Administration is the sum total of all activities related to determining objectives, securing resources, organizing operations, controlling performance, and providing a sense of achievement to workers.
Social Welfare Administration is the process of efficiently providing resources and services to meet the needs of individuals, families, groups, and communities to facilitate social relationships and necessary adjustments for social functioning.
The principle of agency totality, based on an ecological approach, emphasizes understanding an agency and its functioning in its entirety, which is crucial for development administration.
Social welfare agencies generally function in a cooperative manner, ensuring participation of all members in the administration of their activities.
There is a growing trend to recruit professionally qualified manpower, which has introduced a professional approach in their functioning.
The principle of communication stresses the necessity of open channels of communication for effective service delivery, including welfare and development interventions.
The principle of change emphasizes that guided social change in a positive direction is crucial for social development and is essential for social welfare and development administrators and planners.
The intervention designed should lead to holistic growth and development of all sections of society and should not be on an ad-hoc basis or confined to the betterment of a select few.
The principle of planning involves continuous and participatory planning as a technical component fundamental to developing meaningful services in development administration.
It is defined as the process of transforming community resources into a program of community service, in accordance with agreed goals, policies, and standards, involving problem-solving processes of study, diagnosis, treatment, and evaluation.
Walter A. Friedlander states that the administration of social agencies translates social legislation and the aims of private philanthropy into the dynamics of services and benefits for humanity.
The principle of organisation requires that the work of various actors be arranged in an organized manner, with clearly defined responsibilities and relationships.
The three perspectives are: restoration of impaired social functioning, provision of resources for more effective social functioning, and prevention of social dysfunction.
The principle of cultural setting highlights the importance of understanding the socio-cultural context of the community, as it significantly affects service acceptance and the success or failure of services.
The principle of participation asserts that development administration relies on people's involvement in the development process from planning to execution and evaluation of services, emphasizing democratic participation.
Continuous evaluation of intervention processes and programmes is essential to the achievement of the overall goal of holistic development.
Social welfare agencies allocate a portion of their resources for survival to ensure the organization can continue to exist, without limiting their capacity for quantitative and qualitative growth.
The principle of leadership highlights the importance of visionary and transformational leadership, alongside democratic and participatory approaches, for achieving overall development goals.
The principle of resource utilization asserts that due to limited resources, optimum utilization for maximum benefit is essential and is a primary responsibility of managers and administrators.
Herleigh Tracker interprets social welfare administration as a process of working with people to release and relate their energies, using available resources to provide needed community services and programs.
The principle of social work values emphasizes that the social work profession is founded on values such as equality, social justice, and empowerment, which also underpin the service delivery system of social work administration.
The main focus of social welfare administration is on the sustainability and accessibility of social services to the needy.
The principle of professional responsibility mandates maintaining high professional standards of practice, accountability, and responsibility at all levels of service delivery, linked to professional ethics of social work.
The principle of delegation involves the distribution of responsibility and authority, which is a universal practice in all types of administrative settings.
Social welfare administration deals with social welfare agencies, helping them achieve their objectives for target groups, and involves the identification of social objectives and the formulation and implementation of programmes.
The principle of agency purpose requires that an agency have clearly defined and formulated goals and purposes, guiding its operations in that direction.
The principle of purposeful relationship involves establishing effective working relationships between the administrator and all stakeholders, including staff, other agencies, and community members.
The principle of community and client needs states that interventions by social welfare agencies should be based on the felt needs of the community or target group to ensure program acceptability.
The principle of co-ordination emphasizes the importance of ensuring coordination within the agency, with other stakeholders, and the external social environment for successful program implementation.
Social welfare administration requires optimum utilization of available resources together with active community participation to achieve the ultimate goals of programmes.
