Social Work Scenarios

The personal information’s’ of the following individuals in the scenarios was changed for confidential purposes.
Scenario 1
Kate’s in her final year in the MSW program. She has a part time job as a waitress at a local restaurant and serves as an intern three days a week to enable her to have the accumulated required hours for field experience. Kate struggles financially and can barely afford the necessary text books or mandatory fees as she no longer qualifies for student loans due to her mother’s income; even though her mother does not assist her financially. Kate often complains that she hardly finishes the required paperwork for the clients in her caseload because she lacks motivation for her field placement as she feels overwhelmed with

the day to day tasks at the field agency. She also complains about the distance between her job and the field agency which contributes to the cost for her to do her internship. In addition, she emphasized her lack of finding her niche in the social work field.
Kate might be experiencing a motivation problem because of the lack of reward (incentive) at the field agency, as a majority of the tasks completed as an intern is the same as full time staffs. On the other hand, Kate might lack a purpose for working with the particular client population she works with, as well as the fact that she might find her internship less interesting. Finally, Kate might be overwhelmed with the multiple task she undertakes such as; school, work, and internship. According to Maslow (Kettner, 2014, p. 192), if Kate needs such as food, rent, gas for her car to commute to the locations are not met, it will be difficult to focus on any other level of need because the motivation to satisfy her day to day needs will devour all the energy needed for her field placement. However she may have been motivated if she found her internship interesting regardless of the lack of reward that would have been financially beneficial to her.
The intervention that would have the most positive impact on Kate’s motivation is reinforcing performance because student often pays for field classes, get placed and take up responsibility like a full time staff would in any agency, so I think Kate would benefit from a reward (paid internship), since she is struggling financially. I chose the reinforcing performance because is it more related to her case and her frustrations or lack of motivation might be as a result of financial struggles, which in turn impacts her perception about her field placement.
Relating Kate’s situation to the expectancy theory by Vroom (Kettner, 2014, p.

194), which states that “employees sees a positive relationship between effort, performance, rewards, and value outcomes, motivated behavior is improved if additional efforts of the employee produces rewards and outcome, valued by the organization. I think one can understand how Kate’s perception of her case load and therapy sessions could impact her motivation problem as she does not get any reward to show for her hard work. In addition, from her perspective the cost of the internship, time invested, and lack of connection to the placement and population provides no reward. In regards to finding her niche in the social work field, I would imagine that Kate will definitely find her niche after graduation as a majority of social workers work with various client population before they finally discover their

niche.
Scenario 2
Alex is an LCSW social worker who supervised the PHP program in a local community, directed and owned by Doctors John and Laura Brown who are both psychiatrists. Dr. Laura visits the clinic three days a week for client medication checks as well as monitor the day to day activities of the program. Each time Dr. Laura visits, she complains how things are being done, and demands for immediate changes every week. Alex does not like this because a majority of the changes suggested by Dr. Laura are not part of his job description as an LCSW and contradicts the NASW code of ethics. Alex had to assume multiple tasks and work additional hours just to accomplish the job, however he does not receive any reward. His interns report that they feel overwhelmed with the weekly changes caused by the different procedures made by Dr. Laura as they contradict what he assigned as their supervisor. In an effort to provide a better working environment, Alex promised his interns that he was going to meet with Dr. Laura. However, after the meeting Alex changed completely in his work ethic, as he was no longer able to supervise effectively or display enthusiasm for his job.
Alex might have developed motivation problem for the following reasons such as; a lack of respect from Dr. Laura, a lack of autonomy in his job, a lack of reward which can be in the form of pay or recognition when he does exceptional work instead of constant criticism for not doing things Dr. Laura’s way, excessive criticism, and Dr. Laura’s lack of confidence in his level of qualification or competence.
The following interventions would have the most positive impact on Alex motivation such as allowing him the opportunity to pursue achievement, reinforcing his performance with reward, and the chance to achieve a feeling that fairness and equity exist in the organization. The listed theory of motivation was chosen because it seems to be the major problem Alex is experiencing in his job. As an LCSW, Alex views himself as competent enough to be able to effectively supervise the PHP program; but Dr. Laura might feel different, reason why she does not allow him to have the autonomy he deserves to get his job done. On the other hand, I think Alex might have a feeling that Dr. Laura is taking advantage of his loyalty to the organization, hence cannot reinforce his performance with reward. Finally, Alex perception about Dr. Laura’s lack of respect, confidence in him, autonomy, and performance reward can create a feeling that there is no existence of fairness and equity in the organization because the theories complements each other in his situation. Except these interventions are applied, there is a possibility that Alex may continue to have a motivation problem.
Relating Alex situation to motivation through fairness and equity theory (Kettner, 2014, p. 195), which states that employees have a need to perceive a sense of consistency between their effort and their reward because the perception of unfairness in the workplace will produce tension; one can understand why Alex developed motivation problem. On the other hand, the tension and discomfort in this case can be said to have also been noticed and felt by the interns supervised by Alex. In addition, as McClelland’s needs theory (Kettner, 2014, Ppt. 5), states that Alex desire a need for achievement in his job. If Dr. Laura allowed Alex to have more autonomy in his job he might not have developed a motivation problem, because he will have the opportunity to get his job done suitably; while supervising his interns in an effective manner without constant disruptions. In my opinion, when a work environment becomes uninteresting for an employee either because of the feeling that his or her performance are not valued and rewarded fairly, the individual is likely to start anticipating multiple reasons to resign from the job.
Scenario 3
Angela is an undergraduate social work student in her final year field placement. She has been placed at a local hospital for three months. She is well liked and knowledgeable about her job, and has no history of motivation problems based on her previous placement. Even though Angela gets paid for her services at the hospital, which many student interns would like, she regularly arrives late and leaves work twenty minutes before the specified closing time. While speaking to friends about her frustration, she mentioned that the doctors and nurses have no idea what she is doing at the hospital hence do not refer clients to her for therapy sessions. In addition, she reported not doing anything at the placement because she does not have any tasks to accomplish.
Angela may have developed a motivation problem because of the following reasons such as; she has no sense of purpose on the job (placement), does not feel challenged by her work (internship), have no opportunity for self-development and improvement, and have large amount of free time which can be frustrating to some individuals.

This sense of purpose or lack of challenge in her placement can be related to McClelland’s needs theory (Kettner, 2014, Ppt. 5), which states that individuals' values personal success, thus strives to have a need to achieve that. In this case, Angela’s motivation problem could also be the fact that her internship is not allowing her the opportunity for personal/professional growth (success).
The intervention that would have the most positive impact is to allow the opportunity of being challenged by the quality/ quantity of the job, by ensuring that clients are referred to Angela, for an increase in her workload to enable her to feel more busy; as well as reduce the amount of free time she gets in the workplace which in turn will increase her motivation. These intervention was chosen because it best describes Angela’s motivation problem and may enable her to have a sense of accomplishment at her

job.
According to McGregor (Kettner, 2014, p. 193), the opportunity to make use of an individual’s talent and creativity on the job can meet some of the important needs for an intern, because every individual has the potential to be matured as well as self-motivated. Given this assumption, the suggested intervention can be said to be beneficial because Angela’s motivation problem is not due to reward or autonomy in her field placement; but a lack of accomplishment.