Group Leadership

Multicultural Perspective of a Group Leader

Leadership is one of the most commonly used words but with multiple definitions and represents multiple perspectives , ideals , and theoretical frameworks . Trusty , Looby and Sandhu (2002 ) identified several reasons about the importance of having a multicultural perspective as a group leader . First , group members have varied perceptions that are related to their own racial and ethnic backgrounds and experiences . A group leader then must learn to value each member 's perceptions and to respect their ethnic backgrounds and experiences rather than disregard it or worse

discriminate it . Second , group members have differences on how they identified themselves with their own racial ethnic-group or adopted values held by the group . Here , the group leader should not treat each member as if they are all one person . It means a group leader must treat each member differently and appropriately

Third are the gender differences in social perceptions and emotional reactions , and fourth , are the differences of the group members acculturation level (p . 252 . On the third and forth , a group leader needs to explore the value of diversity and to be able to apply its benefits within his group

On the other hand , some ways I can think of to take into account a group member 's cultural background as it pertains to group participation are the following

1 ) Be sensitive to the feelings expressed by certain members of the group

2 ) Help them to see the situation from a different perspective and in the light...