Social Work and the Group Process - Essay Example

Social Work and the Group Process Introduction Social work being a field that highly values and embrace service to the community at large gave me a clear understanding of the importance of the placement and I learnt a lot through my interaction with different types of people during this period. I did not appreciate certain things until I came face to face with them during my placement that I learnt how to deal with them (Frook, 2002, p. 10). Social work is about helping people and communities cope with their daily problems. It is a calling to help alleviate the sufferings of people in the environment by providing them a conducive environment and helping them cope with problems they face in their daily lives (Friedlander, 2008, p. 25). The idea of group work is essentially an important aspect in many of today’s work environments. Groups are the cornerstone of productivity and efficiency within the workplace. Many scholars agree to this fact saying that work that is performed by groups is better thought, reasoned out and presented than individual work and this is because people bring in different ideas that can be harnessed to produce a viable idea. Groups have continued to be part and parcel of the contemporary society because they are viewed as sources of ideas and innovativeness within the organization. Many agree that groups can elicit a lot of ideas that may have never been thought of by individuals within the organization (Tourish & Hargie, 2004, p. 15). The problem however is the complexities that come with working with or in groups. Groups are formed and disbanded with time, some wilfully while some are disbanded because of their differences that result from power problems (Dhenmozhi, 2007, p.87). Despite this groups are still very important and I learnt a lot through my interaction with other people during the time I was in placement. How opportunity were identified to form /and or support the group During my placement I was engaged in various activities in a group as our work mainly involved dealing with people with various disabilities and preparing their personal budget. There were so many clients and our organization continued to receive an influx of people and this meant that we had to establish mechanisms in which their needs would be addressed without delays. We were supposed to create a workbook that explained the idea of direct payment and personal budget easily to the people with various disabilities and therefore I was requested by my educator to lead a team that was supposed to publish this workbook. In leading the group I was supposed to ensure that the people were equally represented and that races, disability and other diversity issues were considered during the selection of members to form the group. Discrimination was something that is not tolerated in the social work process. The opportunity to be part of the group was identified because of the need to create an informational workbook that would help people understand the operations of the direct payment and personal budget. Here we had to work in groups because a variety of information was required to create the workbook. Various people could contribute to the development of the workbook because of the different knowledge they had and this meant that the book could not be developed by a single individual as it required sourcing information from different people. The opportunity for forming the group was also identified because of the need to create and publish the workbook in a short while. Due to the increasing number of clients who needed to know more about the direct payment method and how the personal budget idea works a manual was required and was to be prepared and published in a short while. Therefore this meant that a lot of work was going to take place and this could not be done by a single individual. To increase efficiency a group was required that would work on the various aspects of the group and together a workbook would be completed in short while. It is important to note that groups increase efficiency through the sharing of work and responsibilities and this makes a lot of work which would have burdened an individual to be accomplished in a short while. Opportunity to form the group also came from the fact that there needed to be ways in which decisions could be made that was shared. Decision making is an important aspect of everyday life and an individual may make a decision that is biased because of the different ways in which such a person thinks. However groups offer us an opportunity to express our ideas freely and then a consensus is arrived at. The variety of solutions present to resolving an issue are all put on the table and discussed. The best idea is then selected that is not biased but based on facts and evidence that the group members appreciate. It is hence important to note that groups can make decision making easy especially where there is difficult in reaching a consensus on a given issue. The proposed solution that is usually offered does not mirror the biases of a given person but reflect shared responsibility and no one person can be blamed for the idea. This is what informs group thinking and group decision making process. The group process A group process particularly deals with what happens in the group, mostly in terms of development and evolution. A group goes through several stages from the time the members agree to form the group to the time the group is disbanded (Dhenmozhi, 2007, p. 2). The group evolution process is complex and difficult to understand. It is faced with many issues including issues of power and leadership and group cohesion problems. Tuckman in 1965 identified a model of group development that begins with forming: where people orient themselves with one another; storming where the group members begin to struggle with each other for leadership positions; norming where members agree on the norms and the roles of the group (Mullins, 2005, p. 214); performing where the group is well regulated internally and can perform efficiently; and lastly adjourning which involves issues to do with independence and even the dissolution of the group (Tourish & Hargie, 2004, pp. 45-48). The group I was in was beneficial because of the participation in meetings where people discussed ideas and how they could be implemented through attendance of the meetings and the interaction at the meeting it was clear that I could learn more from other people that what I could on my own. This is true because different people bring different skills and knowledge to a group making members to learn new things that they did not know before. (West, 2004, p. 65) The group process was the only way out to help reach out the individuals and get to know their problems and the necessary measures to curb their problems. Managing a group can be a very difficult task especially if the group members are unwilling to follow a given order of things ad when there are power problems (Willcoxson & Millet, 2000, p. 50). Through their challenges of failing to attend the meetings and also the issue of language barrier I finally managed to organize the group and it was a great success as our mission to reach all people and help them was accomplished through hard work. Evaluation of the outcome The outcome of the entire group process was evaluated through the following process; Allocation of tasks to the members: each member was allocated a particular task to complete in the work book a week area. This was to ensure that all tasks were handled right and no member could be burdened with a lot of work as the tasks were distributed equally among all the members of the group making everyone responsible. Preview of the previous meeting minutes: the minutes of the previous meetings were always previewed to ensure no misunderstandings and unawareness of some of the individuals about what the previous meeting entailed. This was for the sake all the individuals who missed the meeting to be briefed on what the meeting that was previously held discussed and they can give their views on that. Asking of questions at the end of the session: Questions were asked at the end of each and every meeting session to ensure that the members really understood what was expected of them and also allow them perform their tasks without any doubts but do it according to what they know but not what they presume it to be. Demonstration of my ability to reflect and analyse my practice in relation to group work theory Communication: I ensured that my method of communication to the members was appropriate and also ensured that they got the message that I passed to them. This was to make sure that no one missed on anything out of miscommunication and get all the information that is expect to be given to avoid people not attending the meeting so communication was my key tactic to ensure that no member complained not being informed. Punctuality: Specification of the date of the meeting which really enabled the meeting to be a success because without indicating the date and time of the meeting it could not be a success. Members could set their own time and arrive at different times and also venues for the same meeting so I ensured clear indication of the meeting and the date and also venue and time to avoid inconveniences to any member. Team work: It was one of the pillars because in a group time work is the key to the success of the group. Through being together as a team we managed to accomplish our mission as individuals and also managed to meet the goals of the organization. Conclusion It is very essential that social workers understand the problems people are faced with on a day to day basis. This understanding is crucial in order to enable them offer specialised care (Lymbery & Postle, 2007, p. 25). Social workers should work in groups so that they can generate a wide range of ideas to help people but group dynamics allows make this difficult and this appropriate measure must be taken to ensure that such meetings are a success. List of References Dhenmozhi, M. (2007). Group Behaviour. Retrieved April 26, 2012, from Indian Institute of Technology Madras: http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/courses/IIT-MADRAS/Management_Science_I/Pdfs/7_1.pdf Friedlander, W. A. (2008). Concepts and Methods of Social Work. New York: Cengage Learning. Frook, J. (2002). Social Work: Critical theory and Practice. London: Sage Publishers. Lymbery, M., & Postle, K. (2007). Social Work: A companion to learning. London: Sage Publishers. Mullins, L. J. (2005). Management and Organizational Behaviour. New York: Prentice Hall/ Financial Times. Tourish, D., & Hargie, O. (2004). Key Issues in organization communication. New York: Routledge. West, M. A. (2004). Effective teamwork: practical lessons from organizational research. Malden, MA: BPS Blackwell. Willcoxson, L., & Millet, B. (2000). The Management of Organizational culture. Australian Journal of Management &Organizational behaviour, 3(2):91-99. Read More