What is Social Welfare Administration?
Social Welfare Administration is the process of efficiently providing resources and services to meet
the needs of the individuals, families, groups and communities to facilitate social relationship and
adjustment necessary to social functioning.
John C. Kidneigh (1950) defines social welfare administration as the “process of transforming social
policy into social services… a two way process: (i)… transforming policy into concrete social
services and (ii) the use of experience in recommending modification of policy. This definition, of
course, encompasses the idea that administration is the process of transforming policies into action
programmes
A comprehensive definition of Social Welfare Administration, however, is given in the curriculum
study of the American Council of Social Work Education in the following words: “Administration is
the process of transforming community resources into a programme of community service, in
accordance with goals, policies and standards which have been agreed by those involved in the
enterprise. It is creative in that it structures roles and relationships in such a way as to alter and
enhance the total product. It involves the problem solving process of study, diagnosis and
treatment solution, or action and evaluation of results.”(Sirohi, 2012)
Functions of Social welfare Administration
i) Translation of social mandates into operational policies and goals to
guide organisational behaviour;
ii) Design of organisational structures and processes through which the
goals can be achieved;
iii) Securing of resources in the form of materials, staff, clients and
societal legitimation necessary for goal attainment and organisational
survival;
iv) Selection and engineering of the necessary technology;
v) Optimizing organisational behaviour directed towards
increased effectiveness and efficiency; and
vi) Evaluation of organisational performance to facilitate
systematic and continuous solution of problems.
Rosemary Sarri (1971)
Nature of Social welfare Administration
The question whether social welfare administration is science or art,
has assumed much importance with passage of time. There are
conflicting views and opinions on this issue and each appears to be
justified in its own way. Social welfare lends itself to two usages. It
stands for the process of administering the social welfare programmes.
It is also an area of intellectual enquiry. The first is practice, the second
is study. As a practice social welfare administration is decidedly an art
Social Welfare Administration as an Art
The following arguments have been given to support that
social welfare administration is an art.
a) It can be acquired: No doubt art is a natural gift. Music,
dance, drama or painting are the examples of this category of
art. But natural gifts can find their best expression by proper
training, without which even the best artists will die unknown.
On the other hand a carpenter making furniture out of wood
and a goldsmith shaping gold ornaments are also the
examples of art. It is so because they possess the following
elements:
b) personal skills;
c) practical know-how; c)result orientation;
d) creativity; and
e ) constant practice aimed at perfection
Similarly, the art of social welfare administration can be acquired.
Talented persons become the best administrators under proper
training. Thus so far acquisition is concerned social welfare
administration is also like other arts.
• It is subjective in nature: A painter contributes to art by mixing
colours. A sculptor performs his job with the aid chisel and hammer.
A social welfare administrator with the application of knowledge and
skill can make wonders by combining and bringing together available
human and material resources to change the very fate of the nation.
Today success of every welfare programme depends on how a social
welfare administrator performs the job. iii) Practical application of
knowledge: Art is the practical application of systematic knowledge.
It is not merely theory but putting that into practice. Similarly, social
welfare administration is not merely theory but it is application also.
And the best knowledge can be gained by practice alone.
