Overall Assessment of the Case

Jennifer has worked very hard to ensure that Scot gets the internship. She almost lost her working relationship with Lamina by failing to follow the right channels in contracting Scott. Rene, who was in charge of launching the summer program for the Somali Bantu refugees, is very eager to have Scot in the organization. She introduces Scot to Jennifer. Lamina on the other hand is the area manager and is in charge of all the programs (Harley & Wolfer, n.d.). Since Jennifer is the MSW, Lamina advices her to handle the internship issue given that Scot was also a MSW student. However, when Jennifer fails to follow the right channels in contracting Scot due to lack of enough information, Lamina blames her arguing that she has many problems including family issues (Becvar, 2014).

Rene and Scot end up working together after Lamina and Jennifer sorts out the contract issue. However, with time, their relationship deteriorates. Scot is not in favor of paper works, which ensures the organization receives grants. Rene on the other hand believes that they can sort the issues with Scot and refuses help from Jennifer. Their relationship worsens when Scot starts writing negative comments in the volunteer comments books. When Rene cannot take it no more, she calls it quits with Scot and informs Jennifer that Scot has to go (Harley & Wolfer, n.d.). Jennifer however is determined to see Scot through and offers to work together with him for the remaining weeks. Scot on the other hand wants to away with him.  This presents a problem, which requires intervention. Jennifer She wants to see Scot through but both Scot and Rene wants to see the intern thing done with.

Perspectives that describe and explain interactions among individual, family, community, and organizational practice

There are several perspectives that explain how people interact with each other in the society. One of the perspectives is humanistic perspective. The perspective has basis on the human nature of people (Byrne et al., 2014). According to the perspective, everybody is unique and has value. This means that all people behave different based on their needs which are valuable. Any one cannot be judged based on the actions of someone else. Each individual has to be responsible for his/her action. However, when one behaves in a way not consistent with true self, then there is presence of anxiety.

Another perspective is the Operant conditioning theory. It argues that behavior learning has basis on the reinforcement it receives (Dale & Smith, 2013). When followed by positive consequence, behaviors are strengthened but when followed by a negative consequence they are weakened. Another perspective is the social constructionist perspective. This perspective focuses on how people learn through interacting with each other. People develop the understanding of the world and things around them through interacting with each other and then the understanding shapes the social interactions.

Intervention Goals and Objectives

There are several intervention goals in this case. First, the first goal is to mend the relationship between Scot and Rene. Rene has a program to launch and requires help. Scot on the other hand is required by the university to finish the intern to receive the credit. If the two worked together, they can achieve their goals. As the supervisor, I want them to achieve their goals. Rene is determined to see Scot gone and Scot is ready to leave. Once both of the individuals agree to work together, Scot has to understand that Rene is his supervisor and her decision is final.

Another objective is to help Scot see his internship through. Scot is ready to leave but Jennifer is determined to see him through with the internship. In this situation, I would use Sandra the university field liaison to explain to scot the consequences of not seeing the internship through. Scot does not seem to understand the importance of the internship to the organization and to him. If Scot agrees to stay, then Jennifer would be the direct supervisor though he will work together with Rene. However, I will consult with Lamina on the best way of making sure the two do not engage in a conflict again.

Intervention models

This case requires effective conflict models of intervention. A major intervention model is assessment. Using this model, I would collect all the necessary information a before trying to resolve the issue. It is important to speak to both Scot and Rene and get their views on the issue. No judgments or opinions would be given before all the information is collected (Avruch  & Black, 2014). Given that the conflict is also affecting other employees, it would be good to collect views from them. Once all the information is collected, then the situation will be assessed based on the data and appropriate action taken.

Another approach would be to communicate all the available options to the Scot and Rene and then create a common ground on which they can work (Abu‐Nimer, 1996). Both Scot and Rene should understand the consequences of engaging in the conflict again. However, this approach requires the assessment of the situation to generate the options. Another approach would be to the perspective approach. This involves understanding the perspectives of both Scot and Rene. Both have their perspectives about what each is doing wrong. Once the perspectives are understood, it is easy to determine what the real problem is. The conflict can be a result of issues with any of them or both of them.

Evaluating the Intervention

In evaluating the intervention, I would use observations and time lines to measure the success. I would observe several things. One of the things is how the working relationship between Scot and Rene is fairing. With their constant complaining, it would be easy to know how their working relationship was going. However, I would provide a one-week ultimatum for them to make peace with each other. Failure to do so is a failure in intervention (Nielsen & Randall, 2013). The major cause of the conflict is the paper work when recruiting new children into the program. While Rene feels they are not getting enough children for the paper work to be enough for auditing purposes, Scot feels they are not getting enough recruitment due to the paper work. The number of children recruited in to the program would be used as a measure of a positive working relationship.

Plans for Termination

If intervention fails fully, then I would have to terminate Rene, Scot, or both. As criteria for termination, I would look at why the intervention approaches are not working. This would require constant follow-ups to be able to identify the hindrances to intervention. If any of the parties is the hindrance to successful intervention, then the termination of the individual is inevitable. However, if other external forces were the hindrance to intervention, then I would try more intervention approaches.  However, it can happen that both parties are not interested in the intervention. This is so because Rene wants Scot to leave and Scot is ready to leave and if they cannot resolve their issues, then Scot can leave since he has no problem with Rene remaining behind.

Community Support Social Policy issues

The refugees act provide for the effective resettlement of refugees to assist them achieve self-sufficiency economically. Effective resettlements mean that refugees are cared safe. In line with this, the Somali Bantu summer program Rene is working on has to succeed. Rene is the spearheading g the program and terminating her would negatively affect the children (Wolfer, Franklin & Gray, 2014). However, Scot is only hindering the program in that he is questioning the procedures set up by the government to ensure efficient resettlement of refugees. Thus, if termination has to occur, it would be hard to terminate Scot without compromising the program.

 

References

Abu‐Nimer, M. (1996). Conflict resolution approaches. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 55(1), 35-52.

Avruch, K., & Black, P. (2014). Conflict resolution in intercultural settings: Problems and prospects.

Becvar, D. (2014). The family, spirituality, and social work. Routledge.

Byrne, J. H., LaBar, K. S., Ledoux, J., Schafe, G. E., & Thompson, R. F. (2014, July). Learning and memory. In Elsevier Inc..

Dale, O., & Smith, R. (2013). Human behavior and the social environment: Social systems theory. Pearson Higher Ed.

Harley, G. & Wolfer, T.A. I Case Study 5: I knew this internship thing would blow up!

Kelly, D. R. (2014). Social Work Mediation/conflict Resolution: The Benefits, Challenges, And Practitioner Improvements Associated With The Use Of Mediation/conflict Resolution In Social Work Practice.

Nielsen, K., & Randall, R. (2013). Opening the black box: Presenting a model for evaluating organizational-level interventions. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 22(5), 601-617.

Nyers, P. (2013). Rethinking Refugees: Beyond State of Emergency. Routledge.

Thompson, N. (2015). Understanding social work: preparing for practice. Palgrave Macmillan.

Ramsbotham, O., Miall, H., & Woodhouse, T. (2011). Contemporary conflict resolution. Polity.

Wolfer, T.A., Franklin, L.D. & Gray, K.A. (2014). Decision cases for advanced social work practice: Confronting complexity. New York: Columbia University Press.

 

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