Motivation in Social Work

Motivation in Social Work

Introduction

With social workers interacting with different clients all the time, there is a need for them to develop autonomy in their work. Autonomy not only helps the worker in fulfilling his or her duties but gives them the control they need to work under different circumstances and with different people. When the policies the social workers are following do not provide them with the autonomy they want, the worker feels trapped, and since they cannot convey such a message to their clients, they end up feeling inadequate. Many ways exist to motivate the social worker, ranging from a change in expectations, defining self-concept and knowing how efficient they are, and also mental models. This research paper explains how a change in expectations can help in motivating social workers.

A solution to Low Motivation

One way for social workers to motivate themselves is by aligning their expectations with their roles and duties. Rigid policies and lack of autonomy make any employee feel trapped, lose motivation, and sometimes can make the employees pass the frustration to their clients. Talented employees tend to leave such a working environment. Motivation for a social worker can stem from reminding yourself over and over again why you are doing the work. Also, changing the expected outcome can go a long way in social work.

By definition, a social worker has many roles involving supporting others, such as community organization, linking people to resources they are searching for (Fanning, n.d.). Helping those in need, such as the elderly, the homeless, and the disabled, is part of social work (Fanning, n.d.). With such diverse groups of people that social worker deals within their work, there is a need for a shift in mentality that everything will be successful. Instead, there is a need to give the work you very best and leave it at that.

Expectancy Value Models in Motivation

The expectancy values are of two types, outcome expectations, and efficacy expectations. With outcome expectations, the social worker can believe that excellent performance can result in a good outcome (Reeve, 2014). For the efficacy expectation, the social worker can expect that their effort to help others will yield a positive result. In expectancy models, there is also the concept of value, and this depends on how much the social worker values the desired outcome (Studer & Knecht, 2016).

Outcome Expectations

Having dealt with different people, a social worker already has some knowledge about people’s attitudes and what their expectations are. A social worker knows the limitations in her work due to policies under which the worker has to abide. This gives the worker a ‘format’ for dealing with different issues. The social worker can adjust his/her expectations, and if possible, explain to the client the worker is dealing with possible outcomes. This will cushion both the worker and the client if things turn out differently.

Setting boundaries between the social worker and the clients helps in achieving expected outcomes. Sometimes social workers themselves expect too much from their work that their boundaries with their clients become blurred (Chenoweth & McAuliffe, 2015). This can cause frustrations when set objectives are not met. Sometimes the social worker has too much expectations are too much, and all the client needs  the client in some small ways (Holland & Scourfield). Changing expectations

is thus essential for the social worker.

Personal Expectations

In the expectancy-value model, there is the expectation that a person’s mastery of work will result in a successful outcome (Reeve, 2014). A positive outcome will, in turn, validate a person’s proficiency, and it ends up becoming a cycle of success. Consecutive failures make people doubt their abilities to work in their field. A good mastery of work can cushion social workers in case of failures or stressful bureaucracy in the organization holding them down. For instance, with experience, the social worker knows the limits of their autonomy and how policies can limit them in carrying their duties. Such feedback can be an advantage if they develop ways to deal with such situations or avoid such policies altogether (Thomas, 2009). If the social worker finds himself in a position where he is to involve people who would not be willing to support his work, he can send the client directly to the person. Alternatively, the social worker can try persuasion for some scenarios, and if it does not work out, use other people to help with the problem, not necessarily the person controlling everything.

The client can also be taught how to avoid the victim mindset. This social worker can point out to the clients their strengths and advise or help them use such strengths to grow themselves, avoiding the use of structues that will hinder them (Ambrosino et al., 2016). This not only gives the client control but contributes to the success of the social worker.

Dealing with Failure

Just like any other scenario in life, things don’t always turn out exactly the way we want.  There is a possibility of failure, and dealing with different people who have different background makes failure inevitable (Moore, 2018). Social workers should know how to deal with failure. Giving their best in their work does not guarantee success, but it provides the worker with the satisfaction that there was nothing else they could have done to change the outcome. Social workers also need to know what failure is, since the little help they gave to their client can be a success to the client (Dattner & Hogan, 2011). Failure also gives the social workers a time to reflect on the outcome and look for ways to change the system that is letting people down (Meekhof, 2016).

Conclusion

A feeling of control makes a person feel motivated for their work, and any interference with it makes people lose all motivation for work. Looking for ways to always feel in control of the situation can help a lot in staying motivated. Having control can result from changing expectations and gauging the type of reactions a social worker will get from others when conducting duties.

References

Ambrosino, R., Ambrosino, R., Heffernan, J., Shuttleworth, G. (2016). Social Work and Social Welfare: An Introduction (8^th edition). Cengage-Learning.

Chenoweth, L. & McAuliffe, D. (2015). The Road to Social Work and Human Service Practice (4^th edition). Cengage-Learning.

Dattner, B., & Hogan, R. (2011). Managing Yourself: Can You Handle Failure? Harvard Business Review website: https://hbr.org/2011/04/managing-yourself-can-you-handle-failure

Fanning, J. (n.d.). Understanding the Role of a Social Worker. MSWOnline website: https://mswonlineprograms.org/job-duties-and-responsibilities-of-social-workers/

Holland, S. & Scourfield, J. (2015). Social Work: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.

Meekhof, K. (2016, June 27). 5 Ways to Cope with Failure. Psychology Today website: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/widows-guide-healing/201606/5-ways-cope-failure

Moore, R. (2018, May 23). How to Deal with Failure. RobMoore website: https://robmoore.com/blog/how-to-deal-with-failure/

Reeve, J. (2014). Understanding Motivation and Emotion (6^th edition). Wiley.

Studer, B. & Knecht, S. (2016). A benefit-cost framework of motivation for a specific activity. Progress in Brain Research, 229, 25-47. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pbr.2016.06.014

Thomas, K.W. (2009). Intrinsic Motivation at Work (2^nd edition). Barrett-Koehler.