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Group Work
Part 1
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Definition of Group Work
Group work is a broad professional
practice that refers to the giving of help
or the accomplishment of tasks in a
group setting.
Group dynamics refers to the scientific study of
groups and those events that occur within group
sessions. It is an area of study within social
psychology.
Group work involves the application of group
theory and process by a capable professional
practitioner to assist an interdependent
collection of people to reach their mutual goals,
which may be personal, interpersonal, or taskrelated in nature .
Group work is interdisciplinary, drawn
from many fields (e.g., counseling,
psychology, social work, sociology,
education, and/or psychiatry).
Group work occurs intentionally in a variety of
work, educational, mental health, and community
settings.
The main purpose of group work is to
provide help and support.
A second purpose of group work is to help
members and the group to accomplish tasks and
goals.
Group work leaders must be able to
apply group theory and process
effectively to specific situations.
Group work leaders must be well trained in
application of group theory, of group work
competencies, and of professional judgment, and
they must be personally and interpersonally
competent.
Leadership Styles
Several different (group) leadership styles have
been identified:
In the Authoritarian leadership style, the group
leader makes all policy decisions for the group
and generally directs how the group functions.
In the Democratic leadership style, the group
leader helps the group members to make policy
decisions and generally helps the group
function in a democratic manner.
In the Laissez Faire leadership style, the group
leader is minimally involved in group matters
and generally allows the group to determine
and follow its own “natural” course.
In the Speculative leadership style, the group
leader maintains a heavy emphasis on “hereand-now” discussion, particularly in regard to
leader or member in-group behaviors.
In the Confrontive leadership style, the group
leader also focuses on the “here-and-now,” but
attention is directed to the impact of each
member’s in-group verbalizations and
behaviors.
In the Charismatic leadership style, the group
leader capitalizes on personal power and
attractiveness to direct the group toward its
goals and purposes.
A group is a social ecological system
containing individual, interpersonal, and
total group elements, in which
interpersonal connections are important.
The leader needs to recognize and develop
interpersonal interdependence (i.e., the
interpersonal connections between and among
members).
For the most effective leadership styles,
group work leaders work collaboratively
with group members to establish their
goals.
Goals include combinations of intrapersonal,
interpersonal, and task components, as well as
aspects of both content and process.
Core Competencies
All professional counselors should
possess basic, fundamental knowledge
and skills in group work.
Advanced group work competencies build on
the core set.
Following are the core knowledge
competency areas for effective group work:
Definition of group work (presented previously)
Purposes for group work types
Definition of four group work specializations
Similarities and differences of types
Basic principles of group dynamics
Therapeutic factors
Important personal characteristics
Ethical issues unique to group work
Core knowledge competency areas continued
Group development
Group member roles
Advantages and disadvantages of group work
Research applied to area of focus
Recruiting and screening members
Group and member evaluation
Therapeutic Factors
Therapeutic factors are those aspects of group life
that are widely believed to account for help-giving
and personal change.
The following list of therapeutic factors is based on
the work of Yalom:
Instillation of hope
Universality
Imparting information
Altruism
Yalom’s Therapeutic Factors continued
Corrective recapitulation of primary
family group
Development of socializing techniques
Imitative Behavior
Interpersonal learning
Group cohesiveness
Catharsis
Existential factors
Instillation of hope
An assumption, belief, or act of faith that the
group will be of therapeutic value. This position
is fundamentally important for aiding growth,
change, and goal accomplishment.
Universality
The awareness that one is not alone, not the only
person in the world to be experiencing these
adverse or difficult circumstances or feelings.
Universality is the “common denominator” of
group involvement.
Universality is more achievable through group
participation than through other forms of helpgiving due to its interdependency.
Imparting Information
Provision of didactic information to members by
the leader or by other members as a means for
promoting learning about one-self and others.
Altruism
The intrinsic act of giving to be helpful without
intending to benefit in any tangible way.
In a group, members can receive through such
giving, thereby gaining increased self-awareness,
knowledge, and skills.
Corrective Recapitulation of the Primary Family
Group
Creating a positive environment within the group
such that members who were participants in a
negative family environment can correct faulty
ways and learn new ways of functioning.
Development of Socializing Techniques
Social learning, or the creation of basic or new
social skills, is a common outcome of group
work.
Group interaction, with its interpersonal
orientation and/or skill based orientation, can be a
powerful milieu for social skill development.
Imitative Behavior
Members can learn by observing the leader or
other members who model effective and
appropriate behavior.
“Vicarious” or “spectator” therapy is an
important source of learning in groups.
Interpersonal Learning
Interpersonal learning is a mediator of change in
groups that is built on the group serving as a
social microcosm in which corrective emotional
experiences can occur.
It includes an “interpersonal sequence”:
Members display behavior
Receive feedback and self-observe
Appreciate own behavior
Appreciate impact on others
Group cohesiveness
It is the analogue of “relationship” in individual
therapy and provides a sense of “we-ness.”
It reflects the attractiveness of the group for its
members and is a necessary precondition for
effective group therapy.
Existential Factors
Development of meaning from experience,
involving such areas as the importance of
assuming personal responsibility, and
recognizing that life can be unfair and unjust.
Personal Characteristics
Group work leaders must be aware of self and be
able to use self as instrument of positive change.
Knowledge of self includes awareness of one’s
own:
Personal strengths
Personal weaknesses
Biases
Values
Stimulus value (effects on others)
Ethical Issues
Knowledge of professional ethics is critically
important (e.g., ACA Code of Ethics and
Standards of Practice).
Knowledge of ethics particular to group work
practice is essential.
Ethical concerns particularly important in group
work include:
Confidentiality implications
Voluntary participation
Imposition of leader values
Coercion and pressure
Equitable treatment of members
Leaving a group
Dual relationships techniques
Goal development
Termination and follow-up
Group Development
Group development refers to the progressive
evolution of a group generally expected as being
normative.
Over 100 models of group development exist and
most are sequential or cyclical in nature.
Models help to predict, plan, and guide, but any
particular group may not conform closely to any
one model.
A “generic” model of group development includes
at least the following stages:
Group Formation
Control
Work
Termination
The Group Formation stage involves working on
the group’s
purposes and goals,
security,
trust,
inclusion,
dependency, and
orientation.
The Group Formation stage is sometimes known
to as the Orientation Stage.
The Orientation Stage includes determination
and conveyance of the nature and structure of
the particular group and members getting
acquainted with one another, exploring each
other’s expectations, and generally becoming
involved in the group.
The Control Stage involves working on the
group’s
regulation,
conflict,
power, and
organization.
The Control Stage is sometimes known as the
Transition Stage.
The Transition Stage often involves group
members “testing” each other and the group
leader, with associated conflict, resistance,
confrontation, and attempts to dominate among
group members.
The Work Stage involves working on the
group’s
open communication,
cohesion,
interdependence,
problem solving,
productivity, and
data flow.
The Work Stage is sometimes known as the
Action Stage.
The Action Stage is characterized by developing
cohesiveness and (psychological) intimacy among
group members and by productivity and
movement toward the group’s goals and purposes.
The Termination stage involves working on the
group’s
integration,
application,
evaluation and summing-up,
unfinished business,
disengagement,
saying good-bye, and
closing.
The Termination Stage is sometimes known as
the Completion Stage.
The Completion Stage involves termination of
the group’s work, including attending to a wide
variety of group member emotions that may be
associated with ending the group.
The most valuable resource for a group is its
members. Understanding them and utilizing their
experience and contributions is essential.
Positive group member roles include those as
client,
helper,
model, and/or
reality checker.
Members in counseling, psychotherapy, and
psychoeducation groups are seeking help and
assistance through group participation. They
profess a desire to change or to develop.
Members can help each other by giving feedback,
sharing experiences, and modeling effective
interactions. Doing so can also help them gain
self-understanding and promote growth and
change.
Members can demonstrate through their attitude
and behavior effective ways to perceive, think,
and act, thereby assisting other members to grow
and change.
Members can serve to provide each other with
guidance about feasibility and appropriateness
of goals and actions through providing
feedback, raising issues of implementation, and
serving as a “sounding board.”
Negative group member roles include those as
monopolizer,
resister,
silent one,
withdrawer,
intellectualizer,
joker,
manipulator, and/or
attacker.
This concludes Part 1 of the
presentation on
GROUP WORK