Areas, Principles and functions of Social welfare administration

 Introduction 

Social welfare administration is a process through which social policy is transformed into social services. It involves the administration of public and private agencies.In early times, social welfare functions were performed by a few individuals or groups of individuals motivated by compassion and concern for the poor, the needy and the destitute. These people were laymen, embodied with the qualities of humanism and selfless service to the community. But in modern times, most of the countries have adopted the concept of a welfare state instead of a police state. The Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences describes a welfare state as a state which takes up the responsibility to provide a minimum standard of subsistence to its citizens. Prof. Kent remarked that by a welfare state we mean a state which provides extensive services to the people. Thus, in a welfare state, the administration enters into economic, political, social and educational life of individuals.

 And it provides services to individuals, right from an individual’s birth to death. The state is to serve the old, sick, orphans, widows, helpless, oppressed and the disabled people whenever they are in need of services. Social welfare administration, it has twin concepts denoting social welfare and administration. It refers to the overall development of society having certain management from government and non-governmental guidelines. "It is the study for development", a process where providing resources and services meet the needs of individuals, groups, and communities, who were poor, needy, and destitute. Proper administration is needed to remove poverty, social malfunctions, child issues, women issues, etc. so for that we should work/serve for the wellbeing of the people. It is essential, where such sections of our society could get better treatment by social policymakers, planners, welfare administrators, etc. It aims to apply professional competence to achieve social work goals.

But in modern times, many of the countries have adopted the concept of a welfare state instead of a police state. The Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences describes a welfare state as a state which takes up the responsibility to provide a minimum standard of subsistence to its citizens. Prof. Kent remarked that by a welfare state we mean a state which provides extensive services to the people. Thus, in a welfare state, the administration enters into the economic, political, social, and educational life of individuals. And it provides services to individuals, right from an individual's birth to death. The state is to serve the old, sick, orphans, widows, helpless, oppressed, and disabled people whenever they need services. In the context of the present-day social problems, the size of welfare services provided by an increasingly large number of organizations makes administration very important. Social welfare services, schemes, projects, and programmers, are becoming increasingly complex. Since it is no longer accepted that any normally intelligent person with good intentions can administer the welfare work, a sound administration is vital. It is increasingly realized that social welfare programmers require qualified and trained social welfare personnel to perform social welfare functions efficiently.

Principles of social welfare administration

1. The Principle of social work values: Social work profession rests on values like equality, social justice, and empowerment. These values also form the base upon which service delivery system of social work administration is based.
2. The Principle of community and client needs:The interventions carried out by the social welfare/development agencies are based on the felt needs of the community people or the target group. This is important for the acceptability of the programme.
3. The Principle of agency purpose: The agency should have clearly defined, formulated goals and purposes and should work in that direction only.
4. The Principle of cultural setting: The administrator needs to understand the socio- cultural setting of the community as it greatly influences the service acceptance and in fact success or failure of the services.
5. The Principle of purposeful relationship: Effective purposeful working relationship must be established between the administrator with all the stakeholders - the staff, other agencies, and the community people.
6. The Principle of agency totality: Based on ecological approach, an agency and its functioning should be understood in its totality, which is crucial for development administration.
7. The Principle of professional responsibility: High professional standards of practice and accountability and responsibility should be maintained at all levels of service delivery. The principal is also linked to professional ethics of social work
8. The Principle of participation: Development administration rests on people’s participation in the development process right from planning to execution and evaluation of services. Democratic participation is an important aspect.
9. The Principle of communication: Open channels of communication are essential to effective service delivery including welfare/ development interventions.
10. The Principle of leadership: Though democratic and participatory approaches are a must for development administration, visionary and transformational leadership is equally important for attaining the goal to overall development.
11. The Principle of planning: As a technical component, the process of continuous planning is fundamental to the development of meaningful services. In the context of development administration, planning has to be participatory involving the service users.
12. The Principle of organization: The work of many actors should be arranged in an organized manner and be structured so that responsibilities and relationships are clearly defined.
13. The Principle of delegation: Delegation of responsibility and authority is an important aspect in the administration process and is practiced universally in all types of administrative settings.
14. The Principle of co-ordination: Coordination - within the agency, with other stakeholders and outside social environment - is an important component of the administration which must be ensured for successful implementation of programs and services.
15. The Principle of resource utilization: Resources are almost always limited. Optimum resource utilization for maximum good is a must and it is one of the prime responsibilities of managers and administrators.
16. The Principle of change: ‘Guided social change in the positive direction is the crux of social development and is crucial for social welfare/development administrators and planners.
17. The Principle of evaluation: Continuous evaluation of intervention processes and programs is essential to the achievement of the overall goal of holistic development.
18. The Principle of growth: The intervention designed should lead to holistic growth and development of all the sections of the society and should not be on ad-hoc basis or should not be confined to the betterment of a select few.  

Features of social welfare administration 

1.  Organization and structure
2.  Public relations
3. Maintenance of proper record
4. Policymaking and planning
5. Supervision and leadership

Conclusion

A social worker to be a professional is incomplete without the Social welfare Administration. Social worker aims to provide service to every individual in the society and social welfare administration is not a business of social work. The welfare administration helps, professionally doing social work in society. It is a secondary method that helps social workers to solve their facing problems. It offers an opportunity for social workers to practice in the field. Without any administration, we cannot get a solution through practice.

In modern times, all human activities are concerned with money. But in a profession, an effort is made to see that service motto should prevail over monetary considerations. Professionals should keep social interest in their minds while charging fees for their professional services. For example, a doctor helps the patient, not only to charge a fee but also to serve humanity in the process. A lawyer helps the client, not to charge the fee only but to provide justice to the client. Similarly, a social welfare administrator administers the social welfare programmers, not only for money and personal satisfaction but uses his/ her knowledge and skills to serve the larger interest of the society.