Communication in Social Work Practice Essay

1 genial Work Theory & Practice. The Importance of intercourse Sk blows in mixer Work Practice. Introduction. Social drub is a professional activity. Implicit in its use be ethical principles, which prescribe the professional responsibility of the complaisant blend iner. The primary objective of the code of morality is to discover implicit principles explicit for the protection of clients. (BASW, 1976). According to Thompson (2000) Social work involves operative with some(prenominal) of the near disadvantaged sections of the community and with volume who, for a variety of reasons, atomic number 18 experiencing major difficultys and di air, often with unmet needs and other difficulties that whitethorn at times seem intractable. Lishman (1994) purports a broader definition of Social Work, which involves memorializeing into the lives of people who argon in distress, conflict or 2 trouble. To do this requires not only technical competence only when also qualities of integrity, genuineness and self-awargonness.The profound Council for upbringing and Training in Social work ( f whole in Kingdom) has also flummox pop go forth core skills and characteristics for Social work sketch as follows The importance of being able to turn over and engage, To be able to promote and enable, To achieve success in planning and accessing in crapation, Intervening appropriately and providing run when necessary, Working competently with other organisations, Developing overall professional competence. So not only do neighborly works need to adhere to ethics and values, they moldiness also look in perspective themselves as people and seek out the skills necessary to work with various client assemblys and organisations. As mentioned, communicating skills atomic number 18 vitally important, along with listening and analytical skills.Look more favorable process theories essay unless it is also very important that the loving worker be aware of him/herself, of 3 handing feelings or emotions that may emanate finished this line of work. Reflection is an important aspect, as well as creativity, sensitivity and humility. A major step forward in contemporary perform was the development of a Code of ethics (1995), which merely defined social work as The primary focus of social work is working with individuals, families, and bases within their social context. Through the training, knowledge and skills which support a high standard of professionalism, the social work task is to facilitate and enable clients to identify options and make decisions for themselves so that they may develop strategies to effect improvement in the quality of their lives.Social work also foc recitations on issues of social policy, social administration and social justice and the betterment of society as a whole (IASW, 1995 1). Effective social work requires a multitude of interconnecting knowledge and skills backed up by the values, which underpin 4 salutary social work practice. To be able to provide a good service the social worker needs to be able to refer to, or call upon a wide body of knowledge. This knowledge base is sooner extensive and detailed, as Thompson (2000,p73) points out, practitioners are not realistically expected to know all of this knowledge base. merely a certain level of knowledge is essential, for example knowledge of the bases, things much(prenominal) as applicable offshootislation, theories and techniques twisty in a particular case.Knowledge of society and the social processes and institutions is also crucial to the lineament of a social worker, as these are the very fabric of the profession. No amount of knowledge, on its testify, at least, basin be in effect(p) without the possession of skills to act upon it. Thompson (2000,p82) defines a skill as the readiness to carry out a particular activity in effect(p)ly and consistently over a period of time. The skills with which a social worker is armed must be used in conjunction with the knowledge base to radiate the values, principles, and beliefs associated with the profession. There is a wide range of skills beget-to doe with in high quality social work from basic communication skills to analytical, presentational, and management skills.Because of the often-sensitive nature of 5 situations social workers peck find themselves in, the ability to be patient and apprehending is important. Working with children and families is one of the largest celestial spheres covered by social work. Insofar as a social worker may be dealing with an individual client, that clients place in the family fag end be of critical importance to any assessment. When working with families it is important not to render to reflect ones ideas of how a family functions. The challenge for the social worker when working with a family is not to derive but to try to understand how does this family work? Coulshed et al (1998,p171).When dealing with a fa mily it is very important to bide impartial, to take the time to listen to everyones point of view. This access is more likely to encourage banter and sharing in which the worker is free to engage and disengage when the need arises, Coulshed et al (1998,p175). Another area which social workers are involved is with groups. This is somewhat different to the family situation. It also shares things in common with community work. The design of a social worker as a facilitator or leader of a group has some levels. At different stages the worker has to be central, pivotal, peripheral, 6 and central at once again, Coulshed et al (1998,p198).The various stages of group development and the field of the stages defined by Tuchman and Jensen, in Coulshed et al (1998,p198) names these stages as forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. The role and tasks of the social worker are to help get group members involved and to encourage the development of a group bond. In the process of doing this s/he must be alert to isolated members, overabundant members and conflict within the group, to develop positively the dynamics of the group and achieve a desired outcome, turn see the needs of all the group members impartially 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 noises.Traditional social work skills may need to be lodgeed to fit into the community context. Network building can also be a part of the process for a social worker, for example, to bring a group of people together who have similar concerns but are not in a piazza to facilitate this formation themselves. 7 In all(prenominal) of the above scenarios, the social worker must adapt to the different settings and the number of individuals that may be present and thereof use the near strong form of communication and tools necessary to make it at different levels, whether that i nvolves one person, several people or a large group. Effective Communication. Effective communication is an essential component of traditional social work activities e.g. providing basic care, giving advice, reservation assessments, counselling, writing reports and acting as clients advocates.It is equally necessary for social workers to have effective communication skills if they are to promote self-help and em originatorment. oral communication is what we say and includes questioning, reflection, focusing, summarising, challenging and confrontation. literal communication involves the use of language. The skills involved in engaging, listening, negotiating and challenging are equally relevant to communication in work groups and multi-disciplinary teams. Any commitment to the empowerment of social work clients is intendless if their 8 views are uncomplete sought nor taken into account. Silverman (1969) emphasises the importance of a non-judgemental approach.There are three main areas of knowledge and visualize were valued by clients are outlined by Rees and Wallace (1982), cited in Lishman (1994) Clients valued workers who had passable experience of life to listen non-judgementally to what they had to say, Clients valued workers who had enough life experience to understand clients problems from their own experience, Clients appreciated specialised knowledge and training.Kinds of Communication. Symbolic communication. Symbolic communication involves behaviour, actions or communications, which represent or denote something else. As social workers we need to be aware 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 symbolic communication. propinquity needs to be claimed in relation to orientation. Sommer and Cook (1968) explored different seating positions and found evidence which suggested that session alongsi de a person implies cooperation, opposite a person competition and at right angles to to each one other equality of status. Thus sitting ass a des, directly opposite a client, has distancing and power implications but also may be confrontational.Although, There are no fixed rules about carry being too relaxed may convey power and inattentiveness, being too rigid, tension, anxiety and authority. As social workers we need to be aware of such subliminal reinforcement and to use it discriminatingly. Non-verbal communication. Non-verbal communication outlined by Sutton (1979) suggests that while spoken communication is refer mainly with 10 information giving, non-verbal communication is the music behind the dustup conveying feelings or attitudes. at a lower placestanding people or social perception is concerned with the trend in which people form impressions of others and make inferences about the causes of their behaviour to enable them to predict and control their own social rea lity, savvy the causes and motives behind behaviour is Nonverbal Communication or NVB. Nonverbal communication NVB is the demeanor in which people communicate intentionally or unintentionally without the use of words.Expressions, gestures, posture, touch, personal space, eye speck and tone of voice are used to express emotions, convey attitudes, regulate and control speech and communicate personal characteristics. NVB are examined in two ways Information touch on how do people take in nonverbal cues? What kinds of inferences do we make about peoples intentions based on these cues, Impression management. Michael argyle (1988) suggested that NVB is important for Expressing emotion, Conveying attitudes, 11 Communicating ones personality traits, Facilitating verbal communications. Patterson (1983) suggests that NVB serve a number of particular functions in social fundamental interactions including Expressing intimacy, Regulating the course of interactions, Exercising social contr ol and dominance.Druckman (1982) outlined five principal uses to which NVB is usually launch To communicate pre-articulated feelings, feelings that cannot be put into words, To provide cues to information processing enabling us to guess at what other person is thinking or feeling, To serve as emphases in persuasive appeals to enhance 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 received by decoders through a variety of different channels. Channels of nonverbal communication include facial expression, eye contact, gestures, touch, paralanguage or nonverbal elements of speech and spatial behaviour.A number of channels are used at the same time to send a particular emotional message. Behaviours sent are intentionally controlled while behaviours may be received with different levels of awareness. Som e messages are received in full awareness and as mean by the sender, whereas other messages are deliberately kept out of full awareness and may interpolate the intention of the sender. A number of different categories of NVB exist according 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 maintain or signal a change in the speaker/ listener roles i.e.Head 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 emotional, need or state. Mehrabian (1972) suggested that NVBs were important for indicating a persons social orientation. Social orientation can be summarised in terms of dimensions each dimension reveals some aspect of a persons intention and motivating for inter acting. According to Cook (1968) NVB are used to gain fuller descriptions of individuals when little information is available which we use to fill in the missing information about people, and guide our behaviour while interacting. One further way of determining what people think and feel is to try to provide explanations for why they behave in particular ways to reveal the motives and intentions behind their actions.This process is referred to as Casual 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, enabling 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 cede an infinite variety of messages. flock use spoken sound and scr ipted words to represent objects, actions, events and ideas, and can be combined in an infinite variety of ways to generate an endless array of novel messages.Written reports and drops. According to Lishman (1994) skilled are learned in action, with practise and feedback, written reports and elliptical 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 written reports should be clear, concise and concentrate on the important features of the case. OHagan (1986) calls recording a crucial accomplishment tool. He argues that after a crisis, detailed interrogation is 15 essential. such recoding facilitates learning and self-awareness by a review of the behaviour, feelings, and interactions of all participants including the worker.Doel and Lawson (1986) found that once workers had developed an interactive recording style, using interview time to record the work, the quantity of written framework was reduced because it becomes more focused. The South Eastern wellness Board (1988) suggest that record keeping and good recording techniques are of vital importance in maintaining good housekeeping practice, facilitating accountability and maintaining the utmost confidentiality. Under the Freedom of Information Act 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 on a regular basis reviewed. However there are exemptions to the above, which are also included in the FOI Act provisions.According to the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health visiting (1993) the purpose of written records is to To provide an accurate, current, comprehensive and concise information on the client from the initial assessment onwards, 16 including a record of any factors (physical, psychological or social) that appear to affect the client, To facilitate continuity, To provide a record of any problems that may arise and the response 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 between all members of the healthcare team. Lishman (1994) suggests that statements made by the client during interview and subsequent assessments should include the clients statements.There is also a court- locateed obligation 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 likely to be good if it has been worked at constantly and not only in emergencies. McKenna (1991) suggests that communication is not s imply a matter of sending messages to and from between individuals and groups. It involves being aware of and understanding the experience of other people.This means cognize about the work they do and their perception of their situation. According to McKenna (1991) good horizontal communication between managers and just 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 top 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 bottom and bottom to top vertical communication, and it must flow to and from between people at the same level within the organisation horizontal communication.The so-called ordinary members control some(prenominal) of what happens to horizontal 18 communication. This is communicati on 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) note that effective communication between people involves skills in Eliciting information, Presenting information, Managing the emotional content of the make fors. Skills in eliciting information Questions are the most obvious way of eliciting information in any situation but they may be hypothesize in a number of ways surface questions give the other person an opportunity to put forward their point of view without constraints, Closed questions are more focused and usually allow a simple yes or no type answers, Specific questions focus on facts.The second step in effective presentation of information involves checking that the information has been received and understood, 19 an opportunity is given to ask questions, having a discussion, feedback and asking questions. Dutfield and Eling suggest that man aging the emotional reactions of people in formal or informal interviews and at meetings. Emotions enter in when the person gets personally involved. This means that the core part of our self-concept appears to be under attack. We react defensively. stirred up reactions are themselves information and as such they take up part of our information processing contentedness. For these reasons the well(p) handling of the emotional content of communication is important in order to ensure that conflict and ill will does not result through misunderstandings.The main skills in managing the emotional content of face-to-face meetings are Preparing well in advance for interviews, Being aware of ones opinions and prejudices, Clarifying the nature of the problem in behavioural terms this involves separating fact from opinion, Setting up a suitable place and comfortable time for the interview, 20 Using skills in eliciting information to get the other persons views, find the other persons emot ional investment in the situation, Stay 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 agreement reached, Arrange a follow up meeting to review the situation.Managing duologue 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 negociate 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 harmonize 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 mould problems in such a way th at both 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.Lose/lose bargaining in this situation conflict between the parties is likely to be personalised, parties would rather paralyse or abrogate the organisation rather than reach an agreement. Approaches to negotiation make the following assumptions about human psychology People 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 pass on to a reconsideration of the information in the light of other points of view, Be willing to raise disagreements in a constructive and non-combatitive manner.Rackham 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, Repeat their main theme so that it becomes clear and people can consider its implications, Label their actions themselves so that they cannot be mislabelled by others, Test their understanding of what others are saying to them by summarizing and restating the content back to the other side, 23 Show that they are attending and listening to the other side by asking questions about their proposals, Do not disagree outright but probe the implications, Avoid 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 p ut forward, Know that a counter proposal has the best chance of being accepted as a way out of a problem acknowledged by both sides, Dont waste time, Never personalize difficulties in the process, are not afraid to disagree, but avoid provocation when doing so. Building and maintaining client-worker relationship.In order for it to be possible to engage with a client, the worker needs to show warmth, empathy, active listening and a non- 24 judgemental approach. Lishman (1994) outlines other core conditions or characteristics found necessary to build and maintain a client-worker relationship. legitimacy is one of the core conditions or characteristics found to be necessary for a counsellor or healer to help clients effectively 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 person basis. heating plant/ non-possessive warmth also termed unconditional positive suppose is anot her attribute found by Rogers and the client-centred school 1957 to be a core condition for lot.Warmth is linked with acceptance and conveys respect. It involves the worker accepting the clients experience as part of that person, and can be idea of as a physical way of showing caring and understanding, and is mainly expressed non-verbally. Mehrabian (1972) uses the term to attract 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 understand a clients subjective world, without conveying rejection or disapproval. Encouragement and approval in the social learning theory terms, conveying approval is giving positive reinforcement, defined by Sutton (1979) as encouraging the repetition of good behaviour.Positive reinforcements include tangible rewards, such as thanks, praise or appreciation. At the same time traditional social work values proposed by Biestek (1965) of acceptance and non-judgemental attitudes, have been interpreted 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 esthesis of what may feel a jumble of thoughts and feelings. The client may be reassured that there is some meaning in what as felt incoherent and irrational.Empathic responses can help to validate and swear clients perceptions, which previously 26 have been ignored, disqualified or disconfirmed. While this cannot heal or solve the past hurt 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.Conclusion. The final requirement according to Lishman (1994) for effective communication is the workers 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 presenting 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 static state. 27 It will always involve change and development and consolidation, learning from our past behaviour and from our mistakes. Writers such as She ldon (1977) and Fischer (1978) argue that social workers should concern themselves with the evaluation of the effectiveness of their intervention.They stress the importance of, thinking about the ends of work, not just the means of goals and outcomes setting specific goals to avoid a double agenda, diffusion of goals, inactivity and lack of change, and failure to offer what the client wanted developing 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 helping people to make changes in their attitudes, beliefs or behaviour are relevant to social work in all contexts. severally context will influence the way in which communication occurs, both enhancing and encouraging the use of some skills and constraining or limiting the use of others.Lishman (1994) also suggests that attending being punctual is an indication to our client s of attentiveness. auditory sense 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 alter emotions. Social workers have to begin from a value base, which entails basic respect for all human beings. Social work as to start from humanistic principles or values about the worth and dignity of each individual.Bibliography.Argyle, M. 1988 Bodily Communication (2nd ed) London 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, Institute of Experimental Psychology. Doel, M. and Lawson, B. 1986 Open Records The Clients Right to Partnership , British Journal of Social Work, vol.16. Pp. 4 07. 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, New 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. New York Springer. Mehrebian, A. 1972 Non-Verbal Communication, Alberta, Aldine. Mc Kenna, E.F. 1991 Managerial Leadership emergent trends University of East London. OHagan, K. 1986 Crisis Intervention in Social Services, Basingstoke, Macmillan. Silverman, P.R. 1969 The Client Who Drops Out A Study of Spoiled Helping Relationshi ps, Brandais University PHD Thesis. 31 Sheldon, B. 1977 Do You Know Where You Are Going? , Community Care, 8th June 1977. Sommer, R. 1965 Further Studies of Small Group Ecology, Sociometry, vol.28, pp. 337. South Eastern Health Board, September 22nd 1998, Record keeping in the freedom of information environment. 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