TEAM WORK

Course:
SW 6202: Social Work with Groups

Synopsis
o o o o o o o Concept Team Vs. Working Group Purpose Multidisciplinary Team Social Action Teams Team Conflict The Wisdom of Teams

Concept
Team
o o o o A collective identity A sense of shared purpose/objective/goal Structured modes of communication Personal or task interdependence (Collaboration, Coordination and Cooperation)

Having a collective, synergetic (the whole is greater than the sum of its parts) effect

Team Vs. Working Group

Team Has shared leadership roles
Has individual and mutual accountability Has a specific purpose

Working Group Has a strong, clearly focused leader Has individual accountability
Purpose is same as the organization

Measures performance Measures effictiveness directly by assessing collective indirectly For eg. Financial work-products performance of overall business

Purpose
1. Advice (board, review panels)
2. Production (manufacturing crews, mining teams, maintenance crews) 3. Project (research groups, planning teams) 4. Action (sports teams, entertainment teams, surgery teams, military units)

Multidisciplinary Team
o A group of professionals from different disciplines o A common purpose o Integration of various professional perspectives in decision making o Active communication o Role division based on expertise o A climate of collaboration

Role of Social Worker in Multidisciplinary Teams

Establish credibility Allow ventilation Provide orientation Monitoring and assessing team processes Contracting with teams Creating a climate of openness, trust and group cohesion o Dealing with conflict o Developing client-centered norms o o o o o o

Social Action Teams

Social Action Teams are teams that work towards bringing about a social change and community organization at the grassroots level

Basic Assumption
The community members are disadvantaged or oppressed and most of their problems are products of social injustice These teams attempt to bring people together to convince pressure or coerce external decision makers to meet collective goals

Classification
These teams may be based on three different sets of interest domains:
o Geographic o Issue o Identity

Types
o o o o o Organizing committees House meetings Issue committees Lobbying committees Negotiating teams

People involved in Social Action Teams

o Members o Leaders o Organizers

Examples
Social Action team to address public distribution system (PDS), malfunctioning in a community Team comprised of group worker (Social Worker), community leaders, professional personnel Strategies used: advocacy, lobbying, social audit, meetings and RTI filing

Team Conflict
Description Antagonistic interaction in which one party attempts to thwart the intentions or goals of another Causes Scarce resources Jurisdictional ambiguities Communication breakdown Personality clashes Power and status differences Goal differences

The Wisdom of Teams

In the fall when you see geese heading south for the winter flying along in the "V" formation, you might be interested in knowing what science has discovered about why they fly that way. It has been learned that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.

People who are part of a team and share a common direction get where they are going quicker and easier, because they are travelling on the trust of one another and lift each other up along the way.

The Wisdom of Teams Contd

Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go through it alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the power of the flock.
If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation and share information with those who are headed the same way that we are going.

The Wisdom of Teams Contd

Finally, when a goose gets sick or is wounded by a gunshot and falls out, two geese fall out of the formation and follow the injured one down to help and protect him. They stay with him until he is either able to fly or until he is dead, and then they launch out with another formation to catch up with their group.

The Wisdom of Teams Contd

When one of us is down, its up to the others to stand by us in our time of trouble. If we have the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other when things get rough. We will stay in formation with those headed where we want to go.
The next time you see a formation of geese, remember... IT IS A REWARD, A CHALLENGE AND A PRIVILEGE to be a contributing member of a TEAM.

References
o Garvin, Charles D. et al, (2004). Handbook of Social Work with Groups, Rawat Publications o The Dynamics of Organizational Behaviour

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