Personal Values and Cardinal Values of the Social Work

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Table of Contents

Congruence
Conflict
Resolving Conflict
Conclusion

The core values of the social worker must be congruent to the cardinal values of the social work profession. This is because the cardinal values of social work can help the worker to achieve efficiency in terms of delivering resources and helping those who are in need to attain their full potential as well as lift them up from the life of poverty, drug dependency, recurring sickness and hopelessness. Although it is imperative that a social worker’s core values are congruent to the cardinal values of the social work profession there are many times when personal values can be in conflict. The proponent of this paper will identify the personal values that are congruent and those that are in conflict with social work’s professional values and what can be done to resolve the conflict in order to practice ethically and competently according to the standards of the profession.

Congruence

There are two cardinal values that the proponent of this study finds to be easily compatible with his own personal values. For a social worker there is a need to desire for excellence and to be able to perform ones duties in a highly-competent matter. There must be focus when it comes to mastering the skills needed to perform the duties of a social worker. This is important from the professional’s point of view especially when it comes to social work. In this profession there is a demand for competence for this area of responsibility deals with human lives. The value of competence is seen in how the social worker prepares for the task at hand as well as plan ahead for the future. There must be continuous learning and the desire to improve ones skills must not diminish over time.

Aside from learning the tools needed to succeed in the social work profession, the value of competence is also exhibited in the way the social worker must deal with issues that can hinder his work. In other words, the social worker must be careful that personal problems must not affect his performance. The social worker must not be addicted to alcohol or drugs because substance abuse can weaken his performance and competence. This will diminish the capability of the social worker to make a difference in the lives of the people that he is trying to help. His influence in the community will also be diminished and no one will put his trust in him.

A related cardinal value of social work is the one concerning integrity. In any profession integrity is a very important component. But for a social worker it would be impossible to achieve something of significance without integrity. Some of the key terms that will help illustrate integrity are words like trustworthiness, honesty, fairness, courtesy, and accountability. These two cardinal values, integrity and competence are congruent to the personal values of the proponent of this study.

Conflict

There are two cardinal values of the social work profession that can easily come in conflict with the personal values of this social worker. These two are a) all human beings are worthy of equal access to resources that will help them solve some of their most pressing problems as well as help them develop their full potential; and b) the inherent worth of the person irregardless of their personal weaknesses and the crimes that they had committed in the past.

It may seem simple at first; there is no need to clarify the first cardinal value that can sometimes come in conflict with the personal values of this particular social worker. It is easy to understand that all human beings are worthy to receive all the help the need to bring them out of a life of extreme poverty, recurring sickness, and hopelessness. A soon-to-be social worker will not go through the training and selection process without first internalizing the desire to help others. But in a real life setting, there are many cases that can really test the resolve of the social worker.

For instance there are those who will not cooperate with the social worker and as a result they will waste precious resources. A good example would be the elderly person who continually request for a free item that he knows he can easily acquire. When asked by the social worker as to what happened to the same item given to him a few weeks ago, the elderly person would simply answer that he lost it. At this point the personal values of the social worker can collide with the cardinal values of the social work profession because he could not accept the fact that those who are in need could not develop a sense of accountability.

This social worker also struggles to help those who could not leave substance abuse behind even after they went through an extensive rehabilitation program. This social worker also finds it a struggle to help those, who go in and out of prison. It is hard to understand how an ex-convict can go back to a life of crime after seeing the inside of a prison cell. Moreover, it is also puzzling why they are not afraid to go back behind bars. The cardinal values of social work made it explicit that each human being is worth the sacrifice and dedicated service of the social worker but sometimes personal values comes in the way.

Resolving Conflict

Going through the cardinal values of social work this social worker came to the realization that those values that are in congruence to his personal values are easy to adopt and use in social work. But the cardinal values that are in conflict with his personal values are also those that are difficult to implement. For instance this social worker believes in excellent work and therefore he has no problem with the competence value of social work that everything must be done to improve his work and that every personal problem must be set aside so that it will not become a hindrance to his work.

On the other hand, the same personal values that strengthen his resolve to do great work in this profession are the same personal values that made him dislike those who are not competent, those who are irresponsible and those who do not care what will happen to their lives and those of their loved ones. This social worker must come to the realization that his personal values must not be allowed to interfere with his work. When it comes to social work it must be about the people that needed help and has nothing to do with the personal preference of the social worker.

Conclusion

There is a reason why the cardinal values of social work was created. This will serve as a guide to keep social workers in the right track. It is easy to be influenced by personal preferences and personal values that can come easily in conflict with those specified by the said fundamental values. The proponent of this study had to compartmentalize his feelings and belief system in order to serve in a world that is imperfect. It would have been better if those who are in need will also help themselves. But even if they will not do what is necessary, this is not the major concern of the social worker. His main goal is to provide help through the delivery of resources that will help mitigate the impact of poverty, sickness, and hopelessness. The rest is up to them.

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Congruence

Conflict

Resolving Conflict

Conclusion

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