Contemporary Issues in Group Work

Contemporary Issues in Group Work For human services , successful team work plays a crucial role in social relations and social support aimed to provide client population with professional help . In general , the pattern of relationships among positions in human service organizations and among members of the organization is important because without effective support performance efficiency can be reduced . The division of work among members of human service organizations and the co-ordination of their activities so they are directed towards achieving the goals and objectives of the organization is also a crucial

factor . So , effective and efficient groups work provides security and social satisfaction for clients supporting individual needs and promoting communication , formally or informally . Recent trends in human services underline the important of client-oriented relations and high level of cohesiveness in working groups which ensures clients satisfaction and improve service level

According to Austin (2002 ) The day-to-day operation of human service organizations involves many processes that are common to all formal production organizations , including all types of service production organizations (Austin , 2002 : 33 . For this reason , group work plays a crucial role in human services , because it is concerned with provision of services for the diverse client population . Design of a group and effective leader can be seen only as tools for providing effective support . Neither a group work nor a leader in isolation cannot secure effective work of a human service organisation . Group work is a complex notion which depends upon different strategies and methods

Human service organizations deal socially and economically with diverse client population . The class-based approach has a tendency to foster autonomy of client population . The population is also divided into groups : clearly defined social groups such as poor and middle class families . Programs are normally designed to meet the needs of specific client (interest ) groups and their specific characteristics . The client-oriented structure seeks to ensure that these needs and demands are accurately identified and acted upon . Client population can be identified by gender and age characteristics . The main division of client population is based upon family and nuclear families , individuals or families , single problem families and multi-problem families (Knei-Paz , Ribner , 2002 : 379

In human service organizations , group work is designed to meet the needs of particular groups of clients in to solve complex problems they face with . If a group is to be successful and perform effectively there must be a spirit of unity and co-operation , which can be achieved through scheduling and decision-making . In their article , Bertelli and Lynn (2004 ) claim that in the case of human services provision interest groups are involved in the creation of the programs that are implemented by agents . As a result of longstanding interaction , interest groups and agencies share significant knowledge both of one another 's preferences and those actions required to implement programs for which the groups have bargained (Bertelli , Lynn , 2004 : 167 . In this case group work based on cooperation becomes the main tool helping both the client and the agent to achieve the goals...