Origin:
As I was sitting through my fourth year of resident assistant group process at Worcester Polytechnic Institute I began to think, how could this be improved? Now I have to admit that there is nothing wrong with out group process to begin with. It is a standard 3 hour process where a professional staff facilitator gives the group activities to work on for a specified time while current resident assistants observe interactions. It is very similar to resident assistant and orientation group processes I have worked with in the past that also worked really well. However, I still like to to look for ways to improve processes whenever possible. So I started to think about removing the structure of the the program, particularly time limits and facilitation. What I have noticed increasingly over the years is a reluctance to share opinions or be fully genuine in the process by candidates. My thought is that this may be tied to the structure of the program and the fact that there is a facilitator. Within our process the facilitator does absolutely nothing but give the group activities to work on and keep track of time, however groups still seemed to direct their comments and discussion toward this person. The question I started to ask myself was whether the structure limits the groups potential growth or the personalities of the individuals within the group. Working under the assumption that group process is more about the group interaction than the outcome of the activities I believe that removing facilitation will create a more realistic depiction of group behavior.
Theory:
The ideal setup would be to remove a facilitator and specific time limits from group process. The group would enter the room and find a pa...
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... to issue them challenges, remove supplies, etc.
Of course, having spent much of their time on the first activity added a valuable observation opportunity -- working under pressure -- that may not have happened if they had simply been provided an allotted time for each activity.
Summary:
Removing the facilitator did not ultimately change the outcome of group process. It did contribute new methods of observing the behaviors we were assessing by putting the onus on the candidates to move through the process, gauge their own involvement, and manage the timed activities appropriately. I can't say with certainty that it changed who we hired, but I can say it gave different clarity to the skillset of certain candidates.
As far as accuracy and success of trying thing this way? Check back with me in a year after they've had their formal performance appraisals.
Importance of Groups and Group Processes. An organization’s use of teams in the workplace is a common phenomenon in the 21st century. According to Plessis (2012), organizations are increasing their use of team in the quest of improved performance and to meet the challenges of the 21st century. According to Dees (2013), a team consists of a group of interdependent players who perform uniquely valuable functions in order to accomplish the vision and mission. The members of Group 4 were placed
O’Neill & Cowman (2008) define a group as more than one person with diverse abilities joining forces to obtain the same goals. According to the authors, a group can work effectively by respecting one another, having open communication, understanding each other’s roles and providing time for regular meeting to achieve desired outcomes. Sargeant, Loney, & Murphy (2008) also shared the same view regarding the criteria of an effective group work.
After completing the group task of preparing a presentation on, transferring individual facilitation skills into a group work setting, I will critically reflect upon my own participation. I will evaluate my self-awareness while working in the group, as well as those around me. The way that I personally dealt with any issues that arose within the group and how that affected the group dynamics. I will also briefly discuss the roles in which each member of the group took part and how role allocation affected, the group dynamics and the working relationships. Finally, I will evaluate my work having discussed it with my fellow group members.
Engleberg, Isa N. and Dianna R. Wynn. Working in Groups. 6th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.
There are ethical issues in training and supervision of group leaders, in most programs only one class is offered in group work, others have two or three, but more classes would be further effective for future group work. Even in predoctoral psychology internships there seems to be not enough clinical training. I find it slightly disconcerting that programs don’t offer more courses in group work, because I think it is something that as a future counselor you should be at least basically efficient in. As with most other counseling, a practitioner should be competent in their work and should not work with clients who need specific help in areas they are not experienced in. Practitioners should have focused training in group work to be more proficient group workers. Group workers should also stay current on all new treatments and the like, by taking continued education courses, activities, etc. just like other types of pra...
When working on a group project, there are certain skills that are required to make sure that the tasks are being carried out smoothly. With that in mind, it is critical to keep an open line of communication as well as an understanding of the other individuals in the group. The following scenario is of a group project I was a part of that had a breakdown in the two points expressed above.
The person-centered approach highlights the personal qualities of the group leader rather than the techniques of leading. The part of the facilitator in the person-centered group is that of making a climate in which individuals are empowered to find their energy and to own inner sources of mending. The facilitator does not expect that a specific process will happen, nor will he or she will attempt to quicken a specific process. If there are standard rules for the facilitator, they can be expressed as openness to surprise and to their own surrender to solidarity (Wood, 1982). The facilitator follows up on the supposition that members have the force inside of them to determine their issues, mend themselves, and move in positive productive headings. Rogers portrays his facilitator part in the accompanying way: the role of the facilitator is to become as much as a participant in the group. This is difficult as the facilitator has to consciously play different roles without making that too obvious. The facilitator should be more risking kind of person in the later than in the early stages of the group.
Forming a counseling group may seem simple, but it’s not. A “major issue in putting a group together is screening it for potential members” (Gladding, pg. 212). The reason it can be a complicated task to complete is because members are not always volunteers. Screening members for a “group counseling session, is a three step process” (Gladding, pg. 212). We’ll discuss how these steps are an important component of having a successful group.
“Careful though and planning are necessary” for the formation of any group, hence it is necessary to develop a group proposal prior to starting a group (Corey, Corey, & Corey, 2010, p. 107). A group begins with an idea that a facilitator executes. According to Peled, & Perel, (2012) “As early as when formulating the basic assumptions behind the goals, content and structure of the group intervention programs, we became aware of the challenge of striking the right balance between content delivery and facilitation of a group process.” In other words, group proposals help to orient you, hence having an outline of the group helps you have a successful group process. A group leader needs to know the proper steps to focus the group and have procedures to employ to be able to help group members reach their goals. There are five elements that can help form a group proposal: rationale for the group, objectives for the group, practical considerations, procedures, and evaluations (Corey, Corey, & Corey, 2010,p. 111-112). Having a proposal will help you run the
In a team-oriented setting, everyone contributes to how well the group succeeds overall. You work with fellow members of the group to complete the work that needs to be done. Having the right people in the correct roles is an important factor in measuring the success of a team, where you are united with the other members to complete the main goals. Every group is made up of definite strengths and weaknesses. Our team's 3-5 major strengths necessary to work accordingly consist of Informer, Summarizer, Orienter, Piggy-Backer, and Encourager. One of our strengths as a team is that we get input from everyone involved. Every member of our team is a leader in some way. Part of being a good leader is knowing how important it is to receive the best ideas from each member of their team. We attend group meetings where we discuss any challenges, issues, and problems. At these meetings, we often exchange ideas or brainstorm new ones with each other and come up with the best and most creative team solutions as potential answers to those perceived problems.
For the fist couple weeks, our task group remained in the forming stage. During our first meeting, I could see that Lindsey, the assigned group leader, was not comfortable with leading. She asked for each member of the group to spend some time talking about what interest them but was not comfortable taking charge of the group. While everyone shared, Connie took over the first meeting with a topic she wanted to use because it was personally affecting her daughter. We decided to go with physical and verbal abuse with adolescents as our topic. While everyone agreed on this topic, I think it was chosen because Connie voiced her opinion
In reflection on my learning experience in the group class, I have gained clarity on what sorts of competencies of facilitating group therapy, as well as in what areas social workers and students tend to feel most strong in my practice. Regarding my specific gains in competencies, I feel that I learned the most and was most likely to gain specific group facilitating competencies at the weekly class. Learning in group class is taught me the tools to use to work with groups therapy, communities and also with individuals through the process of changes. In this past three months I think a lot of opportunities have been created to shadowing with (beside and behind) and being a part of group members to learn. In addition, this class has taught me about the skills and how effectively help
Working together with other people for an assignment can be a challenging task in some cases but luckily, I worked well with my group members. The decisions we made were anonymous although we paced ourselves individually when it came to completing our separate parts of the essay. As a group I believe that we connected well on an interpersonal level as all four of us were able to make alterations to any problem together . Furthermore, we did not give each other a chance to get angry at one another as we knew that this would only cause conflict that would disrupt our flow as a group. There was an equal divide in the amount of work that we all did; our contributions were fair and no one was lacking behind. In addition, my group members were great at keeping each other informed if one of us were not able to attend a group meeting; emails were sent out informing us what we missed and ideas that were formulated. Everyone in my group worked according to deadlines and in synchronization with each other; we did not have to nag anyone to complete work or wait on a member to complete their task.
Challenging tasks offered as part of a range of activities, some of which are beyond the worker’s recent experience
When first being introduced to a group, it can be quite stressful trying to figure out how you and your team members are going to function together. As with any group, there are a few milestones that need to be reached in order to ensure a functional and successful relationship. Specifically, groups need to go through Tuckman’s Group Development Stages. These stages consist of forming, storming, norming, performing, and in some scenarios, a final stage of adjourning may be reached. After participating in this assignment, we as a group were easily able to identify, and analyze, each stage of our development.