Group Dynamics- NGO- Essay Assessment Answer

Group Dynamics Assignment

Assignment Task

You area a worker in a non-government organisaiton (NGO) and you have been asked to plan and facilitateoneof the following groups:

1. Multicultural youth festival organising committee.

2. Living with anxiety support group for men.

3. Therapy group for seniors experiencing depression.

4. Community recovery co-ordination group, after a major flood.

In an essay format, state which group you have chosen, what type of task or treatment group you think it is, and discuss how you would plan and begin the group. Critically analyse both the internal and external aspects that could influence the planning and beginning stages of the grou

Introduction

There are certain group of old people who experience depression. In such cases NGO’s can help these kinds of people to provide some treatment to those who cannot find any help from their family or friends. I have chosen to start a group for seniors who are suffering from depression. Seniors who have worked and supported for the society often get neglected at this phase of their lives. Their physical strength, illness etc add up to their existing difficulties. Often they are also the victims of poor finance. Thus lack of sufficient finance and difficulty in affording expensive health care led me to chose this group and help them. NGO’s are the social service sector who form a group and help needy people. Before starting any group it is important to find people who are as enthusiastic as you to plan and facilitate the group.

People with depression at their old age often feel lonely, lose interest in the activities they love and feel helpless as well as hopeless. Depression is very common in seniors and can be treated with right therapy, treatment and support. Depression starts affecting each and every part of the life like sleeping, eating, relationships etc. But unfortunately people fail to identify these symptoms and think it as a common part of old age. This group of people are usually low on motivation, distorted speech, sluggish movement, loss of memory power etc. In such case proper treatment is very essential. Some people have their family and friends who support them and help in speedy recovery. But there are also people who do not have any kind of support due to rapid urbanisation which has lost its traditional value and thus lead to suffering till the end ("NGO India: Charity in India, Elderly or Senior Care Non Profit Organisation - Help Age India", 2016). Me as a worker of NGO will help these kind of people by forming a group and giving proper therapy to them which will certainly help them for speedy recovery.

There are many techniques for the treat of seniors suffering from depression. The therapy includes staying connected with the patient. Getting connected and speaking to them will help them share their feelings. Even counselling the patients will help up to certain level for the patients to identify depression and help to express their grief as well as symptoms. This will also help the NGO to take appropriate measures for the therapy. Spending time with old people will also help us to feel good about our self and expand our social network. Helping old people to learn something new, motivating them to take interest will help them to distract their minds and overcome depression. Another therapy is creating opportunities for laugh. Motivate seniors to share humour jokes, stories or personal experiences or even you can share the stories and jokes to help in mood refreshment and boost. In this way an NGO can help and support seniors to overcome depression ("Depression in Older Adults: How to Recognize the Signs and Get Treatment that Works", 2016).

Once the NGO is registered, the next step is to form a committee who will take care of the group. The group should be motivated in such a way that it will work independent of the leadership. If some sort of control is maintained than the group gets dependent and the workers may feel frustrated and will not be able to enjoy their work ("How to start a successful NGO in 10 steps", 2016). The next step is to clarify and set a clear and achievable goal. This can be achieved from starting with small and then completing it and later following it.

To run any group in NGO it is important to raise funds. Funds can be raised through subscription charges, donations, member ship fees, sales etc. Funds help in the maintenance of the NGO. Even making an action plan is an important aspect for the NGO to be successful. The action plan should include what all is needed for the therapy. Therapy needs professional people for counselling and treatment. Even nutrition expert is needed to give a proper diet plan for the seniors. Thus finding appropriate professional for these activities should be a part of action plan. Care should be taken not to maximise the need for money to the group. As this will pressurize the workers of the group to maintain NGO as well as hire professionals.

The next major and most important step is media. When planning and beginning a group of NGO it is very necessary that people know about it. This is helpful to raise funds and donations for the NGO as well it is also helpful for the senior people to get themselves admitted into the group. Thus proper marketing which includes digital marketing is very essential. The first and foremost thing to do is to develop a website. A good website will attract funds, donations, membership as well as gives a professional appearance to the group. The meetings that are needed can also be reduced with websites. Digital marketing such as blogging, SEO etc will help the workers to stand out. Also publishing the details with contact information in news papers, magazine, pamphlets etc will be helpful.

Making contacts with as many people as possible will be very helpful in many ways. Knowing people will help to get contacts of professionals who will be useful for counselling, nutrition expertise, special therapy etc. Employing people whom you know may turn out to be helpful to reduce the need of money and financial problems can be minimised. Thus make friends with locals, organisations etc who do similar work as yours which will help to learn from their experience. Social networking thus will benefit in many ways to the group to be started. The final step is re – evaluating everything to reduce any mistakes and put all the efforts to make it successful.

The internal factors include people, organisation, structure, documentation etc. There are many internal aspects that influence planning and beginning stages of group like the staff should be motivated before beginning the group, proper documentation for planning, everyone should be willing to learn and work together, dependence on each other should be eliminated, the working environment should be peaceful so that the proper focus can be maintained (Boas, 2016).

Some of the external aspects that influence planning and beginning stages of the group are should maintain good contacts with people for the benefits of NGO group, should have proper location to operate before beginning the group, maintain good relationship with funders, proper availability of the resources, effective publicity of the NGO group through media etc (Boas, 2016). Proper scanning has to be done which refers to analysing both internal and external aspects that may cause any change or lead to any problems in planning and beginning stages of the group. Once all the aspects are analysed effectively, there will be very less possibilities of mistakes and thus smooth functioning of these stages can be expected ("How Internal and External Factors Drive Organizational Change - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com", 2016).

Summary: NGO’s are the service sectors which help people who are in need. Several NGO have different kind of people with different therapy and treatment. I being a worker of NGO planned to start group for seniors who are suffering depression. Rapid urbanisation has led to people not caring each other and thus depression hits old people often. There are many symptoms of depression like feeling lonely, helpless etc which many people fail to identify. There are several therapy available which can be provided to people suffering from depression like counselling, follow healthy diet, laugh together etc. Thus to start any group it is necessary to plan effectively which includes forming a committee which is enthusiastic about the work and will the run the organisation. Raising of funds, planning for proper financial funds, documentation, publicity of the NGO group through website, news paper etc has to be done. Expanding the social network will help in employing right people and within the budget of the organisation. It will also help in gaining knowledge through experience. Analysing both internal and external aspects that influence the planning and beginning stages of the group is very essential. Scanning of the environment is done to analyse the aspects and reduce the possibility of any mistakes and thus will help the organisation to succeed in all the later stages of operation as well.