Social Welfare Administration

Social Welfare Administration

Definition

Kidneigh (1950): Administration “as the process of transforming social policy into social
services a two way process (1) transforming policy into concrete social services and (2) the use
of experience in recommending modification of policy”.
Spenser (1950): “Administration is the conscious direction of the internal relationships and
activities of enterprise towards the achievement of goals”. She also outlines that it encompasses”
the conscious intervention in the interaction forces operating between the agency and the larger
community of which it is a part”.
Friedlander (1955): “Administration of social agencies translates the provisions of social
legislation and the aims of private philanthropy and religious charities into the dynamics of
services and benefits of humanity”.

Meaning

The dictionary meaning of administration is the management of affairs. Thus, the meaning of
administer to manage or direct of serve. However, In order to render social services to the needy
sections of the population, one requires not merely devotion and dedication but method,
organization, administrative efficiency and adequate knowledge of budgeting, accounting, public
relations, etc. The spending of public money, involves accountability. Both the governmental
official and the voluntary worker have to understand this through effective administration. In this
paper a social work student gained the knowledge of theoretical knowledge of how to run an
organization as well as observe various organizations administrative structure and functions.

Administration

Before discussing the meaning of social welfare administration, it is necessary to know the
meaning of the term administration. Administration is a cooperative human effort towards
achieving some common goals. Thus every group activity involves administration, whether in a
family, factory, hospital, university, or a government department. Whenever two or more people
cooperate in view of doing a thing that cannot be taken up alone, the concept of administration
appear. The word administration has been derived from the Latin words ‘ad’ and ‘ministrate’
which means to serve. In simple language, it means the ‘management of affairs’ or ‘looking after
the people’. To administer is to manage, direct and serve.
L.D. White (1948) views that “the art of administration is the direction, coordination and control
of many persons to achieve some purpose or objective.”
E.A. Nigro (1951) defines “administration as the organization and use of men and materials to
accomplish a purpose.”

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According to Herbert A. Simon (1960) “In its broadest sense, administration can be defined as
the activities of groups co-operative to accomplish common goals.”

Pfiffner defines “administration as the organization and direction of human and material
resources to achieve desired ends.”
Thus, it is clear from above definitions that administration is concerned with proper organization
of men and material to achieve desired ends. It consists of doing the work or getting the work
done by others.

Meaning of administration

The dictionary meaning of administration is the management of affairs. Thus, the meaning of
administer to manage or direct of serve. However ,In order to render social services to the needy
sections of the population, one requires not merely devotion and dedication but method,
organization, administrative efficiency and adequate knowledge of budgeting, accounting, public
relations, etc .The spending of public money ,involves accountability. Both the governmental
official and the voluntary worker have to understand this through effective administration. In this
paper a social work student gained the knowledge of theoretical knowledge of how to run an
organization as well as observe various organizations administrative structure and functions.

Scope of Administration

The scope of administration is very wide. It is not only restricted to public administration that
deals with three functionaries that is , legislative, executive and judiciary. As administration is
universal in nature, it's scope is wide. It covers all the areas like schools, hospitals, business etc,
all the managerial activities and functional areas of management and administration like
personnel, financial material and production are covered. The main forms of applied
administration based on it's major functions are as follows;

• Political function
• Legislative function
• Financial function
• Educational function
• Economic administration
• Imperial administration
• Defensive function
• Social administration
• Foreign administration
• Local administration

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Principles of Administration

 Heirarchy - It means the rule or control of the lower by the higher. In administration,
heirarchy means a graded organization of several successive steps or levels, which are
interlinked. It implies creation of superior- subordinate relationship.
 Span of control - It refers to the number of subordinates an officer can effectively control
or direct. No supervisor can supervise the work of an unlimited number of people.
 Unity of command - each subordinate should have one and only one supervisor, with
orders flowing from and accountability flowing to that single superior. It helps to make
unity in the direction of commands. It also enables effective supervision.
 Authority - It is the legitimate right to command or influence others in order to make
them behave in a good directed manner. According to Henry Fayol, Authority is the right
to give orders and the power to exact obedience.
 Supervision - It is a compound of two words 'super' and 'vision' , meaning overseeing.
Therefore, supervision literally means overseeing the work of others. It may be defined as
directing and guiding the work of subordinates by their supervisors.
 Delegation - entrusting part of a supervisor's work to his/her subordinates. According to
Mooney, Delegation is simple word Implies conferring of specified authority by a higher
to lower authority.
 Co-ordination - it is the integration of several parts into an orderly whole to active the
performance of undertaking. It has orderliness as it's aim and it is a process.
 Specialization - People doing what they were hired to do rather than being assigned tasks
outside of their job description.
 Every organization has to have clearly stated objectives that all employees try to meet.

Organization

L.D. White. “Organization is the arrangement of personnel for facilitating the accomplishment of
some agreed purpose through allocation of function and responsibilities”.

Pfiffner. “Organization consists of the relationship of individual to individual and of groups

which are as related as to using about and orderly division of labor”.

Organization is concerned with the pattern of relationship between persons in an enterprise, so

constructed as to fulfill the enterprise’s function. Organization is determining what activities are
necessary to any purpose and arranging them in groups which may be assigned to individuals. It
is the form of every human association for the attainment of common purpose. The term
organization refers to planned unit, deliberately structured for the purpose of attaining specific
goals. By organization we mean a planned system of cooperative effort in which each participant
has a recognized role to play and duties and tasks to perform. An organization is a combination
of the necessary human beings, materials, tools, equipment, working space and appurtenances
brought together in systematic and effective coordination to accomplish some desired objectives.
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The principle of organization says:

(a) Two or more persons constitute the organization.
(b) It constituted for the fulfillment of objectives.
(c) It expects that good cooperation among members of organization.

(d) An organization arranges sufficient resources, material and goods for the fulfillment of
desired objectives.

(e) There exists unity and mutual coordination among these resources.
(f) Functions of every organization are specifically described and classified.

Management

Management is an art of getting things done through others by directing their efforts towards
achievement of pre-determined goals. Management decides who should as it & how should he
dot it. It is an executing function. Management is a middle & lower level function.

Management is cooperative endeavor for achieving a particular objective. It is regarded as

collective utilization of human resources and material in effort to reach the known goal.
According to Koonz and O’Donnel, managing is the creation and maintenance of an internal
environment in an enterprise where individuals, working together in groups, can perform
efficiently and effectively toward the attainment of group goals. Managing could, then be called
“performance environment design”. Essentially, managing is the art of doing and management is
the body of organized knowledge which underlines this art.

Public Administration

According to Wilson :- Public Administration is the detailed and systematic execution of public
law ( Administrative study is to discover first what government can properly and successfully do,
and how it can do these proper things with the utmost possible efficiency and the least possible
cost either of money or of energy)

Public Administration is the study of the management of the public agencies that carry out public
policies in order to fulfill the state purpose in the public interest. It can be also says that " public
administration is the implementation of government policy and also an academic discipline.

The word administration has been derived from Latin word 'administiare'. 'ad' means ' to' and
'ministaire' means 'people or citizens'. Thus the word administration means to execute the policy
of government to serve public.

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Characteristics of public administration

1) It is a cooperative group effort in a public setting.

2) It covers all the three branches - executive, legislative and judicial and their inter-
relationships

3) It has an important role in the formation of public policy is thus a part of the political process.

4) public administration related with the activities of the state

5) It carries out the public policy

6) public administration is an important part of the political process.

Functions of Social Welfare Administration

The main function of social welfare administration is to organize the energy of like- minded
persons to accomplish the objectives they have set in order to improve the society. The functions
of social welfare administration to achieve the objectives set up by the agency would include:

a) To formulate the appropriate objectives and programmes of the agency, it is very important to
get the required information and to understand the total situation. The agency generally focuses
on a particular problem in a particular geographical area.
b) To analyze the collected information so as to plan appropriate measures to solve social
problems. Social welfare agency’s work is to address social problems of the society in that given
area.

c) To recognize, screen and opt for an appropriate plan of action to tackle problems and handle
the initiatives of the social welfare agency.
d) Formulating policies, programs and plans for effectively carrying out the objectives of the
social welfare agency in a planned manner.

e) To identify appropriate personnel for the social welfare agency with proper orientation and
supervision so that they understand the objectives and how to implement the programs in order
to achieve the goals of the agency.
f) To inspire volunteers who can involve themselves in the aims, objectives and goals of the
social welfare agency.
g) The administration has to delegate work to various departments under supervisors who will be
accountable for the assigned work, in the various departments which has to be coordinated so
that maximum results are obtained.

h) Rules, regulations, practices and procedures have to be set up so that there is uniformity and
accountability among all staff in the agency so that the objectives of the agency are easily
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accomplished.
i) The agency must keep proper records and reports. These records and reports must be analyzed
and interpreted to find out the progress of the agency’s work.
j) The financial practices must be very economically and strictly laid down so that there can be
no misappropriations. The finances must be accurately utilized and accounted for finance is the
backbone of any organization. So finances must be properly managed.

k) Every agency has to lay down certain standards of work and work towards meeting those
standards at all times. The personnel from highest level to the lowest level must understand and
maintain the standards and work for it with great care.
l) One of the main threads that binds the whole agency together is communication. The
communication must be clear and smooth from all sectors of the agency be it horizontal from
department to department, or vertical from top to bottom or bottom to top. The agency must also
have an open communication channel with the community people.
m) Social welfare administration must also see to it that the agency has suitable coordination
within the various departments of the agency and at various levels in the agency. The agency
when it works as a whole, it becomes most effective to meet its objectives. The social welfare
agency must also have proper coordination with other agencies working in the same field. There
must be networking with agencies with similar themes, in same geographical areas.
n) Social welfare administration has an important role in monitoring and evaluation of the
agency’s programs and in assessing overall work.

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