COU303 Supervision and Debriefing

Supervision is the action of overseeing something or somebody. Supervision, as mentioned in the reading materials is found under three different levels and the three important and different levels are the macro, the mezzo and the micro. Supervision in the modern times are always pertinent in all the three levels. Various strategies are adopted by the supervision conducting bodies to see over the activities and actions of the common people. The major challenge is how the maximum capacity of the Supervisees is being extracted and best practices are ensured throughout the task of supervising. The reading materials that have been a part of the curriculum in the recent past have been talking extensively about debriefing and supervision and this essay shall reflect on the teachings and readings from the various lessons imparted.

It has been mentioned that supervision is present in various levels. Clinical supervision is a pertinent practice that has been under discussion in the modules. Clinical supervsions, as taught in the classes, provide a supportive, administrative and developmental context within which responsiveness to clients and accountable decision making can be sustained. This emphasized the theory that supervision is also based on relationship and proper supervision can ease the task for all and sundry. According to Gibb, Anderson and Forsyth (2004) qualities that supervisees seek from/in their supervisor include:

approachability;

extent of knowledge;

clinical skill level;

presenting a non-intimidating persona;

understanding role limitations; and

ability to demonstrate leading practice.

Another very important environment is the macro context. Supervision, as it has been already mentioned is pertinent in all the levels of the society. All human services are established within a political and economic context and services are organised in such a way as to reinforce conformity, among both clients/patients and professionals, to the institutions and problems that originally created the problems (Galper 1975). In all human service programmes, expectations of behaviour are woven into structured rules and regulations in an attempt to shape individual and family behaviour (Galper 1975). Thus, supervision gets a new alternative in this context and that is it is the action of reinforcing conformity among various sections of the work environment.

In plain and simple terms, Supervision is the action through which the productivity of the team can increase. The reading materials provided also mentioned that often, supervision can go wrong and everything is amiss. In such a case, wring supervision can be diagnosed to be the reason behind the fall of productivity. Supervision is never the reign of terror. Modern theories of macro, micro and mezzo level supervision states that a supervisor shall explain the employees that it is not his task to whip everybody for work. He is the companion who may be has a bit more experience than others. A supervisor inspires and increases the productivity of the group, a club, a class or a bunch of employees.

It is in this conjecture, that self-styles of supervision had been identified through some activities in the class and everyone of the participants understood what was the way of supervision in every one of them. The learning activities were fun and learning experiences. It was seen that most of the participants had a chance of practicing oppression-based supervision. The later part of the reading ran through the bad sides of oppression-based supervision. It has been mentioned that in oppression the dominant group defines a lesser position for the subordinate group and draw on mechanisms of normalisation that promote dominant values and priorities in order to impose control (Dominelli 2002). The oppressive approach can denude the environment in the group, decreasing productivity rather than elevating the same.

Repressive supervision Clearly there has been a backlash against welfare provision, based on ideology rather than evidence, social programmes becoming viewed as incompetent, untrustworthy, cost-inefficient, and as potentially undermining economic progress (Dolgoff 1999). Dependency on the state has become viewed in highly negative terms and such dependency is to be avoided. In the past 10 – 20 years there has been a shift in how government does business based on economic reform and changing relationships between government and non-government organisations.

It has been seen that the Governmental organizations became incompetent, untrustworthy, cost-inefficient, and as potentially undermining economic progress rather than becoming the dependant friend of the subordinate people and the one’s ranking below. Rather than understanding the state as a provider of services and as having responsibility for the welfare of its citizens, the role has become conceptualised in terms of purchaser with increasing reliance on private provision, and costs being shifted to private individuals and families.

This scenario is written form a Western viewpoint that is perhaps unfamiliar to other cultures accustomed to a lean and efficient state which has always emphasised individual and family responsibility and where there has not been the provision of social security in the form of income transfer. The situation mentioned was further aggraded with the advent of globalization. Globalisation can be defined as a process of intensifying global social inter-relatedness whereby space and time are compressed and previously separated locations are brought closer. In general terms, globalisation involves the ‘destruction of distance’, through the development of communication technologies that bring places closer together (Fulcher 2000).

The module therefore also gave the ideas about laws, rules and ethical practices. It is in such a context where the moral philosophy is given much importance. The research dealt with the teachings from Kant, Plate, Locke and Rachels. It mentioned that Moral philosophy is also influenced by the moral of the time. For example, A hundred years ago sex before marriage would have been regarded as wrong, nowadays even though some people still regard it as wrong, it is widely accepted and little stigma is associated with it today.

Thus, it can be concluded that supervision is important for better productivity of the employees. However, at the same time, supervision also provides support and boosts the capacity of the employee. The modules and research papers taught this phenomenon to all the students. This reflection concludes with the notion that supervision is necessary but autocratic and dictatorship-oriented supervision does bad than good.

References

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