Neo-Confucianism Is a Philosophy Which Was Born TEST1

¶ … authority role of human services administrators might conflict with the supervisory role of human services administrators. Then explain how role conflicts might pose a challenge to human services administrators both personally and professionally.

Human Services Administrator Role: Authority and Supervision

The objective of this discussion response is to provide an example of how the authority role of human services administrators might conflict with the supervisory role of human services administrators and to explain how role conflicts might pose a challenge to human service administrators both personally and professionally.

The work of Lawrence Shulman (nd) states "An area of stress reported by supervisors is the feeling of being caught in the middle between staff and administration on a point of conflict. Conflicts between staff members and the administration are often the rule rather than the exception, and they make up a large part of the interaction in the formal and informal systems. Administrators may sometimes set unworkable policies, because they are too far removed from the realities of practice to understand their effect on services. New programs or procedures may be developed by study groups or outside consultants who have little understanding of the actual nature of the practice. Cost-containment and funding cutbacks can lead to organizational stress and force decisions that can affect programs and positions." ( )

I. Different Models of Supervision Examined

Reports state that models of social work supervision are "differentiated by levels of agency control." (Shadbush, et al., 2009) One extreme is reported as the 'casework model' or scheduled one-on-one individual social work supervision" stated to be based on high levels of administrative accountability." (Shadbush, et al., 2009) Reported as the other extreme is "the autonomous practice model" stated to be characterized by professional autonomy of the supervisee." (Shadbush, et al., 2009) Situated in between these two extremes is what is referred to as "the continuum of administrative accountability" including group, team and peer supervision models. (Shadbush, et al., 2009, paraphrased)

II. Specifics of Models

Individual supervision is the one used most widely and its delivery is "a one-on-one tutorial session scheduled weekly for approximately an hour. This is demanding in terms of time and effort. The second most use model of supervision is group supervision. Stated advantages of group supervision include " conservation of time and resources; lateral peer learning; and sharing and normalization of job-related." (Shadbush, et al., 2009) Peer supervision is just as it sounds, led by a peer group with no oversight or authority of supervision. The team leader is placed in a precarious position as that individual assumes authority over other team members but in reality, this type of supervisor is not authentically superior in the organization to other team members. For the HR administrator that is also an HR supervisor the role conflicts are clear in that the administrator's personal and professional relationships will be affected by the shift in roles of the administrator inherently creating conflicts in the workplace due to role confusion and lack of effective role integration. In addition, not all supervision is 'formal' in nature. (Towner, nd) When administrators are also supervisors a great deal of planning is required. (Towner, nd)