Question:
Discuss about the Skills of Critical Reflection to Evidence.
The video is about interviewing, one of an important aspect of communication. In the video, two persons are seen entering in a conference type room. One of these persons is Christine, the interviewer, who is interviewing a person. However, before starting the interview session, Christine asks if he would prefer tea or coffee. This asking refers to her ethics towards giving a warm welcome to her guests and making them comfortable to the interview. Giving a signed form to the interviewee, consisting of the reason for the interview proves apt in terms of averting any false claims regarding keeping something confidential. The form, therefore, can be said as an agent for Christine in terms of having a transparent communication with the interviewee.
Providing choice regarding filling up the form reflects christine’s liberal approach towards the interviewer. This type of approach is apt in terms of protecting the individual sentiments of the persons. Herein, the legislation, Data Protection Act (1998) seems relevant. The appearance of Christine is apt in terms of luring the interviewee for getting the required answers. Herein, lays her capability to emerge successful in making practical applications of the learnt skills in terms of efficient execution of the allocated duties and responsibilities. Making the interviewee understanding the dynamics of the interview session enhances the personality of Christine.
From the facial expressions of Christine, it seems that she patiently listens to the answers of the interviewee. This patience helps her in the development of the report regarding the interview. Delving deep into Christine’s expressions, it transforms according to the weightage of the answers provided by the interviewee. This is very important in terms of making the interviewee assured that the contents generated by them are being considered and valued. Eye to eye contact is an important component of interviews, which helps Christine and the interview to understand each others’ approaches in response to the proposed questions. Studying the approaches helps Christine to picturize the interviewee in terms of the expressions. Christine wants to know every response in details, which reflects her inquisitive nature in terms of enriching her preconceived skills, expertise and knowledge.
The setting is one of the other important aspects of interview. The setting needs to be such, which helps the interviewee to concentrate on the questions, forwarded to him. The setting of the video is apt, as there are minimal furniture and books on the bookshelf. The sole presence of Christine gives confidence to the interviewee in terms of giving proper answers to the proposed questions. Christine’s warm gesture in the form of offering tea or coffee is flexible enough for reducing the nervousness of the interviewee.
Making the interviewee sit on the chair instead of the sofa is apt in terms of luring his attention towards the questions, for which Christine needs the answers. This adds value to the aspect of face-to-face communication. The things placed on the table can be considered unnecessary. This is because many things can deviate the concentration of the interviewee. However, the interviewee in the video seemed firmed in producing the contents to the answers, which was forwarded to him by Christine.
Let’s take the example of the child, who works in the restaurant from morning to evening, toiling hard to serve mouth-watering delicacies to the customers, according to the orders of the owner. Being treated as a slave shatters the dreams of the 12-year-old girl regarding going to school and becoming rich. This aspect of shattering the dreams stains the individuality of the little girl. Delving deep into the issue, employing children is a punishable act. Most of the times, the children encounter tragic fates of murder, rape among others. This fate is the greatest challenge in terms of attaining academic establishment (Myers 2008).
The issue of child abuse is mostly found in the threshold of United States. The statistics revealed by the United States government is striking in terms of the academic establishment of the students in the schools. As a matter of specification, every year, 3 million children get abused, adding an ombre shade to the future of the students (Childhelp.org 2017). Viewing the intensity of the issue, the United States government has made a mass appeal through the social media. The website, ChildHelp, briefs the public about the basics of child abuse, asking them to make donations for transforming the life of the victimized children (Childhelp.org 2017). The website caters to the nourishment and care of the children, who have underwent physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, emotional abuse among others.
Governmental assistance has enabled the agencies to take care of the development of these children. Agencies such as Child Welfare Information Gateway have taken up the responsibility to protect such children from child abuse, financially assisting their families to maintain the balance in their lives. Adherence to legislations such as Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) helps the agency personnel to provide protection and care to the children in a legal manner (Myers 2008). The law officials of the government frequently keep tracks of the services provided by the agencies to the children. One of the beneficial aspects of the governmental initiatives is the provision of free and elementary education to the children through easy admissions in the schools. For this, the personnel indulge in partnerships for achieving stability in the financial parameters (Aifs.gov.au 2017).
Federal laws have been implemented for upgrading the standards of the laws and policies related to child abuse. Approvals by the state governments validate the functionalities of these agencies in terms of altering the predicament of the children, victims of abuse. Not just approvals, the state government govern the operations of the agencies regarding the provision of the required care to the abused children. These operations include the arrangements for fooding, lodging and education (Childhelp.org 2017). In all of these operations, quality is an important element.
The websites are the agents for informing the public about the latest updates regarding the prevention of child abuse. Recently steps have been taken to provide every member with easy login access to the website. The volunteers keep a track of the online visitors and rank them. This ranking system helps the personnel to assess the success, which they have achieved in terms of the actions undertaken previously (Childhelp.org 2017).
As the appeal is humanitarian, therefore, the stakeholders and shareholders are not pressurized for donations. Whatever they willingly give, is added to the funds. These donations are reviewed frequently for assessing the financial conditions in terms of the constructed plans for uplifting the conditions of the abused children. These funds help a lot for organizing cultural shows for the amusement of the abused children (Childhelp.org 2017). Apart from the mass appeals, the agencies collect funds through charity shows, product launches, charity matches among others. Viewing it from the other perspective, these fundraising events strengthen the bondage between the agencies and the government officials. This strength possesses flexibility for the introduction of lucrative offers and schemes for the children, who have been abused (Childhelp.org 2017).
An innovative concept here is the provision of adoption. This is also according to the federal laws introduced by the state government officials. The couple, who intends to adopt any child need to produce a written statement of appeal to the in-charge of the agency, which is verified by the government officials. The grounds of verification are- citizenship of the native country, no crime records, stable income among others (Childhelp.org 2017).
The case scenario mentioned here is about a person named George who is said to visit the clients of the office where he is an employee, without informing the manager about the same. This situation will be analyzed based on the AASW Code of Ethics. This body of the Code of Ethics is related to the responsibilities and values related to the profession of social work. This code is established in order to assist the social workers individually and collectively so that they can act in ways that are ethically accountable to pursue the professional aims.
This case is related to the ethical guidelines numbered 3.3, which is related to Professional Integrity. The guidelines say that the needs of the organization should be given priority over the personal needs or gains. The authority or power given to the employees should be used in such a way so that it serves humanity. The professional decisions made by the person should be ethically accountable. Maintaining professional conduct is also important in this case and the person or the member should behave with responsibility and dignity. This case can be further related to the number 5.2 of the ethical guidelines of the social workers. The number 5.2.1 of the ethical guidelines mentions about the priority of the interest of the clients. In this case the interest of the client is given highest priority. George has also the highest priority to the interest of the clients, however in the process he is hurting the interest of the company. According to the ethical guideline that has been mentioned, in this case the member needs to convince the clients that the process of fulfilling his interests may affect his safety and integrity. He should convince him in such a way so that he can take care of the interest of the client without hurting the interest of the organization of which he is a part. The member should coordinate with the other members of the organization and provide them the knowledge about the interest of the client and try to work in his interest. This is the case in which the priority of the interests of the clients are more important as compared to the interests of others. In this case George has to inform his manager about the problems related to the client. Further, he should take the initiative to solve the problems related to the client with the help of the other members of the organization. In this manner, he will work in the interest of the client as well as the organization. On the other hand, if he tries to solve the problems of the client without providing the information to the manager, he is ultimately taking an illegal step. This step will have a negative influence on the future career of George and further, the client may also have to face problems related to this situation. Hence, it is advisable for George to follow the ethical guidelines mentioned in the AASW Code of ethics related to the dilemma he is facing and accordingly take the right decisions related to this. According to the Code of Ethics numbered 5.4.1 the members of this body must always follow the rules and regulations that are stated by the organization in which they are working. The members need to follow the standards that is best possible to maintain the standards of their organization. The members will be held accountable for the steps taken by them and the practice that they maintain in the organization. The members need to work in such a way so that they can improve the procedures and policies of the organization. The interest of the clients’ needs to be taken care of by the members of the organization. In this case, George is working against the policies of the organization by visiting the clients of the organization without the knowledge of the manager. George needs to follow the mentioned guidelines and thereby try to solve the problems related to the client within the organization itself. George needs to take personal interest in the issue and further try to bring ant types of changes that are required to solve the problems related to the client and serve his interests. In this manner, George will be able to solve the problems related to the client and he is not working against the interest of the company. This analysis of the AASW Code of Ethics shows that the members of an organization can solve the clients’ problems by sticking to the ethics (Heinz 2014).
It was a proud moment for me when I received the Employee of the Month award. As I was going to the stage to receive the award, I was feeling nervous. However, when I reached the stage and saw the Jury and the Board members, I was feeling more nervous. When I took the trophy in my hand, I was filled with happiness. I was feeling as if I am the best among all my colleagues. A picture was taken, which consisted of me taking the award from the hands of one of the Jury members. After coming down the stage, all of my colleagues congratulated me on my success and wanted a treat from me. I thanked them for their wishings and greetings.
For reflecting on this event, I would refer to Gibbs reflective cycle. Narrating about the event in details is my consideration of the first element, Description. Thoughts, emotions and feelings, which I exposed upon receiving the award relates with the second component, Feelings. Critical reflection of the two elements results in taking stance in favor of the fact that feelings are the immediate outcome upon exposure to the events taking place around me. These feelings help me to evaluate its effectiveness and appropriateness in terms of the benchmark performance level, which I identified and specified prior to the initiation of the allocated duties and responsibilities.
After evaluation, I analyzed the fact that I should have been reserved in terms of my expressions and feelings. This award is not my last award. This is just a small appreciation, which has made me realize that I need to maintain consistency in exposing better performance. As a result of this, I made short term goals at the first instance. I thought if I succeeded in achieving these goals, I would make long-term goals, which would enhance within the confidence to handle the challenging and enduring tasks, which awaits in the future times of the tenure of my employment.
On the other hand, I also analyzed that my expression was appropriate in terms of being awarded suddenly. This is natural that when individuals are awarded, they are so excited that they forget all the rationality and consciousness, which they need to expose in the society for the enhancement of their personality. This in-depth analysis can be considered as my self-introspection on being praised. The previous sentence can be correlated with the element of evaluation. Taking into consideration the analysis, I concluded that I should not stop here. This award is just a simple motivation for me, to continue performing like this and attaining new heights of success.
This conclusion helped me to take the decision to attend various courses on being the best employees. This decision is my action, the penultimate component of the Gibbs reflective cycle. Mere taking the decision would not yield positive results for me. I constantly need to evaluate the ways and means through which I can upgrade the standard and quality of my performance. Attending personality development courses would be an effective option for me. Along with this, if I attend Spoken English class, my preconceived communication skills would be polished. This way I could create a positive image in the minds of the foreign delegates by giving presentations in fluent English. Practicing the learnt skills in front of the mirrors would improve my confidence regarding speaking in front of a large audience.
All the components of Gibbs reflective cycle are interrelated with each other. Therefore, I need to maintain the cycle in order to develop self-observation skills. On the contrary, if I stop in between, the main purpose of considering the theoretical perspective would be destroyed. This would generate negative outcomes, acting as a threat for me in terms of achieving professional and personal development. Even if I fail at some point of time, I should use that failure to reach to success, as there goes a saying, “Failures are the stepping stones to success”. Attempting to make up for the failure would enhance my personality in terms of desperately trying to reach to achieve success. On the contrary, lackadaisical attitude upon receiving the award of Employee of the month would be my over-confidence, which would compel me to encounter negative results.
For gaining energy and improving concentration, listening to light music can be beneficial. Along with this, doing exercises in the morning would help to remain fit, reducing the chances of me falling sick. Here, maintaining a healthy lifestyle is very important in order to prove my contribution towards workplace as well as personal life.
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