Challenges Social Work In Scotland Today Social Work Essay

Challenges Social Work In Scotland Today Social Work Essay Doing more of the same wont work (Changing Lives: 21st Century Review of Social Work, Scottish Executive 2006) Why is this? Discuss with reference to some of the challenges that face social work in Scotland today. The role of a social worker has become a grey area and subsequently undergone necessary scrutiny to establish what needs to be done to improve the use of a social workers time, the relationships built between the service users and providers, and how to adapt to and cater to the service users complex and challenging needs. It became particularly relevant in 2004, when Scottish Ministers registered the need for change, and put together a challenging brief asking William Roe to chair the 21st Century Social Work Review. This review asked those involved to question all aspects of social work, and to examine what could be done to fundamentally change, and improve the work of the social worker, and the successive result that had on the service users. It became apparent that as we are living in an ever changing society, social work itself needs to change so that it can match our countrys expectations for high quality, accessible, responsive and personalised services. There were many factors that instigated the need for change, and reasons why this review came to fruition. The demands for change are now so important partly due to the media coverage that has show major gaps and careless work from social workers. In some cases, social workers have stood by, acting only when an incident occurs, instead of preventing it from happening. This becomes clear in the case of Miss X, as it highlights that Caseloads for social workers in community care in the two offices concerned with the Ms X case were all over 70, while one had a caseload of over 100, and another had more than 120 cases. It also states that A study by the Scottish Executive last year had revealed that Scottish Borders Council social workers had the highest caseloads of any authority in Scotland. The case of Baby P, know known to be Peter Connelly, is another example of what some might call neglect by the social services. Interestingly Peter had lived in an area of London that was under the same child care authorities as Victoria Climbie, another child of a failed case. The services involved with these cases have been widely criticised, and enquiries have been made. It has been said in an article in the guardian Social workers believed Baby Ps mother was a caring but inadequate parent who just needed support. This quote highlights the lack of attention given to the case from the social worker, due to rigour and lack of time given. Although excellent work was being carried out in other areas of social work, just these few examples are enough to show that there was much need for change in the social services, and the 21st Century Social Work Review discusses what these changes are. It became clear when putting together Changing Lives: 21st Century Review of Social Work, that doing more of the same wouldnt work. The problems within the social care sector were deeper and in need of more attention than simply doing more of the same work. It has been stated by the Users and Carers panel that this is an unsustainable direction for social work services and that simply pouring ever more public resources into a service based on welfare models rather than the promotion of individual wellbeing will not, in itself, achieve a sustainable future Needless to say, there have been numerous examples of success with service users, where the social worker has provided an excellent service and transformed the lives of people in need, but the evidence for the need for improvement has outweighed the evidence for the somewhat limited outstanding work. Therefore the Review looks at the challenges to tackle, as well as the strengths that can be built upon and improved further. Looking at the major issues and challenges that faced social workers, we can see a trend emerging that suggests a huge lack of confidence, and this is due to the lack of clarity within their field of work. Unreasonable expectations of what, and how much a social worker can do also provides problems, as these expectations clearly cannot be met, and then a sense of failure kicks in, that subsequently has an effect on other work that is being carried out, creating a negative cycle. Risk is another factor that social workers need to carefully consider. This again has a negative cycle effect; the social worker takes fewer risks, as they feel the need to protect themselves from media and political criticism, but this then leads to a less focused and in depth relationship with the service user. It must also be noted, that previously social workers that are fully qualified and skilled had been doing work that didnt in fact require that level of knowledge and expertise. This is partly due to lack of staff in the service care sector, but also with bad organisation, and not using these skilled workers to the best of their abilities. These social workers are not being put to the best of their ability. Finance is an issue within social work, as without the funds, the service cannot be provided. A social worker has posted their concerns on a discussion group on the internet, and this reads as follows; Lack of funding is by far the biggest challenge in social work today. Many social service agencies are currently experiencing hiring freezes. This leads to larger case loads and less time being given to each client. This is true regardless of the population that is being served. Unfortunately, due to our poor economy, more and more people need the assistance of social workers. Financial hardship causes homelessness, child abuse, and a multitude of other issues, but there is no funding available to assist existing clients, much less new clients that are being affected by the rec ession. This really highlights the urgency for funding, and is further emphasised within the Review by the User and Carer Panel, there are fewer taxpayers and more people needing services, so there is not enough money to fund these services. Another problem that has faced social work is the discrepancy between care and control. This leads to an ambiguous relationship between the provider and the user, which needs to be addressed in order for the user to feel comfortable enough to make the most of the service. The Users and Carers Panel have stated, Services should meet the needs of people. People shouldnt have to fit services. Social workers should be allowed the time to get to know their clients really well, so that they really understand the different needs of each individual. Changes in context and society are other reasons that the role of a social worker needed to be examined, demographic, socio-economic and political trends have driven significant change in social work services since landmark legislation that underpins social work today. There are a number of major trends that are expected to affect how the social care services are delivered in the future. Some of these include; an ageing population, this is particularly important as the number of people over 75 years of age has risen an enormous amount and it is thought to have increased by 60% by 2028, therefore 25% of the U.K population will be over 60. The increase being due to advances in science and medicine actually puts forward a huge challenge for social services, as these 25% of people, 60% of which are predicted to have long term conditions, will be handed over to the care of the social services. Children in need remain a significant proportion of those requiring the care of the social servi ces, especially as they become older and leave care. It is stated in the review that 60% leave school with no qualification and a similar proportion dont enter employment, education or training and as many as 20% become homeless within a year. As this is know a known and accepted problem, it can be addressed and concentrated on by social workers in the child sector. As well as Children, those suffering from disabilities, stress, anxiety and depression are in need of care and support from social workers, and the demand is only increasing as medical advances allow for disabled individuals to live longer than they may have been able to in the past. Other society related problems that demand a change in the social sector are fractured relationships, social polarisation and shrinking workforce. All the issues touched upon here are inextricably linked to the latter, shrinking workforce, and if this is to continue, the ideas and hopes for the future will be unable to take affect. The most important factors when considering the new direction for the future of social work are capacity and effective use of resources. In all areas capacity needs to be built upon to achieve the required results. If the capacity is increased, the social worker can deliver personalised services and sustainable change. Both of the latter are extremely important for the future of social work, as said in chapter 5 of the review, personalising the delivery of public services is an explicit goal of Scottish policy, and this is even more relevant today as we live in a time of great choice and opportunity. Increasingly this means that we want and expect personalised services. It is so important to encourage the strengths of the individual and to work with them through the use of a therapeutic approach to make changes and regain their independence. This then links to the very important factor, giving service users a sense of independence and self assurance. This is made clear in Kieron Hatt ons book New Directions in Social work Practice, as he refers to the discussion of the common third. This is essentially a practice in which neither (the service user or provider) is the expert and in which each makes an equal contribution the purpose is to develop the self-esteem and self-confidence of the person using the service so that they can take that new self belief forward into other areas of their lives and become fully empowered citizens. This shows a vibrant new idea that will help social workers deal with their service users in hand, rather than maintaining them. This idea is further highlighted by the Users and Carers panel from the Changing Lives, 21st Century Social Work Review stating there needs to be a power shift away from the people who commission and provide services to service users and carers When considering all of the factors mentioned, it becomes clear that Social Work demanded a change or a new outlook. However, it could be argued that if there was an increase in workforce, who then released the extraordinary work loads of under pressure social workers more service users would be helped, and more successful outcomes would come about. Yet, it cannot be denied that even if this was a possibility, which unfortunately it is not due to a lack of new workers, the 21st Century demands more interaction, hence forming better relationships, more funding, and a bigger workforce, all of which contribute to the fact that doing more of the same wont work, and the challenges and changes put forward by the Changing Lives review are positive suggestions for new directions that will change peoples life and make a difference. Word count; 1,995

Push and pull strategy of Motorola Essay

Push Examples of companies are a) For example, Motorola use a push strategy to make arrangements with large mobile phone providers, such as Sprint, Verizon and AT&T, who can advertise phones directly to consumers. Businesses can promote products to wholesalers and vendors through trade shows, contacting local retailers and providing attractive packaging and point of sale displays to convince consumers to buy. b) Second is Nokia, Nokia promote their products via retailers such as Carphone Warehouse. Personal selling and trade promotions are often the most effective promotional tools for companies like Nokia. For example, Nokia offering subsidies on the handsets to encourage retailers to sell higher volumes. Pros: 1. To develop this kind of positioning, all one has to do is look at the competition’s literature and come up with positioning that seems sufficiently different from the alternatives. Potentially saves time because it can be done without speaking to customers. Maybe a good first step in developing a go-to-market strategy. 2. Using a push strategy usually costs less money and draws more business, because companies negotiate with large vendors. For example, a producer selling a product to Walmart can receive most of its business from a single retail outlet, allowing the business to focus on its product manufacturing and supply chain while worrying less about its relationship with customers. Cons: 1. The competition may have it all wrong and have no idea about what customers really want, so trying to work around the competition’s messaging may be pointless, since they all have it wrong anyways-and company probably do too since the company haven’t spoken to any customers 2. Push strategies can rely too heavily upon large vendors, which limit a business’ pricing and flexibility when selling a product. For example, a large producer like Walmart may dictate the price at which the business can sell its products. Pull Examples of companies are a) A good example of a pull is the heavy advertising and promotion of children’s’ toys, Toyrus. Consumers will go to ToyRUs and ask for a toy that was advertised on the television, and then ToyRus will ask the wholesalers who will then ask the producers about the product and meet the demand. b) Second example is car manufacturing company, Ford Australia. Ford Australia only produces cars when they have been ordered by the customers. Applied to that portion of the supply chain where demand uncertainty is high production and distribution are demand driven no inventory, response to specific orders point of sale data comes in handy when shared with supply chain partners decrease in lead time difficult to implement Pros: 1. Removing Pressure. One of the primary attractions for pull marketing is to mitigate the pressure of conducting outbound marketing. Marketers do not need to actively persuade customers that they need the product; customers are naturally drawn to it. 2. A pull strategy can create large demand for products in a short time, especially if a new business has difficulty building up market share for its products. Businesses can easily solicit customer feedback on how to improve products. Also, dealing directly with customers enables businesses to cut out retailing middlemen. Cons: 1. Requires extensive customer interactions to identify the things that customers feel are the differentiated features of the product. It is difficult to done to get customer interaction. 2. Advertising expenses can be costly with a pull strategy, unless a business gets lucky with a viral marketing campaign. Building a brand can take years and cost millions before customers become loyal to a product line.

16th Century European Explorations Essay

What are the reasons that made the European explorers risk taking the hazardous journey to the Americans in the 16th century. The Europeans in the first place were not aware that there is a continent known as America and they came to know of it after Christopher Columbus went on his search for a route to the Far East but landed on the Americans by mistake. He thought he was already in India when he saw the Indian natives in the Americas. My main interest in this essay is to discuss about the three major reasons that made European explorers of the 16th century risk to move all the way from Europe to the Americas. Shortly after Columbus landed in the Americas, he explored further in this region sometimes back in 1492. His real intention was to look for a short cut to the East Asia but fortunately or unfortunately landed into the Americas. After further exploration, he found that the region had a very fertile soil for farming. When he returned to his mother country he told them how the area was suitable for agriculture, they European felt very intrigued to go and see for themselves. Many rich Spaniards who were facing sharp competition in their motherland Spain sent their envoys all the way to the Americas to look for a virgin place where they could establish their new businesses. On this understanding then they were motivated by commercial reasons. The European explorers and especially the Spaniards established their first settlement in Virginia at a place called Jamestown. Various companies that had already established themselves in Spain sent them to market these companies. The example of these companies was chartered Virginia Company which was seeking for new business opportunities. Most of these companies were in search of gold but when they realized it was not forthcoming they switched to plantation farming. At first they were reluctant but their leaders convinced them that its search was not addressing their immediate need that was affecting them and this was food. After this they established cash crop business especially at Maryland. In the beginning they used European immigrants and the local natives to work in these plantations but when they proved to be unable to meet the demand for the job, slaves started being shipped in form West Africa. The second reason why European explorers risked going to the Americas was the search for a free ground where they could practice their religion without fear of being persecuted. Most of these were Protestants who were against the Roman Catholic. Due to the 16th century protestant reformation different sects emerged, something that provoked the attention of the Western government as the Christendom of this region became disturbed by these divisions. One of these sects was Puritans who constantly questioned the integrity of the Roman Catholic. They were specifically concerned with the religions roles that were done by this church and yet they had no biblical backing. This group faced very strong resistance from the government authorities who were determined to crash them. They reacted to this move by persecuting all the puritans in their areas of jurisdiction. Due to this persecution, more than twenty thousand dissenters made their way to the new land when they went to the Americas, the Pennsylvanian authority making this colony to be a home for Quaker refugees, Baptists and Swiss Protestants, welcomed them. Those who faced persecution at home were lured with less costly land and religious freedom in the Americas and for these reasons they had to sail to Americas rather than face persecution at home at home. The third reason for the Europeans to go to the Americas is because they were sponsored by their mother states. No European nation wanted to be left behind in the exploration game. For example Christopher Columbus was sponsored by Spain to go on exploration expedition in a bid to look for a direct route to the Far East. Another sponsored explorer was a colonialist known as John Cabot. He was the first to discover the newfound land was sent by England. Portugal sent its own colonialists to explore on its behalf. Portugal sent Pedro Cabral to go to Brazil to look for colonies. The Portuguese sponsored explorers discovered Canada. What followed after these sponsored explorations was a wave of conquest especially on the part of the Spaniards. They were the first to establish a colonial rule in the Americas. Therefore we have seen that there were various reasons that forced the Europeans to sail all the way to the Americas despite the fact that they were not well familiar with this region. It is very clear that one of the reasons was commercial based, the second was because of church persecution in Europe and the last one was the temptation the explorers received from the European governments. So this exploration was not done for the sake of it but for specificreasons

Colosseum, Arch of Titus, Basilica of Constantine, Palace...

The Western civilization as we know it traces back to Europe, as well as the Mediterranean. More specifically, it is comprised of mainly Western Europe and North America. The Western culture as a whole exemplifies the social norms, political systems, heritage, and customs. Much of those influences have arisen by no other than the contributions done by Rome. Rome has not only shaped a significant amount of the Western civilization in various ways such as the architecture, forming of a republic, diffusion of culture, and spread of Christianity, but has also shaped the entire way of living done throughout the civilization. The Romans were known for having original ideas, being initiative, and finding ways to creating never before done architecture. It was so well done and detailed, that it soon became a type of Roman art form. The most famous known structures in Roman architecture are the Colosseum and the Arch of Titus. The structures that still stand still to this day are the Basilica of Constantine and the Palace of Diocletian. The architecture was a key way of reflecting how culturally superior, wealthy, and skilled Rome really was. The Roman use of concrete, brick, and arches allowed popular building designs like the basilica and amphitheater to be done. Some more examples in which concrete, brink, and arches were utilized were on bridges, temples, theaters, as well as walls. All of those structures are still very significant today and will continue to be in years to