Management functions of frontline social workers supervising social auxiliary workers

Abstract

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The need for social auxiliary workers originated from social workers not being able to cope with all the challenges associated with addressing the needs of the poor and vulnerable in South Africa. The purpose of social auxiliary workers is therefore to be assistants to social workers, helping social workers to effectively deliver services to those in need. Social auxiliary workers work under the supervision of social workers and never on their own. The social worker responsible for the supervision is not necessarily a supervisor on middle management level. For the purpose of this study, these social workers will be referred to as frontline social workers. The goal of this study is to obtain an understanding of how frontline social workers view their supervision of social auxiliary workers through the execution of the management functions. The study was undertaken to firstly provide an overview of social auxiliary work and secondly to explore the supervision of social auxiliary workers in terms of the execution of management functions. A qualitative research approach was utilised to explore social workers’ views on the supervision of social auxiliary workers in the execution of their management functions. The study made use of non-probability; snowball sampling and participants were recruited in their personal capacities. The social workers were all frontline workers, supervising social auxiliary workers in the Western Cape. The researcher used an interview schedule as data-gathering instrument. The findings confirmed that the supervision of social auxiliary workers is essential to ensure quality service delivery. Hence, the frontline social workers who are responsible for the supervision need proper training in supervision. It is recommended that an accredited training course be developed to equip social workers with the skills to supervise and manage social auxiliary workers. It is also recommended that need-specific training should be done on the four management functions essential for supervision and management of social auxiliary workers to ensure effective service delivery.

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