Macro Practice Theories by APU Social Work

Social Work program at https://www.apu.edu/bas/programs/bsw/faculty/

1. MACRO PRACTICE THEORY



Theory Description Key Terms, Interventions
Organizational
behavior perspective
The study of human and group behavior within
organizational settings. The study of organization behavior
involves looking at the attitudes, interpersonal relationships,
performance, productivity, job satisfaction, and commitment
of employees, as well as levels of organizational
commitment and industrial relations. Organization behavior
can be affected by corporate culture, leadership, and
management style. Organization behavior emerged as a
distinct specialty from organization theory in the late 1950s
and early 1960s
through attempts to integrate different
perspectives on human and management problems and
develop an understanding of behavioral dynamics within
organizations. Organizational behavior is concerned with
all aspects of how organizations influence the behavior of
individuals and how individuals in turn influence
organizations.


Change how organization
influences behavior of
individuals, improved
attitudes, interpersonal
relationships, change
management style and
change organization’s
culture.
Learning
Organization
Theory
Organizational Learning Theory has reflected the dual
emphasis of structural technical and social cognitive
systems. A change in the technical system necessarily
impacts on the functioning of the social system, and a
change in the social system has impacts on the technical
system. Peter Senge popularized the Learning
Organization" in The Fifth Discipline: The Art and
Practice of the Learning Organization. He describes the
organization as an organism with the capacity to enhance
its capabilities and shape its own future. A learning
organization is any organization (e.g. school, business,
government agency) that understands itself as a complex,
organic system that has a vision and purpose. It uses
feedback systems and alignment mechanisms to achieve
its goals. It values teams and leadership throughout the
ranks. The technical view assumes that organizational
learning is about the effective pro cessing, interpretation
of, and response to, information both inside and outside
the organization. This information may be quantitative or
qualitative, but is generally explicit and in the public
domain…. The social perspective on organization
learning focuses on the way people make sense of their
experiences at work and learn from social interactions.
Mental models function by activating memories and
responses that were previously
developed to solve earlier problems or to address
previous incidents.
Five disciplines:
System Thinking, Personal
Mastery, Mental Models,
Shared Vision, Team
Learning.
Single and double loop
learning, organizational
change effort,
Intervene in way decisions
are made and in altering
structure.
Social development
perspective
The social development approach seeks to integrate
economic and social policies within a dynamic development process in order to achieve social welfare
objectives. By adding the developmental dimension,
social development is shown to transcend the dichotomy
between the residualist approach, which concentrates on
targeting resources to the most needy, and the
institutional approach which urges extensive state
involvement in welfare. Links social welfare directly to
economic development and seeks to harmonize
Harmonize economic and
social development objectives
to ensure the benefits of
economic progress reach the
population as a whole

2. MACRO PRACTICE THEORY


objectives, failure results in distorted development and
social deprivation.
Community
Organization
Theory



Community organization theory has its roots in theories
of social networks and support. It emphasizes active
participation and developing communities that can better
evaluate and solve social problems. Community
organization is the process by which community groups
are helped to identify common problems or goals,
mobilize resources, and develop and implement strategies
for reaching their goals. It has roots in several theoretical
perspectives: the ecological perspective, social systems
perspective, social networks, and social support. Social
workers use a broad cross-section of people in the
community to identify and solve its own problems (focus
groups, task force, committees. It stresses consensus
development, capacity building, and a strong task
orientation; outside practitioners help to coordinate and
enable the community to successfully address its
concerns. Social planning uses tasks and goals, and
addresses substantive problem solving, with expert
practitioners providing technical assistance to benefit
community consumers. Social action aims to increase the
problem-solving ability of the community and to achieve
concrete changes to redress social injustice that is
identified by a disadvantaged or oppressed group.
Social planning, key
informants, community stakeholders, grass-roots
organizing, mobilizing
resources, engaging in social
action, building collaboration
Human rights
perspective
Rights that are inherent to human nature, without which
we cannot live as human beings. Based on the inherent worth and dignity of each human being and the idea that
this deserves respect and protection. This includes the
right to life, liberty and security of person, freedom of
association, expression, assembly and movement. Equal
access to education, health and economic opportunities.
The right to the highest attainable standard of health and
well being

Civil and political action,
advocacy, economic and
social development,
challenging forms of
oppression, development of
effective national and
international policies and
laws to bring about social
justice
Ecological theory Focus on inter relational transactions between systems,
and stresses that all existing elements within an
ecosystem play an equal role in maintaining balance of
the whole. This approach can be best understood as
looking at persons, families, cultures, communities, and
policies and to identify and intervene upon strengths and
weaknesses in the transactional processes between these
systems. In this framework the caseworker and client
must understand the interconnectedness of the client to
his or her environment to effectively assess the problem,
design a solution and ensure goal achievement and
sustainability.


Ecological Assessment
Eco-map, address multiple
factors in the environment
General systems
theory
Ludwig von Bertalanffy in 1968 purposed a
system is characterized by the interactions of its
components and the nonlinearity of those interactions.
Focus changed from linear causality to circular causality-
the idea that events are related through a series of
interacting loops or repeating cycles.
A system may be in harmony with an environment, such a
Boundary maintenance, input
or output regulation,
Helping boundaries stay
permeable and flexible so
system can adapt to changing
environment, enhancing
transactions, maintaining or

3. MACRO PRACTICE THEORY


system may be said to be balanced or homeostatic.
Key concepts:
Set of elements standing in interaction.
Each element is affected by whatever happens to any
other element.
System is only as strong as its weakest part.
System is greater than sum of its parts.
Boundaries are more or less permeable depending on the
amount and type of feedback received.
Systems can be either controlled (cybernetic) or
uncontrolled.
In controlled systems information is sensed, and changes
are effected in response to the information.
Communication and transaction are the only intersystem
interactions. Communication is the exchange of
information, while transaction involves the exchange of
matter-energy. All organizational and social interactions
involve communication and/or transaction to achieve
equilibrium. The boundaries may be permeable or
impermeable – this defines the difference between an
open or closed system. Most systems display
characteristics of both being open and closed, Many
systems are goal directed - that is, interaction with their
environment has some purpose or direction or value or
goal or design.
Open systems have inputs - energy or matter that enters
through the boundaries, and outputs – energy or matter or
"waste" that departs through the boundaries. Through
puts are those things or energies that pass through without
alteration., sensors, and so on.

disrupting
equilibrium/homeostatis. Interrupting the system is a
means of bringing about change. First order change vs. second order change.



Conflict theory conflict theory states that society or an organization
functions so that each individual participant and its
groups struggle to maximize their benefits, which
inevitably contributes to social change such as political
changes and revolutions. The theory is mostly applied to
explain conflict between social classes, proletariat versus
bourgeoisie; and in ideologies, such as capitalism versus
socialism. The emphasis is on capitalism or society or
institutions as the problem, not the individual, group or
community. Here the social worker must also help clients
to cope with capitalism, but, at the same time, he or she
will work to change the society and institutions, and
educate clients about options, and possibility of different
societal relationships.
With this perspective inequality is inherent in the
capitalist society as seen in many areas: gender,
disabilities, race, age, sexual orientation.


Changing society and
institutions through protest,
political activism, organizing
social classes to take action,
educating groups

Social Learning
Theory

Social learning theory (sometimes referred to as
modeling, observational learning, or vicarious learning) incorporates elements of operant conditioning (or radical
Modeling of organization’s
core values, providing employee intrinsic and

4. MACRO PRACTICE THEORY





Social Learning
Theory


behaviorism) and social cognition. People learn behavior
through modeling, through positive and negative
reinforcement. A person is a social being and lives within
a group or a community. Therefore he tends to perform
actions and behave in a manner conducive to community
approval. In Social Learning theory, all behavior is goal
directed and emphasizes expectations of reward and
perceived values of rewards as the basis for modeling
one's behavior on that of others. Social learning includes
concept of “locus of control”, which refers to the view of
internal/external control of reinforcement. Bandura
believed that self-regulation mediated external influences
and provided a basis for action, empowering individuals
to assume responsibility and control for their actions and
motivators. Motivation can occur externally, such as a
promised reward or internally, such as when an individual
feels self pride when a standard is reached. If the
individual believes that they are capable of achieving an
individual or organizational goal, they are more likely to
work hard and achieve the goal. Bandura describes the
second factor of determining the degree of motivation as
effective feedback. Through feedback, individuals are
able to adjust or control their efforts toward achieving a
goal, making the goal more realistic and attainable.
extrinsic rewards for
behavior and performance.
Helping individuals and
groups develop an internal
local of control, i.e. assume
responsibility for their lives,
providing positive feedback,
community approval

Empowerment
theory
Empowerment-“process by which individuals and groups
gain power, access to resources and control over their
own lives. In doing so, they gain the ability to achieve
their highest personal and collective aspirations and
goals” (Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, 1998, p.91).
Empowerment resides in the person, not the helper or
social worker. Addresses oppression, stratification and in
equality as social barriers.
Does not blame for lack of resources and power
Rejects that problems develop because of personal
deficiencies. From an organizational perspective, ,
empowerment is promoted in work environments that
provide employees with access to information, resources,
support, and the opportunity to learn and develop. Kluska
et al., (2004
) have noted that psychological empowerment
includes feelings of competence, autonomy, job
meaningfulness, and an ability to impact the organization.
Empowerment starts with the
individual, not the helper,
social worker assists
individuals and groups to
access resources and gain
greater control over their
own lives. On a macro level,
this can take the form of
collective action, forming
groups, increasing
public/media awareness, and
lobbying politicians and
community leaders.
Increasing consumer access
to services.
Management theory The major classical management concepts were planning,
organizing, developing, staffing, coordinating, and
budgeting. Later management theory recognized man is
motivated by social needs not just economic need.
In this way managers are expect to develop relationships
and environments that enable people to work together and
respond to change. Such ‘joint performance’ involves
having common goals, common values, the right
structures, and continuing training and development
(Drucker 1988). In management of social service
agencies, issues include
ethics in making personnel
decisions, managing finances (diverse sources of funding) ,
maintaining ethical and legal practices (decreasing potential
for liability) planning and maintaining key relationships.

Motivate people by meeting
their social needs, harnessing
their personal goals and
aspirations, inviting employee
and client participation in
decision making and problem
solving, strategic division of
labor / tasks, delegation,
performance appraisals, and
participatory management.