Community Organisation and Development

TOPIC- Concept of Organization
in Community Development
CONTENTS
1.INTRODUCTION
2.MEANING
3.DEFINITION
4.COMMUNITY ORGANISATIO
IN SOCIAL WORK
5.VALUE ORIENTATION OF
COMMUNITY ORGANISATION
6.CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
• In social work profession there are three basic methods

of working with people (individuals, groups and
communities). The first two methods namely, social
casework and social group work and the third basic
method is community organisation. As we are aware,
social casework is aimed at helping individuals on one-
to-one basis and social group work seeks to facilitate
the development of individuals through group activities.
• The aim of community organisation is ‘developing
capacity’ in the community ‘by making it more
organised’ to handle its own needs or problems.
Community organisation is a well-established method in
social work. It has value orientation and the practice is
guided by a set of general principles.
MEANING OF COMMUNITY
ORGANISATION
• The term community organisation has several meanings. It

is being often used synonymous to community work,
community development and community mobilization. In
general, community organisation means helping the
community to solve its problems. In the context of social
work profession in India, the term is used to denote a
method of social work to intervene in the life of a
community.
• “Community,” in the sense in which it is used here, refers
to two major groupings of people. Firstly it may be all the
people in a specific geographic area, i.e., a village, a town,
a city, a neighbourhood, or a district in a Secondly, it is
used to include groups of people who share some common
interest or function, such as welfare, agriculture,
education, or religion.
DEFINITION OF COMMUNITY
ORGANISATION.
In community organisation practice it is necessary to have a

clear definition. We will discuss here two most widely
accepted definitions of community organisation. –
• Murray G. Ross (1967) defines community organisation as a
“process by which a community identifies its needs or
objectives, gives priority to them, develops confidence and
will to work at them, finds resources (internal and external)
to deal with them, and in doing so, extends and develops
cooperative and collaborative attitudes and practices in the
community”.
• The second definition we will discuss here is by Kramer and
Specht (1975), which is in more technical terms. They
defined that “Community organisation refers to various
methods of intervention whereby a professional change
agent helps a community action system composed of
individuals, groups or organisations to engage in planned
collective action in order to deal with special problems
COMMUNITY ORGANISATION IN
SOCIAL WORK
• In social work the term “community work” is often used with

different meanings. In social work literature we find that the term
“community work”, “community development”, “community
organisation” and “community empowerment” are at times
interchangeably used for the work with communities.
• In India the experience of working with slum community in the city
of Mumbai lead to the establishment of the first institution of
social work education in 1936. Community work as a method of
social work in India is largely seen as a process of developing local
initiatives, particularly in the areas of education, health and
agricultural development. The focus of the work is, to encourage
people to express their needs, and enable them to avail the
existing resources, in order to meet these needs.
• There are several ways in which social work practitioners and
others work in the community. In social work we find three main
approaches namely, Community Development, Community
Organisation and Community Relations/Services. While these
approaches represent different situations or areas of community
work, there are fundamental similarities in what is being
attempted.
VALUE ORIENTATION OF COMMUNITY
ORGANISATION
• The value orientation of community organisation as of all social

work methods, derives from acceptance of certain basic concepts
and principles as a foundation for work with people. Among these
are the essential dignity and worth of the individual, the possession
by each individual of potentials and resources for managing ones
own life. The importance of freedom to express one’s individuality,
the capacity for growth within all social beings, the right of the
individual to these basic physical necessities (food, shelter and
clothing) without which fulfillment of life is often blocked, the need
for the individual to struggle and strive to improve own life and
environment, the right of the individual for help in time of need and
crisis, the importance of a social organisation for which the
individual feels responsible are very basic. The need for social
climate which encourages individual growth and development, the
right and responsibility of the individual to participate in the affairs
of own community, the practicability of discussion, conference, and
consultation as methods for the solution of individual and social
problems, and “self help” as the essential base for community
organisation are some of the value orientations which constitute
the basis of community organisation process.
CONCLUSION
• The aim of this chapter was to provide you guidelines
to understand the basic concept of community
organisation as a method of social work practice. We
have discussed in detail the meaning of community
organisation and also provided the definitions with
explanations. Now you will be able to explain the
meaning and definition of community organisation.
Being aware that community work and community
organisation are integral part of social work, you will
be able to situate them in the context of social work.
We have discussed the value orientation and some of
the important principles guiding the community
organisation practice. You are now in a position to
recognize the importance of the values and principles
and will be able to follow them while practicing
community organisation in the field.

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TOPIC- Concept of Organization

• In social work profession there are three basic methods

• The term community organisation has several meanings. It

In community organisation practice it is necessary to have a

• In social work the term “community work” is often used with

• The value orientation of community organisation as of all social

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