HOLISM AND SYNERGY OF THE DIMENSIONS OF THE OCCUPATIONAL WELL-BEING CONCEPT 54

The concept of occupational well-being for the social work profession described above differs from other concepts in that it includes all the dimensions influencing job-related wellbeing, instead of focussing only on one aspect of the whole. Well-being, either related to the entire life situation or job-related, develops from the presence of positive characteristics on various dimensions. This was formulated in an early study by Warr and Routledge (1969, 96), where it is argued that job satisfaction should be studied on separate dimensions, because of the multi-faced job characteristics. Later, Warr and colleagues (1979) found that job satisfaction and psychological well-being are associated with total life satisfaction and happiness, and low self-rated anxiety, and refers to the holism of well-being. More recently, De Jonge and Schaufeli (1998) draw on a multi-dimensional model of mental health developed by Warr, to emphasise the complexity of employee well-being. These examples show that the idea of holism in research on work-related issues such as employee well-being or job satisfaction is well known and applied.

However, the idea has never been implemented using a broader view of occupational well-being. It has already been pointed out that the analysed studies deal only with partial aspects of the whole. This gives admittedly a detailed view of one dimension, but neglects other important influences coming from outside the dimension. A holistic approach combines all relevant aspects of a construct to make use of interrelations between different dimensions and to synergise the effects resulting from these interactions. This, particularly, is relevant for the social work profession, were individual demands are interwoven with organisational demands. On the one side, social workers have to deal with emotional harm caused by the work with deprived or traumatised clients, and on the other side they have to fulfil the work tasks predefined by the organisations. Social workers are the intersection between service user and service provider, with the task to satisfy the requirements of both sides. Therefore, an effective and successful cooperation of social workers and the organisation requires special attention and depends on multi-dimensional factors, which are also implemented in the presented concept. The holistic model of occupational well-being is illustrated in figure 4.

The use of the concept of occupational well-being for the social work profession reveals the effects of holism and synergy, so that we can describe the interrelations of the dimensions, and evaluate the mentioned effects on social work employees. All the five dimensions can be

55 described and measured independently, but that would only show a fragment or a limited picture of the whole. Moreover, it would miss the interwoven elements which work together on different levels and different dimensions. Elements of the professional dimension interact with elements of the cognitive or social being dimension, and elements of affective well-being interact with elements of the psychosocial and professional wellwell-being, for example.

Characteristics such as supervision, education, work demands or job autonomy are relevant factors in several dimensions, but have different impact on the respective dimension. This implies that by activating one characteristic, a positive impact is shown in several dimensions.

Figure 4: Holistic Model of Occupational Well-being for the Social Work Profession

Generally, individual and organisational factors are too interwoven to be measured and evaluated separately, without losing their interrelated influences on each other. Both sides are dependent on each other. The individual needs, a caring and supporting work environment,

56 and an organisation needs effective, engaged and healthy employees. Occupational well-being among employees is a precondition for organisational well-well-being. This assumption, basically, fits to any profession, but it has particular relevance in the social work profession.

Here, employees need a specific emotional and professional strength, which can be supported and maintained through particular elements within the work environment. According to the concept of occupational well-being, high levels of employee well-being can be achieved by activating all the five dimensions, and by implementing preventive and supportive factors.

This needs to be done through cooperation and interaction between the organisation and its employees. As a result of focusing on all five dimensions equally, synergetic effects are generated, which show much more positive outcomes than results from focusing on single activities to improve dissatisfying situations.

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PART III

EMPIRICAL REALISATION

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8. BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE ORGANISATION OF SOCIAL WORK IN FINLAND AND GERMANY

The following chapter provides information about how the social work profession is organised and concentrates on factors outside the specific work place. Differences and similarities are pointed out to compare the two systems in which social workers have to fulfil their tasks. This chapter presents a theoretical comparison of the legal framework for the entire profession, and introduces the evaluation part in order to provide the basic information about the work environment of the social work profession in both countries. This information is also used later in this thesis to explain differences in the characteristics of the surveyed samples and the results of the questionnaire analysis.