The Perils And Opportunities Of Knowing Your Personal Values, And Cultural Background

When we are communicating verbally with a client we have to remain polite, calm and focused, this is so messages don’t get misinterpreted and the progress of the conversation will be successful.

A. It is important to observe an indviduals reactions when communicating to gauge how people are feeling in the situation. Some people may have barriers when it comes to communicating such as personal space issues. It is imperitive to make the client feel as comfortable as possible when communicating, if the person looks to be feeling uncomfortable with how you are communicating they may not be taking in the information you are giving them putting them at potential risk or if it is the client that is giving the information they may be holding something back again putting them at risk.

I do need to be aware that I will need to adapt the way I communicate with different audiences because different people all require me to connect with them in a variety of different styles, i.e. adult-adult, child-child, adult-child. By using effective communication I am able to help clear up conflicts, build harmony and overcome any communication gaps which, themselves can create conflict amongst people.

When evaluating practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities, it is necessary that Competency 2: Ethical Practice and Competency 3: Critical Thinking are taken into consideration. Competency 2 requires that social workers are able to recognize and manage personal values in a way that allows professional values to guide practice. Competency 3 requires social workers to demonstrate effective oral and written communication in working with individuals, families, groups, communities, organizations, and colleagues. By following these competency skills, a social worker is able to evaluate their experience with these different populations without being bias, and can display diversity within the profession of social work.

Communication can be adapted very easily, usually without you realising. However, the style used can make a big difference, and help build and maintain positive relationships.

Being able to adapt methods of communication we are able to communicate more effectively with all clients, those that are younger for instance might respond better to a friend like approach explaining things in a light friend to friend manner using layman’s terms, while a more mature person will appreciate a more professional approach and may understand and feel better with a more technical explanation of the treatment.

When speaking to my client I always have a positive body language always making sure I listen and take time to smile and make my client feel relaxed and at ease and able to trust me, and that I will deal will their needs in the best way for them.

Personal values and professional values run parallel in the social work field. Recognizing and managing your personal values while working with clients is an important task. Concentrating on your professional values is required for a social worker to assist her client to the best of her ability. During my internship there have been a number of cases that I have had to practice managing my personal values.

In this paper I will begin by defining personal culture and national culture. After, I will then elaborate my own personal and national culture. I will continue to talk about the subject with the person that I have chosen for my cultural group, my mother, and I will identify her personal and national culture. Lastly, I will talk about my own personality and how it has a connection with my own natural culture; knowing this is important, it lets us know who we are, and how we act with people who are from different cultures.

In order to become a great social worker, one has to develop great skills and be familiar with different strategies that will allow a social worker to help in the best way possible. Identifying your strengths, and weaknesses is a great way to start the process of learning about the areas one has to improve on. This paper will discuss my personal values, and how my values and feelings influence my attitudes and behaviors. In order to fully explore my identity I have taken the following surveys; professional identity development survey (PIDS), core survey, and VIA character strengths survey.

I communicate in a very practical, concise way. Give me the facts, make it simple and I will happily receive your communication. I once worked with an individual who did not appreciate facts or concise conversations. She preferred large, sweeping hand gestures, flowery stories and lengthy conversation to communicate a concept. She and I have very different communication styles. I quickly learned that if I used my concise techniques, she did not understand nor appreciate the conversation. If I wanted to effectively communicate with her, I had to adopt her style, tempo and verbosity. Once I adopted this method,

There are many other communication methods and styles that you can use to make sure you are always putting the communication and needs of your clients first.

A great majority of people in the United States are defined as minorities, as a group of people who are in the minority racially, compared to the majority which is defined as White. While being defined as a minority statistically is acceptable, being made to feel as a minority is a very upsetting reality to a lot of people, as they are sometimes made to feel like second class citizens. Many individuals respond differently when made to feel like a minority, and have to question the value of their ethnicity, as they have to fight the general stereotyping by the masses.

The sibling culture I experience weighs more on the collectivist culture. This is because my relationship with my siblings is primarily grouped based. We value group cooperation and harmony rather than a competitive spirit or individual desire. Evidence of this is depicted as we work together to complete the task of finishing our chores. We constantly split chores and alternate. We also work together to help each other out, both academically and emotionally. As a middle child, I have experienced helping out my younger brother and receiving help from my two older sisters. Interdependence and mutual support is a big part of my collectivist culture. Whenever there are decisions to be made, as siblings, we always communicate with

Understanding the differences and similarities inherent in other cultures may provide opportunities when working with individuals (or groups) who may have very different or similar cultural values. Through the work of many people, more is known about other cultures’ values than perhaps ever before. Geert Hofstede is one of these people, and his work has allowed for a greater understanding of cultural values across a wide range of dimensions. His work has grown from four dimensions to six, and as more information is gathered this will perhaps increase as well. In the first section, the first four dimensions of cultural values will be discussed briefly. Next, all six dimensions will be given for the United States (US) and Japan, and will be considered according to the highest and lowest differences between dimensions of these two countries’ cultural values. In addition, considerations for applying motivational theories toward individuals from these two countries will also be discussed. Lastly, a single dimension will be selected for each country and a recommendation given accordingly that could help improve performance.