Meetings, Brenda, a Pakistani Woman, Calls You

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meetings, Brenda, a Pakistani woman, calls you and requests a private session. When you ask her why she wants an individual session, she tells you that she is having trouble trusting most of the members of the group, and it is keeping her from participating. You suggest that she bring up this matter first in the group, and she tells you that she simply is not willing to take that risk.

Would you be willing to see Brenda individually?

Yes, I would be willing to see Brenda for one session because that would give me the opportunity to get a feel of where her trusting issues may have stemmed from, and gauge further her suitability for the group (Spitz, 2013). The session would, however, not be geared at counseling, but on obtaining first-hand information from her on what she expected of the group and the rest of the participants, why she thinks her expectations are not being met, and what she thinks could be done to improve the situation. Based on the information obtained from this individual session, I would devise appropriate measures to address the raised concerns.

Well, there are a multiple factors that could be responsible for Brenda's lack of trust. To begin with, inclined to the Islamic culture, there is the risk that Brenda may not be contented with the American-style of leadership, where the group leader and the followers interact freely as equals, and the latter have the discretion to challenge the leader's directions. Islamic culture, like we know it, seems to attach great importance to the separation of leadership and followership aspects, and followers are, therefore, expected to treat their leaders with utmost respect and not to challenge their views. Brenda could, therefore, be failing to identify with the rest of the group because she considers them disrespectful towards the group leader. Moreover, it is also possible that Brenda does not trust the group members because they do not recognize or appreciate her culture -- for instance, it is possible that Brenda feels out-of-place because her culture or religion is never mentioned during group activity, making it difficult for her to establish an identity. A third possible reason for Brenda's lack of trust is the fear of being judged -- Islamic culture, for instance, requires women to be submissive, and it thus discourages women from pursuing education and careers or taking up positions of leadership. Brenda's participation could, therefore, be inhibited by the fear that the rest of the group members would unfairly judge her as uneducated or unable to think for herself. Meeting Brenda for one informal session would help me obtain information on her specific areas of dissatisfaction; then, I would know what corrective action to take.

Advantages and disadvantages of agreeing to meet Brenda for this session

There are a number of advantages that I stand to derive from organizing such a meeting with Brenda. The first and most obvious advantage is that I get an opportunity to obtain first-hand information from her on what her expectations of the group are, why she feels that the same are not being satisfied, and what she thinks ought to be done to correct the same. This would essentially allow the group leader to know exactly what needs to be done in the group to address Brenda's specific needs. Moreover, the group leader stands to learn about the Islamic culture, its values and expectations from Brenda, and this boosts their multicultural sensitivity, allowing them to better cater for the psychological needs and expectations of other Muslim participants in the same group, or in other groups that they may oversee in the future. In other words, such a meeting contributes effectively to the process of continuous leaning. However, the decision to meet Brenda individually is not without its share of disadvantages. The primary limitation is that other members could take this as their primary mode of conflict-resolution, resulting in unnecessary work breakdowns and delays that could easily have been avoided if members chose to resolve the same by alternative means, say consulting with each other privately. All the same, the benefits (in terms of valuable knowledge gained) far outweigh the limitations.

What interventions could the group leader make if Brenda agreed to bring her lack of trust in the next group session?

One can expect the rest of the group to get defensive once Brenda makes known her lack of trust issues. Some members could get infuriated and out-of-control, especially if they feel that Brenda is only trying to win the group's attention and sympathy for being a member of a rather 'sidelined' minority.

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The group leader can, therefore, expect scapegoating tendencies, where the rest of the group gang up against Brenda and try to make themselves appear like the victims and her like the villain (Moreno, 2007). Scapegoating could be detrimental to Brenda's self-esteem, hurting her ability to participate even further (Moreno, 2007). To prevent this, the group leader could make use of a number of interventions. At the beginning of the said session, for instance, the leader needs to notify the group members of an impending issue, and then lay out the ground rules that would govern the discussion that would ensue (Moreno, 2007). For instance, he/she could clearly specify at the start of the meeting that no form of hitting or cussing would be allowed on Brenda throughout the session (Moreno, 2007). They could then block any individual or collective attempt by members to hit on or belittle Brenda. Additionally, they could assume the gate-keeping role, where they manage the conversation flow to ensure that the victim and the rest of the members have a balanced exchange of ideas, and neither side appears to be overshadowed or belittled.

Assisting members deal with the trust issue

In a therapeutic group setting, trust is built through positive communication (Spitz, 2013). When members are able to engage positively and constructively with each other, without fear of being unfairly judged or stereotyped, a climate of trust is established (Spitz, 2013). Members then feel free discussing what is troubling them with their colleagues without having to fear that their views will be invalidated. To increase the level of trust in the group, the group leader needs to encourage members to support their colleagues, give constructive feedback, and strive to see things from a wider perspective (maintain an open mind). Then, they will be able to make positive use of the diverse responses and reactions of other members, and will not be inclined to invalidate them (Spitz, 2013). This way, all members will feel like part of the team, and would be free to establish their own identity therein. Besides diversity-appreciation, I would encourage constructive problem-solving within the group, which would ensure that conflicts are resolved before they escalate, and members regard each other as being equally important to group success (Spitz, 2013).

Case 2: Rodney, an African-American man has a pattern of asking others in the group very probing and personal questions. You have attempted to formulate a norm that people avoid asking questions and make statements instead. In spite of your best intentions, Rodney persists in interrogating people and succeeds in interrupting their work. He finally says, "I don't see what the big deal is about me asking questions. I only ask questions because I'm curious. It's my way of finding out about people. I don't see why you all make such a big deal of my questioning people."

In what ways would you intervene with Rodney?

The group leader has a duty to establish and maintain a positive environment, where members feel safe giving their views, with no fear of being judged or intimidated by others. Failure to do this gives rise to a situation where members are reluctant to participate, and consequently, trust issues develop. Through his constantly inappropriate questioning, Rodney creates an unsafe environment for other participants, and intimidates them, even if he does not realize it. In this case, the leader could intervene by appealing to empathy and trying to place Rodney (the antagonist) in the shoes of the member at whom the intrusive question is directed. For instance, he/she could intervene with a statement such as, "Rodney, how do you suppose XXX might be feeling about the question you just asked? If the same question was asked to you, how do you suppose you would feel?" This would drive Rodney to develop a culture of taking into consideration the feelings of others before posing questions to his colleagues. Additionally, the leader could intervene by reframing the question so that it does not seem so intrusive as to push the member away. However, even as he/she does so, she needs to be keen to ensure that she does not push Rodney away and make him subject to scapegoating by the rest of the group. For instance, after rephrasing the question, she could use statements such as 'did I get it right?', just so Rodney feels like he still owns the question.….....

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