TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………….. 1. 1. 1Statement of the problem……………………………………………… 1. 1. 2Motivation for study…………………………………………. …………. 2. 1. 3Goals of the study………………………………………………………. 2. II. RESEARCH DESIGN………………………………………………… 3. 2. 1Type of Research Approach………………………………………….. 3. 2. 2Type of Research Design……………………………………………… 3. 2. 3Data Collecting Methods and Data Analysis………………………. 3. 2. 4Population and Sampling Procedures……………………………… 4. 2. 5Anticipated Problems…………. ………………………………………. 5. 2. 6Procedures of Research Study………………………………………. . 2. 7Costing…………………………………………………………. ………… 7. 2. 8Ethical Issues………………………………………………………. …… 8. III. CONCLUSION……………………………………. …………………… 9. IV. REFERENCES… ………………………………………. ……………… 10. V. APPENDIX A: Questionnaire on Social Workers Work Satisfaction…. …………………………………. ……………. 11. I. INTRODUCTION 1. 1Statement of the problem Work is a central part of life and of society. Our occupational life is organized in many ways to satisfy our requirements for companionship, achievement and gain (Warr & Wall, 1975). Maslow, a leading humanistic psychologist has said: I think I am just most happy and most fulfilled, and most myself, and most being as if that’s what I were meant to be when I am involved in work” (Fick, 1971:31 in Warr & Wall. 1975). Social work can be seen as a job, which carries a variety of inherent stresses (Gillepsie, 1986:23). According to Gillepsie (1986:23) the nature of social work activity, the problems that social workers must confront, the limitations of knowledge and professional ability, and the structure of the social work profession all converge to produce a job with inherent stresses.
The social worker’s environment can be quite demanding, as social workers must face the continual responsibility of meeting the emotional needs and desires of clients (Larson, Gilbertson & Powel, 1978). According to Mabe (1999:4) one commonly studied outcome of occupational strain is job satisfaction. In helping professions such as social work, job satisfaction has been found to be associated with intention to quit, high staff turnovers, low productivity and poor job performance. The nature of one’s work environment off the job indirectly influences one’s feeling on the job (Hadebe, 2001:19).
Since a job is an important part of life from many employees, job satisfaction influences one’s general life satisfaction. A study is planned to assess social worker’s perceptions of their job satisfaction in welfare organizations. 1. 2Motivation for the study In social work as well as other helping professions, job satisfaction can be seen as an important element to be able to effectively assist clients. Being a social worker myself I have experienced occupational strain, low productivity, the feeling to quit and poor job performance, which could be all elements associated with work satisfaction.
These negative feelings towards the work motivated this study and how managers in welfare organizations could improve the work environment of social workers. 1. 3Goals of the study The major aim of this study is to assess and describe the levels of work satisfaction of social workers in welfare organizations on the East Rand. The outcome of this study will provide guidelines to managers and supervisors in the studied welfare organization on the social workers level of work satisfaction and guidelines on how to improve the general work environment.
In order to reach this aim, the following objectives can be stated: •To test the levels of work satisfaction of the social workers within welfare organizations with a questionnaire designed by the researcher. •After the data has been collected to analyze the data and to describe the levels of work satisfaction of social workers and to provide guidelines and recommendations to the management of the welfare organizations. II. RESEARCH DESIGN 2. 1Type of Research Approach The research approach that will be used in this study will be qualitative.
One undertakes qualitative research in a natural setting where the researcher in an instrument of data collection who gathers words or pictures, analyzes them inductively, focuses on the meaning of participants, and describes a process that is expressive and persuasive in language (Creswell, 1998:14). This is applied research where a knowledge development objective is the end result (Blanche & Durrheim, 1999: 41). 2. 2Type of Research Design A research design can be understood as the planning of any scientific research from the first to the last step.
In this sense it is a program to guide the researcher in collecting, analyzing, and interpreting facts (Bless and Higson-Smith, 1995:63). For the purpose of this study, the researcher intends to use a cross-sectional research design where all the data will be collected at the same time. The distribution of the research questionnaires will take place over a time period of two weeks where the main data will be collected from the respondents. 2. 3Data collecting methods and data analysis The data gathering will be done with a questionnaire the researcher designed her self that will assess work satisfaction of social workers.
The questionnaire is named the Questionnaire on Social Workers Work Satisfaction in Welfare Organizations. This questionnaire firstly has the objective to collect certain vital demographic information from the respondents. Secondly, it covers aspects on how the respondents perceived their work environment, their experiences in so far their work satisfaction and he difficulties encountered. The layout of the questionnaire is as follows: ?An instruction sheet on how to complete the questionnaire. Section A: General information, comprising of demographic information and details of employment. ?Section B: Work satisfaction and difficulties A copy of the questionnaire is attached to this proposal as Appendix A. After the respondents have completed the questionnaires it will be placed in a file together with the field notes before being processed into the computer. Computer files will then be used in storing the qualitative data. Backup copies of the computer files will be developed to assure that no data will be lost due to any computer failure problems.
Data-analysis means a search for patterns of data and once a pattern is identified, it is interpreted in terms of social theory or the setting in which it occur (Creswell, 1998). Categories of information will be formed and the data will be reassembled through systematically relating the categories in the form of a visual model. 2. 4Population and Sampling Procedure “…If one wants to collect information about a group of persons or things that will give and accurate picture, the best way is to examine every single member or element of this group” (Bless and Higson-Smith, 1995:85).
The population under study will be social workers employed within welfare organizations on the East Rand. Five welfare organizations will be approached. According to Terre- Blance & Durrheim (1999:274), sampling is the process of selecting the cases that will be used in the research study. The sampling method that will be used is non-probability sampling. Non-probability sampling refers to the case where the probability of including each element of the population in a sample is unknown (Bless & Higson, 1995:89). The type of non-probability sampling that will be used is judgemental sampling.
Judgemental sampling is based on the judgement of the researcher regarding the characteristics of a representative sample. The researcher uses his or her judgement about which respondents to choose and picks only those who best meet the purpose of the study (Smit, 1985:197). The researcher chose respondents from various welfare organizations on the East Rand who is thought will represent the whole population. The sampling method that will be used in this study is judgmental sampling. 2. 5Anticipated Problems The problems that could be experienced in this study are: The reluctance of some of the staff members to answer the questionnaires. This problem could be overcome by not directly working with the social workers but by informing the managers or supervisors of the welfare organizations about the research study and giving them a deadline for making sure the questionnaires is completed by the social workers. The responsibility will be with the welfare organizations managers or supervisors to make sure the social workers complete the task given to them. ?The deadline for the questionnaires won’t be met.
Enough time will be given to the particular welfare organizations to complete the questionnaires and extra time will be given if needed. Not much could be done if the particular welfare organization does not adhere to the deadline or completion of the questionnaires. At the end the welfare organizations will only benefit from this research project by having a specific overview of social workers perceptions on their work satisfaction and motivation and guidelines on how the welfare organization can improve the work environment that can benefit the social workers work satisfaction and motivation. 2. Procedure of this research study The procedure that will be followed to be able to conduct this research study will be as follows: ?The particular welfare organizations that will be included in this research study will be telephonically approach. The researcher will telephonically speak to the manager or supervisor of the particular welfare organization and will ask if there is any interest to be included in this research project after the aims and objectives of this research project has been explained. From these discussions the researcher will gather the number of social workers that will participate in the research project. The questionnaires will be personally delivered to the particular chosen welfare organizations and be handed over to the manager or supervisor. The procedure and deadline for this research project will be personally explained a second time to the manager or supervisor. ?A week before the deadline date the researcher will telephonically contact each welfare organization’s manager or supervisor to make arrangements to collect the completed questionnaires. 2. 7Costing The anticipated costs of resources that will be used in completing this research project can be outlined as follow: Time – the estimated time of overall completion of this research project is six weeks. The chosen welfare organizations for this research project will be given two weeks to complete the particular questionnaire; •Human Resources – There will no formal arrangements for assistance but the main responsibility will be given to the managers or supervisors of the chosen welfare organizations to distribute, collect, adhere to deadlines and for the overseeing of the completion of the questionnaires. •Money – ResourceResource AmountEstimated AmountTotal oPaper for questionnaires including final production of research results
R 30. 00 for 500-page pack300. 00 pages- 6 cents a page. R 18. 00 oPetrol and TravelingR 1. 50 per kilometer estimated 147 km. estimated to and from Germiston to the welfare org. in the East Rand; Alberton, Germiston, Edenvale, Benoni, Springs and Bedfordview. R 220. 50 oStationary and other subsistenceBudget for R 100. 00R 100. 00R 100. 00 Grand Total:R 338. 50 2. 8Ethical issues Ethical research is essential and has the essential purpose of protecting the welfare and ethical rights of the participants and should be an integral part of the planning of the research (Terre-Blanche & Durrheim, 1999:65).
The following ethical issues will be taken into consideration when conducting this research study: ?Participant’s responses to the questionnaires will be treated confidential. ?All research participants will be treated fairly and humanely. ?The research results will be published with careful attention to the rights of the participants and confidentiality. 2. 9 Personnel Staff that will be involved in completing the research study will be the following persons: •Welfare Organizations on the East Rand prepared to be involved in the research study. •Social workers within the welfare organizations prepared to complete the questionnaire. . 10Definition of Concepts Rubin and Babbie (1993:120) states that the process of refining and specifying abstract concepts and developing specific research procedures is an important process, that will result in empirical observations of things that represents those concepts in the real world. The concepts to be defined are assessment, description, work satisfaction, social workers and welfare organizations. 2. 10. 1Assessment According to Hepworth et al. (1997:195) 2. 10. 2Description 2. 10. 3Work satisfaction 2. 10. 4Social workers 2. 10. 5Welfare organizations 1. 8OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
This dissertation will be presented in accordance to the following five chapters: ?Chapter 1: Orientation to the study This will be a general orientation to the study where a brief discussion will cover the motivation for the study, research methodology, and definition of concepts. ?Chapter 2: Research Methodology This chapter will deal with the research design, data collection methods, sampling and data analysis. ?Chapter 3: Literature Overview This chapter will be a literary exploration that will consist of the needs of foster children as well as current training programs available. Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Interpretation This chapter will present an analysis of results from the structured interview schedules and will draw conclusions valuable for the development of a Foster Parent Training Model. ?Chapter 5: Recommendations and Conclusions Chapter five will summarize the results of the study and will present the conclusions drawn from the study and proposes certain recommendations. The next chapter, Chapter two, will deal with the research design, data collection methods, sampling and data analysis. III. Conclusion
Conducting the above study the researcher wishes to assess the perceptions of social workers work satisfaction within welfare organizations. The results from this research study will provide the managers of the welfare organizations an overall view of the social workers satisfaction and guidelines on how to improve the work environment. IV. REFERENCES 1. Bless, C. & Higson-Smith, C. (1995). Fundamentals of Social Research Methods: An African Perspective. 2nd (ed. ) Kenwyn: Juta & Co, Ltd. 2. Creswell, J. W. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. United States: SAGE Publications.
Inc. 3. Durrheim, K. & Terre-Blanche, M. (1999). Research in Practice: Applied methods for the social science. Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press. 4. Fick, W. B. (1971). Humanistic Psychology: Interviews with Maslow, Murphy and Rogers, Meril. 5. Gillespie, D. F. (1986). Burnout among Social Workers. New York: The Haworth Press. 6. Gillespie, S. P. (1998). Organizational behavior: Concepts, controversies and applications. Canada: Prentice-Hall. 7. Hadebe, T. P. (2001). Relationship between motivation and job satisfaction of employees at Vista information services. Published Masters Dissertation.
Rand Afrikaans University. 8. Hepworth, D. H. , Rooney, R. H. , & Larsen, J. (1997). Direct Social Work Practice: Theory and Skills. 5th (ed). U. S. A: Brooks/Cole Publishing Co. 9. Larson, C. C. Gilbertson, D. L. , & Powell, J. A. (1978). Therapist Burnout: Perspectives on a critical issue. Social Casework, 59: 563-565. 10. Mabe, M. M. (1999). The importance of a job satisfaction investigation for the development of an employee assistance program. Published Masters Dissertation. Rand Afrikaans University. 11. Warr, P. , & Wall, T. (1975). Work and well being. Aylesburg: Hazel Watson and Vinery, Ltd.
