Running Head: AMINISTRATION FROM A STRENGHTS PERSPECTIVE Administration from a Strengths Perspective Andrea LaLonde and Ashley Williamson University of Louisville Spring 2010 1 Running Head: AMINISTRATION FROM A STRENGHTS PERSPECTIVE 2 As many of us Social Work students at the Kent school hope to have high ranking, and decent paying jobs, we all must consider the various responsibilities that we will have besides just focusing on our clients. Any social worker that is also a supervisor or director, will take on the tasks of an administrator. An administrator is one who is a leader, decision maker, mediator, collaborator and/or politician who performs duties such as: planning, development, supervision, resource acquisition, evaluations, and also has ethical considerations that overlook clients and the organizations employees (Long, Tice and Morrison, 2006). However, the administrator at one’s agency might not have a social work degree, but nonetheless, one needs to understand how an administrator’s job facilitates and manages an organization. As an administrator, one will be faced with many challenges related to the organization. Ethical decisions must be made for the good of the clients and the employees. An employee might arrive to work under the influence of alcohol and the administrator will likely be the one who will make the decision regarding the future employment. Using care and justice to handle the situation could result in two different outcomes: (1) the employee will receive treatment for their alcohol use and factors that inhibit their use will be addresses so that that employee will be a productive part of the organization again, or (2) the employee will be terminated for being intoxicated at work. One choice involves using care, while the other uses justice. The justice perspective has long been regarded as more appropriate to the public sphere of our lives, where, as citizens or as public employees, one must weigh the rights of others and dispassionately apply laws that bind all citizens alike. The care perspective, on the other hand, is often thought to be dangerously inappropriate in the public domain and relevant only to the private domain of relationships with friends and family (Jos and Hines, 1993, p.380-381). Running Head: AMINISTRATION FROM A STRENGHTS PERSPECTIVE 3 While understanding the justice perspective, one must also consider the care perspective where one would look at the extenuating circumstances behind the employees drinking problem. However, one should not solely maintain an employee on the idea that it would be less expensive to sustain the employee than undergo the process of hiring a new one. An organization must possess care and justice equally as “organizations may be described in terms of their member’s values and practices” (Grummer, 1996). An administrator might grapple between care in justice in the workplace and whether the employee should be dismissed or offered support for their personal issues. It is ultimately up to the administrator to make the decision, depending on the hierarchal structure of the organization. The administrator might involve the coworkers in the decision making process and their opinions offered or one could rely on peer- reviewed articles that offer assistance in the decision making. One might also employ the National Association of Social Workers and Ethics committee members for their thoughts on the specific situation. After making the decision, holding seminars and in-service trainings would be beneficial to all employees to aid in the prevention of a similar situation occurring again. According to Jos and Hines, 2003, “combining a willingness to listen and to compromise with respect for law and for appropriate political directives is far more important for the public administrator than pursuing questions about which perspective is somehow more fundamental or logically prior”. In the case of ethics as an administrator, one will have to be the leader and supervisor in both work and client related ethical issues. Being able to determine the ethical outcome and justifying it with peer-reviewed articles or the NASW code of ethics lies on the part of the administrator. Deciding what is morally right may be different in what is ethically right, however, it most cases it might be the same outcome. If an organization has outlined specific Running Head: AMINISTRATION FROM A STRENGHTS PERSPECTIVE 4 rules and guidelines, then some ethical dilemmas might be avoided. How the budget is allocated and choosing competent employees to be responsible for important tasks helps to maintain a beneficial organization. Ethical dilemmas in any organization are inevitable; it is how the administrator and the organization’s employees handle the situations. By following the organization’s policies and following the NASW code of Ethics, the administrator should be able to handle the situation and make sure all parties are well informed of the process and decisions that have been made. Making decisions based on either the care or justice perspective should be decided by clear evidence based practices that are going to consider both the client’s and the employee’s best interests. Running Head: AMINISTRATION FROM A STRENGHTS PERSPECTIVE 5 References Grummer, B. (1996). Ethics and Administrative Practice: Care, Justice, and the Responsible Administrator. Administration in Social Work, 20(4), 89-107 Hines, S. M., & Jos, P. H. (1993). Care, Justice, and Public Administration. Administration and Society, 25(3), 373-392. Long, D. D., Morrison, J. D., & Tice, C. J. (2005). Macro Social Work Practice: A Strengths Perspective (with InfoTrac®) (1 ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing.