**9.1 Nature of social work organizations**

The study examined the nature, sizes and structures of organizations with the aim to establish the models appropriate for each organization from social work perspectives. The key findings show that social workers are employed in public, private and voluntary organisations local, national, regional and global moreover the nature of their job identifies more with the organisation than the profession to a great extent. The key findings also demonstrate that organizations have structures that require effective leadership from social work perspectives for them to implement their mandates successfully, especially to facilitate a move from a command-and-control culture or bureaucratic to encouraging compliance or democracy to the learning and adapting culture [16]. For that reason, social work organizations have outstanding contributions to make effect leadership; however, by drawing on its strong tradition and passion for service user empowerment and involvement [5]. The broad initiatives to understand social work perspectives as practiced in organizations are appreciated through understanding the different leadership styles and models used in different organizations. The study observed that various social work organizations are classified by types and can be understood by orientation and level of cooperation. These organizations by orientation for example have been identified to include charitable organizations, participatory organizations, advocacy and empowering organizations among others. The structures of social work organizations vary according to their sizes, and structures as some are locally based or community based organizations which have become more active in the rural areas. At any level however, it has been noted that social workers' leadership and organizations have been inadequately defined and understood by society for too long. Therefore, in this study, it was found lucid that understanding and paying allegiance to leadership in organizations from social work perspectives could perhaps be first achieved by calling on social workers to be captivated in the decades ahead which require democratic leadership where policies are established and decisions are made by the general populace rather than the authoritarian or laissezfaire types of leadership. So far, organizations have been inclined to practice the authoritarian or laissez-faire types of leadership styles which are alleged to be effective in military and religious organizations respectively. The obligation in social work has however been a major concern within the social work organizations because many organizations are using leadership styles which are not perfect in their service delivery for various reasons and in most cases beyond their control.

The study found that various organizations have chipped in trying to employ acceptable leadership models and approaches like democratic leadership style; closing gaps created in social work leadership. The desk review indicate that scores of organizations have so far continued to exercise the leadership styles for example authoritarian leadership approach that a number of organizations refer to as military where decisions are made by the leader or laissez-faire Christian leadership where little leadership is necessary. The key findings basically found that operating under such diverse and complex conditions has perpetuated social workers to adjust reluctantly which some researchers have considered it a major global challenge but perhaps less noticeable in the organizations of the developed countries. Moyo et al. [13] highlight that the use of assorted leadership styles is made more complicated by complicated social problems or ills such as unpredictable political, economic, and environmental conditions that are common in developing countries with increased natural disasters such as floods, and droughts as well as socio-economic and environmental challenges which are bound to determine the quality and effectiveness of leadership used in organizations. Though organizations have not taken legal and moral obligation to implement proper leadership theories to achieve the goals and to instigate the right leadership styles in series of severe droughts, floods disasters, socio-economic and environmental hardships experienced particularly in the Southern Africa countries including Zimbabwe. Haworth et al. [5] stress that this highly developed area of knowledge and practice is an important contribution the social work profession which could possibly contribute to the conceptualizations of leadership in organizations in every service delivery systems from social work perspectives.

Through grounded qualitative method using participative discussions in various organizations, the study found that social workers practice within confinements of organisations that determine the nature of activities and tasks they carry out using the task-centred approach in providing human services. The study noted that some social workers use these different social work leadership and theories or models for example the Task-cantered model which lays emphasis on a situation where a social worker breaks down a problem into manageable tasks. Even though social work is practiced in different organisational settings, the vast majority possess unique knowledge that allows them to understand individuals, families, groups and communities within their broad social and political contexts. The situation is demonstrated through upholding and promoting values of social work (importance of human relationships, integrity, social justice, service, dignity and worth of a person and competence) and defending them through evidence based practice, policy development, capacity building, counselling and networking. Above all, the key findings confirm that the ultimate goal of social workers in an organisation is to work towards achieving the organisation goals by incorporating knowledge, values and skills acquired through professional education, experience and socialization at local, national, regional and global level.
