Weeks 13 & 14: Advanced generalist with individuals, families and groups in rural school settings.
Required Readings: Garvin: Chapters: 7, 9-14
Anderson & Shaw; Bottomley, et al.; Lieberman; Plasse; Pomeroy, et al.; Powell; Sakai; Schopler et al.; Snowden; Weiner
Allen-Meares, Washington & Welsh (1996). Chapter 4 – An Ecological perspective of social work service in schools; Chapter 8- Children with disabilities, Chapter 9- Some target groups of children and Chapter 10- Securing equal educational opportunity: Language, race and sex. Appendix I- An example of rural practice
Marsiglia, Holleran & Jackson (2000). Assessing the Effect of External Resources on school-based substance abuse prevention programs
Achieving Change Through Therapeutic Groups
Intervention Strategies: Socialization, psycho-educational (identity development, skill attainment, social control, rehabilitation), support groups
Week 14: Reviewing advanced generalist practice with individuals, families and groups in rural settings. Discussion of social workers in others areas of practice within rural communities (i.e. housing and employment services and other support services.)
Group Work
If we recognize how individuals work together within a group situation we can play to people’s strengths, overcome weaknesses and deal with conflict within the group as it arises.
Does everyone in the group really agree with one another all the time or is it in reality a case of there being one person or a small section of the group who dominate by either bullying or by using emotional blackmail? The types of people who sulk if they don't get their own way or try to make other people who don't agree with them look stupid, are often the ones who have the most attention in a group.
How Do Groups Function?
Any group of people who come together for the first time to work together as a group will undergo roughly the same experiences as they form their 'group' and then work toward their end goal. This process has been identified as having five distinct stages known as:
•Forming
•Storming
•Norming
•Performing
•Adjourning
Starting Up A Community Group -
Getting People To Work Well Together
What The Group Process Means In The Real World
Forming- is simply the act of getting the group together in the first place
Storming- recognizes that after the honeymoon stage of first getting together and wanting to please each other there will develop a more 'real' stage with heated discussions and people disagreeing on how best to achieve the groups aims. Into this may well also be added an element of individuals trying to take control over or dominate the group. Others will simply be trying to establish their 'role' within the group.
It will be at this stage that that people will come to realize that the initial 'honeymoon period' of what they thought was group solidarity and everyone working together is at an end. There will most always be friction at this stage in the group’s development. It isnormal and healthy and doesn't automatically mean the group is going to fragment and fall apart. It is part of a good leader to recognize this for the group and give encouragement.
Norming- following the period of conflict that is 'storming' a common agreement over who does what and how things are done will begin to emerge. Often such decisions are reached unconsciously within the group, it is simply accepted who does what and how they do it. Sometimes this can be speeded along with a rule making exercise. The focus should be on rules that promote reaching group goals.
Performing- after the period of stress and strain that is storming and norming things will now start to happen and you can all begin the serious business of working together to achieve your goals.
Adjourning- you have all now achieved the job you set out to do and have decided to break up and go your separate ways but before you do finally break up it is an excellent idea to get together one final time and celebrate the group’s achievement. This provides a platform for formal recognition and by doing so it will encourage group members into getting involved with new projects further on down the line.
Identifying who should run the group
The persons who had the original idea of forming the group in the first place and then brought everyone together are not the most suited to actually running the group. This may be because although they are brilliant at seeing the 'bigger picture' they lack the tact and diplomacy required for being a leader or alternatively they are weak at seeing the merit in other peoples opinions or ideas or simply they won't take a back seat when required and allow others to exploit their skills and expertise. Persuading such people that they are not the people most suited to 'lead' can be very difficult, but if the group is to be successful it simply must be done.
Whatever you do, don't simply accept the groups founders will automatically be the best leaders.
The storming and norming phase of the group’s development should allow an opportunity to assess each others strengths and weaknesses and for the group to form a joint decision on who will 'lead.'
An alternative to selecting a 'fixed' leader might be to agree to 'moving the chair around' with everyone being given the opportunity to take a turn chairing meetings and thereby 'leading' - this is also a good way of developing everybody's skills and of preventing the group being 'hijacked' by an individual or small number of people within the group.
Avoid becoming closed off from the outside world. Avoid group think. Groups that have been working together well for a period of time can become very inward looking. When this happens it can become very difficult for potential new members to break in and become accepted by the group - this is a very bad thing New members will bring new ideas and new potential ways of resolving problems and stumbling blocks - we all run out of new ideas eventually and new members are vital to keep the momentum of groups going. Consider the Kennedy administration’s focus on including dissenting views.
If you are aware of the potential for this to happen you can avoid or prevent it happening to your group.
TeamBuilding
Once a group has established itself, effectively it becomes a team - this occurs when the strengths (and weaknesses) of individual group members has been recognized and they have been given or assumed a role within the team (that hopefully will play to their natural strengths.)
Often in such situations no one is responsible for allocating particular roles or responsibilities to people but there develops an acceptance amongst the group that certain people are better at certain things This process will have happened during the storming and norming phase whether it was recognized or not.
It is often the case in smaller groups that there will be more 'jobs' or roles than people to perform them and it is perfectly normal for group members to undertake more than one role - the key thing to remember is don't let group members become overloaded with jobs or responsibility - the route to success is to share the workload over the whole group.
Again, much research has been carried out into teams and the roles or functions that individual group members can be required to fill. It is also worth noting that a particular role might stay with a group member or pass between group members at different times in the projects development.
For a team to work well together and for everything to get done that needs to be done, on time (and properly finished off) team members will have to take on the following roles - don't worry about the names that have been given to these 'roles' the important thing is what the people doing them are good at.
Identifying potential roles within teams
The various roles team members may take on are...
Plant-a peculiar title for the group member who sees the 'bigger picture', this will be the person or people who can see all of the issues involved and can find new ways of tackling obstacles.
Resourcer- this person (or people) will be those who create and develop external contacts for the group to use - these people are often those good at discovering how other groups facing similar problems have overcome them. These people are often also good negotiators for the group.
Coordinator- this will be someone who recognizes the strengths of the others within the group, puts them to work and encourages them to take on suitable roles
Shaper- someone who tends to keep the whole group focused on the task in hand and keeps people from wandering off in other directions away from the main goal - this will also be a person who can identify priorities and set achievable objectives for the group to reach
Evaluator-seen by the group as a 'voice of reason' this will be the person able to evaluate new ideas and proposals, identifying any pitfalls and problems in them before they are reached
Team Workers - those people in the group who create the 'team spirit' - they tend to jump in and help out wherever necessary when others are struggling. They have the ability to take other peoples ideas and turn them into reality.
Implementer- can take the ideas and concepts and figure out how to actually make them work in practice.
Completer
Finisher - these will be group members who keep an eye on the detail of what still needs to be done and make sure that all the loose ends are finished off and not left half done.
Specialist- group specialists are literally the members who will tackle the specialized areas of the project - often taking on and dealing with technical issues and legal matters.
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When we work together we adopt one, or some of these roles whether we realize it or not. Whatever we have chosen to come together to do - be it to set up a local fishing club, netball team or just to organize a big party for friends we will adopt some of these roles.
In the development of a community pressure group achieving your goals will be far easier if you have an understanding of how people 'tick' and how they can work together more effectively.
It is vital to identify the strengths and recognize the weaknesses of your group members - that way you can work to everyone's strengths.
Making your group as effective as possible
Welcome new members
•Be inclusive not exclusive.
•Don't use lots of jargon at meetings - this bewilders and will put off new people straight away.
•Try to identify new member’s strengths and give them a part to play that uses those strengths.
Identify your goals
Creating a mission statement will help the group focus and create common goals and targets as well as establishing an agreed way of achieving those goals.
Share the load
•Allow everyone to take on some of the responsibility and workload. This will avoid some team members feeling frustrated and put upon and at the same time prevent others feeling unfulfilled and excluded.
•If one person wants to control and dominate all the time try introducing a 'floating' or 'revolving' chair at meetings - this will give everyone who wants to a chance of taking the lead.
•Another way of avoiding such a problem long term might be to have elected 'officers' e,g, Chair, Secretary and Treasurer who have to be re-elected every year with the previous position holder being excluded from being re-elected for 2 to 3 years after holding office (but this will not be practical in many small groups or those with only short term goals).
Tell people what you are doing.
•Regularly update both everyone in the group and the outside world about how you are progressing.
•Leaflets and newsletters are cheap effective tools for informing both your members and the community of what you are doing - and are a good way of seeking new recruits to the group
Formalizing the group
In order to be able to be really recognized in order to attract or be eligible for potential funding you will need to be able to demonstrate your group is both run democratically and is open to the whole community.
You will therefore have to formalize a committee to steer the group. Such a committee will need to have a minimum of 3 identified positions with recognized responsibilities. These are:
The Chair -to run meetings and ensure the group is on course.
The Secretary -to prepare minutes and agendas for meetings and be responsible for ensuring the membership and the wider world are informed of what the group is doing and planning.
The Treasurer -takes responsibility for the group’s finances and for maintaining the records of income and expenditure.
In order to be able to keep track of who is responsible for doing what and when the group should draw up a Constitution. This document at a minimum should outline:
•How the group is organized.
•Who is responsible for what?
•How committee members are selected and made accountable.
The minimum information such a Constitution would therefore contain would be:
•The name of the group
•The aims of the group (effectively a Mission Statement)
•Who is eligible to join the group?
•An Equal Opportunities statement
•The General Rules the group has agreed to and the procedure required to alter or amend these rules and regulations
•Details for an Annual General Meeting
•An outline of financial recording and accountability
•Quorum details - (details of the minimum number of people attending a group meeting for it to be considered 'legal' and binding on all members)
•The procedure in place for shutting down and winding up the group and its activities (including how any group assets will be disposed of)
All of these points are very important - especially if you are going to be dealing with money - especially other peoples.
Trying to establish and maintain any group activity is not easy. There will always be people who have different or opposing ideas to our own, but the trick really is to see that these people are a potential asset to us and not a liability. None of us has the answers to every question, obstacle, or event, but others with different life experiences to our own may well possess such answers. Don't be afraid to draw on such wisdom and put it to good use.
Likewise, not everyone is good at detail work whilst others struggle to see the overall picture - make use of what people are good at and if you can help it don't pigeonhole them into jobs they are not suited to. Community Group work is mostly undertaken on a voluntary basis and group members who feel comfortable in their role are far more likely to stick around for awhile.
Whatever stage you are at in forming or running your group take heart - by reading this guide you are willing to acknowledge there might be other different (and possibly better ways) of doing things - by recognizing this, half your battle is already won.
From portions of:
Historical perspectives on communities
The concept of community—ecological entity, social organization, moral or spiritual phenomena, psychological preposition
Social systems framework for understanding communities
Elements of rural community analysis
Demography
Ecology
History
Culture
Rural community subsystems – economic, religion, government, education, health and welfare
Model and Methodology for community study
Choosing a community to study
How do you enter a community
Sources of community data
What does community mean in this text? It is the social networks of lesbians and is more than just a description of the population of people who describe themselves as lesbian. Consider in the context of sexual orientation, that people are not just either/or. Lesbian may describe someone who is exclusively involved with same sex or it may describe someone who is rarely involved. Generally it is the person’s view of who they are.
The continuing social networks of lesbians who are committed to the lesbian feminist lifestyle, who participate in various community activities and projects, and who congregate socially. The concept “socio-psychological unity “ is to them an important part of their sense of what a community is and who belongs to it. (Wolf, 1979, p. 73).
It is a continuing collectivity of individuals who share some significant activity and who , out of a history of continuing interaction based on that activity, begin to generate a sense of a bounded group possessing special norms. A group identity based on sexual preference. subcultural values, which are basically feminist in origin.
It is not a place or geographic entity. it is a set of ties and relationships. shared values, institutional base (where one can congregate and what facilities might offer support)