Power Relations in Supervision: Preferred Practices According to Social Workers

Abstract

Concerns are growing that attention to risk aversion and the use of bureaucratic approaches in human service organizations constrain social work supervision to an administrative function rather than attending to the practice needs of social workers. This article explores how long-standing concepts of positional and expert power of supervisors can be reconstructed to resist the pressures of the current sociopolitical, economic landscape. A mixed method study about postdegree supervision using a Web survey provides evidence of 636 social workers’ experiences of power relations during supervision and what they say they need from supervisors to nurture a collaborative, critically reflective exchange of knowledge and decision making. The article concludes with implications for supervision practice and suggestions for future research.