Competition results with no co-op and Inefficient task achievement

1. Teams are either created through 1)agency structure i.e. interdisciplinary teams or 2)created by mandate or 3)voluntarily through common interestAn interdisciplinary team is perhaps the most common type of team in agencies. Good teams aren’t born, they’re built. All teams require to essential components: Credibility, trust, clarity of purposeIn order for a team to be effective it must also have: authority, access to resources and influenceTeams are typically characterized by their commonality of purposes, inter-relatedness and inter-dependence. A work group may be a team or may be comprised of more than one team.On agency team, treatment team or interdisciplinary team, social workers must often attend to informal group process. Most team members will focus narrowly on their own perspective. It will be up to you attend to their perspectives anticipate their responses and be prepared for them. Social workers are often the GLUE for treatment teams and they do so by behaving like water. What does that mean

2. People form TEAMS (groups) and connections in order to avoid competition and become more efficient in capturing resources. And carrying out tasks!!!! group v group Competition results with no co-op and Inefficient task achievement group

3. A team is a highly specialized form of work group • A work group is different from a treatment group in that it is • Comprised of workers (supervisors, colleagues, para-professionals, line staff, professionals socio-political others and maybe some clients. • Work groups are formed to accomplish work-related tasks

4. Team-building involves using and building Horizontal linkages focusing on “shared meaning And “shared purpose”. Then extending to vertical linkages Remember horizontal linkages involve those with Relatively the same amount of power! Most teams that work within agency structure Get their authority from vertical linkages; those with More power. Horizontal linkages are relationships with people who are Close in power and often share a vision – often a strong network Vertical linkages are relationships with people who are not Close in terms of power and may not share the same vision or Goals but have more access to resources

5. A team is a sub-system of your network!!! The idea is to use existing ties to make ties that will Extend your network as far as possible group v YOU group group

6. Ideally, a team should be the inner core of your Network. Those people who the accomplishment Of your work, depends upon. Team members can ‘make Or break’ you!!! Sometimes teams end up working autonomously, either Outside or against agency structure!!!!

7. Thus teams may function to form alliances In order to deal with Power disparities and work Environment conflicts 5 3 4 4 3 Core team 3 2 3 group team 3 3 group team

8. Where would you wantconnections in a team?What are the problems with havingconnections too far to either end? midpoint Weak connection Strong connection

9. Effective decision-making in teams***in order for decisions to be backed in teams, they should be collaborativeHow to get your decision accepted- what could the social worker in the “bad hospital” have done?1. make sure your idea has support from one other person – before the meeting.2. present the idea matter of factly; not tentatively or enthusiastically3.support your idea with facts and present it only after its thought through4.invite others to critique it/modify it –builds ownership5.incorporate modifications.6.Plan for all contingencies – seek team commitment7.Develop emergency plan – call me!Teams are different from networks. HOW?Engagement – initial key to networking and team work often involves focus on interpersonal rather than task

10. Teams are built in the same way groups are built. One can use many of the same principles in building teams as one uses in building groups. The major differences are 1.) with work groups, the purpose is not therapy, but the accomplishment of tasks. AND 2.) You may not be the leader and find yourself in the position of using group skills INFORMALLY. Think of a team as a type of work group! Any collection of People undertaking a task is a group; therefore engaging in group processes and group development!

11. According to the material above, which one of these is a team? Read two vignettes in small groups and discuss! A. Women in the shelter movement and other women realize there is a need for systematic dealing with batterers. They believe that the issue of battering is one of power and control over women and children. they are concerned that many in the community do not see it as an issue and raise hollow issues such as "provocation" or that "pushing is not the same as hitting". They have devoted much time and energy to this issue. They have no money and few contacts with influential people. Recently they disrupted a city council meeting. Part of their strategy was to have several women appear who were recently battered and still had bruises. They also produced a copy of a "dismissed" arrest record for a city councilmen (name scratched out) for battering. B. A local task force comprised of numerous organizations in the community have gotten togther to form a task force on domestic violence. The groups are as follows: Victim witness assistance program (D.A.'s office), D.F.C.S., Ministerial Association, local police, local shelter, mental health, Dept. of health, local therapists, local hospital representatives, city council members, local Alcoholics anonymous, Lowndes County Alcohol and Drug Treatment Ctr. and the state council on battered women They all know that there is a problem. However there is no agreement on the extent of the problems, the major issues and what needs to be done about it. Several people have identified possible major funding sources and facilities. However up to this point, the task force appears to have no clear agreed-upon way to proceed. They have had several meetings. Although all members have expressed interest in the project, attendance after the first meeting has been inconsistent.

12. WORK GROUPS.ALL GROUPS WORK ALONG TWO AXES: TASK & PROCESS. Every organization is comprised of multiple small work groups! HIGH RELATIONSHIP EMPHASIS ORGANIZATIONAL PROBLEM-SOLVING ASSESSMENTS, COMPLEX INTERVENTIONS INTERPERSONAL PROBLEM-SOLVING GRP. DEV. ENGAGEMENT LOW TASK EMPHASIS HIGH TASK EMPHASIS CRISIS MODE, PLANNING, INTERVENTIONS ROUTINE PROCEDURE MODE LOW RELATIONSHIP EMPHASIS

13. ALTHOUGH ONE LOOKS TO HAVE POWER DISTRIBUTED EQUALLY IN A TEAM, THIS IS NOT ALWAYS THE CASE IN THE REAL WORLD. YOU MAY FIND YOURSELF IN THE POSITION OF HAVING ONE OF THE FOLLOWING TYPES OF POWER IN A TEAM: Dispositional power – This is a formal type of power. It comes from one’s position in an organization and one’s ability to make things happen. For example on an inpatient psychiatric unit, the psychiatrist and charge nurse often have the most dispositional power. Delegated power – This is a formal type, that is the result of being formally placed in charge. Often this is a hollow type of power unless one has dispositional power or some of the following informal types. Referent power – this is a type of informal power that comes from being values by others on the team. One gets this type of power from being an employee that is trusted, respected and liked. Think about a particular classmate, to whom you might turn when you want to ‘bounce off’ an idea. This is a strong and stable source of informal power Expert power – This is a type of informal power that comes as a result of one’s knowledge base. For example, if others on the team considered you to know the most about community resources, it is likely that they would follow your lead in choosing resources in a discharge plan. Group facilitator power* – This is typically an informal source of power in work groups, although it can be combined with delegated power and/or referent power. This is a form of power that is the result of one’s ability to ‘track’ and ‘intervene’ in group processed. However, one often does this not as a leader, but as a member. This is how informal group leadership develops (along with referent power). This type of power is often used when there are critical incidents in a group. For example, when there are impasses in decision-making, group conflicts (see assigned reading in Kirst-Ashman on managing conflict) or lack of clarity over which direction to take (See assigned readings in Kirst-Ashman on conducting meetings).

14. ENGAGEMENT IN WORKGROUPSBASIC PURPOSE FOR ALL WORK GROUPS IS TO DEVELOP A CLIMATE FOR TASK ACCOMPLISHMENT AND PROBLEM-SOLVING. One of the major problems in many work groups, either within an agency or among several agencies is little time is devoted to process OF ENGAGEMENT.Engagement is a process of facilitating group members to open their boundaries enough to accommodate the diversity of other members with both similar and diverse interests. This is done by: 1. Getting attention of the members, 2. Interesting the members in returning (This is often done by trying to tailor the initial group goals to fit the individual goals of group members), 3 trust-building among the members and 4. developing a common language and shared meaning. 5. Finding a shared purpose that all can own!!! This means attending to the relationship axis while beginning the task (focusing on the task)

15. OTHER ENGAGEMENT SKILLS IN ADDITION TO MICRO SKILLS. They Are the same as those used in ‘networking’. 1. hobnobbing - small talk finding a commonality that has nothing to do with your purpose. 2.speaking the right language – “He done went” or “He’s out of town” which is correct? ANS. “WHICHEVER THE PERSON YOU’RE ATTEMPTING TO ENGAGE USES! Also includes symbolic language, ‘code switching’ and metaphors. 3.trading (quid pro quo) 4. doing favors –extending yourself in an unrelated area in order to have a payoff later 5. politicking 6. the art of "getting yourself introduced". 7.Humbly Hyping (yourself) - "The last time I started a day program, I swore I'd never do it again. This is a form of the skill "embedding" 8.participating in important rituals i.e. attending the same church as your ‘funding source’ or participating in the planning of your local thanksgiving day parade. Attending civic group meetings such as toastmasters, Lions club etc. 9.Be an expert on your subject or cause.

16. 11. When people with differing perspectives/training engage in teams, people will look at the Same situation and see vastly different things.

17. Team-building involves influencing other members so that all see the same thing ‘shared meaning and purpose’. Unbeknownst to one of the group, all other members were told to pick this one. In all cases of the exp., the one who didn’t know eventually chose the same line as the others. In instances where some of the group members were told to pick this one, the one who didn’t know chose it as well. What does that tell you?

18. An example!!! A DFCS worker is starting an AIDS awareness program for Single parents in her agency. 45% of her single parent caseload Is African-American women. AIDS is spreading rapidly Within this population. However, It has been shown in research That 80% of African-American women believe that AIDs was Invented by the government. When you pull together your team, it Is comprised of a number of African American women, some Colleagues and two supervisors. It is possible, given the stats, that A majority of these women share the same beliefs. You do not. As the group/team leader, does it matter that you are or are not African-American? What is your strategy for achieving shared Meaning? Hospital case!

19. Engagement with diverse individuals involves attending to both verbal and non-verbal cues from those members in order to determine how they prefer to be accommodated in the group as well as asking for permission and guidance in the members customs, rituals and language of engagement. For example, do not assume that a politically correct term for addressing a group or particular population is the term to use. Ask!There is a tendency on the part of those who are not willing to see their own privilege to make assumptions regarding how others are addressed. I have been in groups where I and others have assumed it is ok to call members by their first name, and have done so, only to find out much later, after trust was built that this was offensive to them. Keep in mind that even though I ask, I may not get an answer, because initially, diverse others may not feel safe enough to speak.! Nonetheless, when people are introducing themselves in the first group, it is always best to ask, "How would you prefer to be addressed" or "What would you like to be called?"Avoid the tendency to use "extreme Code switching". Code switching refers to all of our tendency to begin to use the symbols of the dominant group in which we are immersed. It refers primarily to language. for example, coming from a lower middle-class neighborhood in Pittsburgh, I learned to speak 'street Pittsburghgese'.When in school, i was surrounded by those who spoke 'academese'. I began to speak 'academese'. After spending 30 years in the South, I say ya'll and will occasionally lapse into a slightl drawl. however, for me to pretend to speak with a south Georgia dialect would be pitiful, insulting and maybe funny.This is just a small example.

20. Code switchingwas first identified as occurring in groups or populations with less or little power than the dominant group. Groups with less power are often labeled-INAPPROPRIATELY- 'minorities'.What sociologists of color first noticed was the phenomenon of people who lived in two worlds, for example a black world and a white world, to have to speak two languages. code switching is a survival mechanism and is adaptive. However, to use extreme code switching as an attempt to engage when it is not about surviving, is inappropriate. All of us code switch to some degree. However, when you do so, it is important to distinguish code switching from imitation. I have seen earnest but misguided practitioners in their attempt to engage to "try and talk black". Not only is this grossly inappropriate, it is insulting, demeaning and stereotypical. Code switching has also been used ,inappropriately, against those groups for whom it is a survival mechanism. For example, a phenomenon that black actors are now encountering is the 'white male movie producer' who says "sorry, you don't sound black enough" Translation = "you should speak only in Ebonics"

21. When you 'code switch in a group or with clients, do so within a reasonable range of switching. Formal to informal.. speak the language you know rather than trying to attempt to speak a language you don't know. When you think of “code Switching” from an HBSE perspective, which theory best explains it and howSymbolic Interactionism, role theory, exchange theoryTwo traps for workers in dealing with diverse others in a group are 1. Trying too hard to not make a mistake and 2. Proving you are cool, hip or knowledgeable. Please suggest some others. BE YOURSELF, THOUGHTFULLY, RESPECTFULLY AND UNSELF-CONSCIOUSLY!THE ROLE OF A SOCIAL WORKER IN WORK GRPS. CAN BE: FACILITATOR, PARTICIPANT OR BOTH.

22. GROUP ASSESSMENTFour types of group assessment1. Initial assessment - group composition purpose, physical environment etc.2. Ongoing assessment of group development and process.3. Ongoing assessment of progress toward task.4. Final assessment of group successRemember, in a work group, the process is in the service of the task. You deal with process when it is obstructing task accomplishment.Ongoing assessment of group process involves the following areas: 1) Communication and interaction. 2)Group development and cohesion. 3) Social controls (rewards and punishments. 4)group culture. 5)Group's relationship with host organization I will give you handouts, later in the course, which address these.