RELEVANCE OF SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE TO THE WORK WORLD OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM

Dr Ashok Antony DSouza Assistant Professor of Social Work & Coordinator, Centre for Disaster Mitigation and Natural Calamities Tumkur University, Tumkur Email: ashok@tumkuruniversity.in & Dr Lokesh M.U. Assistant Professor of Social Work & Tumkur University, Tumkur Email: lokesh_mu2000@yahoo.co.in

INTRODUCTION There has been wide-ranging changes in the business world and consequently in the work world within the corporations in the last two to three decades. The old nomenclature of personnel management and industrial relations has been replaced by the fashionable tag of human resource management. The findings of psycho-social studies have been utilized to manage the employees in such a way that they lose their collective identity and sense of rights which were the defining hallmarks of the labour movements a few decades ago. The option of outsourcing or making use of contract labourers in special circumstances is being used by the corporations as a permanent arrangement to keep their wage and salary overhead very low and also to keep their obligations towards employees to the minimum. State forces, rather than legitimate legal options, are made use of to break the strength of trade unions and to quell civil society support to the cause of labourers. Human resource managers role has been reduced to executive function of carrying out the mission defined for them by the management, even if that mission expects them to act against human rights of the employees. This changed scenario has added new dimensions to the old discussions on the relevance and effectiveness of social work interventions in industrial setting. ATTACK ON H.R. MANAGERS A DISTURBING TREND Despite employers and managers employing many sophisticated strategies and tactics to contain labour movement, there has been increase in the recent past in violent attacks on managers in general and human resource managers in particular. To cite a relatively recent incident, in July 2012 Awanish Kumar Dev, general manager (human resources) at Maruti Suzukis Manesar

plant in Haryana, was burnt to death following an outbreak of violence on Wednesday when an employee had an altercation with his superior. Over 40 people were also injured in the violence. In November 2010, Joginder Singh, the human resources manager of Allied Nippon an IndoJapanese auto component firm, was killed at Ghaziabad town of Uttar Pradesh, near New Delhi, by a group of agitating workers who were sacked earlier by the management. In September 2009 the labour unrest at Pricol, an automotive instruments manufacturing company based at Coimbatore city in Tamil Nadu took an ugly turn with the companys vice-president (human resources), Roy J George, succumbing to injuries he sustained during an assault by a section of agitating workers. A careful analysis of the above-mentioned incidents reveals that workers use violence as their last resort when they perceive that the employer is strong enough to curb their lawful strike by unlawful means. Their anger against the employer is very often directed towards management representatives, especially the human resource managers. This is because the workers/employees believe that human resource managers do brokerage in favor of the employer rather work to establish fair and transparent employment conditions. This is mainly because even the professional social workers who have specialized in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations use very little of their professional principles and philosophy in their career. They imitate/compete with their professional counterparts who are trained in reputed B Schools and predominantly use management philosophy rather than humanitarian principles of social work profession. Thus, neglect of social work philosophy coupled with lack of proper labour welfare and sound industrial relations has been responsible for the ills faced by human resource managers today. RENEWED RELEVANCE OF SOCIAL WORK IN THE WORK WORLD In the changed context discussed so far, it is important to reiterate that the work world needs social work interventions today more than ever before. Although the relevance of social work in industries is disputed by a few, there are two major reasons which could be used to prove its significance in the work world. Firstly, if we accept that business and industry are not merely profit-oriented institutions but that they also have social significance and obligations, social work definitely has a great deal of work to accomplish in industrial setting. Secondly, social work professionals have proved that by enabling the management and the workers to set-up healthy work environment and relationships, the effectiveness and productivity of the industry is enhanced, which in turn results in greater profitability for the enterprise. It has been proved over the years that social work professionals can aid the business organizations to achieve their goals because of their humane and scientific approach. It is because of this Unique Selling Proposition (USP) that social work has found greater relevance in the business organizations that are highly aggressive in their business pursuits.

Apart from the two major reasons for the practice of social work in the industry there are many other factors which could be used to argue for its significance. For example, industrial social work can go a long way in improving the social climate and quality of human relations in an organisation. Human relations propose in general that productivity should be achieved by means of building and maintaining employee dignity and satisfaction rather than at the cost of these values. Straussner (1990) believes that believes that social work profession with its multiple methods and skills can be effectively utilized to help persons enrich their work life as well as personal life. Berry (1990) is of the opinion that Social Work skills such as counseling and group work can be applied to the field of HRM to enhance its effectiveness. Social work training for industrial setting in India is of very great significance due to the following factors: firstly, compared to all other specializations offered in social work training Labour Welfare and Personnel Management is the only specialization which is statutorily recognized; and secondly, this is the only specialization for which there is consistent demand from the applicants. Despite this being the reality, at present there is a debate raging as to whether the social work professionals have any meaningful role in the arena of HR/IR in India. It is an irony that while the social workers in the West are enthused about reinventing the applicability of social work to business organizations the social work academics and practitioners in India seems to be at a loss regarding its significance and relevance. However, we can justify the necessity of social work practice in the industrial setting by acknowledging that social work today extends to all strata of society. It is an enabling process and any area, where it can fulfill its role, is relevant to it. Therefore, it is unfair to exclude the working class from its purview, especially in todays highly turbulent features marking the work world of majority of workers/employees.

SOCIAL WORK INTERVENTIONS Social work profession has many relevant interventions that could be put into practice in business and industrial setting. Straussner (1990), for example, looks at the world of work as a rich setting for applying a repertoire of social work skills, such as counselling, group work, research, policy analysis, program development and planning etc. However, what needs to be accepted with all humility is that the practice in this setting is not uniform and also that it lacks wide coverage. M.M. Desai (1979) has highlighted the programmes that can be developed by professionally trained social workers at preventive, developmental, and curative levels. The various programmes suggested under these levels are given below: A. Preventive and Developmental Programmes:

i.

Informal educational programmes aimed at enlightening the workers on issues pertaining to work life like industrial safety, functional literacy, saving habits, social security, etc. Promoting the use of health and medical programmes for workers and their families (health check-ups, inoculation campaigns, family planning, informative sessions on nutrition, low cost diets, childcare, etc. Personal and environmental hygiene, etc. Developing recreational programmes like library services, prime sports gatherings, various skill competitions, exhibitions, film shows, etc. celebration of cultural festivals, supplementary income programmes, hobby classes, vocational guidance programmes, etc.

ii.

iii. iv.

B. Curative Programmes: The major aim of the curative programmes is to enable the individual workers to face the problem situations by effectively utilizing their own potentials and the resources offered by the industry and the community. Counselling to the individual employees and their families can be effective in cases such as alcoholism, indebtedness, and absenteeism, etc. The counselling services can be coupled with concrete assistance in the following ways: i. ii. iii. iv. v. Securing medical help within or outside industry. Planning the family budgets. Helping employee family members in obtaining funds. Seeking employment for worker's dependents. Referring the worker/his dependents to welfare agencies in the community like child guidance clinic, marriage counselling bureaus, alcoholic anonymous groups and the like, wherever there is a need.

The scope for social work interventions in industrial set-up could be further divided into micro and macro levels. At the micro level the social worker can provide professional help to the worker and his family, employer and union members. Help may also be given in relation to problems related to work, self and others around them, such as job performance, job satisfaction, absenteeism, conflict situations, etc. Further the social worker might also might also provide professional help for overcoming problems such as anxiety, depression, phobia, mental disturbance, substance abuse, marital and family conflict.

At the macro level, the professionally trained social worker might arrange to provide expert consultation to the individuals and groups responsible for diagnosing the organizational culture and the climate. He may also provide professional help in designing and implementing organisational interventions through policy and programme formulation, Training, Development and Education, Organizational Development, Human Resource Development, Performance Appraisal systems, Compensation Management, Career Progression and Development, and Outreach Programmes. In concrete terms the scope of social work in business and industry depends on the following factors: i. ii. iii. the attitude of the employer; the employment-related policies of the organization; the compatibility between needs of business and the extent to which these needs can be addressed by the profession of social work; and Cost-effectiveness of the services provided.

iv.

If we use the positions held or offered to the professional social workers by the industry today as an indicator for its scope the following could be considered as the major ones: Industrial Counsellors, Industrial Social Workers, Project Officers/Coordinators, Social Welfare Officers, and Community Development Officers. There is greater number of employers who are presently showing interest in the welfare of the workers at the plant level, in the families and communities and expanding their activities beyond the four walls of the factory. Professional social workers are well-suited to fulfill these aspirations of the employers. These positions are open to the professional social workers in all type of industries, be it small, medium or large scale, with variations in designations and responsibilities. Apart from these jobs the social workers specialized in Human Resource Management are appointed as HR Officers/Managers, Welfare Officers, Labour Officers, Personnel Officers/Personnel Managers, Industrial Relations Officer, HRD Officer/Manager, Training and Development Officer/Manager, Factory Manager, and Industrial Counsellors in many of the business enterprises where they get the opportunity to formulate and implement HR policies and systems. These positions could also be effectively utilized to put into practice the knowledge and skills of the social work profession. Apart from using all the social work methods which can be practiced to gain direct or indirect benefits to the workers social work professionals can fruitfully engage themselves in designing and implementing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives of business corporations. However, what needs to be realized is that, at times, CSR imposes many limitations on the practice of social work practice by way of carrying out these initiatives only as business promotion stunts and cover-up genuine demands of the people like control of promotion or

employment opportunities for deserving local candidates. Hence, the trained social workers have to make genuine efforts to convince the management regarding the benefits and necessity of engaging in sustainable development through relevant social work initiatives. CONCLUSION However, the question to be asked is whether we, as a band of professional social workers, are sufficiently equipped and motivated to grab the opportunities and face the challenges. In the changed and challenging business scenario and the work world, it is time we reinvented the methods and strategies of social work to make them relevant to the present contexts.

REFERENCES

Desai, M.M., Industrial Social Work, TISS, May 1979. Jacob, K.K., Methods and Fields of Social work in India, Bombay,Asia publishing house,1965. Moorthy M.V., Social Work Methods and Fields, Dharwar:Karnataka University. 1974. Navale, Anil and Desai, A. Reviewing Social Work in Industry for Remodelling Social Work Education. In Singh, Surendra and Srivastava, S.P. (eds.), Teaching and Practice of Social Work in India: Realities and Responses. Bhatt, S., Occupational Social Work in India: Opportunities and Challenges, in Contemporary Social Work, 23, p.33. 2001. Berry, A., Application of Social Work Skills to Human Resource Management, in Occupational Social Work Today, 3 (4), p. 20. 1990. Desai, M.M., Dole V. Industrial Social Work, Bombay, Tata Institute of Social Sciences. 1979. Kumar, Rita. The State of CSR in India: Acknowledging progress, prioritizing action, background paper, TERI, New Delhi. 2004.