SUSTAINING SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION AND PRACTICE AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL (A PROPOSAL AND AN APPEAL)

I express my gratitude to the organizers of the 26th Annual National Conference of the Professional Social Workers for inviting me to participate in the conference at Mangaluru, 2008. I have come here, in spite of my failing health, with a definite purpose of placing  before you certain of my thoughts and plans for maintaining highest possible standards of imparting professional social work education and guiding social work practitioners in various fields. I may sound to be parochial in my proposal as I confine in my talk to the pressing issues concerning Karnataka. I am, of course, discussing the issues not unrelated to the theme of the conference , namely, `Challenges for Social Work Education and Practice : the Changing Social Scenario'.

The problems and the challenges :

            I consider that the following are the major challenges faced in Karnataka, and I feel these could be almost the same in other parts of our country :  1) Mushrooming of Departments / Schools of Social Work with no or insufficient infra-structural facilities and with not qualified faculty  (till the end of the 20th century there were only four University departments and only one private school of social work affiliated to a University and there are now more than 70 schools of social work imparting professional education at graduate as also at post-graduate level in Karnataka).

            2)  A stiff competition from the MBAs, Home Science, Law and other Social Science graduates even where only the trained social workers are required to be employed.

            3) The social work educators, the social work students as also the trained social workers in the field are either not organised or ill-organised.

            4) Lack of production of social work literature based on original researchs on theory, social policy, etc., particularly in the regional languages. There are no social work dictionaries and encyclopedias in Kannada ( And it is the same situation with other Indian languages, I feel .)

            5) No suitable field work agencies are available in required number, and the trainees do not have, by and large, supervised field work facilities.

            6) The training institutions do not have extension services needed for promoting professionalism.

            I am sure you agree with me that there is a need to devise suitable strategies to meet these challenges  squarely. I am therefore placing before you a proposal with a request to ponder over it seriously and to take appropriate resolve and necessary step in that direction. And I specially appeal to the social work teachers, the students of social work and the social workers in Karnataka to take keen interest in the matter. 

KASWE- ( Karnataka Association of Social Work Education )

            Karnataka has right now at least 70 schools of social work including the post graduate Departments under the Universities. All the teachers need to form an association called Karnataka Association of Social Work Education ( KASWE) by becoming the members of the Association.

            The following could be the functions of the Association :

            1) The Association may devide the state into certain zones and allot the zones to the schools for undertaking surveys and researches in the allotted zones on social problems, resources, development programmes taken up by both the government  and the voluntary organizations to prepare status reports to be shared with the other schools.

            2) Biannual seminars on Karnataka Social Work situation in different places, namely, Bengaluru, Belagavi, Bijapura, Davanagere, Dharwada, Glubarga ( Kalburgi ), Mangaluru, Mysuru, Shivamogga as also, if possible, in the headquarters of the post-graduate centers of Universities, to deliberate on conditions prevalent in Karnataka in general and on the conditions prevalent in the zone where the seminar is being held in particular. The seminar may discuss the developmental programmes based on the research data collected by the schools.

            3) Undertake sponsored policy and exploratory as also experimental researches, and prepare policy-statements related to major social work areas. The policy-statements are to be submitted to the Karnataka Government  for necessary action, and take up the follow-up action to assess the action taken up by the Govt. ( Even when we fully-well know that the social work educators and social workers have no role to play in formulating policies and designing development plans we have to do something in this area )

            4) Bring out a periodical News-Bulletin and a Research Journal both in Kannada and English languages to keep the social work teachers, students, workers, administrators, policy-makers and general public informed about the developments in social work  situation in Karnataka and to provide a forum for social work researchers to share their findings through the Journal.

            5) KASWE may set up a Vigilance  Committee and divide it into certain subcommittees to do the following concerning the schools of social work in Karnataka : i) Curricula; 

ii) Conditions related to the infrastructural facilities of the training  institutions  

iii)  Field practice- both concurrent and block placement, and relationship with the field work agencies;

iv) Camps, educational tours

v) Teaching and other personnel-qualification, service condition, etc., ;  vi) Extramural (Extension) services such as development and counseling centers;

vii) Placement or employment guidance to the trained workers;

viii) Maintaining public relations

ix) Research and publication;

x) Relation with the University Administration, State and  Central Governments, UGC, ICSSR, CAPART, and such other bodies;

xi) Problems faced by trained

social workers in their fields;

xii) Any other matters related to social work education and practice.

           

CONCLUSION

            I may sound too idealistic in presenting this proposal. But I feel strongly that there is a need to ponder over this proposal. I learn that Maharashtra Social Work Educators have been carrying on activities related to certain of the areas  I have placed with a view to strengthening social work profession in that state.

            For your kind information, I mooted this strategy in the 80's itself and had discussion with Dr.Olinda Pereria ( who was then principal of Roshini Nilay School of Social Service, Mangaluru) and requested her to take up the leadership to give an appropriate shape to KASWE. She showed some interest in the proposal but due to our `legendary' apathy we could not take positive steps in the matter. When I had discussion with her there were only four University,  departments and one private school of social work where (i.e.,Mangaluru) we are holding this Conference. Now it is time for us to act.

            I once again thank all of you for giving me the opportunity to place this proposal for your serious consideration and follow-up action.

Dr.H.M. Marulasiddhaiah

Rtd. Prof. Deptt of Social Work

Bangalore University

Solved NET Question Paper-2008

Social Work Paper-II

1.         Which one of the following most  adequately defines the nature of social work ?

            (a) Social propaganda

            (b) Administering psychological testing

            (c) Enforcing Social Legislations

            (d) Problem solving by applying specific     techniques

2.         Family is a :

            (a) Reference group

            (b) Primary group

            (c) Secondary group

            (d) Recreational group

3.         Concept made measurable is ;

            (a) Definition

            (b) Variable

            (c) Symbol

            (d) None of the above

4.         The father of the Indian renaissance is:

            (a) Devendranath Tagore

            (b) Dayananda Saraswati

            (c) Vivekananda

            (d)Raja Ram Mohan Roy

5.         Directive principle of state policies can  not be enforced:

            (a) by public

            (b) by NGO

            (c) by bureaucrat

            (d) none of the above

6.         A closely related technique to role  reversal is :

            (a) The expression of empathy

            (b) The expression of sympathy

            (c) The expression of apathy

            (d) The expression of antipathy

7.         The report of the National Commission  on self employed women and women  in the unorganized sector is titled  as:

            (a) Towards equality

            (b) Daughters of India

            (c) Shram Shakti

            (d) Invisible women

8.         Who has propounded the theory of   'Class struggle':

            (a) Fedreic Engles      (b) Karl Pearson

            (c) Karl Marx              (d) Max Weber

9.         An educated guess about the nature of the relationship between two or more   variables is termed as:

            (a) Antithesis                  (b) Hypothesis

            (c) Generalisation          (d) Prognosis

10.       Mary Richmond's `Social Diagnosis'  can be considered as the first book of:

            (a) Social Group Work

            (b) Social and Preventive Medicine

            (c) Social Case Work

            (d) Social Action

11.        The ultimate goal of a women's self help group is :

            (a) Savings                                         (b) Loans

            (c) Insurance                      (d) Empowerment

12.       One of the following is not a factor of internal validity of a research design:

            (a) History                                                         (b) Maturation

            (c) Stastistical regression          (d) Correlation

13.       The agency that estimates the National Income of India is :

            (a) Reserve bank of India

            (b) Planning Commission

            (c) Finance Ministry

            (d)Central Stastistical Organisation

14.        The study team on Social Welfare and welfare of Backward Classess was  constituted in the year..............:

            (a) 1948  (b) 1950   (c) 1958   (d)1960          

15.       Which among the following is associated with `Token Economics' ?

            (a) Transactional Analysis

            (b) Behaviour Therapy

            (c) Clint Centered Therapy

            (d) Short term case work

16.       Human Poverty Index(HPI) by :

            (a)WHO    (b) WTO   (c)FAO   (d)UNDP

17.       " The integration of all functions and processes within an organization in order to achieve continues  conyinues improvement of quality of goods and services". Which among the following terms is described by above definition given by  Omachonu and Ross:

            (a) TQM                      (b) HRM                     

            (c) Theory Z                 (d) Collegial Model

18.       The number of the classes to which the values can be assigned arbitrarily or at will without violating restrictions or limitationa placed, is:

            (a) Mean value          

            (b) Chi-square

            (c) Degree of Freedom

            (d) Type 1 error

19.       Arrange the sequence of following in context of social work profession:

            1. Charity        2. empowerment

            3. welfare        4. religious reform and

            5. development

            (a)        1         2          3          5          4

            (b)        4         1          3          5          2

            (c)        1         4          3          2          5

            (d)        1         4          3          5          2

20.       Match list-1 with list-2 in relation to commonly used genogram symbols:

            1. Deseaced male, died at age of 21years

            2. Male 21 years old

            3. Female 21 years old

            4. Identified female client 21 years old

            A)  1     2          3          4

            B)  2     3          1          4

            C) 3      2          4          1

            D) 1     4          3          2

21.       The Ecological framework for understanding person-environment relations relations operate with the person in centre and systems around Persons. These systems are :

            1. Micro system      2. Macro system

            3. Exo system         4. Meso system

            Arrange these system in ascending order :

            1          2          3          4         

            2          1          3          4         

            1          4          3          2

            3          2          4          1

22.       An irrational fear and negative emotional reaction to homosexuality,   their life style and identity is called :

            (a)Homophobia                                  

            (b) Homo Sexphobia

            (c) Both (A) and (B)                

            (d) None of the above

23.       Handicapism refers to:

            (a) Prejudice and discrimination directed  against disabled person

            (b) Favoured attitude towards disabled persons

            (c) Social movement for handicap welfare

            (d) None of the above

24.       Consider the following statements and select your answer according to the codes below :

Assertion (A): Gender Aware social work means provision of services with sensitivity to the impact of gender

Reason  (R) : Gender is a social construct which place men and women in different position in terms of power, privileges and resources.

            (a) Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)

            (b) Both (A) and (R) are not true

            (c)( A) is true but (R) is false

            (d) (A) is not true but (R) is true

25.       The technique of Dream Analysis is associated with :

            (a) Sigmund Freud      (b) Eric Berne

            (c) Pavlov                    (d) William Glasser

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL WELFARE

Two models of social welfare are usually mentioned in historical reviews of social welfare and also in the contemporary literature on the subject. The dominant and popular model is usually referred to as the remedial or residual model which is contrasted with the other model described variously as the institutional/institutional-redistributive or developmental model of social welfare. It is frequently argued by some wellknown Western and Indian writers that the latter model is more suited to the countries of the third world which includes India.

            Professional social work as evolved in the west, particularly in the U.S.A., and U.K., has been greatly influenced by the remedial model of social welfare for a variety of historical reasons. This in turn has moulded the nature of social work education which has the objective of preparing professional manpower for employment in the field of social welfare. We in India are completing seventy five years of social work education. It is an appropriate time for an overview of both the profession and the social work education. While it is not possible to do justice to such an assessment in this paper, a few observations would be made before taking up one or two features for discussion.

            Some manpower studies carried out in a few major states in the country indicate that during this period of seventy five years the growth of the profession has been very slow. Even highly developed states do not have more than 25 per cent of the employed social welfare personnel with professional education. For most jobs in the field, professional education is not a required qualification. Salary scales are unattractive and promotional avenues are very limited, both vertically and horizontally. While official pronouncements of plans and policy, especially from the 5th Five Year Plan onwards, emphasize developmental aspects of social welfare, the financial allocations in the subsequent plans and the programmes included in them retain, with one or two exceptions, the traditional model of social welfare. The Integrated Child Development Services ( ICDS ) is one of these exceptions. But the employment potential for professionally trained social workers is practically nil because at the level of project supervisors, home science graduates are preferred and the field level jobs are not attractive or suitable to professional social workers. The other exception is the programmes of integrated rural development, though politically important and with substantial financial allocations, the employment potential for professional social workers is not any better than in the ICDS.

            Social Work Education in India has been based on the traditional model of social welfare and social work practice with some modifications to suit the Indian situation. At the beginning of the decade of 1970's a few social work educators in India (including this writer) began to advocate developmental orientation to social welfare and social work education which was also the emerging new trend, both regionally and internationally. The factors responsible for this have been discussed elsewhere. An official committee endorsed this new orientation to social work practice and education by recommending that social work education should be in tune with social reality and it should have a rural bias in contrast to the prevalent urban-industrial-metropolis model (UGC 1980). While almost all social work educators publicly seem to be committed to the developmental model of social welfare and social work education, there is very little evidence of the implementation of this commitment either in social work practice or social work education. We need not go into the reasons for this here.

            A brief explanation of developmental social welfare, a convenient shorthand term for the new model, will be made, before illustrating some of its features in a few selected areas of social work practice. The term 'development' and 'social development' are frequently used in the literature dealing with this model. There are no widely accepted definitions of these concepts in the disciplines concerned such as economics, sociology and social welfare.** The economist's perception of development is based on his own discipline's bias and expansiveness which has been described as economism by Nieuwenhuize, a well known Dutch sociologist. Conceptually the economists have moved from economic growth and later economic development as the central objective of planned nation-building by the newly independent countries of the third world to a broader but not significantly different concept of development. They include in it some non-economic variables which together are referred to in a residual meaning of the term 'social' as social development. It may mean either or both of the following: social prerequisites to (economic) development and social consequences of development (considered as undesirable). In U.N. literature it tends to be stated as economic development plus institutional change without clearly defining institutional change, but with occasional references to family planning and land reforms as programmes or to the objective of social justice, sometimes also referred to as redistribution or distributive justice. Gradual elimination of the mass problems of illiteracy, unemployment and poverty are included in this view of development.

            The sociologists tend to take a holistic view of the term social development which includes economic development as one of the many components rather than as the dominant feature of it. In a recent major treatise on development a western sociologist defines social development as social-culturally relevant development (Van Nieuwenhuiz 1982). To conclude, while at the level of conceptual description this is done very elegantly by some, its operational discussions tend to remain vague if not quite impractical and thus vulnerable to the critical attacks by the economists (Sovani,1975). Social development, in the words of Myrdal, “is the movement upward of the entire social system” ( Myrdal 1975 ). The goal of planned social development in India is to create a secular, democratic, egalitarian society, which ensures welfare of all the members of the society. The Gandhian concept of Sarvodaya with its emphasis on the welfare of the weakest and the poorest            (Antyodaya) would be a relevant goal for this country.

            The developmental functions of social welfare have been discussed by some Indian and western authors (Druckers, 1972, Gore, 1973, Kendall, 1974, Kulkarni 1974, Pathak 1981). Promotion of values necessary for social development like secularism, equality, social justice; to advocate the rights and interests of the disadvantaged; to promote social change as part of social development; to anticipate dysfunctional changes which are the inevitable part of the developmental process and to provide for the protection of vulnerable sections of the population who are affected by these; to initiate macro-level prevention of major social problems; and to participate in the formulation of social policy and social planning are stated to be the developmental tasks or functions.

            In what way developmental social welfare differs in practice from the traditional remedial model? One or two illustrations are presented. It is, methodologically speaking, community oriented social work practice with the members of the family/extended family as the smallest micro-level unit of attention at one end and the change-orientated macro-level social action/social policy planning at the other end. This approach discards, to a great extent, the philosophy of individualism and the adjustment of deviant individuals and marginal, alienated groups to the existing social structure which is taken as given, unchangeable and generally beneficial to the people. Its emphasis is more on prevention from the level of the community leading to the state and national levels, of social conditions considered as harmful.

            A recent survey of a slum community in Baroda revealed that most of the handicapped children suffered this physical handicap due to polio. Instead of referring them as cases to the few health agencies in the city for individualized treatment and rehabilitation, a community based programme of rehabilitation would be organized by organizations like the Baroda Citizen's Council or some other organization with the collaboration of trained health and welfare personnel. It attempts to include all the cases of children identified by the survey. Simultaneously, a community wide health education campaign would be launched with audio-visual aids to reach out to every family in the community, supported by a selective face-to-face group discussion, to prevent other children from being victims of polio or other crippling disease. This would entail vigorous immunization programme in the community by mobile teams which could be linked up with the recently launched universal national immunization programme for children below the age of 3 years. This is qualitatively and quantitatively different from the traditional medical social work practiced through institutional medical and allied services like hospitals or rehabilitation centers, whether independently operating or attached to medical institutions. The social worker works in and through the community with the support of the medical institutions. The social worker works in and through the community with the support of the medical institutions as and when necessary to deal with severe and complicated cases. It should be obvious that the traditional service infrastructures and practice approaches will not be totally irrelevant but the emphasis is markedly different.

Shankar Pathak

Rtd. Professor

Deptt. of Social Work,

Delhi University

Live out of Normal life Alex and Her Eternal Life

Alexandra "Alex" Scott was born to Liz and Jay Scott in Manchester, Connecticut on January 18, 1996, the second of four children.

            Shortly before her first birthday, Alex was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a type of childhood cancer. On her first birthday, the doctors informed Alex's parents that if she beat her cancer it was doubtful that she would ever walk again. Just two weeks later, Alex slightly moved her leg at her parents' request to kick. This was the first indication of who she would turn out to be - a determined, courageous, confident and inspiring child with big dreams and big accomplishments.    

            By her second birthday, Alex was crawling and able to stand up with leg braces. She worked hard to gain strength and to learn how to walk. She appeared to be beating the odds, until the shattering discovery within the next year that her tumors had started growing again. In the year 2000, the day after her fourth birthday, Alex received a stem cell transplant and informed her mother, "when I get out of the hospital I want to have a lemonade  stand." She said she wanted to give the money to doctors to allow them to "help other kids, like they helped me." True to her word, she held her first lemonade stand later that year and raised an amazing $2,000 for "her hospital."

While bravely battling her own cancer, Alex continued to hold yearly lemonade stands in her front yard to benefit childhood cancer research. News spread of the remarkable sick child dedicated to helping other sick children. People from all over the world, moved by her story, held their own lemonade stands and donated the proceeds to Alex and her cause.

            In August of 2004, Alex passed away at the age of 8, knowing that, with the help of others, she had raised over $1 million to help find a cure for the disease that took her life. Alex's family - including brothers Patrick, Eddie, and Joey - and supporters around the world are committed to continuing her inspiring legacy through Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation.

            Alex Scott and Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation have been honored with numerous awards, including:

Two awards have been named in Alex's memory.  Volvo Cars created the Alex Scott Butterfly Award which was given to a child who, like Alex, demonstrated extraordinary conscience, care, and character in helping others. The Philadelphia 76ers have renamed their community service award - The Hometown Hero In The Spirit of Alex Scott Award.

            “We have heard people say that Alex lost her battle with cancer. We believe that this could not be farther from the truth. Alex won her battle in so many ways….by facing her cancer every day but still managing to smile; by never giving up hope; by living life to the fullest; and by leaving an incredible legacy of hope and inspiration for all of us”.

Jay and Liz Scott, Alex's parents

-Smt. Anitha Ashok, Niratanka

GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK-A NOTE

Dr. (Ms.) Vineeta B. Pai

Prof. & Chairperson, Karnataka University

Introduction:

            The Human life cycle moves through various stages from the immaturity of childhood to the maturity of adulthood and then the senility of old age.  Every Stage is characterized by certain concomitant changes in the physical, emotional as well as the social realms (Pai, 2000)

            Of these stages the last one, that is old age had failed to attract the attention of the society until recently. This was apparent even from the vocabulary of social welfare, for, though included the terms like destitute, dependents and vulnerable groups, connoting  children, women and to certain extent the youth,  it had not considered the aged.

            Even the British Medical Association confirms the considerable indifference shown toward ‘Geriatric Medicine denouncing it as a second-rate speciality, looking after third-rate patients in fourth-rate facilities’ (BMA, 1986 P.4)

Is Old Age a Social Problem?

            Today despite being considered for the receipt of welfare services, the aged continue to be practically left out of development, indicating the continued neglect from and indifference to these aged in the society. The old age, therefore, has almost become a bugbear striking fear in the minds and hearts of people about the real and imaginary ordeals of it.

            The decline in the status of older people could be attributed, among many other factors, to the shift of society from ‘agrarian economy’ to ‘industrial’ and also to the replacement of ‘oral tradition’ to ‘written tradition’.

            Cowgill and Holmes (1972) opine that deterioration in the status of older people in the West began in the nineteenth century. Predicating on the idea that ageing was a biological process of deterioration, it carried the assumption that older people are a burden (Toucault, 1991)

            Accordingly a number of myths have come to be associated with old age. viz., All older people become senile and suffer from brain deterioration, which makes it difficult for them to learn; the inevitable  debilitating physical  illness, coupled with memory loss and mental deterioration, they become unproductive; older  people are lonely; it is useless to provide therapy to older people, because they cannot benefit from it; etc.,

            Unfortunately perpetuation of these and other myths has not only lowered  their status, and devalued them,  but also has developed ageism and contributed to age prejudice and age dissemination, both in the developing and the developed countries. Many older people seem to believe and internalize ageist stereotypes and reproduce these in their ways. Ageist assumptions present older people as homogeneous group and configure them as a weight that has to be borne by the work of young people. In this world view, older people are presented as dependent, incapacited and incapable. (Serutton. 1989)

            Ageist attitudes ignore the interdependence and solidarity that exist between people, young and old, and do not acknowledge the burdens that older people have borne for younger people in the past by seeing them through infancy, childhood and into adulthood (Phillipson 1982). Moreover, constructing older people as not having a useful role in society, because physical impairments limit their involvement in waged labour; it also subjects them to disablist stereotypes and a consequent exclusion from the main stream.

            The situation in India is no different from the West. Owing to the shifts in the employment patterns, and consequent separation and migration, besides the negative images of older people are central to the changes in their status and roles. Marulasiddaiah (1969) based on his research findings reports a decline in filial piety and the loss of authority, respect and recognition of the old, even in the rural India. The 'aging' and the ‘elderly population’ are perceived as 'social problem' and because the society is expected to support them with its resources, the elderly are viewed as burden.

            Phillipson (1998) states that the ageist attitudes contributed to the medicalization  of old and its unhelpful approaches to older people. Thus the ageist view reinforces socially constructed negative images of elderly and projects them as unproductive and dependent members of the society.

Constructing old age:

            The reality, however  is that, not all elderly are dependents or in need of care and protection. They are not a homogenous group as projected by these ageist discourses. There are a number of persons who are more than seventy five years and above, but still active independent, working and contributing to the society in several ways. They do not look forward to or when offered they may not accept the gerontological services. They may not qualify any of the standards set by the society to consider them old except that they have advanced in chronological age.

            The question before social workers, therefore would be, what should they call them- 'the elderly' “senior citizens”, “golden agers”  “old adults”, or some other appropriate term be coined? With the increasing life span and enhancement of the quality of life, what once was considered as old age, does not seem to be appropriate today.

            The social workers therefore need to be more conscious and cautious while providing gerontological services. They cannot devise and standardize services, and render them uniformly to all elderly alike, considering all older citizens as having lost their physical powers and the capacity to contribute to the society economically. They should avoid the negative construction of old age and be more pragmatic while working with them. 

Social Work Intervention with the Elderly:

            Research in the field of gerontology has proved that, although changes in the brain do take place as one grows older and the body has outlived its sell-by date, yet severe deterioration of mental functioning or physical debility is not inevitable. Most elderly people remain mentally alert through out their lives and enjoy good health. Several of such persons take on new activities after retirement, learn new skills and make significant contributions to their society.

            Thus, severe physical and mental deterioration is not necessarily an out come of old age. Moreover, most physical and mental problems associated with aging are treatable. All the same, the ‘very old’, the ‘frail old’ may need attention of the young.

            The social workers therefore should first and foremost dispel the negativistic attitudes toward the aging. They should prepare themselves to accept that aging per se and all aged do not pose problems to the society. The negative portrayals of the aged be challenged, and endeavour to develop positive images and attitudes toward aging not only among the people in general but among the aged themselves in specific.

            Whenever, the latter  they are intervening with the aged, they should always believe that they deserve full attention and respect because, they too have skills and strengths which can be harnessed. The social workers could intervene at three levels ;

1)                  By providing direct services to those who are unable to help themselves in certain areas

2)                  By providing indirect services through families and other resource systems either to support or substantiate the efforts of the elderly in helping themselves or the systems to assist the elderly in living presentable, enriched life.

3)                  The social workers can work as advocates and strengthen the positive image of the elderly by challenging and dispelling the negative images which have been prevailing in our society.

            To do this, the social workers have to restrain themselves from replicating ageist projections of elderly in and through practice. Their concern with vulnerability should not prevail on them and cause them to put all elderly in that group.

            Those social workers who decide to work in the field of gerontology and geriatric care besides having a comprehensive knowledge–biological and physiological, psychological, sociological and political–economic, should have an aptitude, compassion and patience to accept the elderly as they are.  

Conclusion:

            Gerontological Social Work has practically assumed the status of a specialized service. A worker here is called upon to work not only with the elderly but also with their families and other resource systems. A worker therefore may have to convince the concerned that the well-being of the elderly in their penultimate stage of life is as important as the well-being of children, youth or even the adult members. Social Workers, therefore, have to perform a number of roles such as friend, philosopher and an enabler besides being a clinician, broker, advocate and an outreach worker. He/She needs to liaise with various resource systems, including families to identify the potential strengths and capacities of the aged and harness them for the benefits of the society.

            The families especially the 'sandwiched' carers should be helped and assisted in making appropriate decisions about maintaining the old at home or shifting them to old-age communities or care centres. The professional intervention of the social workers should strengthen both the older clients and the care givers as the case may be and enable them  self determine.

            In our contemporary society old age being an ageist construct, and the service being commodified, Social Workers have a crucial role to play in challenging the negative image constructed about it. Their intervention should also succeed in doing away with the negativity developed among the old towards the younger generation. A mutual trust between the old and the young, and compassion shall go a long way in benefiting the entire society.

References:

            1)         DiNitto D.M., McNeece C.A and Others (1997), ‘Social Work: issues and Opportunities in a challenging Profession, Allyn and Bacon, USA.

            2)         Dominelli Lena (2004), ‘Social Work-Theory and Practice for a changing profession, ‘Polity press, Cambridge, CB21UR, UK (Indian Reprint, 2005)

            3)         Pai V.B. (2000), ‘Coping with Retirement- Portraits of Female Pensioners’, UNESCO CLUB, Naganur, and Tq: Gokak, India. 

Employee Retention

Employee retention is a process in which the employees are encouraged to remain with the organization for the maximum period of time or until the completion of the project. Employee retention is beneficial for the organization as well as for the employee. Employees today are different. They are not the ones who don’t have good opportunities in hand. As soon as they feel dissatisfied with the current employer or the job, they switch over to the next job. It is the responsibility of the employer to retain their best employees. If they don’t, they would be left with no good employees. A good employer should know how to attract and retain its employees. Employee retention would require lots of efforts, energy, and resources but the results are worth it.

Retention involves five major things:

            Compensation: Compensation constitutes the largest part of the employee retention process. The employees always have high expectations regarding their compensation packages. Compensation packages vary from industry to industry. So an attractive compensation package plays a critical role in retaining the employees. Compensation includes salary and wages, bonus, benefits, prerequisites, stock options, bonus, vacations, etc.

            A.Growth and Career: Growth and Development are the integral part of every individual’s career. If an employee cannot foresee his path of career development in his current organization, there are chances that he’ll leave the organization as soon as he gets an opportunity. The important factors in employee growth that an employee looks for himself are: Work profile, Personal Growth & Dreams, Training & Development.

            B. Support: Lack of support from management can sometimes serve as a reason for employee retention .Supervisor should support his subordinates in a way so that each one of them reaches their success. Management should try to focus on its employees and support them not only in their difficult times at work but also through the times of personal crisis.

            C. Importance of Relationship in Employee Retention Program: Sometimes the relationship with the management and the peers becomes the reason for an employee to leave the organization. The management is sometimes not able to provide an employee a supportive work culture and environment in terms of personal or professional relationships. To enhance good professional relationships at work, the management should keep the following points in mind: Respect for the individual, Relationships with the immediate managers, relationship with colleagues, promotes an employee based culture, individual development, etc.

            D. Organization Environment: If an organization manages people well, employee retention will take care of itself. Organizations should focus on managing the work environment to make better use of the available human assets. People want to work for an organization which provides, appreciation for work done, ample opportunities to grow, A friendly and cooperative environment, etc.

            Types of environment the employee needs in an organization: Learning environment, support environment, work environment.

2. Importance of Employee Retention

            Now a days  so much is being done by organizations to retain its employees, why is retention so important? Is it just to reduce the turnover costs? Well, the answer is a definite. It’s not only the cost incurred by a company that emphasizes the need of retaining employees but also the need to retain talented employees from getting poached.

           

3. What Makes Employee Leave?

            Employees do not leave an organization without any significant reason. There are certain circumstances that lead  them leaving the organization. The most common reasons can be: Job is not what the employee expected to be, job & person mismatch, no growth opportunities, lack of appreciation, lack of trust & support in co-workers, seniors & management, stress from overwork & work life imbalance, better pay packages offered by other companies, new job offer.

4. Employee Retention Strategies

            The basic practices which should be kept in mind in the employee retention strategies are:

Ø  Hire the right people in the first place.

Ø  Empower the employees by giving them the authority to get things done.

Ø  Make employees realize that they are the most valuable asset of the organization.

Ø  Have faith in employees, trust them and respect them.

Ø  Provide them information and knowledge.

Ø  Keep providing them feedback on their performance.

Ø  Recognize and Appreciate their achievements.

Ø  Keep their morale high.

Ø  Create an environment where the employees want to work and have fun. 

These practices can be categorized in 3 levels:

            Low level: Appreciating and recognizing a well done job, Personalized well done and thank-you cards from supervisors, Congratulations e-cards or cards sent to spouses/families, Voicemails or messages from top management, Periodic days off for good performance, Rewards (gift, certificates, monetary and non monetary rewards), Recognizing professional as well as personal significant events ,etc.

            Medium level: Appreciating and recognizing a well done job, Special bonus for successfully completing firm-sponsored certifications, Benefit programs for family support, Flexible benefits, Dependents care assistance, Medical care reimbursement, Providing training and development and personal growth opportunities, Professional skills development, Individualized career guidance, etc.

            High level: Develop flexible schedules, part time schedules, and extended leaves of absences, develop support services, and understand employee needs, listen to the employee & show interest to their ideas, appreciate new ideas & reward risk taking, show support for individual initiatives, encourage employees creativity, encouraging professional training and development/personal growth opportunities, provide an environment of trust, regular feedbacks on organization’s goals & activities.

5. Retention Myths

            The process of retention is not as easy as it seems. There are so many tactics and strategies used in retention of employees by the organizations. There are many myths related to the employee retention process. These myths exist because the strategies being used are either wrong or are being used from a long time. They are as follows,   Employee leave organization for more pay, incentives can increase productivity, and employee runs away from the responsibilities, taking measures to increase the employees’ satisfaction will be expensive for the organizations.

6. Retention success MANTRAS

I.          Transparent Work Culture

II.         Quality of Work

III.        Supporting Employees

IV.        Feedback

V.         Communication between employee & employer

           

CONCLUSION:

            Finally, No doubt  retention levels are proving to be a serious problem for organizations. Concerted efforts to keep retention on tight leash will definitely help. In this context, attrition management has become the strategic focus and compelling necessity of businesses today. Thus, ignoring the problem of mounting attrition level can have devastating consequences for the business.  Organization can afford to ignore the problem at own peril.

N

Mohan. V. T.

Lecturer, Hemadri college of 

management.  Tumkur