Stages of Social Work Group Formation

There are a number of stages or phases in formation of

a social work group. Ken Heap (1985) discussed these

as group formation and planning; the first meetings;

the working phase; use of activities and action; and

the termination of the Group. According to Douglas

(1979) there are five stages viz., conceptualisation,

creation, operation, termination and evaluation. He

has discussed these as the functions of leader while

Toseland and Rivas (1984) discussed the stages under

planning phase, beginning phase, middle phase and

ending phase.

For our purpose we can discuss the stages of social

group work practice under the following five heads:

_ Pre-group (group formation) phase

_ Initial (first meetings) phase

_ Middle (Active working) phase

_ Evaluation of the group

_ Terminating/ending the group phase

In the pre-group phase worker identifies the need for

organising a group and initiates steps to form the group.

In the initial (first meetings) phase the worker and the

group members meet at the place specified --- agency

or any other place where group is likely to have its

sessions --- and initial orientation to the group’s purpose

and other information is given and shared. In the middle

(active working) phase the group continues its

deliberations and activities to accomplish its goals and

in evaluation phase the performance of the group is

examined vis-à-vis the group purpose and members,

goals. Finally, in the ending or termination phase the

group is made to dissolve and the worker enables the

members to part with each other on a goodwill note.

Phase I: Planning and Formation of the

Group

The social group worker representing an agency

providing services such as residential care, day-care

and community work may come across situations where

the services of the agency are effectively utilised by

the client system through a group experience. The

needs may even be identified by the other staff or client

system itself. Once the worker identifies the need for

formation of social work group, he/she starts planning

for the formation of the group. For this the worker has

to answer some questions with his/her professional

background very carefully and systematically. These

questions are:

Why is the group? Here, the worker has to look at the

need for forming the group. The purpose and goals it

can attain have to be conceptualised and defined.

For whom the group is being formed? Here, the task is

to work out type of members the group addresses to.

The eligibility criteria to enroll a member.

How many? This looks at the number of members the

group consists of. Should have large number or small

number of members.

How long? This focus on the life span of the group in

terms of time period and the number of sessions/

meetings it shall have. The group exists for days, weeks,

months and the frequency of its meetings.

How to ensure members’ involvement in the group?

The agreements the members and the worker enter

into ensure the group processes to go on till the

attainment of the purpose of the group.

Keeping in mind these questions the broad steps at

this stage are:

_ Formulating group’s purpose

_ Composition of the group

_ Size of the group

_ Enrolling the members

_ Contracting

Formulating Group’s Purpose: Here the worker has to

be clear in his mind as to why the group is being

conceived and what it is addressing itself to. The

purpose has to be expressed in a well defined

statement/s. It shall not be confusing and shall not

give any scope for suspecting its genuineness as to

group’s broad aim of helping the potential needy

members. Therefore, it shall be formulated in simple

statements. It shall provide answers to the potential

members as to what to expect and to what extent their

participating in the group is beneficial. A well-defined

statement of the purpose also takes care of unnecessary

members to join the group. It also enables the agency

that the formation of the group is within the confines

of the agency’s areas of operations and is not against

its interests and services. It also enable the sponsors

and other resource agencies what to expect from the

group.

Let us see some examples of the statements of the

purpose:

--- Group is to create platform for the parents of the

drug addicted college-going youth to share their

problems and develop the skills to manage their

wards.

--- Group is to enable the women in the community to

make productive use of their leisure time.

--- Group is formed to chalk out tasks to be

accomplished by the heads of the departments for

the forthcoming financial year.

--- The purpose of the group may subject to some

modifications to suit the changing demands during

the course of the group meetings with the

agreement of all the concerned parties to the group.

Composition of the Group: Once the group is

established then the worker has to look into what shall

be the composition of the group. Should it be

homogeneous in its composition or heterogeneous?

Homogeneity indicates sharing common features

among the group members such as age, educational

background, social class, and other interests .

Homogeneity helps in building the group bond faster

which is a decisive force in group process. At the same

time, it fails to provide diverse information, experiences,

and alternative ways of doing. Heterogeneity addresses

to the need for diversity of certain characteristics of

the members such as the length of time suffering with

or coping with the problem, the efforts put into deal

with the problem, the emotional state besides the

other demographic attributes. Diversity ensures

sharing of each other’s situations, making comparisons,

finding alternatives, and stimulates each other. At the

same time it poses problems of acceptance and

involvement. Therefore, it is an important task for the

group worker to decide the composition of the group

keeping in mind the broad purpose and the individual

member needs and goals. Another aspect that has to

be considered is whether to have an open group or a

closed group. In open group there are no restrictions on

joining the group from the point of the time. One can

be enrolled into the group any time during the life of

the group. While the closed group stops enrollment of

members after the stipulated time of admission. Opting

for open or closed group depends on the purpose, the

goals and the time frame set for the group.

Size of the Group: How many members shall compose

the group? What shall be the ideal size? What are the

criteria to determine whether the size of the group is

too big or small? All these questions are there in the

mind of the worker. There are no hard and fast rules

to determine the size of the group. It basically depends

on the purpose of the group and manageability from the

point of time, space, funds and some form of controls

that need to be introduced. Small size is easy to manage,

more cohesive, provides higher levels of interaction but

may not provide diverse experience, may not mobilise

the required resources and the balance of the group

is effected in case a member or two drops out. While

the large size provides diverse experiences and even

if some members drop out it will not adversely affect

the group deliberations and achievement of group’s

purpose, can mobilise more resources, greater scope

of leadership. But it limits time, all members may not

find enough time to share their views, experiences,

work, it gives scope to formation of subgroups and more

conflicts. It is easier for some members to hide and

avoid completing the tasks assigned. The professional

experience and expertise of the group worker comes

handy in determining the size of the group. Ideally a

group of eight to fifteen members is a good size.

Enrolling the Members: Once it is decided to form the

group and other modalities of the group viz., group’s

purpose, composition and the size of the group have

worked out, then the next step is to enroll the group

members. Here, the worker has to make arrangements

to inform the potential members about forming the

group. The information may be given directly to the

potential members or passed through a notice in the

agency’s notice boards, a circular to the staff and other

agencies concerned and by advertising in the media

such as newspapers, radio, television etc., seeking

applications from the interested members.

The prospective members may approach either directly

or by sending in their applications. The worker has to

examine the applications as to the suitability of the

candidates on the basis of eligibility criteria established.

The criteria include extent of need, urgency of

intervention, demographic attributes, experience, and

other skills. The worker can also arrange interviews

with the applicants to ascertain their suitability. By

interviewing the applicants the worker can also explain

to them about purpose of the group and dispel some of

their doubts about joining the group. Once the worker

completes the screening, the suitable applicants are

enrolled into the group.

Contracting: At the time of enrolling the members the

worker and members have to enter into an agreement

as to certain conditions that are to be followed during

the course of group process. It consists of a statement

of general responsibilities of the members and the

worker during the life of the group. Some of these

include assurance to attend the group sessions

regularly and in time, to complete any task or work

assigned, maintain the confidentiality of the discussions

of the group, not to indulge in a behaviour that is

detrimental to the well- being of the group. The contract

also specifies the fees or charges if any for undertaking

certain activities and for procuring any material, as

well as the penalties or fines the member/s have to

pay for any violations of the terms of contract. The

contents in the contract are subjected to revisions to

accommodate some unforeseen developments as the

group process unfolds. The contract may be in written

or an oral understanding. The contract binds the worker

and members to planned schedules of the group and

facilitate an environment to conduct the group processes

effectively.

Finally the worker has to prepare a stage for beginning

the group proceedings. He/She has to procure a

conducive place for group sessions either in the agency

itself or any other suitable place, arrange for monetary

back up, gather necessary information and material.

And make such other preparations for launching of the

group.

Phase II : Initial Meetings

In this section we are looking into what are the tasks

the worker and members have to undertake to begin

the group. In fact it is the most crucial stage as the

success or failure of the group depends on how well the

initial meetings are handled by the worker. The

members attend the meeting with a lot of expectations.

Member/s attend the meeting with the hope that time

has come to get over the problem that has been

affecting them over a (long) period of time. How much

of it is going to be solved? They are also enthusiastic

to meet and interact with others whom they have not

met before and who are also having similar needs/

problems. They will look forward to having new social

experiences.

While on the other hand members many entertaining

a number of doubts about the competence of the worker

and whether participating in this group exercise can

really deal with their problems effectively. They are

also having a number of fears. They do not know what

type of persons are the worker and other members. Is

the worker and other members are of friendly

disposition, understanding and sensitive and would not

misuse the confidential self-disclosures the member/s

likely to make in the group? Whether I can participate

meaningfully in the group deliberations? Will my

situation get more worsened? These are some of the

fears of the member/s.

Similarly the worker too has his /her own thoughts.

How much guidance the group expects from the worker

to accomplish its purpose and goals? Whether the

professional competence and experience is good enough

to handle the group? Whether the members accept him/

her? What type of new challenges and experiences the

group brings ?

The Steps Involved in this Stage are:

--- Self- presentations by the worker and the members

--- Orientation about the group

--- Goal formation

--- Structuring the group session

--- Reviewing the contract

Self-presentations: As soon as the group is convened

for the first time, the worker takes the initiative of

making the group members feel comfortable by friendly

greetings with each and every member. Once the

members are settled comfortably then the worker

introduces himself/herself giving personal and

professional details. The worker shall give adequate

information about himself/herself as possible so that it

not only makes members confident about the worker

but it also act as guide as to the details of information

they have to disclose when their self -presentations

turn comes. After that the members are asked to

introduce themselves. This exercise of introductions

shall be planned in such a way that it will help the

members to feel at ease, and come out with more details

about their situation. The worker should make them

understand that the more the details they give the better

will be their understanding about each other and will

make a way for developing trust which is very important

for effective results. There are a number of ways of

introductions. The worker can employ any of such

introductions keeping in mind the group’s purpose and

composition of the group. One way is to sit in a circle

and introductions start in either clockwise or anticlockwise

direction. Another way is the members are

divided into pairs and each pair is asked to exchange

information about each other and then one member of

the pair introduces the other and vice versa.

Orientation about the Group: After the selfpresentations

the worker shall orient the members

about the broad purpose of the group. Here the worker

spells out circumstances that paved the way for forming

the group. How their disadvantage/s are likely overcome

through the participation in subsequent group

processes. Members are told explained about the

functions and the roles of both the worker and the

members. The worker also mentions previous

experiences if any, so that members develop confidence

in the worker as well as the strategy of adopting group

work as a viable alternative. Members are encouraged

to seek clarifications as to the relevance of the group’s

purpose to their needs or problem situation. The worker

also explains the agency’s background.

Goal Formation: In this step, the goals of the group

are framed. Goals are statements of desired levels of

change in behaviour or in social situation or in physical

conditions to be achieved at some future time. The

purpose of the group, agency’s purpose, the needs of

the individual members and the modalities of conducting

the group---ThelenThelen norms of conduct --- determine

the goals. The worker assesses the individual needs of

the members and in consultation with them frames

the goals. Toseland and Rivas (1984) specified three

areas of goal formation. First area covers group

centered goals that revolve around the conduct and

maintenance of the group. Second area consists of

common group goals that address to all concerned people

--- worker, members, agency, sponsor, and finally the

third area is concerning individual member centered

specific goals. The goals are again viewed as ultimate

goal and a number of intermediary goals (Rose, 1973).

The ultimate goal indicates what final change in the

status quo is to be attained while the intermediary goals

that facilitate attainment of ultimate goal. These

intermediary goals are formulated session-wise and /

or stage-wise that is from the reference of time or

progress made. Konapka (1958) emphasises that while

framing the goals, care shall be taken to see that these

are complementing and supplementing rather than

conflicting and contradicting each other.

Some examples of the goals are:

- The parents of mentally retarded children join a

group to learn some better ways of coping up with

the challenges of upbringing their wards --- the

general need of the group members.;

- The purpose of the group is to provide a platform for

the parents of mentally retarded children to share

and exchange their skills in upbringing of the

children--- the purpose of the group formation.

- Agency’s purpose is to make parents take more

responsibility in bringing up their mentally retarded

children.

- A parent’s specific need is to learn to tackle the

aggressive behaviour of his/her child and to make

his/her spouse and other family members to accept

the child.

- The group centered goal is that all members will

share their problems without any reservations and

will not waste the group’s time by indulging in

irrelevant issues.

All these are complementing and supplementing each

other. For example, if the goal of joining the group is to

question the policies of the agencies or to demand for

more facilities then the goal is not complementary to

other goals and create problems in attaining other

goals, therefore, should not be included.

Structuring Group Session: Structuring the group

session involves two aspects. First is structuring the

time and the second addresses to the pattern of

interactions. The group has to work out how much

time has to be allotted to each session, to each activity

and to each member. The group has to evolve the

modalities of adhering to the time schedules. It has

also to work out alternatives in case of failure to adhere

to the time schedules. For example it has to spend 30

minutes for a video show but because of the electricity

failure, the video could not be played. Instead of idling

away the time the group can have a discussion focused

on the theme of the videotape.

The interactions among the members and between the

members and the worker have to be structured.

Structuring the interactions includes how to address

each other, how to and when to intervene and interrupt,

how to encourage docile and shy members to participate

and control the domination of some members. It also

includes certain group norms that are to be followed

strictly by the members.

Reviewing the Contract: At the time of enrolling, the

members and worker entered into an agreement of

working together. At that time the members might not

have good understanding about the whole exercise.

After attending to the orientation and having initial

interactions with the worker and with each other,

members and worker may feel the need to change some

conditions of the contract, for example, the frequency

of meetings, time and duration of the meetings, and

the fees etc. The contract is reviewed and new clauses

are introduced or some clauses are deleted from the

original contract with mutual consent.

Creating an environment that is conducive for the

healthy conduct of the group session is a continuous

process. The physical arrangements, financial back up

and mobilising resources are the areas the group

members and the worker have to work on.

Phase III: Middle (Active Working) Phase

This phase occupies the major part of the working

life of the group. Members attend the sessions

regularly and actively working towards accomplishing

its purpose and goals ---- general group maintenance

goals, common group goals and individual member goals.

The steps involved in this stage are:

_ Making arrangements for the conduct of group

sessions

_ Structuring the time

_ Facilitating group meetings

_ Assessment of the group’s progress

Making Arrangements for Group Sessions: The group

gears up for attaining various goals it is pursuing. The

worker and the members plan and make preparation

for the group meetings. The worker has to spend

considerable amount of time in developing the activities

and procedures for the conduct of the group meetings.

A number of decisions have to be taken with regard to

the selection of an activity or task, sequencing of the

tasks and activities, assigning responsibilities etc.

Materials and equipment to conduct the group activities

have to be procured. Resource agencies and persons

have to be contacted.

For example, a pre-retirement counselling group may

plan for exercises that would give them an idea about

the possible changes that take place in their social

status and roles and how best to cope up with the new

situation. The possible exercises could be role-plays,

screening of a video followed with a discussion, an

orientation lecture session by an expert counselor in

the field etc.

Structuring the Time: The worker continues this task

of setting the time limits for group sessions and

individual tasks which has already been initiated in

the previous phase as the life of the group is for a

specified period. The members and the worker have to

be quite conscious of using time to get maximum

benefit out of the group meetings. It is often the

tendency to delay the start the meetings for the sake

of latecomers. Delaying the starting time may encourage

late coming and cause inconvenience to others who

report in time. It also happens that the meetings are

either closed early or late. This is also not healthy as

it causes inconvenience to members who have other

works to attend and discourage them to attending or

they may not pay proper attention to the group activity.

Further, it is quite possible to get totally engrossed in a

particular group task and lose track of the time. This

may spill over into the other activity and giving it

insufficient time. Consequently the benefits from the

other activity are badly affected. So it is important that

members must carefully structure their time and follow

it.

Facilitating the Group Sessions: It is not sufficient

just to plan and prepare for the group sessions. The

very reason for forming the group is to enable the

members to come on to one platform to work towards

solving their problems, which they could not solve

individually. This suggests that the group needs

guidance and support to carry out the tasks it has set

forth. The worker has to take a lead in this and facilitate

the group to perform its tasks successfully.

At this stage of group’s life, the members seriously

pursue the goals of both individual and group. Worker

encourages members to actively involve in the group

activities, may they be sharing, discussing, and

performing a task. The worker develops some insight

into their strengths and weaknesses. It may be noticed

that some members are performing well and while

others do not show progress. Because of this the group’s

progress is affected. The worker has to facilitate the

non-performing members to perform. Equipped with the

sound knowledge base in human behaviour he/she

assists each and every member to be aware of their

cognitive processes --- intrapersonal processes --- that

are blocking their progress, and enables them to

organise their social transactions --- interpersonal

interactions --- in the gr oup to establish purposeful

relationship.

Intrapersonal limitations revolve around feelings,

thoughts, beliefs and behaviour patterns of the member.

For example when a member is asked to give his feeling

about the just concluded group session, if he/she

expresses that so and so member is rude in interacting,

then the member is giving his thought but not the

feeling which may unhappiness or happiness with the

session. Sometimes the member does not understand

the association between these cognitive processes. In

the above example the link between the thoughts and

feelings are not established if the member could link

the association between the thoughts of being dealt

rudely by others during the course of the session and

his/her being unhappy. In another case a member may

entertain irrational thoughts and beliefs. In the above

example if a member says that he/she feels the

behaviour of a particular member is rude towards him/

her because the member resembles somebody in his/

her past with whom he/she had bad relationships. The

worker facilitates the member to perform in desired

direction by making them to understand these mental

states. The worker then make suggestions for reframing

and restructuring of the thoughts and expressions, as

well as for stopping of the recurrence of unhealthy

thoughts to enable the member to deal with these

cognitive processes.

The worker facilitates interpersonal interactions

whenever he/she finds them deteriorating.

Deteriorating interpersonal relations are discerned

when members fail to communicate with each other,

participate in the group activities, avoids some members,

differ and pick up quarrels with each other, and form

subgroups and work against each other. The worker

helps to improve the interpersonal interactions by

introducing a number of ice breaking, role-playing,

modeling, and simulation exercises.

At the environmental level worker connects the members

with resources, creates congenial physical and social

environment.

Assessment of Group’s Performance: The group

processes are assessed with a view to ensure that group

attains its goals. It provides proper direction and

guidance to the group. It includes the assessment of

the levels of participation and involvement of group

members in the group activities, the changes that are

taking place in the members’ perceptions, attitudes and

behaviours, acquisition of new skills and strengthening

of existing skills that would help members to deal with

their problem areas and grow. It points out the areas

for and type of interventions that have to be planned

and implemented by the worker at individual level as

well as at the group level. The assessment is being

done by the worker, members themselves and others

who are associated with the group. The tools that help

in the assessment are:

Structured observations by the worker and other

members and self-observations of members themselves.

For example, it is decided to assess the communication

patterns among the members. The worker and members

are informed in advance or later, that is during or after

a specific task has been performed, to note their

observations on various aspects of communication such

as the language, the gestures, modes of communication

--- verbal or non-verbal --- the member/s resorts to.

Recording of the group meetings --- written reports,

audiotapes and videotapes, measurement scales of

behaviour, and sociogram etc. The interaction patterns,

behaviour manifestations, group attraction, situation

leading to conflicts, subgroup formations, leadership

styles are some areas that can be assessed by the

above mentioned tools. The process and procedures of

assessment are carried out with or without prior

knowledge of members.

Phase IV: Evaluation

Evaluation is an integral component of social group work.

The term evaluate simply means to examine the value

of. According to Trecker (1955), it attempts to measure

the quality of group’s experience in relation to the

objectives and functions of the agency. Evaluation

provides the necessary feedback on the performance of

the group. It is carried out after the end of group work

activity and before the group is terminated or sometimes

after the group is terminated depending upon the

purpose of the evaluation. It focuses on the worker’s

performance, agency support, the group process and

growth of the members. The evaluation may be

entrusted to the worker or to someone in the agency or

to an outside expert.

It points out that whether the worker competently dealt

with the group work process or not. What shortcomings

are constraining the worker to perform better? It enables

him/her to gain confidence and make efforts to improve

his/her professional knowledge and skills, gives him/

her the satisfaction that he/she is contributing for good

of the profession and the society.

Evaluation provides information to the agency as to the

quality of its service and the additional efforts it has to

make to improve its quality of services. The support it

has extended to the worker and group is at the desired

level or not.

It throws light on effectiveness and ineffectiveness of

planning and conducting the group sessions. How far

they could accomplish the goals for which they were

planned. Whether inbuilt monitoring systems are useful

and are properly executed or not.

It assesses the progress each and every member has

made. The extent to which each member made use of

the group experience to effectively handle his/her

problem/need. The changes that have come in the

member/s are to the desired extent or not.

Finally, it indicates measures to be taken not to repeat

the mistakes or overcome the shortcomings for future

groups formations and processes. Therefore evaluation

is not just a routine administrative job but also a guide

for the future.

Evaluation is a form of research process. It involves

data collection and analysis of data. The first step in

evaluation is to formulate the aims and objectives. This

exercise draws boundaries to the area of evaluation.

For example the aim of the evaluation is to find out the

competencies and abilities of the worker.

The second step considers what type of data and sources

from which the data are to be collected. Whether it is

verbal or non-verbal data. For example, to know the

performance of the worker the views of the members

are taken or the movements and gestures of the worker

are examined with the help of video tapes. The sources

of data could be from the progress reports maintained

by the worker, notes and other task files written by the

members of the group, other staff of the agency and

outside resource agencies/persons.

Third step involves collection of data. The evaluator

meets respondents and issues questionnaires, collects

them, administer interviews with respondents and

studies records and reports--- written, audio and video.

Fourth step is analysis of the data. The data gathered

is processed and analysed and conclusions are drawn.

For example if the aim is to find out whether individual

member’s goals are attained, the conclusions could be

yes or no.

Fifth elaborates the implications for the future. Based

on the outcome of the evaluation necessary changes

and improvements are made in future group work

practice for better results.

Phase V: Termination of the Group

All things have to come to an end whether one likes or

not and social work group is no exception. The end could

take place on a positive or on a negative note. That is

it happens since the group has accomplished its purpose

and goals or the time has lapsed or even because of

failure to carry on further. Therefore, the termination

of the group may be scheduled or unscheduled. The

unscheduled termination takes place when the

members fail to attend the group sessions continually

or drops out prematurely. This happens due to various

reasons. It could be due to a faulty enrollment, or

failure of the members to develop relationships, or

unresolved conflicts among the members and subgroups,

or style of functioning of the worker and so on. This

form of terminating of the group is disturbing and

disappointing to the worker as it reflects on his/her

professional competence. Nothing much can be done

in cases of unscheduled or abrupt endings.

In case of a scheduled termination the worker has to

take into consideration number of measures to ensure

smooth closure. The reaction of the members to the

termination of the group varies. The worker has to

have an idea as to the possible responses and reactions

the members express for the ending. The members

may welcome or disapprove the ending. Members mind

could be wavering between feelings of happiness or

unhappiness. Heap (1985) termed these as feelings of

ambivalence. One state of mind looks at the ending as

a good relief as there exists no need to face a number

of pressures of coping with the group norms, need not

interact with those they do not get along well, perhaps,

even the group worker, no longer have to share the

private and confidential information particularly in

groups where the self disclosure is a precondition and

emphasised.

While for other state of mind, the thought of disengaging

with the group is a shock and unacceptable, feelings of

getting once again isolated and alone in dealing with

the problem/need generates anxiety and fear, the reality

that the nurtured relationships with other members

coming to a close leads to worry, the thought of missing

the support and guidance of the worker produces

feelings of being abandoned and orphaned, how to fill

the vacuum created in the personal time that was

used for attending and preparing for group meetings

is a real challenge to face.

The worker has to be aware of these type of likely

reactions and responses of the members to the idea of

parting with the group and work towards termination.

The preparations for termination are very much included

in the middle phase itself.

It is important to prepare the members to the fact that

whatever desirable behaviour patterns the member/s

experience and exhibit have to be carried forward even

after the group comes to an end. The worker has to

create situations within the group environment and even

identify the real life situations where the member/s

can act out the changed behaviours independently. This

takes care of many of the members worry about missing

the group support once the group ends.

Some follow-up sessions can be promised to reassure

the member/s that they are not totally abandoned. Some

support and guidance is still available either from worker

or other members. The worker shall arrange activities

wherein both worker and other members express their

assessment of the progress already made and

improvements to be made by each and every one of them.

This exercise makes room for the group to deliberate

upon what efforts the member/s have to make after

the termination. Worker can suggest referral agencies

to the members who need guidance and support for

other shortcomings in future. Further, the worker gives

assurance to the members that whatever selfdisclosures

made by them are kept confidential and

will never be used against their interests. Members

themselves share same type of assurances.

In addition to these the worker has to do other routine

tasks such as preparing a report on the performance of

the group, acknowledge the services and support given

by resource agencies/persons, and pay the pending

dues.