Society for Social Work and Research 19th Annual Conference: The Social and Behavioral Importance of Increased Longevity

January 14 - 18, 2015

Leaders of human service organizations have been increasingly aware of the need to develop a workforce that reflects more closely client diversity and that has the competencies to respond to client service needs.  Recent research draws attention to the role of leaders in creating an inclusive organizational climate and a culturally competent workforce.  In order to leverage diversity's potential benefits, organizations are recognizing the need to develop and train leaders that can promote inclusive and culturally responsive organizational environments.  Drawing on theory and previous research on leadership, the proposed symposium will examine different aspects of leadership in human service organizations that can promote diversity, inclusion and cultural competence. 

Connection to the conference theme:  Inclusive leadership has implications for sustaining professional standards and generating a just and supportive organizational climate, ultimately increasing well-being and longevity among workers and clients.    

The first paper provides a theoretical foundation for the symposium by examining social work leadership theory and assessing the effects of leadership capabilities on the profession’s ability to advocate for client rights and social justice issues.  The authors conducted a systematic literature search and concluded that the most effective leadership theories for social work research connected to the profession’s social justice mission are transformational leadership theory (TLT) and distributive leadership (DL).  The second paper examines leadership and inclusion among public child welfare workers, documenting a connection between high quality leader-member relationships and stronger sense of inclusion compared to low quality leader-member relationships.  This connection between leadership and inclusion was evident even after controlling for demographic characteristics, perception of diversity, and perception of fairness. 

The third paper examines the role of leadership in implementing co-occurring substance use and mental health disorder treatment in mental health services directed to  ethnically diverse and low-income communities. Findings indicated that leadership was positively associated with delivery of co-occurring disorders treatment as well as supervision and training. More specifically, treatment implementation relied on key qualities of leadership, namely, the degree of initiative, commitment and supervision associated with the implementation process.  The fourth paper examines inclusive leadership skills (valuing multiculturalism, perspective-taking, and ethno-cultural empathy) and their impact on promoting teamwork and employee voice (i.e., speaking up) among employees of nonprofit, public and business organizations.  Findings suggest moving beyond awareness building (such as through valuing of multiculturalism) to demonstrating empathic understanding as inclusive leadership skills. 

The fifth and final paper analyzes theories of leadership and inclusion, focusing on transformational leadership, social identity and optimal distinctiveness theories, to provide a conceptual framework for inclusive leadership.  It offers a theoretical path that can serve as the foundation for inclusive leadership training programs and for organizational policies that support diversity and inclusion in human service organizations.  Echoing the emphasis on transformational leadership as an important theoretical framework for social work leadership, both papers provide theory-based bookends for our symposium.

Grouped together, these presentations will highlight the central role of leadership, in human services organizations.  Presenters will draw practical suggestion for leadership development in social work through education, training, policies and practices.