Community Group Types

Q1:

Group is referred to number of individuals who are assembled together to take unifying decision and form relation in executing any task or objective (Purcell, 2005). The three types of community groups are education groups, support-based groups and therapeutic groups. The support-based groups include group of people who involve giving and receiving practical support and exchange information from one another. The purpose of the group is to provide opportunity to the people in sharing their personal feelings and experiences, attain knowledge of coping strategies or gather initial information regarding treatment and diseases (Henderson and Thomas, 2013). An example of support-based group is Addiction Support Group. The therapeutic groups are closed group in which a designated group membership allows individuals to meet for a fixed span of time that normally related to their health improvement and recovery. The purpose of the group is to develop a safe environment in which experiment regarding care is done to get and receive feedback from individuals as well as exploring new responses and behaviour within a social context. These groups are specialized groups made on the basis of medical model and are unlikely that community workers would show support for such group (Henderson and Thomas, 2013). The educational groups are those that provide routes into and through lifelong learning within the communities, enables the development of skills which individual can use for getting employment, support learning regarding parent activities, support children in early years and others. Thus, the purpose of the group is to raise standards of achievement in learning for adults through learning activities (Harris, 2009). For those pursuing higher education, education dissertation help can be vital in achieving academic goals.

Q2:

Group dynamics is behavioural system and psychological processes occurring in a social group and it can be explained through the theory of Tuckman. According to Tuckman, there are five different stages of group development which are forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. The forming stage is initiation of group development as in this stage people for the first time are seen to come together and known each other in making decision to whether or not remain in the collective enterprise by exploring the group nature and its objectives. The role of the worker in this stage is to assist new members of the group to develop open, reflective and inclusive tone in the group (Tuckman, 1965). In the storming stage, the initial tensions in the group are managed and decisions are made regarding the way to the group to be organised as well as power to be distributed in the group. The role of the worker in this stage is to acknowledge and assist people in sharing roles and develop ability of the people (Tuckman, 1965). In the norming stage, the group develops sense of togetherness and the role of the worker in this group is to provide practical assistance, develop group identity, form structures and manage findings for the group (Tuckman, 1965). In the performing stage, the actions for which the group is formed is done and the role of the worker is to develop action plan in this stage (Tuckman, 1965). In mourning stage, the end of the natural life cycle of the group occur and the role of the worker in this stage is to assist recording and celebrating the success of the group (Purcell, 2005).

Q3:

The Johari’s Window is one of the communication models which can be used in explaining way to improve effective understanding between individuals. The model mentions that individuals are able to build trust by disclosing information regarding themselves to one another through communication. Moreover, the model mention that communication allows people to learn regarding themselves and helps them resolve personal issues by receiving feedback from others (Purcell, 2005). According to the model, each person is represented in either of the four-quadrant that is free, blind, hidden and mystery based on their own perception (Purcell, 2005). The free area is knowledge that is known both by the person themselves as well as other openly. The hidden area is referred to the part which is chosen to be hidden by the person from others due to insecurity ort other personal reasons. The blind is the area that is not known to the individual but others in the community known as mystery are the aspect of self that is known neither by the person or others in community (Purcell, 2005). The communication within the group is important to develop collaborative relationship and trusted feeling regarding one another to effectively perform activities (Purcell, 2005). The theory can support the community workers to known in which quadrant of communication the individuals in a group belong, based on which they can plan actions to develop the free area for the person. This is because expansion of the free area in communication allows effective understanding of the individuals in the team and according support arrangement of team to improve its effectiveness (Purcell, 2005).

Q4:

The importance of communication in groups is that it allows enhanced transmission of messages to make decisions in groups, avoid conflict development out of resolving of the problem through interaction that could raise the conflict and allows development of rapport between the group member out of knowledge regarding one another developed through the communicative action (Dutta, 2018). The importance of non-verbal communication in a group is that helps to reflect the amount energy and interest with which an individual is listening and delivering information through interaction in the group. It also assists to reflect the agreement and disagreement of individuals through the body language and non-verbal expression (happy or sad face, etc) as well as it provides power to demonstrate the level of understanding developed in the communication by the individuals. The other importance is that non-verbal communication such as making direct eye contact, nodding head and others helps to improve an individual’s ability to make others feel engaged and established in meaningful communication (Lorié et al., 2017). The importance of verbal communication in group is that it helps to share ideas and discuss concepts with group members to reach mutual decision in performing any task. Moreover, it is important as verbal interaction allow group members to have clarified ideas regarding role to be played, goals and objectives of the group. It is also important because it allows accessing feedback regarding group members and develop clarified sharing of data to prevent or resolve raised conflict in group (Vis et al., 2018).

Q5:

The role of the workers in addressing barriers to participation is promoting inclusion and anti-discriminatory practice. This indicates that the workers are required to value each of the individual to be included in the group equally to access opportunity and positive outcome along with challenge any discriminatory practise that leads to create separation in managing attitude of the group members from one another (Purcell, 2005). The inclusion and anti-discrimination in group are important because for the workers so that all the individuals feel equally valued and avoid getting into conflict due to overshadowing of them by others (Henderson and Thomas, 2002). One of the common barriers faced in group is conflict which is able to be resolved by developing clarified communication through follow-up meeting between group members. The follow-up meeting is to be chaired by an individual who is considered independent of the group by the group members to avoid partiality in resolving conflict (Harris, 2009). The other barrier is lack of progress or stagnation which can be resolved by discussing and identifying the issues responsible for stagnation as it would resolve the hassle and assist in improving the morale of the members (Henderson and Thomas, 2002). The other barrier faced in group work progress is demotivation which can be resolved by the worker by organising a social event where motivational speakers are included to boost the intellect of the group members through good stories to eventually become motivated to work (Henderson and Thomas, 2002).

Q6:

The conflict in groups is referred to the situation in which the group members are unable to reach a mutual decision and develop argument with one another leading to chaotic situation (Waggie and Arends, 2020). However, few conflicts can be healthy where the argument in the situation is mutually developed to reach a better decision in performing group work. The conflicts in groups are avoided to be festered as it with time it becomes complex and hard to be resolved (Waggie and Arends, 2020). One of the difficult situations faced in practise that raised conflict in group is when one of the team members tried to put blame on another member regarding failure to executing the task. In this situation, I asked both the team member to provide proof regarding them statement of blame on another rather than quarrelling. It led the team member inappropriately putting blame on another to be identified and punishment was provided to the individual. In another instance, conflict was raised between team members because while all other team members have accepted a certain idea, another single member is avoided to approve it and mentioned the person is been suppressed by others to change opinion. In this situation, I asked the member to present the individual’s opinion in detail behind not approving the idea and developing conflict with others. It led the individual to be clam and put forward his points where it was found that certain doubts were not cleared which led the individual remain in conflict with others to accept the made decision. However, through active communication the doubts was cleared and the conflict raised out of lack of his approval was resolved as the team members finally provided his approval in for of the group.

References

• Lorié, Á., Reinero, D.A., Phillips, M., Zhang, L. and Riess, H., 2017. Culture and nonverbal expressions of empathy in clinical settings: A systematic review. Patient education and counseling, 100(3), pp.411-424.
• Tuckman, B. 1965, “Developmental sequence in small groups” , Psychological Bulletin, 63
• Vis, C., Mol, M., Kleiboer, A., Bührmann, L., Finch, T., Smit, J. and Riper, H., 2018. Improving implementation of eMental health for mood disorders in routine practice: systematic review of barriers and facilitating factors. JMIR mental health, 5(1), p.e20.
• Waggie, F. and Arends, N.E., 2020. Exploring interprofessional teamwork at a tertiary public hospital in South Africa. Journal of Interprofessional Care, pp.1-10.
• Dutta, M.J., 2018. Health Communication. The International Encyclopedia of Strategic Communication, pp.1-13.
• Henderson, P and Thomas, D. 2002, “Skills in Neighbourhood Work” London: Routledge and Kegan Paul
• Henderson, P. Thomas, D. 2013 edition, Skills in Neighbourhood Work, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul
• Purcell, R (2005). Chapter eight “Practice Perspectives working with groups in Working in the Community: Perspectives for Change” USA: Lulu Press
• Purcell, R. 2005, Working in the Community: Perspectives for Change: Chapter 8 Working with groups, USA: Lulu
• Purcell, R. 2005 “Working in the Community: Perspectives for Change” published by Rod Purcell, University of Glasgow www.rodpurcell.com
• Purcell, R. 2005. Working in the Community: Perspectives for Change, USA: Lulu
• Harris, V. 2009, Community Work Skills Manual” published by Federation Community Development and Learning (Downloaded on Moodle)