being accepted as a way out of a problem acknowledged by two sides, Don’t waste time, never personalize difficulties in the process, Are not afraid to disagree, but avoid temper when doing so. Building and maintaining client-worker relationship.\r\nIn order for it to be possible to engage with a client, the worker needs to show warmth, empathy, active auditory sense and a non- 24 judgemental approach. Lishman (1994) outlines other core conditions or characteristics found necessary to build and maintain a client-worker relationship. Genuineness is one of the core conditions or characteristics found to be necessary for a counsellor or healer to help clients effectively â⠂¬ Truax and Carkhuff (1957). They define genuineness as involving the worker in ‘direct personal encounter with the client, meeting him/ her on a person-to â€person basis. oestrus/ non-possessive warmth also termed unconditional positive regard is another attribute found by Rogers and the client-centred school 1957 to be a core condition for helping.\r\nWarmth is linked with acceptance and conveys respect. It involves the worker accepting the clients experience as part of that person, and can be thought of as a corporal way of showing caring and understanding, and is mainly expressed non-verbally. Mehrabian (1972) uses the term to describe a group on non-verbal behaviours conveying, warmth, affiliation and liking. Mehrabian includes physical proximity, leaning and turning towards the client, sitting in a relaxed position, maintaining eye contact and smiling. 25 Acceptance and a non-judgemental approach. Lishman (1994) sees acceptance as a preparedness to try to understan d a client’s congenital world, without conveying rejection or dis applause. Encouragement and approval †in the social learning possibility terms, conveying approval is giving positive reinforcement, defined by Sutton (1979) as support the repetition of good behaviour.\r\nPositive reinforcements include tangible rewards, such as thanks, flattery or appreciation. At the same time traditional social work values proposed by Biestek (1965) of acceptance and non-judgemental attitudes, have been construe to mean not only that workers should refrain from conveying their disapproval to clients, but also their approval. Empathy †is another core condition or characteristic found to be necessary for a counsellor or therapist to help their clients effectively Truax and Carkhuff (1957). Empathic responses can help a client to make sense of what may feel a jumble of thoughts and feelings. The client may be reassured that there is some meaning in what as felt disordered and i rrational.\r\nEmpathic responses can help to support and confirm client’s perceptions, which antecedently 26 have been ignored, disqualified or disconfirmed. While this cannot heal or solve the yesteryear appall it may reduce its power in the present by helping the client to recognise the hurt and live with it, and perhaps ‘lay it to rest’ and move on. Responsiveness and sensitivity †according to Mehrabian (1972) responsiveness can be conveyed non-verbally and verbally. He found that it was communicated non-verbally by movement; head nods, leg and foot movements, by facial expressions; through pleasantness and changes in expression.\r\nConclusion. The final exam requirement according to Lishman (1994) for effective communication is the worker’s self-awareness. Communication, verbal, non-verbal or symbolic, is about our use of self. In order to communicate effectively we have to be aware of what we are doing, why we are doing it, how we are presenti ng ourselves to our clients and, on the basis of this self-knowledge or awareness, what changes in our communication are needed if we are to be more effective. Skilled and effective communication is not a unmoving state. 27 It will always involve change and development and consolidation, learning from our past behaviour and from our mistakes. Writers such as Sheldon (1977) and Fischer (1978) argue that social workers should concern themselves with the evaluation of the enduringness of their intervention.\r\nThey stress the importance of, thinking about the ends of work, not just the means of goals and outcomes; setting specific goals to avoid a branched agenda, diffusion of goals, inactivity and lack of change, and disappointment to offer what the client wanted; create and definiting intervention skills for problem-solving and change. The skills involved in attending and listening, engaging and relating, giving and getting information, negotiating agreements or contracts and he lping people to make changes in their attitudes, beliefs or behaviour are relevant to social work in all contexts. Each context will trance the way in which communication occurs, both enhancing and encouraging the use of some skills and limiting or limiting the use of others.\r\nLishman (1994) also suggests that attending †being punctual is an index to our clients of attentiveness. Listening and an 28 empathic response are important components in enabling the client to feel that such emotions can be accepted, expressed and lived with and do not have to be hidden or feared. Such acceptance may be the staring-point for a client to learn to live with and manage previously disabling emotions. Social workers have to begin from a value base, which entails basic respect for all human beings. Social work as to set-back from humanistic principles or values about the worth and dignity of each individual.\r\nBibliography.\r\nArgyle, M. 1988 bodily Communication (2nd ed) capital of th e United Kingdom: Methuen. Biestek, F.P. 1965 The Casework Relationship, London, Unwin University Books. Coulshed, V. & Orme, J. (1998) Social Work (An Introduction) 3thed. Macmillan. 29 Cook, M. 1968 Studies of Orientation and Proximity, Oxford, install of Experimental Psychology. Doel, M. and Lawson, B. 1986 ‘Open demonstrates: The Clients Right to compact’ , British Journal of Social Work, vol.16. Pp. 407. Dittman, L. 1984 The infants we care for. Washington: National Association for the Education of Young Children. Druckman, D. 1982 Non Verbal Communication Survey, Theory and research. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications. Ekman, P. & Friesan, W.V. 1968 ‘Non-verbal Communication in Psychological Research’, in J.M. Schlien Research in Psychotherapy Washington: American Psychological Research. Fisher, J. 1978 Effective Casework: An Electric Approach, wise York. McGraw-Hill. 30 Hargie, O. 1986 A Handbook of Communication Skills, London and Sydney, Croom Helm. Lishman, J. 1994 Communication in Social Work Macmillan Press: London. Patterson, M. 1983 Non Verbal Behaviour. bleak York: Springer. Mehrebian, A. 1972 Non-Verbal Communication, Alberta, Aldine. Mc Kenna, E.F. 1991 Managerial Leadership †sudden trends: University of East London. O’Hagan, K. 1986 Crisis Intervention in Social Services, Basingstoke, Macmillan. Silverman, P.R. 1969 ‘The Client Who Drops Out: A Study of Spoiled Helping Relationships’, Brandais University PHD Thesis. 31 Sheldon, B. 1977 ‘Do You Know Where You Are outlet?’ , Community Care, 8th June 1977. Sommer, R. 1965 ‘Further Studies of microscopic Group Ecology’, Sociometry, vol.28, pp. 337. South Eastern Health Board, September 22nd 1998, Record keeping in the freedom of information environment. Sutton, C. 1979 Psychology for Social Workers and Counsellors, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, Library of Social Work. Thompson, N. (2000) Understanding Social Work. Palgrave. Traux, C.B. and Carkhuff, R.R. 1957 ‘Towards Effective guidance and Psychotherapy’, Journal of Counselling Psychology, vol.28. Rackham, N. & Carlisle, J. 1978 The Effective Negotiator †Part 1. The behaviour of successful negotiators. Journal of European industrial Training, 2. 32 United Kingdom Central council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting, 1993 Standards for Records and Record Keeping, London UKCC. Wallace, A. and Rees, S. 1988\r\n‘The Priority of Client Evaluations’, in Lishman 1988. http://iasw.eire.org/ethics.htm http://www.arcaf.net/social_work_proceedings/ 33 Retrieved from â€Å"http://www.socialwork.ie/socialwork/wiki/index.php/Communication_in_Social_Work_Practice_-_Essay” Personal tools\r\n'