Chapter 9: Building Support for the proposed change

Question 1

What are the 5 moving parts in macro practice social work?

Answer 1

1) understanding the important components to be affected by change - population, problem, arena
2) Preparing a design/plan to get change accepted
3) Preparing a detailed plan for intervention
4) Monitoring a detailed plan for intervention
5) Monitoring and evaluating it’s effectiveness

Question 2

Task 1:

Answer 2

Develop the intervention hypothesis
- Refine hypothesis of etiology
- develop intervention hypothesis

Question 3

Refine the working hypothesis of etiology

Answer 3

• task can not be done in isolation from the community or population experiencing the problem

Question 4

Develop a working intervention hypothesis

Answer 4

a hypothesis is a statement or a series of statements proposing a relationship between a specific intervention and a result or outcome

The statement should identify the following:
1) a target population
2) the proposed change or intervention
3) the results expected from the intervention

Question 5

There should be clear relationships between:

Answer 5

• casual factors and results in the hypothesis of etiology
• proposed intervention and expected results in the intervention hypothesis
• relationships between casual factors in the working hypothesis of etiology and proposed interventions should be clear e.g. 1->1
• relationship between specified etiology and results of the intervention

Question 6

social worker’s role

Answer 6

• each step in the process can involve professionals, clients or community members
• social worker chooses who and how much others are involved
• social worker needs to inform them of the boundaries of their involvement - i.e. are they advisors, informers, colleagues etc.

Question 7

Building Support

Answer 7

Importance of coalitions
- as the social worker involves more people, the problem will continually be negotiated as the each person or group adds their perspective
- The risk: is that the problem becomes defined so broadly that some participants no longer see their point-of-view represented and leave or become disengaged (entropy)

Question 8

Task 2

Answer 8

Define participants
- identify the initiator, change agent, client, support, controlling, host, target, and action systems

Question 9

Define Participants

Answer 9

a) initiator
b) change agent
c) client
d) support
e) controlling
f) host
g) target, and
h) action systems

Question 10

Initiator

Answer 10

• who first recognized the problem and brought attention to it?
• Can the initiators be involved n the change efforts?

Question 11

Initiator system

Answer 11

• made up of those individuals who first recognize the existence of a problem and call attention to it
• the initiator system can exist within the organization or be external to it or a combination of both
• if the initiator is willing to participate, key roles should be assigned to them because they have an interest in the issue and may influence others to join
• especially if the initiator holds a position of influence in the community

Question 12

Change agent

Answer 12

Take on the role of coordinators in the change effort

Question 13

Change Agent System

Answer 13

• comprises of the coordinator and the initial planning committee

Question 14

Social workers role during change agent stage

Answer 14

building empathy, interviewing, building relationships, engaging in group dialogue, recruiting members, organizing the coalition/partnership
- developing mutually agreed upon approaches and preparing for action

Question 15

Composition of the change agent system

Answer 15

When possible, the people involved should include:
1) those who have experienced the identified problem
2) people who have tried to solve the problem
3) influential people who can get the change accepted

Question 16

The work of the change agent system

Answer 16

begins with coordinating and carrying out the population, problem, and arena analysis.

This may involve:
- setting up project teams
- doing research
- interviewing
- coordinating
- agreeing on a general strategy
- Getting the change accepted/implemented

Question 17

the client system

Answer 17

• made up of individuals who will become either direct or indirect beneficiaries of the change if it is implemented
• designated primary beneficiary has change efforts designed according to their needs
• Secondary beneficiaries can be involved in the change process

Question 18

Identify the support system

Answer 18

catch-all system that refers to everyone who has an interest in the success of a prolonged change
- Positively inclined toward change
- May be involved in supporting and advocating for the change if they are needed

Question 19

Support System

Answer 19

• often a matter of proximity to the problem
• sometimes a representative is the main contact who may be called on to lend support
• they are the people the change agent will count on to become involved if decision makers need to be persuaded that change is necessary

Question 20

Communities of Practice (CoP)

Answer 20

• used to engage groups and individuals in addressing common concerns

Question 21

Factors that contribute to the success of the CoP

Answer 21

1) Developing and having strong leadership
2) Identifying objectives with defined measures for the change
3) Having appropriate technological resources

Question 22

The controlling system

Answer 22

the person or group with the formal authority to approve the implementation of change
- not necessarily the individual or group at the highest level of authority

Question 23

Identify the Host and Implementation System

Answer 23

• typically the host is one or more employees or volunteers who will have day-to-day responsibility for carrying out change
• Implementing system: the host will be the subunit of an organization that will be expected to implement a policy, change, a new program, or a project

Question 24

Identify the Target System

Answer 24

• the individual, group, structure, policy, or practice, that needs to be changed for the primary beneficiaries to achieve the desired benefits

Question 25

3 questions must be answered in defining the target system

Answer 25

1) What change needs to take place in order for the primary beneficiaries to achieve the desired benefits
2) What individuals or groups need to agree to the change?
3) Given the working intervention hypothesis, what needs to be changed in order for the intervention to be successful?

Question 26

Decision of who the target system is

Answer 26

will be made based on what change is proposed and who needs to be convinced to support it

Question 27

The Action System

Answer 27

• made up of individuals from other systems who have an active role in planning the change and moving it toward implementation
• may overlap with between the action system & change agent system

Question 28

Systems in Interaction

Answer 28

important to define and define participant systems separately (for conceptual purposes only

Question 29

Examining system capacity for change

Answer 29

An assessment of readiness should include:
1)Determining openness and commitment in pursuing the proposed change
2) Strengthening the collective identity of the action system
3) Identifying the degree of outside resistance
* should be based on what is known about participants and their previous relationships*

Question 30

Determine openness and commitment to change

Answer 30

Assessing the capacity of groups: that form each system. May make the difference in whether the proposal can successfully move forward

Building trust: central to developing openness and commitment to change

openness to change: informal assessment, based on experience: How many people in decision-making positions have dealt with earlier proposals

Discovering openness to change: not a simple matter of just asking people. Background information is needed

• have there been community-wide issues that have included this set of participants?
• Did the host organization participate?

Question 31

Task 3:

Answer 31

Determine openess and commitment to change
- reflect on past experiences
- assess commitment and ability to follow through

Question 32

Assess level of commitment

Answer 32

Assessment of commitment should involve examining the degree of enthusiasm and the degree of internal consensus about the design of the proposed change

Focus groups are used to understand barriers to community participation. Using Gender Base Analysis (GBA) helps under represented groups provide their perspectives in the change effort.

Champions (leaders/influencers from select groups) are chosen to promote policy and system change

Small changes are chosen to ensure success and for the team to learn to work together

Question 33

Task 4:

Answer 33

Strengthen collective identify
- focus on unity
- promote critical reflection
- maximize use of social media

Question 34

focus on unity while respecting diversity

Answer 34

• participants have different interests, roles etc.
• because of these differences, expect disagreement on what the change will look like
• action system has to know that it can agree to disagree

Question 35

Promote critical reflection

Answer 35

• Dialogue can be used to generate new ways of thinking about the problem at hand
• Recognizing differences between experiential knowledge and professional knowledge will help in the dialogue
• Recognize how political power changes individuals’ ways of perceiving problems

Question 36

Freire’s action-and-reflection

Answer 36

• not enough for people to come together in dialogue
• must act upon their environment in order to critically reflect upon their reality

Question 37

Multiple purposes of dialogue for the action system

Answer 37

• individuals learn from one another about options they might have not individually considered
• this builds capacity*
• in group decision making (as opposed to an expert making the decisions)
• Ownership of the change process occurs when everyone’s voice is heard

Question 38

Psychological contracts

Answer 38

• between individuals, groups or organizations
  -based on what each side believes they owe to each other
• because they are based on perception, they can be interpreted differently

Question 39

Task 5:

Answer 39

Identify outside opposition
- Identify external resistance
- Analyze alternative perspectives
- Assess strength of support and opposition

Question 40

Identify external resistance

Answer 40

Almost any proposed change that requires public funds will find external resistance from groups that are competing for the funds

Question 41

Categories of people where opposition may arise

Answer 41

• individuals/groups who need more knowledge about an issues
• individuals/groups that are indifferent or neutral and would have to be convinced
• Those persons who are certain about their disagreements and may even be hostile

Question 42

Analyze alternative perspectives on the issue

Answer 42

refers to the slant, or ‘spin’ individuals or groups choose to put on the issue

Question 43

Assess relative strength of support and opposition

Answer 43

whether to invest in additional time, energy, and resources in seeking change
- support from individuals, groups and organizations
- support from facts and perspectives

Question 44

Support for opposition for change can be organized into three columns

Answer 44

Column 1: The driving or supporting forces

Column 2: Neutral forces

Column 3: The restraining or opposing forces

Question 45

Identifying supporting and opposing perspectives involves considering

Answer 45

• statistics
• history
• theory
• research
• etiology
• interpersonal & political factors