SOWK 487 Week 14 - Group Work in Organizational and Community Settings Part I

SOWK 487 Spring 2021 Planning: Class 14

Time: Wednesday’s from 5:30-8:15
Date: 04/14/21 Content: Group Work in Organizations and Community Settings I Reading Assignment: Garvin et al. (2017) Chapters 24 & 26 Due Dates:

• A-01: Synchronous Class Engagement Attend class
• A-02: Asynchronous Class Engagement Experience using writing center for A-04 paper forum with an initial post due Friday 04/16/21 at 11:55 PM no replies are required via My Heritage Class Forums
• Read Garvin et al. (2017) Chapters 24 & 26

Prioritize Your Values

Prioritize Your Values Values

[Small Group Activity] List of values. Have move papers and rank them. Share with people near by.

Acceptance Family Friends Health Honesty Love Money Respect Spirituality What you want

Agenda

• Community-Based Participatory Research Partnerships
• Ethics in community practice

Characteristics of Effective Groups (1 of 2)

Community-Based Participatory Research Partnerships have some common characteristics that are important to be effective.

[Whole Class Activity] For each topic discuss what are some possible ways that gets implemented in groups.

• Mutual commitment of members to clearly defined operational goals (mission / vision statement, agency MOUs,letters of commitment, public displays of membership)
• Two-way communication (various forms of communication and methods to share and receive information)
• Mutual leadership & shared power (specific roles i.e. president, etc.)
• Appropriate decision-making procedures (Roberts Rules of Order)

Characteristics of Effective Groups (2 of 2)

[Whole Class Activity] For each topic discuss what are some possible ways that gets implemented in groups.

• Ability to challenge each other in constructive manner (group cohesion and connection)
• Ability to resolve conflicts effectively (Policies, Rules of Order)
• Mechanisms for mutual accountability (Transparency)
• Ability to appropriately engage the skills and expertise of group members (Member strengths evaluation, sharing leadership, personal connections)

Assessing CBPR Groups - Overview (1 of 7)

(Israel et al. 2013) taken from the Garvin text p. 439 The following is a Conceptual Framework for Assessing Group Dynamics as an Aspect of the Effectiveness of the CBPR Partnership Process

Assessing CBPR Groups - Environmental Characteristics (2 of 7)

When assessing any type of group, looking at the environmental characteristics is important. Characteristics impact all of the other areas evaluated.

• Previous collaboration
• Community response to issue
• Geographic / cultural diversity
• Social and economic determinants of health
• Challenges/barriers (e.g. institutional policies, time constraints)

Assessing CBPR Groups - Environmental Characteristics (2 of 7)

When assessing any type of group, looking at the environmental characteristics is important. Characteristics impact all of the other areas evaluated.

• Previous collaboration
• Community response to issue
• Geographic / cultural diversity
• Social and economic determinants of health
• Challenges/barriers (e.g. institutional policies, time constraints)

Assessing CBPR Groups - Structural Characteristics (3 of 7)

CBPR groups function the best when they are more highly structured, and so looking at the structural characteristics is also important. These include:

• Membership
• Complexity
• Formalization

Assessing CBPR Groups - Group Dynamics (4 of 7)

Another area assed is the group dynamics characteristics of effective partnerships. These include:

• Shared leadership, including task and maintenance leadership behaviors
• Two-way open communication
• Recognition of conflicts and constructive conflict resolution
• Cooperative development of goals and shared vision
• Participatory decision making process that are flexible and use consensus for important decisions
• Agreed-upon problem-solving processes
• Shared power, influence and resources
• Development of mutual trust
• Collaborative evaluation of both task/goal and process objectives
• Well-organized meetings with collaboratively developed agendas and facilitation consistent with these characteristics (management)

Assessing CBPR Groups - Partnership Programs and Interventions (5 of 7)

The actual work of the group includes both partnership programs and interventions that can be separately evaluated.

Assessing CBPR Groups - Partnership Programs and Interventions (5 of 7)

The actual work of the group includes both partnership programs and interventions that can be separately evaluated.

Assessing CBPR Groups - Intermediate Measure (6 of 7)

The more soft version of the measures are related to participants perceptions and impressions. These intermediate measure of partnership effectiveness include:

• Perceived effectiveness of the group in achieving its goals
• Perceived personal, organizational, and community benefits and costs of participation
• Extent of membership involvement
• Shared ownership and cohesiveness/commitment to collaborative efforts
• Individual, group and community empowerment: Future expectations of effectiveness
• Bridging social ties
• Synergy

Assessing CBPR Groups - Output Measures (7 of 7)

Probably the area that is most often thought of for measuring success is the output measures of partnership effectiveness. This looks at:

• Achievement of program and policy objectives (e.g., collaborative problem solving, quality of life, health)
• Institutionalization of programs and/or partnerships

Ethical Dilemmas in Macro Social Work Practice

I think that in thinking about doing group work in a community setting, it’s important to continue to consider ethics. The following are four ethical dilemmas.

[Small Group Activity] Have students form four groups. Each one review one of the ethical dilemmas. Then rotate members to join other groups. Each group reviews each ethical dilemma.