Community Services Work: Domains, Social Justice, Barriers, and Theoretical Approaches

This report discusses the importance of community service work, the four domains of human services, the concept of social justice, social barriers faced by clients and workers, and theoretical approaches used in professional community service work.

Community services Work

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
Four domain of human services...................................................................................................2
Concept of social justice..............................................................................................................3
Social barriers faced by client and workers in community service sector...................................4
Theoretical approaches regarding professional community service work..................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Community service is completely relied upon the public support and the support is
related to information, advice, practical and financial help. The entire study highlights the
importance and deep understanding about the community service. Further, the report will provide
main domains of human service and describe a concept of social justice. Moreover, the report
will also describe social barriers faced by both clients and workers in a community service
sector. Lastly, with the help of theoretical approaches, report will describe the importance of
professional community service work.
Professional values are important within a human service because it is criteria that assists
workers as well as client to make their choices and each and every individual has set values.
Therefore, there are list of values which a professional must have such as respecting dignity,
welfare of people, promoting self-determination etc.
Four domain of human services
Human services are broadly defined and as a unique approach whose objective is to meet
human needs. The professionals working under this sector also focused on prevention and
maintain a commitment to improve the quality of life. There are four main domain of human
service which are as mentioned below:
Executive leadership: It is one of the most important domain because having leadership
skill pertaining to this field will assist to create a strong link between management and employee
workforce (Kim and Peng, 2018). Therefore, they are able to resolve difficult situation and also
consult with managers to provide effective working environment for their employees. Also, with
the help of executive leadership, professional can empowering staff that assist to resolve the
issues and coming up with different solutions.
Resource Management: With the help of this domain, workers within human service are
able to manage the resources which in turn assist to bridge the gap between employee’s
performance and organization’s strategic objectives. Therefore, a professional must have strong
leadership skills that assist to manage the resources whether it is financial, human or
technological (Luo, Zuo and Shao, 2018). Along with this, this domain contributes to gives a

firm an edge over a competition so that they are able to provide effective support to their
company and meet public demand as well.
Strategic Management: Third domain of human service is strategic management where
professionals set up goals, procedure and objectives in order to make the company more
competitive by deploying staff and resources to attain such goals. In addition to this, the quoted
domain is to improve the quality of life and provide effective services to the people so that
organizations are able to meet the demand of customers. This in turn lead to human satisfaction
and generate the best outcomes for the welfare of society.
Community collaboration: With the help of community collaboration, businesses can
work with multi-disciplinary degree where professionals within a human service can easily
perform the work and meet the need of people as well (Bunger and Lengnick-Hall, 2019). Under
this, social and cultural issues, public policy, community resources play a significant role into a
human services. Apart from this, with the help of effective collaboration, professionals can share
skills and knowledge with people that helps them to build a strong trust between each other that
assist to enhance networking.
Overall, it can be stated that with the help of these four domains, professionals can easily
manage the work and try to develop effective connection with other communities in order to
generate the best result. Also, with the help of such domains, professionals under human services
can reflect their competencies that assist to manage the work and offer best services to the public
as well.
Concept of social justice
As per the view of Doorn, Gardoni and Murphy (2019) social justice is a perception
where everyone deserves equal economic, political and social rights. In this, workers main
purpose is to provide best services to those who are in great need. The concept was first describe
by John Rawls where three core elements has described such as economic, cultural and social
with an aim to protect human dignity and affirmative actions. In addition to this, within each
nation, it is necessary to comply with social justice in order to promotes fairness as well as equity
across many aspects of society (The importance of Social Justice, 2020). In Australia, there are
four main principles of social justice which includes equity, accessibility, participation and

rights. Moreover, the focus on social justice is to reduce health inequalities in a country by
making availability of resources across society.
Overall, it can be stated that with the help of social justice, individual reduce the cultural
differences and promote diversity which will also help professionals of human service directly.
Today, social justice has also shifted towards a stronger emphasis on human rights, also helps to
improve lives in order to reduce the discrimination (Kim, Marcouiller and Choi, 2019). Through
this, it can be stated that government also makes their efforts in order to reduce the chances of
social unfair. For that, different policies and rules has made in order to promote equality, these
are also shaped by government as well as administrator so that appropriate results can be
generated. Apart from this, social justice is a fairness as it manifests in society and also include
fairness in healthcare, employment, housing etc.
It can be stated that in the context of professional values in community service work,
social justice plays an important role that helps in either improving educational opportunities and
ensure about suitable healthcare. Therefore, it has been realized that with the help of social
justice policies, government tries to provide free and positive environment to all the citizens.
Also, this brings closer to all individual by putting an end to discrimination which might be
occur.
Social barriers faced by client and workers in community service sector
There are different challenges faced by social workers worked in community service
sector which includes:
Working with vulnerable people: It is one of the biggest issue faced by the social
workers because working with such people is quite difficult. As, there are many emotional
situations which may lead to compassion fatigue (Skhosana, 2020). As a result, social workers
might suffer from depersonalization, emotional exhaustion and different mental illness.
Unpredictable schedule: Another challenge which are faced by social worker is related
to their timing. Generally, there is no specific time because if the organization need a
professional during that time, they have to come. Also, this cause problem with balancing work
as well as personal life. In this situation, individual become frustrating and also this might lead to
unpredictable profession.

Transformation in society: in this modern time, the choices of people may change and
families are no longer conventional (The challenges faced by the social workers, 2020). During
this time, social workers at macro level always needs a support which encourage people to
revising the legislation and policies. Further, it can sometime consider as an opportunity because
it provides opportunities to employees so that they can improve the lives of people.
On the other side, there are many different challenges faced by the client while getting a
social service which are as mentioned below:
 Understanding: It has been examined that most of the clients within social workers faces
issue regarding to understanding with the profession. This might lead to create a
misunderstanding and as a result, it affects the overall organization’s service (Greenberg
and et.al., 2020). In addition to this, lack of service stems from a general lack of
understanding regarding need of those services. Hence, it entails that understanding
regarding availability of resources affected the perception and clients faces challenges
within community service sector.
 Stereotype and prejudice: Another challenge faced by the clients because in many
service sectors, there are unequal treatment which is illegal and most of the groups are
often treated different (Greenberg and et.al., 2020). This is all because of changing
perspective of society and their views. This in turn affect the services and as a result,
clients will not be satisfied. Communication: It has been identified that clients within a community service sector
faces issue regarding to communication barrier. Such that most of the employees working
in the service sector are belongs to different cultures and this in turn assist to lead to
create barriers among the people. Accessibility: It has been analyzed that most of the workers also faces issues regarding
the accessibility of a resources (Redondo-Sama and et.al., 2020). It is so because the
organization have prepared themselves to access different resources and this is possible
only when clients have enough knowledge. Otherwise, it is considering as an issue which
in turn affect the results in adverse manner.

Theoretical approaches regarding professional community service work
The theoretical approaches regarding community service work explains, describe social
events based upon scientific evidence and studies. The perspective regard to this field motivate
people to various stages of life. The list of theoretical approaches is as mentioned below:
Social learning theory:
It is also known as cognitive theory where learning occurs by observing others and
modelling their behavior (6 important theories in social work, 2020). According to the selected
theory, person must want to match the person they are watching and they have to pay close
attention to the actions and retains into an action so that they will be remain motivated. It is
applying in the professionals of community service sector so that they understand their own role
which in turn create a positive impact over the working environment of the clients.
Systems theory:
It is mostly used when the people are belongs to complex system instead of individuals
who are act in an isolation. With the help of this theory, behavior of a people influenced by a
variety of different factors who are work together as a system in order to generate the best
outcomes (Vandekinderen and et.al., 2020). This factor may include family, friends, social
settings, religious structure etc. In the context of social workers in the community service sector
individuals are observed in many environments so that the behavior can be understood and it
does not affect their behavior and thoughts. Further, with the help of this theory, social workers
will work to understand how their clients introduced by system which they are part of it.
Social exchange theory:
With the help of this theory, each person is seeking to maximize their benefits and also
expected to respond for benefits which they can received. Most of the social workers uses this
theory with an aim to understand the relationship with their clients so that this can be shared in
future (Bridgman and et.al., 2020). Thus, it can influence how social workers use to connect with
their clients, as it has a direct benefit with their clients. Also, on opposite side, it has been
identified that when risk compensate the potential rewards then relationship may uncontrolled.
So, when one person is in relationship then it must have a greater resource than another so that
person may predict to have greater power as well.

Overall, it can be stated that with the help of these theories, social workers can analyze
cases, understand clients and create interventions in order to evaluate the outcomes (McDonald
and et.al., 2020). With referencing to these theories workers may change the behavior and also
helps client to find a best solution as well.
CONCLUSION
By summing up above report it has been concluded that community service sector work
for the welfare of people. Also, human service has work on the basis of 4 domains which
includes executive leadership, resource management, strategic management and community
collaboration. Further, the concept of social justice refers to the equity across the society and to
promote fairness within country. Apart from this, the study also concluded that there are different
barriers faced by the social worker and client which includes, working with vulnerable people,
unpredictable schedule, understanding, miscommunication etc. Moreover, there are three
different theoretical approaches has used regarding to community service work which include
Social learning theory, Systems theory, Social exchange theory that entails about roles and
responsibilities of social workers.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bridgman, H. and et.al., 2020. Evaluating an interprofessional workshop on persistent pain: The
role of adult learning and social identity theories. Journal of Applied Learning &
Teaching, 3(Specia), pp.129-139.
Bunger, A. C. and Lengnick-Hall, R., 2019. Implementation science and human service
organizations research: Opportunities and challenges for building on complementary
strengths. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance. 43(4).
pp.258-268.
Doorn, N., Gardoni, P. and Murphy, C., 2019. A multidisciplinary definition and evaluation of
resilience: The role of social justice in defining resilience. Sustainable and Resilient
Infrastructure. 4(3). pp.112-123.
Greenberg, N. and et.al., 2020. Managing mental health challenges faced by healthcare workers
during covid-19 pandemic. Bmj. 368.
Kim, H., Marcouiller, D. W. and Choi, Y., 2019. Urban redevelopment with justice implications:
the role of social justice and social capital in residential relocation decisions. Urban Affairs
Review. 55(1). pp.288-320.
Kim, M. and Peng, S., 2018. The dilemma for small human service nonprofits: Engaging in
collaborations with limited human resource capacity. Nonprofit Management and
Leadership. 29(1). pp.83-103.
Luo, Z., Zuo, Q. and Shao, Q., 2018. A new framework for assessing river ecosystem health with
consideration of human service demand. Science of the Total Environment. 640. pp.442-453.
McDonald, C. and et.al., 2020. Professional Practice in Human Service Organisations: A
practical guide for human service workers. Routledge.
Redondo-Sama, G. and et.al., 2020. Social work during the COVID-19 crisis: responding to
urgent social needs. Sustainability. 12(20). p.8595.
Skhosana, R. M., 2020. The dilemma faced by Npos in retaining social workers: a call to revisit
the retention strategy. Social Work. 56(2). pp.109-124.
Vandekinderen, C. and et.al., 2020. The DNA of social work as a human rights practice from a
frontline social workers’ perspective in Flanders. European Journal of Social Work. 23(5).
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Online
6 important theories in social work. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.onlinemswprograms.com/social-work/theories/>.

The challenges faced by the social workers. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.tradewindsocialcare.com/blogs/tradewind_socialcare_news/5-challenges-
youll-encounter-as-a-social-worker-and-how-to-overcome-them/>.
The importance of Social Justice. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://thriveglobal.com/stories/the-importance-of-social-justice/>.