Social worker is a facilitator and NOT a teacher. Explain using the concept of Bureaucracy

INTRODUCTION

An Overview of Bureaucracy

The term bureaucracy is finds its origin from the French word “bureau” which means desk, and a government which is run from table is called a bureaucratic government.  The word implies a particular system of administration. Historically, it has been associated with the rule of governmental officials. I n this form of the government there is concentration of power in the hands of departments. Sociologists regard bureaucracy as a form of administration that is found in formal organization pursuing a variety of goals (Shankarrao C. N 2006).

Definition of key terms

Social worker is a professional person who helps people to solve their personal, group and community problems and attain satisfying personal, group and community relationship through social work practices which are case work, group work, Community organization, administration and research (Thackey 1994).

Social worker is a professional person who deals with activity of helping individual, group or communities, enhance or restore their social functioning and creating societal condition favorable to achieve better livelihood.

Social worker is a liaison person through which disadvantaged individual, families and groups who may tap all the resources in the community available to meet their unsatisfied needs (Shankarrao, 2006).

Teacher is a one with knowledge and expertise in a particular field, he/she impart knowledge through a variety of means to their students (Brown, 2013).

Facilitator is a person who builds knowledge basing of the group of students to find the answers to questions. Both methods of instruction serve a purpose and allow students the chance to grow (Brown, 2013).

Bureaucracy is the formal organization that uses rules and hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency. Rows of desks staffed by seemingly faceless people, endless lines and forms, impossibly complex language and frustrating encounters with red tape all these unpleasant images have combined to make bureaucracy a dirty word and an easy target in political campaigns (Schaefer, R.T 2005).

Bureaucracy is an organization in which people perform specialized roles under a system of explicit rules and within a hierarchical authority (Neubeck, K.J 2005). 

Bureaucracy is a management structure within a government or a company. Basically it's a way to manage operations. Usually it involves within large corporations or the government. The structure could be anything, like you have president, vice president, then people in the cabinets under them, and then under each of those cabinet members are a bunch of departments. So it's could be pyramid shaped.

Bureaucracy an administrative or social system that relies on a set of rules and procedures, separation of functions and a hierarchical structure in implementing controls over an organization or government. Large administrative staffs are most common in large organizations that need standardized rules and procedures (http://www.investopedia/bureaucracy).

Characteristics of Bureaucracy

Division of Labour, specialized experts perform specific task. In your college bureaucracy the admission offer does not do the job of registrar the guidance counselor does not see the maintenance of buildings. By working at a specific task, people are more likely to become highly skilled and carry out a job maximum efficiency.

Hierarchy of authority, bureaucracies follow the principle of hierarchy that is each position is under the supervision of higher authority. A president heads a college bureaucracy he/she select members of the administration, who in turn hire their own staff.

Written rule and regulation, rules and regulation as we all know are important characteristics of bureaucracies. Ideally through such procedures a bureaucracy ensures uniform performance of every task.

Impersonality, bureaucracy norms dictate that officials perform their duties without the personal consideration of people as individuals. Although this is intended to guarantee equal treatment for each person.

Employment based on technical qualification within the ideal bureaucracy hiring is based on technical qualifications rather than favoritism and performance measured against specific standards. Written personnel policies dictate who gets promoted and often have a right to appeal if they believe that particular rules have been violated. Such procedure protect bureaucracies against arbitrary dismissal, provide a measure of security and encourage loyalty to the organization.

Social worker is a facilitator and NOT a teacher. This statement can be justified by the above last two definitions of key terms and the following explanations below as follows:-

Facilitators might not be subject area experts like a teacher. They do have special training in group dynamics, using processes such as conflict resolution, strategic planning and team building. In any group setting, a facilitator can quickly determine what the group knows so the group can proceed to build on that knowledge. By asking questions and keeping the group focused, a facilitator helps the group establish a set of ground rules, as well as its own learning objectives. 

The facilitator also helps the group evaluate what group members learned from their activities while a teacher walks into a classroom, she takes charge of the learning environment. The teacher is responsible for creating lesson plans that direct the course of study students follow. Clear and concise objectives delineate what the student learns on any given day. The teacher is responsible for measuring how much information the student learns. Evaluation is often in the form of tests, but the teacher may use other measurement tools to determine if the student met the teacher’s learning objectives.

Advantages of Bureaucracy

Increase of Efficiency, precise division of work facilitates specialization. Every person should be assigned a single function wherever possible. This rule applies to individuals as well as departments. The specialized operations will lead to efficiency and quality. However, each area of specialization must be interrelated to the total integrated system by means of coordination of all activities of all departments.

The lines of authority are clearly stated, this principle is known as the scalar principle and the line of authority is referred to as chain of command. The major decisions are made and policies are formulated at the top management level and they filter down through the various management levels to the workers. The line of authority is   clearly established so that each person in this chain of command knows his authority and its boundaries.

There is no ambiguity, this is known as the principle of “unity of command” and each person knows as to whom he reports to and who reports to him. This process eliminates ambiguity and confusion that can result when a person has to report to more than one superior.

Reduces favouritism, Bureaucracy sought to bring about objectivity to employee selection by means of qualifications to reduce nepotism. The use of performance-criteria for promotion is an attempt at objectivity. Members of the organization receive salary based on their position in the hierarchy and their seniority. This is an attempt at fairness using set of criteria.

Employee Commitment, Employees working in bureaucracies have job security because of life time employment. This nurture more loyalty and commitment to the organization. Other benefits to the employee include protection against arbitrary actions of senior management and inducement to master skills that may have limited marketability.

Increases uniformity of action, Rules and regulations, well-defined written policies produce standardized response to situations. Employees in a bureaucratic organization are behaving uniformly in a manner under the control of higher level management.

It increase Production, in any bureaucratic organization there is division of works according to the specialization which make the work to be done in short time with high amount of products. For example in industries like Mbeya cement company works are divided to departments and each department have given  task to perform which make high production and also the sales to continue throughout the year  with maximum profit.

Facilitate communication, the transformation of the information from one worker to another worker or from the department to another department is done easier due to fact that bureaucracy show how the information can be flowed in the organization. For example passing the information at university especially student problem will start first from dean of student before upper officers

Disadvantages of bureaucracy

Bureaucratic structures can discourage creativity and innovation throughout the organization. No matter how ingenious a business owner is, it is virtually impossible for a single individual to generate the range of strategic ideas possible in a large, interdisciplinary group.

Front-line employees may receive less satisfaction from their jobs in a rigidly bureaucratic organization, increasing employee turnover rates. Organizations bound by rigid controls can also find themselves less able to adapt to changing conditions in the marketplace, industry or legal environment.

Goal displacement Goal displacement occurs when the organizational goals are displaced by subunit or personal goals. Selznick, (1943), believed that means could become ends through goal displacement. In bureaucracies, specialization and job differentiation create subunits with different goals. These goals of the different subunits can cause conflict and the achievement of subunit goals can become more important than the organization’s goals.

Inappropriate Application of Rules and Regulations, This occurs when employees apply formalized rules and procedures blindly in all types of situations without being aware that conditions have changed.

Employee Alienation, Bureaucratic organizations are impersonal and members may have the “cog-in-the-wheel” feeling. High routine activities breed boredom and high job specialization makes job-holder feel irrelevant as his task can be easily performed by others.

Concentration of Power, Bureaucracies concentrate power in the hands of a few in the higher hierarchy and this does not appeal to people who perceive that values of democracy should prevail.

Non-member frustration, following procedures can be a slow process which will frustrate clients or customers who require prompt and efficient service. Many large bureaucracies are also monopolies and customers have limited choice of bringing their business elsewhere, the situation can influence corruption.

Delaying in decision making, bureaucratic organization it consume time and long procedure on making decision because in some of the offices  the work are performed by using hierarchy system and every individual has its part to sign. For example in the ministry of education when a personnel want to go to school the letter of personnel starts from the head teacher  and then to the District education officer and then to the District executive Director so the answer can delay if the concerned person is not around and some time the letter can be misplaced.

Reduce humanity; personnel are binding up with rules and regulation that made up the organization or government. For example in the government offices personnel are working frequently for eight hours and she/he must sign when she arrive at work place and when she/he departure at work place.

Conclusion

Bureaucracies are commonly found in large organizations. Unfortunately they are often misunderstood to be awkward, slow and responsible for inefficiencies and red tape in organizations. At the onset, it must be clearly stated, that bureaucracy is not synonymous with inefficiency. In fact, the concept started out as an extraordinary successful way to organize. It cannot be denied. However, that bureaucracy has acquired a negative image. By itself, it is not good or bad it is merely a type of structure conceptualized to organize large groups of people.

REFERENCES

Brown, G. (2013), Creative Facilitation, Viv McWaters, Australia.

Neubeck, K.J. and Glasberg, D.S (2005) Sociology, diversity, conflict and change, published by Mc Graw Hill, Inc companies, New York.

Schaefer, R.T. (2005) Sociology, ninth edition, published by Mc Graw Hill Companies, Inc.  New York. 

Shankarrao C. N. (2006) Sociology “A brief introduction” fourth Edition, Mc Graw Hill.

Thackey, M.G. and Skidmore, A.R. (1994), Introduction to social work Second Edition, Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice Hall.

Selznick, P. (1957), “Leadership in Administration: A sociological Interpretation” Evanston, IL Row, Peterson Publishers Ltd.    

http://work.chron.com/difference-between-facilitators-teachers, Retrieved on 4^th April 2014, 11:23am.

Written by AUSI CHIWAMBO (2014)-TEOFILO KISANJI UNIVERSITY