In the delivery of social services, the parties involved can be divided into either social workers or volunteers; the main differences that the two have is their way of approach to the subject.
Social workers are trained on different areas of handling mankind and situations as well on the best way to approach an issue, when they are on the field; they portray high levels of integrity and intellectualism. On the other hand most volunteers work from their personality, they feel they want to assist an ailing society thus they engage in the activity, they may have undergone training or not.
The main conflict that might be seen between volunteers and professional social workers is the approach that either takes; volunteers might have the advantage of being closer to a society especially if he or she happens to have come from the particular society that he is offering services. Because of the closeness, communities are more likely to trust him than social worker coming from a different area.
The danger comes that in case the approach or decisions taken by the volunteers are not the best, then the society is likely to suffer substandard decisions challenging social works ideology (Clayton & Williams, 2004)
When social workers (professionals) are on the field, they should not be closely supervised; this will offer them a chance to exercise their professionalism and handling situations the way they come. When working with different communities and people of diverse cultures, professionals needs to be flexible and willing to adjust according to the needs of the community that they are serving.
When professionals are left without close monitoring and dictatorship on how they need to handle situations, then they are likely to be motivated in their works and work for the benefit of the society and their employing organization as a whole.
Saying that social workers should be left to work independently does not in any way mean that they should be left to conduct their businesses without a central control; what the phrase means is that they should be given some freedom to practice their professionalism.
People generally work better when they are shown that they are trusted to operate and conduct a certain task on behalf of the government or their employer, making them free will then facilitate working hand.
In current era of Aids epidemics mostly in developing countries, the task and the roles that professional social workers undertake has taken a wider approach, they are used to educate, sometimes offer medication, advise, and create effective rooms where the affected and infected can get refuge.
The goal has made the professionals play the role of community nurses and their advice and connection with communities around their working territory has been used by governments to pass information to the communities.
On the other hand, the professionals in developing countries are used as government advisers on programs that are needed to be implemented in society level to facilitate economic growth of such places (Gerald, 2010).
The widened role played by social workers (professionals), is likely to change the perception that communities and the government had held for the profession; the profession will be taken seriously by all parties involved and in the future there is likelihood of having for young people engaging in the community based work as a career.
References
Clayton, M.,& Williams, A.(2004). Social justice. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.
Gerald, C. (2010). Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions. New Jersey: Cengage learning.