Chapter 9: Building Support for the Proposed Change
Chapter 9 focuses on information being used to develop a plan for change to be accepted, and making rational decisions about strategies and tactics. The proper intervention and strategies will be used in this chapter to conduct and develop plans and refine intervention through a series of task. There are four task which point out the foundation to move toward change. The macro-macro level changes focuses on a segment of a community or organization.
Under Task 1: Develop the Intervention of Hypothesis, you must refine the working hypothesis of etiology and develop a working intervention hypothesis. Once there is an adequateamount of information about the issue at hand and its etiology, only then can an intervention hypothesis be composed. While developing a hypothesis all issues may not automatically form nor seem relevant in the beginning. To help weed out the non-relevant information it important to look for cause-and-effect relationships among the community that you are dealing with. The intervention is meant to be designed to address the needs specified to see and track the results clearly. During this task developing a support team is important because it allows you to understand each of the systems in which you are aiding to help.
Task 2: Define Participants, while defining your participants you have to establish individualswho are willing and readily to help. In order for change to be effective in macro communities it is necessary to have allies. When going into a community the residents may not always be acceptable to change and may have to do some negotiating to see what the participants may need. It is important to have a variety of participants so that you can have everyone’s perspective on issues/concerns (i.e. women, men, ethnic groups). In defining participants a system is developed, which includes initiator system, change agent system, client system, support system, controlling system, host and implementing system, target system, and action system. The subsystems have been created to assist who should be involved and why. The information below details each system used.
(1) Initiator System: contains individuals who have recognized the existence of a problem and have called attention to it.
(2) Change Agent System: is the individual designated as coordinator of the change effort. They take on initial planning or task. The change agent should be carefulnot to assume that the positions and perspectives about the proposed change on the part of the controlling system, host system, and implementing system are identical.
(3) Client System: which is made up of individuals who become direct or indirect beneficiaries of change if it is implemented. The client systems intend to benefit from the change effort.
(4) Support System: refers to everyone in the macro level who is interested in change coming about.
(5) Controlling System: is the person/group of individuals that have delegated authority to approve and order the implementation of proposed change.
(6) Host and Implementing System: two systems combined to one. The host system is the organization responsible for the area of proposed change to be addressed. The employees and volunteers are referred to as the implementing system.
(7) Target System: composed of individual, groups, structure, policy, or practice that needs change for the primary beneficiaries to achieve the desired benefits.
(8) Action System: made up of individuals from other systems who have an active role in planning change and moving forward in implementation.
Under Task 3: Examine System Capacity for Change, it is addressed to assess openness and commitment to change. Informal assessment, based on experience and prior interpersonal and decision making skills conduct earlier pertinent information/business. Determination of availability and resources to sustain chance is major. As we discussed in the last actual class setting limited resources seem to be the major issue in community because individuals need help but have limited resources to achieve progress. Outside opposition to change must be identified and explored.
The final task is Task 4: Select An Approach to Change, this approach makes clear what needs to be changed. It also focuses on selecting policy, program, project, personnel, or practice approach. The policies are represented by a formally adopted statement about what is to be done and how it should happen. The programs are the structured activities designed to achieve a set of goals and objectives. The projects are much like programs but may be smaller in a scale, have a time-limited existence, be more flexible, and can be adopted to the needs of a changing environment. The personal are those persons who are in interaction within the change arena. The most important is that change is recognized and the needs to be involved are important components of successful change.
Good job, Fashon. Let's figure out how all of this pertains to Ferguson.
ReplyDeleteI believe this chapter sums up the reason why it is important for us to connect with different members of our communities to affectively carry out and intervention. We have been put into groups so that together we can come up with great interventions for helping a community in some way rather it be big or small. But we cannot do that on our own which is why we are required to get involved in the community. The fact that we all are expected to attend a community meeting, interview people who are a part of the community, and complete a community profile; which includes knowing the important key holders and other important people, as well as services offered allows for a more effective intervention on an issue that the community recognizes as a problem. Through these several interactions with the community we all will gain something different and be able to bring a variety of ideas to the table. We will all engage with different people and have different prospective, but ultimately the same agenda; helping out in the community in some shape or form rather it be big or small. Although getting out into the community may not be easy chapter 9 stresses just how vital it is to get involved. Our involvement helps us build support within the community so that we can have support if our intervention were to be put into action.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to build upon what Twylaa has said. I agree with everything but in addition, I was connecting the idea of community with our individual projects. As a community many, different individuals are involved in making change, coming up with fresh ideas of change, things that are needed and assessed etc. In our JVL group, most of us are from different backgrounds trying to make change, coming up with fresh ideas of change, things that are needed and assessed, just like the communities we are helping. When I hear the term "community" I tend to think of places-Ferguson, JVL, St. Louis etc. and not necessarily small groups such as ours in this class. Just a thought!
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Twylaa. Once thing I have found interesting while working on our community project is the different answers people have received on certain topics. For example some people have heard that crime is a predominant issue in the JVL neighborhood, however during my community interview I was told that crime wasn't an issue in the area because it was no worse than anywhere in the city. These different opinions show how important it is to talk to a variety of individuals to ensure that community needs are being met.
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