The Red Cross is one of the human services in the United States, with facilities across the world. The literature review relates to social services and leadership as would apply to the nonprofit organization, the Red Cross. It will show how the reviewed literature would apply to the Red Cross and other similar organizations.
McPherson (2015) introduces social work as a local profession. Therefore, leadership in social work organizations should assume a localized perspective. The author reviewed the literature to establish the local habits and practices of social work. Social workers operate according to policies of the agencies around them, as well as under national and local laws. However, McPherson (2015) established the influence of global trends in the social work profession. The author further challenges leaders in social work organizations to embrace international trends in their profession and leadership roles. The study has implications on the use of human rights model in social work leadership. The model of leadership embraces universal human rights in protecting vulnerable clients as used by the Red Cross, which is a global human service organization.
Social workers play an essential role in supporting recovery in human service organizations such as the Red Cross. Hyde, Bowles, and Pawar (2014) analyzed the principles of recovery as evident in social work policies and the barriers involved in their implementation in supporting patients with mental health problems. They used a qualitative method including a literature review, documentary policy analysis, and reflections on social work to determine the role of policies and standards in supporting care. Their results revealed gaps in social work support for mental health patients. The study has implications in social work and leadership because it proposes significant changes in the leadership role in mental health reform to implement person-centered and participative models.
Furthermore, research has explored the importance of leadership in social work education and practice. Hence, the Red Cross focuses on developing social work leaders. Iachini, Cross, and Freedman (2015), in their study, explored the ongoing discussion regarding the integration of social work leadership in education. The debate relates to the significance of leadership in social work settings. Their study was based on the design and implementation of a graduate-level social work program that supported leadership in social work training. Their findings revealed that students use social work values in understanding and interpreting their leadership experiences. Therefore, leadership in education should be integrated into education from the perspective of social work values.
Other studies have explored the status of leadership in social work. For example, Sullivan (2016) provided a review of the literature to show the status of leadership and proposed models to support the role in the organizations. The article focused on the unique role and challenges facing leaders in the settings. Just as Bowles and Pawar (2014) revealed, Sullivan (2016) considered the concept of leadership and its importance in the organizations. The two studies reveal the importance of client-centered leadership models to achieve effectiveness and efficiency in social work organizations. The article has major implications in the development of well-performing social work organizations through effective leadership in organizations such as the Red Cross.
Tafvelin, Hyvönen, and Westerberg (2014) suggested the critical role that leadership plays in social work organizations. The authors revealed that social work organizations had changed considerably in the recent past, creating the need for transformational leadership to ensure that firms are running effectively. Their study explored how transformational leadership affects first line managers in social work organizations. They used a randomized sample to perform a survey in a social work organization in Sweden. The authors revealed the role of transformational leadership in establishing an organization characterized by commitment and understanding of functions. Leadership continuity and co-worker support play a crucial role in creating a stable workplace. The results have implications for leadership training in social work setting to build effective organizations, including the Red Cross and other human service agencies.
Further studies have explored the actual effect of transformational leadership in social work and human service organizations. Rittschof and Fortunato (2016) based their study on a high level of job burnout in child welfare. Their study examined the association between three variables, including transformational leadership, job burnout, and job attitudes. They revealed that transformational leadership had a positive relationship with job burnout. Besides, the authors discovered that effective leadership is one of the factors that can help in addressing the problem and achieving positive outcomes in organizations. Therefore, just like the study by Tafvelin, Hyvönen, and Westerberg (2014), social work organizations should implement transformational leadership to ensure quality services to clients because of their role in reducing job burnout among social workers.
Besides transformational leadership, visionary leaders can also play a significant role in the effective running of human service and social work organizations, such as the Red Cross. Taylor, Cornelius, and Colvin (2014) investigated the association between visionary leadership and the perception of organizational effectiveness in social work agencies. The authors performed a survey to collect data from organizations to establish the role of leadership in organizational effectiveness. Their results supported the study by Tafvelin, Hyvönen, and Westerberg (2014), which revealed the role of satisfactory leadership in building effective workplaces. They found a close connection between visionary leadership and organizational effectiveness. Therefore, their study shows that visionary leaders can achieve success in social work organizations.
Different leadership styles such as the servant model have also been proven effective in leading social work and human service organizations. In a recent study, Fox and Kang (2019) used a retrospective case study design to determine the effectiveness of servant leadership in social work organizations. The authors revealed that social work principles are in line with servant leadership and can help in fostering engagement and building capacity for individuals training to work as social workers. The study has implications in learning the necessary leadership skills to run social work organizations effectively. The findings are useful in educational settings for social workers.
Furthermore, after confirming the importance of leadership in social work and human services organizations, it is essential to establish ways of supporting leadership development in the settings. Hence, Williams-Gray (2014) examined the process of preparing professionals for leadership roles. The author used a quasi-organization fieldwork simulation in the study. The course involved the development of relevant leadership skills to achieve the objective of preparing professionals. The study is relevant to social work and human services students to prepare them for leadership in real-life organizational settings. Students should learn how to develop transformational leadership skills and apply them in practice to achieve organizational effectiveness.
It is worth noting that recognizing the need for training leaders for social work practice is not enough. Just like in the findings made by Williams-Gray (2014), it is vital to establish the actual models to support leadership training in social work settings. Elswick et al. (2018) further explored the skills that students need to learn and become effective leaders in social work settings. The researchers reviewed and analyzed the state department of education standards for school social work to establish its efficacy in developing effective leaders in organizations. Their results revealed that the program is adequately suited for the development of competent social workers to provide leadership in real-life organizations. Thus, the model could be used in other educational settings to train and prepare social workers.
As it is evident from the analysis, the literature review presents significant evidence on the development of leadership in organizations such as the Red Cross. Agencies that provide human services require proper management to achieve their objectives and operate effectively. The reviewed articles offer significant insight into how to build such leadership.
References
Elswick, S. E., Cuellar, M., Williams, M., Albert, W., Norfleet, T., Carlson, S., … Shine, J. (2018). School social work leadership: essential knowledge, skills, and practices for the profession. School Social Work Journal (Follmer Group), 42(2), 56–73.
Fox, D. J., & Kang, L. (2019). Social work leadership: Reflections on a student-led conference. Social Work Education, 38(4), 516–529.
Hyde, B., Bowles, W., & Pawar, M. (2014). Challenges of recovery-oriented practice in inpatient mental health settings–the potential for social work leadership. Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and Development, 24(1-2), 5-16.
Iachini, A. L., Cross, T. P., & Freedman, D. A. (2015). Leadership in social work education and the social change model of leadership. Social Work Education, 34(6), 650–665.
McPherson, J. (2015). Human rights practice in social work: A U.S. social worker looks to Brazil for leadership. European Journal of Social Work, 18(4), 599-612.
Rittschof, K. R., & Fortunato, V. J. (2016). The influence of transformational leadership and job burnout on child protective services case managers’ commitment and intent to quit. Journal of Social Service Research, 42(3), 372-385.
Sullivan, W. P. (2016). Leadership in social work: Where are we?. Journal of Social Work Education, 52(sup1), S51-S61.
Tafvelin, S., Hyvönen, U., & Westerberg, K. (2014). Transformational leadership in the social work context: The importance of leader continuity and co-worker support. The British Journal of Social Work, 44(4), 886-904.
Taylor, C., J. Cornelius, C., & Colvin, K. (2014). Visionary leadership and its relationship to organizational effectiveness. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 35(6), 566-583.
Williams-Gray, B. (2014). Preparation for social service leadership: Field work and virtual organizations that promote critical thinking in administration practice. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 34(2), 113-128.
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