Publications from ODSW Social Work Supervsion | Page 15

Day 1 Keynote 1: Features, Nature and Culture of Social Work Supervision

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Money should be used to provide services and not services used to make
money.
Money comes from the people, it is the public’s money and not our own. Social
workers have to be accountable to the society, to the people and to the heart.
Human services should be focused on life and the quality of life (wellbeing of
clients). This cannot be quantified by money.

Change of Roles from Frontline Practitioner to Supervisor
Prof. Tsui went on to list some changes when moving from being a frontline practitioner to
a supervisor:
1.
Distance from clients: In the changing of roles from a frontline practitioner to a
supervisor, the amount of distance from clients changes as well. Initially, there is
direct contact between the client and the worker. However, with supervision,
the supervisor works with the client indirectly by working with the frontline
worker.
2.
Change in job nature: The supervisor will work more with the different
personnel: public relations, information technology and finance instead of the
client.
3.
Change of mentality
4.
Increasing responsibilities & tension
5.
Psychic overload
6.
Change of peers
7.
Greater emphasis on efficiency versus effectiveness. Efficiency has to do with
the means while effectiveness has to do with the end. The supervisor therefore
has to pay attention both to the efficiency in the completion of a task and the
effectiveness of the eventual outcome.
8.
From a committed social worker to a “committeed” social worker: as a
supervisor, one starts to be part of many committees.
Functions of Social Work Supervision
Prof. Tsui described the functions of social work supervision as being fourfold. Firstly,
supervision should be supportive. This pertains to the personal aspect of supervision.
Giving support is a good entry point for the supervisory session. Secondly, it should be
educational, referring to its professional nature. Thirdly, there should be an administrative
(organizational) aspect to it. Lastly, there should be some therapeutic support in
supervision.
Additional Supervisory Functions in Hong Kong
Prof. Tsui explained that in Hong Kong, there are additional functions of supervision. In
Hong Kong, both supervisor and supervisee try to find a consensus in terms of the purpose
of supervision. Also, supervisors use individual supervision sessions to discuss personal
matters in a private manner. In addition, group supervision is used to play a team building
function.
Influence Of Chinese Culture On Social Work Supervision
Prof. Tsui introduced four Chinese characters that he felt had an influence on social work
supervision in Hong Kong. The first character was  (qing). This character means
relationships in Chinese. He expressed that this was at the heart of social work as social
work is all about relationships such as those between client and worker, client and systems,
and client, worker and the agency. The second character is 
(yuan). This means fate in
Chinese which refers to a predetermined relationship by God and that there is a reason
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