Social communication as an important article in Management of Social Work A person's need to be in contact with other people, to exchange various information, thoughts, opinions and attitudes with them is one of the most important prerequisites for his existence. Interaction is a process in which more than one person is a stimulus for each other, i.e. they react to each other. In interaction, one person's behavior is a reaction to another. For example, if two people meet, one speaks and the other responds. This creates social contact between them. Giving information during interaction, reporting some data during direct and indirect social contact is called communication. Communication is a basic component of interaction between people in social work management. In order to communicate, people need a certain, commonly known set of meanings.
The ability to communicate develops during both phylogenetic and ontogenetic development. Not only humans have the ability and need to share information, but also animals. Compared to animal communication, human communication is richer and has more forms. Animals transmit information to each other mainly about danger, quantity and occurrence of food, etc. They communicate, for example, with sounds, smells or body posture. A person transmits more complex data - thoughts, opinions or needs. He can communicate with movement, facial expressions, but also with words, music, or images. Communication is a biological need of every organism, and the lack of receiving any information has a negative impact on a person's psyche. As the level of communicative competence increases, social competence improves. Psychologically, the most important thing in social interaction is mutual understanding and mutual understanding, which is, of course, expected from people. In the conversation of some people, it can be seen that they do not understand each other at all. They cannot understand each other even though they speak the same language. The question of mutual understanding is very important for good relations between people, especially in the management of social work.
Socio-political changes after the fall of the totalitarian system significantly influenced approaches to solving social problems of the population. There were new social problems such as unemployment, homelessness, begging, various socio-pathological phenomena, etc. The social situation of individual citizens gradually worsened. They began to depend on social assistance from the state in the form of social benefits or other social services. This situation inevitably needed a new approach in the social field. There was a need for new social forms and methods that would help the client, family or group manage their difficult life situations in order to function optimally in their social environment. Social management serves us for such help.
Management suitable for social work is the so-called the process of creating and maintaining an environment in which individuals work together and effectively achieve selected and set goals. "Management is the process of optimizing the use of human, material and financial resources to achieve a goal."(1) This requires appropriate communication in the management of social work. Communication is the basic link between people in every field, not only in the field of social work management. Only through good communication can people in any organization work more effectively as a whole.
Social communication is the process of communicating and exchanging information. We characterize it as reporting information in the social behavior and social relationships of people. For a long time, the word information has been associated with the processes of human communication, message transmission and notification. In the understanding of social communication as the transfer of information in social behavior and social relationships of people, interaction appears as part of communication, i.e. j. the effect of people on each other. Accepting interaction as a process organically linked to communication leads to a different definition. It prioritizes another side of the communication process – the ability of communication to influence the other individual. The starting point for creating these definitions is interpersonal communication. It arises and is used mainly in communication research carried out within the framework of psychological sciences, which are later used in communication in management. Social communication is a process in which "an individual (communicator) transmits stimuli (usually verbal symbols) to modify the behavior of other individuals - addressees."(2) Communication occurs when one system - the source - influences the states and activities of another system - the receiver - by choosing between alternative signals that can be transmitted through connecting channels. Communication includes all processes by which people influence each other. Thus, the joint participation of people in each activity in mutual contact is communication. A person cannot not communicate in the presence of another person. This definition includes the fact that communication is not only the transmission of a message, but also the participation of other people in communication. Even if only by being present during communication. So communication is any interaction between people. Especially among people in social work management, where communication is quite intense.
Social communication in the management of social work, on the one hand, unites people who work and participate in success in varying degrees. On the other hand, communication in social work management enters into all management processes and conditions their quality and efficiency. He is the real bearer of the social process. It enables social interaction that makes a person a social being.
Communication between people has always existed. The concept of attention began to enter communication much later. After all, what could be easier than talking! Of course, there is nothing more difficult. Interpersonal communication, mutual interaction, understanding, or communicating something to someone is one of the basic human activities. Understanding between people happens through communication. Almost 70% of the time in the waking state, people devote to communication - reading, writing, speaking and listening. At the same time, most misunderstandings stem from insufficient communication. The essence of communication is mutual information, which is based on the transmission and reception of information. Although information is the basis of communication, there is a fundamental difference between the two. The starting point in the information acquisition process is the data that is processed to provide the desired effect. The process of providing information to their users constitutes communication. Information makes up all intangible things that are useful and meaningful to humans. It is an organized and purposefully processed set of data. Communication is a way of giving and receiving information also in the management of social work.
Communication is classically divided into verbal and non-verbal. We attribute different conscious and unconscious importance to social communication in the management of social work. We consciously evaluate verbal communication as more important, but unconsciously we attach more importance to non-verbal communication when evaluating a person. When relationships go wrong, communication is the first to pay for it. And when one cannot communicate well (or at all) with the other, there is no chance to save the relationship. It is essential to ensure that communication in social work management is not a problem. One of the basic steps to help with this is to become a good listener.
The importance of all communication, including social communication in the management of social work, is that:
- is a means by which people in any organization come together to achieve a common goal. Without it, a group of people could not function because its activity could not be coordinated;
- ensures unification of the organization's activities;
- it enables in our case - social workers - to influence individuals and groups, to modify behavior, to achieve effective changes and thereby the relevant goals that have been set.
"Modern management requires optimizing communication systems at all levels of management, implementing the requirements of flexible information structures and increasing the stimulation potential of communication processes."(3) Even though people in social work management devote the majority of their activities to communication, it cannot be said that sufficient attention is paid to communication processes. Empirical, everyday experiences are often absolutized and theoretical knowledge is underestimated. Such approaches may be sufficient in certain concrete situations, but in their essence they are unpromising and superficial. Therefore, it is necessary to move from the proclamation of the importance of communication to the application of modern knowledge to communication theory and practice.
Mastering theoretical as well as practical communication basics is the first prerequisite for correctly chosen social communication in the management of social work, which in many institutions is a prerequisite for the correct approach to people and clients. The basic attribute of social communication is interaction, which is understood as a process in which people immediately react to each other and respond to the actions and behavior of people with whom they come into contact. Social communication in social work management, where there is continuous human interaction (interaction), is the same. We understand it as "the process of transmitting and receiving management messages and information, in which managed people are directed to behave and act as the manager requires in his decision."(4) Social communication in the management of social relations arises as a product of formal and informal relationships, as well as a product of the functioning of the organizational structure and system. Through the communication network, everyone who works in the organizational element is differentially involved in it. It is implemented primarily in the field of formal relations, in a formalized and relatively precisely defined communication procedure.
A successful communication process in the management of social work includes the assumption of equality of individual participants in the process of social communication. Such a process is influenced by several factors. Many of these are instinctive thanks to the social intelligence we bring to the conversation. In conversations in social communication, which is an important part of social work management, the following principles must be adhered to, which are necessary in the implementation of specific situations.
Give your partner your undivided attention - when your partner shows interest in talking, put aside whatever you're working on. Empty your head of problems and concentrate on one thing only - on the speaker and what he is saying.
Listen to exactly what the partner is saying - this is very important especially in conflicts and differences of opinion. "It is very easy to choose from what your partner says, only those things that you will be able to immediately "slap" on his head. But will it help?"(5) This is not a debating circle where you get points for how funny and hard you put your opponent down! You need to learn what the other person's motives are so that you can find a way out together.
Look at him while he's talking to you- have you ever talked to someone who denied you basic eye contact? It's very frustrating, especially if what you want to say is very important to you. If you deny your partner eye contact, you also increase the likelihood that his hostility towards you will increase during the conversation.
Watch for the hidden undertone of emotions - very often your partner will not say directly and exactly what is on his mind. He is immersed in emotions. If you want a solution, you have to help him "pull" him out of his emotions. Observe his emotional state through body language, tone of voice, through eye movements, and you will get a pretty good sense of which situations are emotionally taxing for your partner.
Acknowledge your partner and his emotions - real acknowledgment can often solve the problem right from the start. Above all, you confirm to your partner that you have heard and understood what he is telling you, and at the same time, part of the emotional charge of the situation is removed. The easiest way to show appreciation to your partner is to repeat in your own words what he just said to you. (Of course, no need to exaggerate - you are a human, not a parrot!).
Keep your cool - this is not always easy. When a person is angry, they often start lashing out at you just because you are there and there is no one else to vent their anger on. Maybe it's not the most pleasant and it's definitely not a fair situation, you have to endure it. Anger will subside over time, the angry person will become "furious", tired and will then be more amenable to reasonable arguments. In any case, do not take things personally, even if they sound personal - otherwise you will also get angry and the situation will end in mutual accusations and open conflict. Deal with the situation, don't break up the relationship!
Every communication, even social, is more addressed, more personal when we introduce addresses into it. We use the proper name of the person we are talking to, we address him. A proper name is the sweetest sound for a person. The more addressed in communication, the more dynamic, emotional and expressive the speech. Let's not forget about addressing in a telephone conversation as well. Addressing includes title, rank, position. In the address, we should not limit ourselves to the use of addresses like "you" or "you". It looks even worse if we talk about the present person in the third person - he, she - which is quite impolite. In general, where there is a lack of outreach, there is often not even a warmer relationship between the individual partners. Because "communication represents the harmony between what is done by the agent (the communicator) and what is understood by the patient (the addressee)."(6) It is known from history that e.g. one of the sources of Duke Napoleon's success was his knowledge of a huge number of his soldiers by name, who based on this individual approach created a greater relationship of trust with him.
When communicating, let's consider every word we say. The spoken word has its effect on a person's personality. It is said that even the truth is a drug whose tolerability is individual. Especially in a situation of negative emotional movement, every word must be carefully considered, when bad evaluations and insults are pressed on the tongue. Because what Bernard Show said has been true for a long time: "A wound caused by a word cuts deeper than a wound caused by a sword." Conclusion
Communication represents the main aspect in the interpersonal relationship component of the socio-cultural system of the given environment of society. In today's consumer society, there are fundamental changes in communication, both in the family and at work. We could say that it is a crisis in communication that we are not even aware of. The basic prerequisite for the success of each person in the management of social work, but also in relation to others outside the workplace, are his communication skills. With them, we can improve the quality of our life and work on a daily basis.
In practice, we encounter various alternative ways of social communication, while we often forget that communication is a social process also in the management of social work, which has an impact on our being. So it is a part of every personality. How we communicate has a big impact on the people we interact with on a daily basis. Either in private or at work. It is precisely in the field of social work management, which has a very broad scope, that workers perform in various roles, where the way they communicate with each of them is at a different level. Therefore, we pay considerable attention to this issue.
Author: PaedDr. Slavomír Laca PhD.
(1) Vetráková, M.: Communication in the work of a manager. Banská Bystrica: Matej Bel University, 2002, p. 75. (2) Gabura, J., Gabura, P.: Social communication. Bratislava: Civic Association Social Work, 2004, p. 28. (3) Szarková, M, et al.: Communication in management. Selected issues. Bratislava: EKONÓM, 1996, p. 17. (4) Khelerová, V.: Communication skills of a manager. Prague: Grada Publishing, 1995, p. 36. (5) Foret, M.: Communication with the public. Brno: Masaryk University, 1994, p. 34 (6) Škvareninová, O.: Speech communication. Bratislava: SPN, 1995, p. 23. Literature 1. Gabura, J., Gabura, P.: Social communication. Bratislava: Civic Association Social Work, 2004, 128 p. ISBN 80-968927-7-0. 2. Foret, M.: Communication with the public. Brno: Masaryk University, 1994, 204 p. ISBN 80-251-1041-9. 3. Khelerová, V.: Communication skills of a manager. Prague: Grada Publishing 1995, 225 p. ISBN 80-7169-223-9. 4. Szarková, M, et al.: Communication in management. Selected issues. Bratislava: EKONÓM 1996. ISBN 80-225-0796-2. 5. Škvareninová, O.: Speech communication. Bratislava: SPN 1995. 165 p. ISBN 80-08-02228. 6. Vetráková, M.: Communication in the work of a manager. Banská Bystrica: Matej Bel University, 2002, p. 75.
The contribution was made at the International Conference on "Management in Social Work and Case Management", which was held on June 21, 2010. The organizer of the conference was the University of Health and Social Work of St. Elizabeth, n. o.
Publications of the author of the article: PaedDr. Slavomír Laca, PhD
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