SEE ATTACHED DOCUMENT FOR INSTRUCTIONS AND CASE STUDY Instructions for Students

SEE ATTACHED DOCUMENT FOR INSTRUCTIONS AND CASE STUDY
Instructions for Students
1.
Read the following case vignette
and answer the subsequent questions using each step of the PREPARE
process. Feel free to add creative ideas
and solutions to each phase of the decision-making process (minimum 12 pages) Your paper should include a cover page
and reference page (not counted as part of the 12+ pages) and be in APA 7th
Edition, Times New Roman, font size 12 , Double Spaced.
CASE EXAMPLE:
You are a social worker for Shatterproof County Department of
Social Services in the Public Assistance Division.[1] Shatterproof is a huge urban county populated
primarily by people of color. Following
the demise of TANF your agency is struggling to adapt to new policies,
regulations, and requirements concerning the distribution of clients’ needed
resources. You and your colleagues are
working to adjust and conform to new expectations. However, that is not the immediate focus of
your concern.
In working for the county these past three years, you
have become increasingly disturbed about the way many workers treat clients,
most of whom are women of color. You
feel that workers are pressured to process clients through the problem-solving
process as quickly as possible and that too little emphasis is placed on client
empowerment. Empowerment is the
“process of increasing personal, interpersonal, or political power so that individuals
can take action to improve their life situations” (Gutierrez, 1995, p. 205).[2] You feel strongly that if workers assumed an
empowerment-oriented approach, more clients would be able to gain control of
the solutions to their own problems.
Such an approach might involve teaching workers how to focus on
empowerment approaches and techniques, including “accepting the client’s
definition of the problem,” “identifying and building upon existing strengths,”
engaging in a realistic assessment of the client’s power in her personal
situation, “teaching specific skills” (such as “skills for community or
organizational change; life skills,” such as parenting, job seeking, and
self-defense; and interpersonal skills, such as assertiveness, social
competency, and self-advocacy”), and “mobilizing resources and advocating for
clients” (Gutierrez, 1995, pp. 208-10).
So you begin to wonder
what you might be able to do about this situation. Clients ought to be allowed more input into
the definition and solution of their problems, but workers are not as receptive
to clients as they should be. Adopting
an empowerment approach could greatly help in successfully implementing the new
public assistance programs. Of course,
this is not the agency’s only problem. Workers are overly burdened with
paperwork, and computers and programs are already outdated. Nevertheless, in your mind empowerment
remains the dominant issue. You think
social workers, supervisors, and administrators should be educated about
empowerment issues and trained to implement empowerment approaches in practice.
Emphasis should be placed on both empowerment values and skills. How can you increase awareness and
implementation of a philosophy of empowerment in your huge agency? Upper-level
administrators seem to inhabit some unreachable plane. There are only so many
hours in your workday. What are your
options? Can you start small by trying
to reach workers in your own unit?
(There are seven of you who report to one supervisor.) Can you initiate training for yourself and
the other six workers in your unit?
Will the unit and the agency accept an empowerment
approach? What factors will help you and
what will hinder you? What will training
the unit staff cost? The agency may have
some funding available to provide in-service training for workers,[3]
because it does require every worker to complete continuing education units
(CEUs)[4]
on a regular basis. As a matter of fact,
you have a flier announcing an empowerment training seminar led by an expert in
the field. You also know of a social
work professor in the local university who might be able to do some training or
to refer you to someone who can. What
would that cost? Is there any
possibility of getting volunteers to do the training on a limited basis?
Are there other potential barriers to training besides
cost? Certainly the agency’s CEU
requirements are in your favor. Although the agency is in some turmoil due to
new programs and requirements, it seems there has always been some degree of
hubbub. That’s really nothing new.
Training a single unit is a relatively small task. Ideally, you’d like to include the entire
agency, but that’s something to think about in the future. You can think of no one outside the agency
who would actively oppose your plan.
Do you think you
can “pull off” such a project, even though training programs aren’t in your job
description? What personal
characteristics will work to your advantage in the process? For example, are you capable, responsible,
and/or assertive? Do you have
exceptionally strong communication or negotiation skills? On the other hand, what weaknesses do you
have that might act against a successful change process? For example, is it difficult for you to ask
for things? Do you consider yourself shy
or lacking in confidence?
The bottom line is that you really want other workers to
work with clients more effectively by adopting an empowerment approach. Your goal, then, is to figure out how to
provide training to help them do just that.
You’ve discussed the idea with colleagues who seemed mildly positive
about it. You don’t think they’d be willing to take on primary responsibilities
for the project, but it would be worthwhile speaking with some of them
further.
Your colleague and friend
Ortrude has some difficulties organizing and following through on details, but
she usually speaks up for anything she believes in. Maybe you can win her support. There is also Virgilia, a hard-working,
responsible worker who usually keeps her opinions to herself. You don’t feel you know her very well, but
she might be in favor of your idea. On
the downside, there’s your colleague and non-friend Bentley who typically
“pooh-poohs” any innovative idea.
The agency’s voluntary In-service Training Committee
suggests and plans training for various agency units, so you will have to
approach its members, and they might be supportive—even though their funding is
limited and fluctuating. Since you don’t
personally know any committee members, you have no natural “in.”
As to people in the community, you’ve already established
that at least one expert is available (though you don’t know what her fee would
be) and that the professor at the university is another possibility.
What about your own position and how initiating such a
project might affect you both professionally and personally. Your supervisor Astral is a “laid-back” type
who generally gets her work done in a leisurely fashion. (Actually, you think she’s kind of
“spacey.”) She is not someone to depend
upon for high-powered consultations or for strong support for this initiative.
On the other hand, if you’re willing to do the work yourself, she will probably
approve the project and send it up for higher level authorization. All agency in-service training must be
approved by the agency’s Assistant Director, Harvey. You think Harvey, a scrooge-like accountant
at heart, is more likely to approve such a plan if it isn’t extremely costly.
2.
Answer the following questions with respect to this case example.
Exercise 5.4 (1):
Step 1: Identify Problems to
Address
Substep 1.1: Evaluate the potential for
macro level intervention. Discuss the seriousness of the identified problem
situation in the case example above. In
your own words, describe what you see as the core issue(s).
Substep 1.2: Define and prioritize the
problems you’ve identified in the case example.
Substep 1.3: Translate problems
into needs.
Substep 1.4: Determine which need or needs you will
address if you are in this worker’s situation.
Exercise 5.4 (2):
Step 2: Review Your Macro and
Personal Reality
Substep 2.1: Evaluate the organizational and
other macro variables potentially working for or against you in the macro
change process as portrayed in the above case example. Fill out Figure 5.3, then explain the reasons
for your responses below.
Explain the reasons for your
responses.
Substep 2.2: Assess your personal reality—that
is, the strengths and weaknesses that may act for or against a successful
change effort. Exercise 5.1 may help you
with this question.
Exercise 5.4 (3):
Step 3: Establish Primary
Goals
List the goals you would pursue if
you were in the position described above.
Exercise 5.4 (4):
Step 4: Identify Relevant
People of Influence
In the following figure, list
individuals and groups both inside and outside of the agency.
Give a brief explanation of your choices.
Exercise 5.4 (5):
Step 5: Assess Potential
Financial Costs and Potential Benefits to Clients and Agency
Use the case example in your
response.
Exercise 5.4 (6):
Step 6: Review Professional
and Personal Risk
Could you lose your job, decrease
your potential for upward mobility, and/or seriously strain your work
relationships?
Exercise 5.4 (7):
Step 7: Evaluate the
Potential Success of a Macro Change Process
Substep 7.1: Review (and summarize) the prior PREPARE process, and weigh the
pros and cons of proceeding with the macro change process.
PROS
Client need
(see Step 1):
Positive organizational
and other macro variables (see Step 2):
Your own
strengths (see Step 2):
Potential
support (see Step 4):
Financial
benefits (see Step 5):
le macro approaches to use in
the case example and determine how you would .

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