Abstract
The business world and organizational structures have rapidly changed and developed today, with the effect of global social, economic, and technological developments. Digital transformation is at the top of these changes and developments. Digital transformation has also enabled the adoption of innovation in organizations in this context. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected the whole world since the beginning of 2020, has given significant momentum to digital transformation, and innovation has started to be seen more prominently in organizations. Social work institutions are one of the areas where innovation is effective due to digital transformation and the COVID-19 outbreak. In this context, the conceptual and theoretical framework related to innovation is presented first. Then, by evaluating the relationship between social work institutions and innovation, the importance of innovation in terms of social work institutions is examined.
TopIntroduction
The transition from the industrial society to the information society is another phase of change in human history as a result of technological developments from the past to the present. With the transition to the information society, the concept of globalization, which entered the literature as a concept during this period, also began to spread rapidly throughout the world. The widespread use of computers and the internet and other means of communication and transportation have led to many socio-cultural changes after this period, and together with it, various developments have been experienced in the economy. The most important of these changes and developments is digitalization, that is, digital transformation (Yeşilyurt Temel & Yapraklı, 2015, p. 2; Yankın, 2019, p. 8).
Digital transformation can be expressed as a process that makes life easier so that information and communication technologies can respond to the needs of individuals and society. This transformation process basically covers not only individuals and society but also all institutions and businesses. Institutions and businesses that keep up with new technologies by following the digital transformation in the modern information age in which we live also gain an advantage in terms of competition (Armağan, 2018, p. 388-389). However, due to the development of today's technology, the rapid spread of internet users all over the world, and the rapid advancement of technology, tools, and applications such as learning machines and smart devices are used effectively in both private and public sectors to be used in service provision. Individuals, institutions, business sectors, and many other elements are rapidly moving towards digitalization with digital transformation (Göçoğlu, 2020, p. 615-616).
Due to digital transformation, information and communication technologies lead to the development of social practices in almost all of daily life. Information and communication technologies provide a practical renewal of experiences such as working styles in daily life, socialization, consumption, health, social works, security, entertainment, and socio-cultural environment perception and cause these experiences to be attributed new meanings (Castells et al., 2007, p. 77). It is undoubtedly a fact that technological change in general, and more specifically, information technologies consisting of high-tech communication tools, computers, and internet applications of the present age, cause a radical change in individuals' perception of social and mental reality. Information technology applications, that are primarily used in the military and defense industry, and then have become widespread in the financial world, and have found use within the scope of social work since the last thirty years, offer very important innovations to professionals and experts at micro-level and to all institutions and businesses at a macro level (Tuncay, 2010).
The main purpose of social work is to ensure positive development and change in individuals and therefore in society. Within the scope of this development and change, it is very important to spread, become an corporate culture and internalize various innovative activities in all social work institutions in order to identify, explain and produce solutions for the main problem areas. Internalizing the information obtained about innovation within the institutions or businesses and sharing it by all employees in the unit, both horizontally and vertically, is the basis of the innovation process. In this way, sustainable competitive ability can be gained and performance increase can be achieved (Du et al., 2007; Kutanis & Mesci, 2013). In order to properly spread the newer and more effective corporate culture required in this context, care must be taken to ensure that the corporate structure, policies, procedures and interactions are in harmony with each other (Gabris, 1989).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Pandemic: It is the common name given to epidemics that can spread to any country, continent, even the entire world and affect the entire area in which they spread.
Global Change: It is a process of international change and a series of global social reforms arising from the exchange of products, ideas, cultures and world views.
Digitalization: It is the process of transferring accessible information and existing resources such as files, documents, processes into digital media in a way that can be read by any computer and integrating digital technologies into work life and daily life.
Technology: It is all of the applications and processes covering all of the tools, methods, skills, techniques created for the purposes of accumulating, controlling, processing, transmitting power and knowledge in the production of products and services or the realization of related goals to meet the needs and desires of people.
Social Work: It aims to increase the general welfare and social functionality in order to respond to the needs of individuals, families, groups and society within a certain discipline and to reduce all kinds of inequality.
Innovation: It is the process of creating a new product or creating new positive changes in the production and operation processes.
Effective Management: It is the process of maximizing productivity and performance by acquiring the management skills necessary to achieve personal and corporate goals in business life and using the most advanced management strategies.
Social Work Institution: They are the institutions responsible for identifying the needy and performing social work intervention and follow-up.