Personnel Selection at Social Work Organization, Research Paper Example

Methodology

This research paper is based on the selection procedure of candidates for a social work oriented organization.This research is conducted on three candidates face to face and by concluding their responses to various questions. Assuming that the social work agency’s primary mission is to address world hunger and that there are 3 operational units – Food exploration, recycled food and preservation. Also,let’s say they have beenfocusing on their home market – Africa. I want to hire an executive director, unit head and program director. Also, I’d assume that the organization is about 3 years old.

Unit Head – Perspective and Relevant Job Activities

Reporting to the CEO directly, the unit head would ideally be from a strong management background with years of strategic decision making experience in social work activities around the world. With a strong leadership approach backed by excellent negotiation and advocacy skills to drive results, the candidate must be able to own a company unit’s operations and strategy completely by giving in depth education and support to the executive directors and dealing with corporate headquarters directly. Responsible for taking up the unit’s activities internationally and staring them from scratch, the unit head plays an extremely critical role in carrying the organization’s mission, vision and values through the organizational ranks.

Execution

Organizational structure

There will be at most4executive directors reporting to the unit head to keep him abreast of the regional/state/city’s progress in executing the programs to perfection. The executive directors will have the program directors reporting to them, who in turn have the staff supervisors reporting to them.

Organizational interaction

The unit head has many managerial responsibilities, given the sheer complexity involved in the role. He/she reports directly to the CEO and takes part in strategic and operational decision making. Also, it is extremely important that he/she collaborates with the peers in other units to find opportunities for improving utilization and operational performance in specific regions. The unit head also is in tough with key investors to notify them of potential opportunities to expand internationally.

Conflict management

Most conflicts based by unit head are not on a daily basis. As he/she makes key decisions monthly/quarterly, they are very likely to be swamped by pressure from the CEO, investors and the rest of the management board to make decisions based on short-term results. Though an organization needs to keep longer-term prosperity and mission in mind, unit heads are judged by how they can convince their subordinates to implement the management’s decisions with very minimal friction and utmost success.

Executive director- Perspective and relevant job activities

Reporting to the unit head directly, the executive director would be one from a strong academic and business background with years of operational “hands-on” experience in social work activities, preferably in Africa. With a results-oriented approach, the candidate must be able to operate in a matrix environment by reporting to the unit head, giving directions to the program directors and dealing with the concerned authorities directly. Make informed and quick decisions on the day-to-day activities of the program and run the show by assuming upmost operational responsibility. Also takes care of raising funds and writing grants, which involves dealing with governing bodies, local authorities, public services and investors at the same time.

Execution

Organizational structure

There will be at least 3 program directors reporting to him to keep him abreast of new ideas, progress of the program, staffing and budgeting issues. The executive director is accountable to the actions of program directors, which are in turn accountable to the actions of their direct reports (staff leads / supervisors)

Organizational interaction

Reports to the unit head,coordinates with peers in the other two units to find collaborative opportunities, and guides program directors on operational decision-making.

Conflict management

Conflicts are almost day-to-day affairs for executive directors as they ensure that operations are in line with the mission and values of the organization. For instance, the unit head might overlook the infrastructure problems involved in delivering food to interior areas and blame results on operational inefficiency. The executive director has to keep the unit head’s target in mind and still deal with the program directors’concerns to ensure smooth operations.

Program Director – Perspective and Relevant Job Activities

Reporting to the executive director directly, the program director would be from a strong operational background with “hands-on” experience in social work activities, preferably in Africa. He / She needs to own the operations of the assigned region and cooperate with his peers in the other units. With a results-oriented approach, the candidate must be able to execute ideas under the prevalent operational constraints, bring up the executive director up to speed on various internal and external issues and identify staffing requirements

1.1  Execution:

 Organizational structure

There will be at least 5staffsupervisors reporting to him to keep him abreast of operational constraints of the program, worker and societal issues. He/she is accountable to the actions of staff supervisors who are in turn accountable to the actions of their direct reports (ground-level staff)

Organizational interaction

As mentioned before, the program director reports to the executivedirector.It is his basic responsibility to maintain camaraderie between himself and the staff, workers, and fellow supervisors. His/ her single point of reporting will be the executive director and in non-emergency cases, the protocol has to be followed in the same way.

Conflict management

Conflicts are almost day-to-day affairs for program directors as they ensure that operations run smoothly while taking care of staff absence, operating issues and other constraints. Ensuring that fallback plans are implemented, worker morale is not down and staff supervisor interests are in the best interests of the organization, a program director has to be ready to get his/her hands dirty when needed to meet the mission.

Dealing with Dilemmas

Dilemma in the workplace refer to a situation when the person who has to make decision is not able to decide what right approach to resolve the situation is. Ethical issues are at the heart of a discipline such as social work. (Richard Hugman, 1995)

The following section provides a comprehensive view of the responses of the unit head, executive and program directors on dealing with dilemmas on different fronts.

Unit head

• In relation to nature of social work
• Enacting social work purpose and values: My top responsibility is to ensure social prosperity at the unit level with camaraderie among the co-workers
• Negative versus positive obligations: I would make every effort to assist executive directors under positive obligatory circumstances and not confront them/stakeholders in an offensive manner in negative obligatory circumstances.
• Political ideology and social work: In line with our mission to make a social impact, my views on political ideology and social work would be aligned with environmentalism
• Competing claims and duty to aid: I would award the claim to the executive director with an immediate social need and compensate the other by assigning additional responsibility.
• In Relation to the Function of Leaders
• The Use and Abuse of Power: I would empower the executive director and provide with a sense of direction. I’d also ensure that leadership control is retained in the right way.
• In Relation to the Organizational Design and Requirements:
• Responsibility to Funders versus Consumers of Service: I would ensure that there are short-term and long-term plans in place to account for funding differences. Communication and accurate forecasting hold the key.
• Bureaucratic Design: I would ensure that information is quickly passed through the executive directors to the staff to react to circumstances and make quick decisions
• Organizational Forces versus Client Need: I would resolve internal issues to support the client’s needs at all times. That is the very purpose of our organization
• In relation to resources:
• Rationing of Resources: I appreciate the fact that organizational resources are scarce and tough to reproduce. I would ensure that they are utilized to the best possible extent by gauging the needs clearly. I would also try to be flexible to change hard and fast resource limitations within the permissible limits.
• Cost Containment and the Profit Motive: Cost containment is definitely a priority to me at the unit level but not at the expense of societal satisfaction. I would discuss profit motives with investors and other senior management, and they are met through operational excellence only.

Executive director

• In relation to nature of social work
• Enacting social work purpose and values: My top responsibility is to ensure social prosperity with divisional level collaboration and cooperation.
• Negative versus positive obligations: I would make every effort to assist program directors under positive obligatory circumstances and not confront them/stakeholders in an offensive manner in negative obligatory circumstances.
• Political ideology and social work: In line with our mission to make a social impact, my views on political ideology and social work would be aligned with environmentalism
• Competing claims and duty to aid: I would award the claim to the program director that deserves it and acknowledge the efforts of the other.
• In Relation to the Function of Leaders
• The Use and Abuse of Power: I would empower the program directors and provide with a sense of direction and ensure that leadership control is retained in the right way.
• In Relation to the Organizational Design and Requirements:
• Responsibility to Funders versus Consumers of Service: I would ensure that operations are implemented within the unit head’s budget control. Exceptions have to be brought to his/her notice well in advance.
• Bureaucratic Design: I would communicate closely with the unit head, pass-on information to the program heads through the staff
• Organizational Forces versus Client Need: I would try to resolve internal issues by self. If not possible, report them to the unit head immediately
• In relation to resources:
• Rationing of Resources: I appreciate the fact that organizational resources are scarce and tough to reproduce. I would spend/utilize resources within limits at all times and still maintain tolerance levels for exceptions
• Cost Containment and the Profit Motive: As an executive director, I will stick with the P/L rules set by the unit head because serve as the border lines. This is possible if organizational motives are aligned with mission

Program director

• In relation to nature of social work
• Enacting social work purpose and values: My top responsibility is to ensure social prosperity with regional level collaboration and cooperation.
• Negative versus positive obligations: I would always try to assist staff supervisors in positive obligatory circumstances and not confront them/stakeholders in a wrong manner in negative obligatory circumstances.
• Political ideology and social work: In line with our mission to make a social impact, my views on political ideology and social work would be aligned with environmentalism
• Competing claims and duty to aid: I would award the claim to the staff supervisor that deserves it and acknowledge the efforts of the other.
• In Relation to the Function of Leaders
• The Use and Abuse of Power: It is my responsibility to empower the staff supervisors and provide with a sense of direction by striking the right balance of control and empowerment.
• In Relation to the Organizational Design and Requirements:
• Responsibility to Funders versus Consumers of Service: One of my key responsibilities is to ensure that operations are implemented within the region’s budget control. Exceptions will be brought to the executive director’s notice well in advance.
• Bureaucratic Design: I would follow the protocol for information sharing and ensure that bureaucratic issues are reported in a timely fashion to avoid miscommunication.
• Organizational Forces versus Client Need: I would learn from the clients’ needs each and every moment as I am one step closer to them than my superiors. It puts the client in priority and the organization next.
• In relation to resources:
• Rationing of Resources: I think regional collaboration is the key and that resources have to be utilized with a broader vision in mind – operational excellence and mission.
• Cost Containment and the Profit Motive: It is not easy to ensure that resources are utilized at minimal cost levels as fluctuations in utilization are bound to happen. That is where customer feedback and continuous innovation hold the key

Conclusion

“A conceptual model for leadership development is presented. It contains seven elements considered critical for design of leadership programs in public health: capacity/competence needs; program target; area served; program content; training level; learning approach; and implementation methods. This model can be used to design leadership as well as public health workforce education and training programs.”(Wright K, 2001)

In a nutshell, a conceptual model of leadership has some of the noteworthy indicators which ensure that everything is under control. The leadership styles create the path of achieving our main goal and objective in more understandable and obvious way. The organization has the responsibility to take each action into account and execute every necessary deed. In this regard, the attributes of a successful leader has to be highly capable of achieving higher targets and the ideas that are put forward on the table has to bring into practice. This is what an organization demands and expects from its employee to perform and render their quality services. Right from the start, scratching up an idea till its entire execution, leadership plays the most momentous function in attaining the targets and objectives. So three main responses from leadership styles could give an outcome in a positive way and they are scratch an idea, taking preventive measures to accomplish the goal and application of professional techniques to resolve the tribulations and tackling them.

References

Brody, R. (2005). Effectively Managing Human Service Organizations (3rd e.d.). London: Sage Publications Inc.

Mark Lymbery, K. (2007). Social Work: A Companion to Learning. California: SAGE Publications Inc.

Richard Hugman, D. (1995). Ethical Issues in Social Work. Great Britain: T.J. Press ltd.

Wright K, R. M. (2001). A conceptual model for leadership development. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 60.