THE "PROBLEM" IN THE SOCIAL WORK "PROBLEM-SOLVING" PROCESS by Associate
Dean, Wurzweiler
CHARLES S. LEVY, D . S . W . School of Social Work,
The Need for Professional Boundaries
A
sions,
for
"the
own ? "
whole
an
abiding
man"
and
concern multiples
thereof, cannot presume to draw rigid boundaries
around their peculiar
fessional functions in
serving
pro
human
beings, they are obliged to delimit their primary
fuctions sufficiently
them distinguishable.
to
make
1
as a criterion for
status the question,
professional
"Has social work
a well-defined scope and function, with a
content
and
It
was
method
New
particularly
York
around
it has always been
a basic one—that social work had long encountered difficulty
in its quest for
professional status. Tufts considered
social work to be
"not a clearly defined single field cor responding
to
a
single
need,"
but
rather a complex of "many diverse oc cupations which have as their tasks to supplement the work of the other pro
Sir Ralph Cilento some years ago in cluded
2
University,
this criterion—for
L T H O U G H human service profes with
Teshiva
peculiarly
its
1 Although the target of this presentation is the social work profession, other professions owe themselves a bit of soul-searching. Not untypical of the elastic conceptions which professions entertain of themselves is this excerpt from a recent editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association: " I t is not just a pious thought that medicine is more than a science, more than an art or a profes sion, but as it has to do with the fulfillment of a man—his health, it is one of the human ities. Whether practiced in an ivory tower or at the crossroads, medicine must concern itself with human values. A physician, part philoso pher and part scientist, must learn to take the artisan aspects of his practice in his stride and not hold them as his central concern." Vol. 180, No. 1 (April 7, 1962), p. 136. 2 ' < The World Moves Toward Professional Standards in Social W o r k , " in Social Work As Human Relations, New York: Columbia University Press, 1949, p. 229.
fessions."
8
This
theme
had
already
been more pessimistically enunciated by Abram Flexner: Social work . . . appears not so much a definite field as an aspect of work in many fields. . . . The field of [social work] em ployment is . . . so vast that delimitation is impossible. . . . The high degree of spe cialized competency required for [profes sional] action and conditioned on limitation of area cannot possibly go with the width and scope characteristic of social work. . . . Would it not be at least suggestive therefore to view social work as in touch with many professions rather than as a profession in and by itself T *
Granted that much systematic work has been done since 1915 to clarify and s James H. Tufts, Education and Training for Social Work, New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1923, p. 28. * " I s Social Work A Profession!" Pro ceedings of the National Conference of Chari ties and Correction 1915, Chicago: The Hilomann Printing Co., 1915, pp. 585-86.
define the function of social work and
enough as a group to attempt to cover
industrious efforts along these lines are
the waterfront in their conceptions if
in progress at this very moment, never
not in their practice.
theless, sufficient confusion remains to
their problem-solving efforts on behalf
make this a matter of continuing con
of agency clients have been so broadly
cern.
and so variously interpreted that they
I would like to suggest that one
of the deterrents to clarity is the con
defy
ception of social work as a problem-
understanding.
delimitation
The objects of
and they
challenge
solving process. In order to merit the sanction of the community and to communicate knowl edge adequately for interpretive
The "Problem" in Problem-Solving
and
The problem-solving nature of the so
teaching purposes, a human service pro
cial work function has evidently been
fession is obliged: ( 1 ) to clarify
its
accepted
as an
"underlying assump
function; ( 2 ) to delineate, at least in
tion."
broad terms, the focus and boundaries
nimity
of its operations; and ( 3 ) to distinguish
what makes a problem a problem, and
its
what makes a selected problem a valid
primary purposes
from
other helping professions.
those
of
6
However, there is hardly una among
social
workers
about
The proposi
target for the social worker's specific
tion to be considered here is that the
intervention, to the virtual exclusion—
widely accepted emphasis on the prob
at least as a primary responsibility—of
lem-solving nature of the social work
other professions.
er's professional function leads to de ficiencies on all three counts because of:
It is axiomatic in
conceptualization
and research that any concept to be at
1) the elasticity of the conception of
all useful, let alone valid, must limit
"problems" in social work; 2 ) the in-
the inclusiveness of its meaning.
clusiveness of the conception of prob
broader the scope of its meaning, the
lems in social work; and 3 )
less useful it is.
tensive and undisciplined
the ex
The
The meaning of the
overlapping
concept, problem, in social work con
between the problems described in so
ceptualization has exceeded the bounds
cial work literature as the province of
of professional decorum.
social work practice and those which constitute the declared domain of prac tice in other professions. Mary
Richmond might
have
Is the Social Work Problem Always A "Problem?"
been
If the recent emphasis on the unity of
thinking of the social worker's dilemma
the social work profession may be taken
regarding practice responsibility when
seriously, and the professional concepts
she quoted Hans Gross' aphorism re
which have been employed applied to
garding knowledge:
all of the social work practice methods, the offense becomes gargantuan.
Thus,
Only the sham knows everything; the trained man understands how little the mind of any individual may grasp and how many must cooperate in order to explain the simplest things
in social group work, social casework
Social workers can hardly be accused
problem is a problem because clients,
of being shams, but they are earnest
group
s Quoted on the fly leaf of Social Diagnosis, New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1917.
« " T h e Nature of Social "Work," Social Work, Vol. 3 (April, 1958) No. 2, p. 10.
testing for the meaning of "problem" and community organization work, one is
hard-put to members,
determine or
whether
committees
a
and
boards
experience difficulties
or
afflic
the problems created b y faulty
t i o n s ; or because these objects o f soeial
to-person,
w o r k ministrations are presented
to-situation
with
issues to resolve or conditions to cope
person-to-group, relationships."
of
cal environment
tions . . . "
poses particular
chal
a
series
personThe
cial casework process, then,
w i t h ; or because their social or physi
person-
or
so
"consists
o f problem-solving opera 7
This view o f the subject matter of
lenges; o r because they, themselves, in social
the soeial worker's basic concern is ob
w o r k e r ; or because life—theirs or some
viously endorsed b y Boehm for he con
one else's—generates specific or general
siders
tensions, or offers specific opportunities
social w o r k its ' ' focus on social relation
with which a social worker is equipped
ships. "
herently pose challenges to the
to
be
helpful;
or
because
the
the
distinguishing
i ( f o r the
purposes
worker as an intervening variable him
c l a r i t y ) , however, H a r r y
self represents a complicating or
van, like other
psychiatrists and
chologists,
defined
bling factor in their lives?
ena
W h i c h of
has
Stack
orders, mild or s e v e r e , " as
represents
of
focus o f the
problem-
solving process, or is the focus any and all o f these?
I f this is indeed
true,
inadequate or
and
Kolb
. . ."*
venture
their
psy dis inter
A n d Noyes definition of
then is a problem always pathological in
psychiatry " a s that branch of medicine
its effects or its implications?
which deals with the genesis, dynamics,
I f both
pathological and non-pathological condi tions
are
included
in the
concept o f
problem, then w h y is this not explicit, o r at least consistently apparent, in so cial w o r k literature?
I f the concept is
in fact so inclusive, then w e are back to the sional
initial consideration
as
a
discussion of
problem-solving
process, does not exactly define the con cept but she does offer generous descrip tions
of
cases
which
presumably
subsumed under the concept.
are
She does
suggest that each o f these cases " a r i s e s from some need or obstacle or accumula tion of frustrations or
maladjustments,
and
these
sometimes
all
of
treatment
undesirable
o f such function-
ings o f the personality as disturb either the subjective life o f the individual or his relations with other persons or with society."
1 0
That the identification o f social work a
terminal point
in
hardly
conceptualization
m a y be indicated—aside
from the
free
and unhampered use o f the description in our society—by a recent description o f illness
as a problem-solving process.
Otto v o n Mering offers this conception of
illness: We regard illness as an intricate, innermoving problem-solving experience. Thus, we
together,
which threatens or has already attacked the adequacy o f the p e r s o n ' s living sit uation or the effectiveness o f his efforts to deal with i t . "
and
and
as a problem-solving process is in her
casework
disordered
o f profes
boundaries.
Mrs. Perlman, social
manifestations
7 Social Casework: A Problem-Solving Pro cess, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1957, pp. 4-5. s Loc. cit, p. 17.
She goes o n to de
9 The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry
scribe the purpose o f the soeial service
(New York: W . W . Norton and Co., Inc., 1953), p. 313. K> Arthur P. Noyes and Lawrence C. Kolb. Modern Clinical Psychiatry (Fifth Ed.; Phila delphia: W . B. Saunders Co., 1958), p. 1.
agency as being " t o
help
j
"patterns
inappropriate
personal relations
of
Sulli-
"mental
these, and numerous other possibilities, the
of
8
Unfortunately
social
feature
individuals
with . . . social handicaps which hamper g o o d personal o r f a m i l y living a n d with
j \ ]
define it as a process of adaptation with both functional and dysfunctional effects whose purpose is to counteract, alleviate, change or exist with continual disequilibrating internal psycho-physiological stresses as well as ex ternal socio-emotional tensions and conflicts. 11
This is not terribly inconsistent with Mrs. Perlman's conclusion that the idea of casework as a problem-solving pro cess "stems from a conception of hu man life as being in itself a problemsolving and
process, a
movement
in
continuous
change
which
human
the
being works on so adapting himself to external objects o r them to himself as to
achieve maximum
satisfactions.''
12
Gisela K o n o p k a suggests that social
group as compared to the growth-oriented group. In the former, the group-enabler's primary responsibility is to support the group to accomplish its task; in the latter, the enabler's primary responsibility is to help members to use the group experience to resolve problems which are interfering with their personal growth and their social adjust ment. . . . Diagnosis is the core of [social group work] practice. . . . The soeial group worker serving a "growth-oriented" group understands as much as he can about the specific problems of each member in the group he is serving.is
Where
Havighurst
" t a s k s " the
normal
sues which human
1 6
considers
as
developmental is
beings face in
the
process of growth, Miss W i l s o n evidently
group work method, to merit the desig
prefers to allocate this label to more nar
nation
a
r o w l y defined a n d circumscribed g r o u p
the
missions. Moreover, Miss W i l s o n reserves
o f method, must
problem
to be s o l v e d . ' '
relate 1 3
"to
Since
definition of social g r o u p w o r k on which
for social g r o u p work—as a method o f
she relies refers to the contribution o f
social work—the responsibility f o r deal
g r o u p interaction and p r o g r a m activity
i n g not with g r o w t h processes generally
" t o the growth o f the individual the
achievement
goals," lem"
of
desirable
and
social
this presumably is the " p r o b
to which the
method o f social
group work is applicable.
She
refers
but with problems which interfere personal growth and social
with
adjustment
of g r o u p members. For
R a y m o n d Fisher,
o n the
other
hand, " s o c i a l g r o u p w o r k is treatment-
to the help with " t h e g r o w i n g u p pro
f o c u s e d , " its aim being " t o help per
c e s s " to y o u n g people through
sons develop their capacities for
social
g r o u p work, but acknowledges the role of other agents in this p r o c e s s .
14
This
concept of problem is quite broad.
ade
quate social functioning in a democratic society.''
1 7
assert that
H o w e v e r , he "the
goes on
to
social g r o u p worker
The breadth o f this concept m a y be
will have to take responsibility f o r spe
contrasted with the more circumscribed
cial planning for individuals who indi
view of it implied in Gertrude W i l s o n ' s
cate that they
distinction between w o r k with
groups
usual difficulty in their social relation-
The distinction is to be found in the differ ence between the nature of the task-oriented
i 6 ' ' Social Group Work Theory and Practice Viewed Against New Trends and Develop ments," New Developments in Theory and Practice of Social Group Work, New York: Council on Social Work Education, 1956, pp. 41-42.
are having more than
and social g r o u p w o r k :
11'' Disease, Healing and Problem-Solving: A Behavioral Seience Approach," The Inter national Journal of Soeial Psychiatry, Vol. V I I I (Spring, 1962) No. 2, p. 138. 12 Op. cit., p. 53. is "The Method of Social Group W o r k " in Walter A. Friedlander, ed., Concepts and Methods of Social WorTc, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1958, pp. 117-18. uibid., pp. 125-26.
is Bobert J. Havighurst. Human Develop ment and Education, New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1953. 1 7
' ' Social Group Work in Group Service Agencies," Social Work With Groups 1959, New York: National Association of Social Workers, 1959, p. 21.
ships and ability to function. . . . [With
with problem-solving although there has
such individuals] the problems become
been some question as to whether the
too complex and technical to be handled
problem in focus is the improvement of
by personnel who have not had ade quate preparation.'' differentiation
18
This implies a
between
professional
community interaction through
profes
sionally guided experience in the art of
solving
problems, and hence,
work with groups, as carried on by so
improvement of the community's
cial
lem-solving
workers,
formed
by
the
function
per
non-social
and
workers
with
groups, on the basis of the
guishable
skill from
(presumably the
social
the
prob distin
worker's
intensity
problem-solving skill); or the problem
of the difficulty experienced by group
in focus is "the accomplishment or sus-
members in
their
social
relationships
tainment of a solution to one or more
and participation in the group's life.
specific welfare problems" which "usu
This difficulty, in effect, represents the "problem" to which the social group worker's role is related.
Another pos
sible interpretation would provide for a range of professional problem-solving efforts from those applied to non-patho logical or normal developmental condi tions to those applied to pathological conditions.
Marion
services."
21
In discussing this issue John Turner describes the relative risks in the choice between an orientation, on one hand, which regards interpersonal and inter group relationships as the primary dys function
to
which the
social worker
addresses his professional function, and
In a vein similar to this interpreta tion,
ally involves the initiation or realign ment of concrete welfare
Sloan
and
an orientation which regards the sub
Harleigh
stance of community group concerns—
Trecker recognize social group work as
viz., the social problems—as the pri
a "method in social work which seeks
mary
to further the development and social adjustment of individuals through the conscious use of group experience,''
mensions of the social group worker's A t the same time
she identifies as the pathological factor, in the social group worker's focus of practice in a psychiatric
setting,
the
special condition that "Group living for patients entering the hospital commu nity presents difficult problems of adjust ment due to the drastic changes in the usual patterns of their l i v e s . ' '
20
The community organization method in social work has also been equated isf&toT., pp. 21-22. i » "The Eole of the Group Worker in the Adult Psychiatric Hospital," in Harleigh B. Trecker, ed., Group Work in the Psychiatric Setting, New York: Whiteside and Morrow, 1956, p. 56.
20 laid.
with
which
the
Implicit in either or both
of these orientations is such dysfunction
19
thus again emphasizing the broad di "problem" in focus.
dysfunction
worker deals. as
may
characterize
the
community
group's skill in solving problems, which might also independently represent a prior professional problem-solving ori entation.
In all three there is evident
an assumption that the worker is deal ing with pathology—that is, a need or a deficiency which calls for professional intervention and correction, ostensibly because the existing condition is de ficient in some demonstrable respect or requires improvement for some prede termined reason. customary
It is not a simple and
developmental
task
which
2i John B. Turner. "Community Organizazation and Community Theory," in Curriculum Content in Community Organization, Workshop Beport, Proceedings, Annual Meeting, Council on Social Work Education, 1959 (Mimeo graphed).
the
community group may be
relied
upon to work things out for itself in a sound and enduring
fashion.
Although Murray Ross makes this as sumption
clear
community
in
his
explication
organization
as
a
of
social
work method, he also helps to under score the confusion which attends the shifting and plural perspective of the conception of problem in social work. Dr.
Ross insists
that,
if
community
organization is to qualify as a social work process, it must conform to cer tain
fundamental
principles,
among
which are: It must deal with problems whieh the com munity recognizes as its problems . . . It must engage the community in an active way in the solution of its problems . . . It must encourage growth through problemsolving.22
"Problem" is thus denned in accor
not only conceivable but perhaps essen tial for purposes of consistency, the fol lowing complaint is cited as relevant to a definition of social work: . . . Man's search for a meaning is not pathological, but rather the Burest sign of being truly human. Even if this search is frustrated, it cannot be considered a sign of disease. It is spiritual distress, not mental disease. How should the clinician respond to this challenge? Traditionally, he is not prepared to cope with this situation in any but medical terms. Thus he is forced to conceive of the problem as something pathological. Further more, he induces his patient to interpret his plight as a sickness to be cured rather than as a challenge to be met. By so doing, the doctor robs the patient of the potential fruits of his spiritual struggle.23
In summary, what makes a problem a problem in the context of the social worker's
"problem-solving"
function,
dance with the community group's per
whether it be with individual, group or
ception which may or may not corre
community, seems to be—at least as far
spond
with
perspectives above.
one of
or the
another concept
of
the
reviewed
This is reminiscent of a position
as may be determined from social work literature—anything mal, readily
from
anticipated,
nor
once held in social work that the social
pecially
worker's service had to await the cli
tasks
which
ent's plea for help—in effect, the cli
and
communities,
ent's acknowledgement of a problem to
appropriate or maladaptive responses to
be
these tasks or other tasks, and the spe
subjected
to
the
social
worker's
"problem-solving" intervention.
"Ag
disconcerting
the
and not es
face
developmental
individuals, through
groups the
in
cial situational reversals and distortions
gressive" intervention at this level in
whieh emerge because or in spite
social work is fairly recent.
these tasks; and on to societally defined
Not all the methods of social work are evidently
equally
non-pathological
orientation
in
a
their
deviations and abnormalities whieh are externally stamped as problems regard less of the client's view of them.
Indeed not all
A s now defined, by assertion or im
of some of the methods
plication, a problem—depending on the
problem-solving aims. practitioners
amenable to
of
can be said to agree upon such an ori
source of its definition—may be a prob
entation.
lem simply because it is subject to the
Perhaps to reveal a bias, but pri
ministrations of the social worker or be
marily to suggest that a non-pathologi
cause it inheres in the client who is
cal orientation in social work practice is
served by the social worker, or because
22 Case Histories in Community Organiza tion (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1958), p. 13.
as Viktor E . Frankl. Psychiatry and Man's Quest for Meaning," Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. I (January, 1962) No. 2, p. 94.
it is provoked by the social worker as a
which the social worker intervenes is
medium for the client's growth-acceler
either a reflection on the nature of hu
ating or growth-insuring experience.
man growth or a dilution of the signifi
Or a problem may be a problem be
cance of a problem.
On the other hand,
cause it represents one or another vari
if a valid professional role is associated
ety of challenge which the social worker
with "normal" growth processes, then
faces in the performance of his profes
the processes need not be subverted into
sional function.
In this sense, the prob
lem to be solved by the social worker is
problems.
Developmental tasks are usu
ally satisfactorily resolved and satisfy-
one that he faces as a social worker
ingly resolved.
fulfilling an agency or professional mis
that
sion and not one that the client feels,
They cannot very well be a problem
they
It is when they are not
may represent
a problem.
has or incurs by virtue of his exposure
coming or going.
to the social worker's service.
give—if not the concept then the def
The
social work profession has evi
dently arrogated to itself responsibilty
Something has to
inition of the nature of the social work function.
ranging from the intrapsychic level to
The addition of the functions of pro
the all-embracing societal level, imput
vision and prevention has not been es
ing to the social worker, therefore, pro
pecially helpful since they have been
fessional responsibility for the resolu
cast in
tion
solving function imputed to social work.
of
beings,
internal
conflicts
interpersonal
and
in
human
the
context
of
the problem-
inter-group
Perhaps, if one traces their origin, one
conflicts among them, and for the elimi
may find that they were created to pro
nation of large hazards which threaten
vide for the existing realities of social
or afflict huge masses of people.
Even
group work and community organiza
if one grants to the social worker—as a
tion as well as the burgeoning aspira
social worker—a share of responsibility
tion of social statesmanship.
at each of these levels this does not
that
help to define primary, readily identifi
stretching their points unduly in order
able and communicable professional re
to find a plausible unity among the so
sponsibility.
cial work methods.
The Need for Alternatives to the Problem-Solving Concept
sociated
social
It may be
work thinkers
have been
The word problem—especially as as
The
difficulty is especially evident as
attempts are made to discover a unify ing character in all social work methods. If a problem is defined in casework as a distortion in or deviation from satisfac tory
social
relationships,
then
some
equivalent conceptualization is required for social group work and community organization
work—unless
of
with
rather specific
course
problem-solving ceases to be the key
human
behavior—has
connotations.
Problem
behavior has thus been defined as "be havior
that
perplexes
the
observer
(sometimes also the person behaving)" and as "behavior that is at least some what antisocial or abnormal and, hence, creates a problem either for the actor or for those about h i m . "
2 4
One is reminded that word problem derives from the Greek word signifying anything thrown forward.
The forth-
stone of the conceptual structure of so cial work. This may be a necessary con clusion—pending
additional
evidence
and clarification. To refer to growth as a "problem" in
2* Horace B. English and Ava C. English.
A Comprehensive Dictionary of Psychological and Psychoanalytical Terms (New Tork: Long mans, Green and Co., 1958), p. 409.
right definitions of social work's func tion notwithstanding, conceptualization of the distinguishing focus of social work practice has been thrust backward by the diversity and variety of mean ings which have been attributed to the
concept of problem. This suggests the need either for clarity and consistency in the employment of the concept, or a reexamination of the insufficiently ex plored assertion that "social work is a problem-solving process.''
An International Meeting of Leading Figures in Jewish Communal Serviee from Europe, North and South America, and Israel August 19-23, 1967 Jerusalem