Ethical Principles and Standards
Social work profession is objectively aimed at enriching well-being and achieving the fundamental basic needs of humans. Particularly, social workers play the vital roles of capacity building for individuals to address their needs and advancing receptiveness to social problems and basic needs of individuals by the community, organizations and various social institutions. As such, social workers must uphold the professional code of ethics and corresponding standards as provided by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). The basis of social work practice is guided by the code which encompasses ethical principles that develop specific ethical standards.
Competence ethic is loosely described as the ability to perform a given task effectively in a way that shows knowledge and some level of expertise in the task assigned. Often, competence is viewed more as a set of displayable qualities and abilities hat facilitate and improves the capacity to efficiently meet presented demands for receiving and performing a given job. Competency ethic requires social workers to acquire prerequisite knowledge, skillset, certification and license in addition to necessary experience before embarking on professional service provision.
NASW illustrate that the ethical principle of competence ethic is that social workers need to develop and improve professional knowhow to practice within their professional area of expertise. The association, through this value, necessitates the need for social workers to continuously expand professional abilities and knowledge for better application in social work practice. As a social worker, competency is important to me because it spells out my abilities and capabilities of effectiveness in work performance. It translates to a knowledgeable employee able to meet the demands that come with social work practice. I believe that the scope of social work extends to the entire community and what we do as social workers make or breaks the will and well-being of many people. As such, competency is perhaps my strongest value because it answers the questions, am I able to help, perform and achieve?
Privacy and confidentiality are a standard that mostly comes naturally in the professional practice of social work. Part of building competency in social work entails respecting client privacy right. Disclosing confidential information is not only discouraged in social work practice, but it is also condemned. Proper procedures are required in the event a social worker may be forced to breach this standard. Confidentiality is not only a norm but also a personal guiding rule for me as I can protect my clients’ information without compromise.
However, I may need to put more effort into improving my standard of diversity and awareness, both socially and culturally. I have realized that I take much more time in understanding and acknowledging different cultures which largely affects my competence. For instance, I may innocently ignore cultural and socioeconomic distinctions when handling clients through electronic means. NASW clearly emphasize the need for gaining prior knowledge of the various cultures of clients to exercise sensitivity in respect to nationality, racial diversity, ethnicity and other diverse differences.