Discussion 05: Ethical, Cultural, and Group Management Issues
Please note: In order to successfully complete the program, you must respond to this post. Your comment/response should answer the questions/show that you completed the given activity (if any). Read the post carefully and implement the learning in the chat rooms. If you didn't participate in Discussion 04: Group Leadership
, then check here!
This discussion highlighted some of the major points related to ethical, cultural, and group management
The competent group leaders act ethically in leading the groups. And, achieving this type of competence requires more than good intentions. Many well-intended group leaders have engaged in an activity while lacking solid ethical principles. It could probably be because of unawareness of the code of conduct and guidelines. So, a high level of familiarity with the guidelines is important so they act as professionals and leaders while leading any group.
A few points to remember:
Privacy and Confidentiality. It could be possible a group leader may also be a long term listener for a member. Members might have shared their situation in detail with them in a 1:1 setup. But, when you are a group leader, you need to ensure you are not bringing up the matter discussed in 1:1 with members unless the members themselves bring up the topic and discuss it with the rest of the group as well.
Follow Community Guidelines. Preach what you can follow. As a group leader, you would need to intervene from time to time to ensure the group is running effectively. Reminding users that they follow community and chatroom guidelines while participating. But, at the same time, remember to be the first to follow the guidelines too. So, you are able to model the role behavior in the groups.
Make unbiased decisions. In a group, everyone is equal to you as a leader. Even if you communicate with some of them more frequently than others. If anything goes wrong or you find anyone being unsupportive or unacceptable behavior, take the decisions without any bias. So, the group could trust you and know that you are impartial and there for everyone and against wrong behaviors. For more, here are the community guidelines.
Members in the group come from different backgrounds, demographics, and cultural differences. So, as a leader, it is significant to respect and acknowledge the cultural differences and highlight the common grounds to connect all members of the group. Such behavior allows members to feel inclusive and comfortable in the groups to share.
And the group management issues include conflict management. You may observe that sometimes misunderstanding or disagreement causes conflict between two or more people leading to an unsupportive and unhealthy environment in the room. So as a leader, it is your time to take action and settle down the conflict to ensure room and group stay supportive and comfortable around each other. Spontaneity is the key to restrict such events from happening.
Discussion: What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room? What would you do to handle it?
Activity: Respond to at least two of your fellow trainees' comments with thoughts on their share.
After fulfilling the requirements of this post, please check out the next discussion here. Ensure to implement the learning from these discussions in the chat rooms to build and support the group. You must take part in the brainstorming/activities given in all of these discussions to successfully complete the program.
@ASilentObserver
1. Miscommunication jokes can be misunderstood in the room or not like by all n can cause conflict.
2. New members don't feel welcomed or feel left out tines in rooms.
3. Some members may start speaking their own language making it difficult to moderate aswell if any statement goes against guidelines for any mods who don't understand that particular language.
@Healingbeams
I've also seen jokes being misinterpreted and that does usually end in disagreements. I would agree with that. Every time I have seen that though, the mods do a great job of getting things back under control
@Healingbeams I remember seeing all of these happening in group chats, especially misunderstood messages. It's very difficult to read expressions from merely text, unless accompanied by emojis or phrases of emotions. And these misunderstandings can definitely lead up to arguments and disruption to the whole group.
@ASilentObserver
What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room? What would you do to handle it?
I sometimes see people having disagreements over different cultural beliefs. So when I see that, I try to remind everyone that it is okay to have different belief systems and that it is a safe place for everyone to discuss what is important to them. Its important for leaders to not be bias towards one person, particularly if you are close to some members, because everyone in the room should feel supported and heard.
@beck1, while discussing politics and religion is not allowed, sometimes political and religious differences are the reason for "cultural" disagreements. I think that the host or moderator should steer the topic away from them as soon as possible, since it is just not helpful to *support* rooms. Not every room is the same, but in the best case random debates get in the way of others seeking support. In many cases, they cause animosity and hurt participants.
@beck1
This is awesome! I try to do the same thing as it doesn't matter what culture or society we come from, at least here at 7cups. We all come here for the same reasons whether its to give support or feel supported.
@beck1 I definitely agree with this. And I also agree with Sunrise's response. This platform is open to many countries across the globe, so for a group member to express their disagreement over different beliefs and views, it doesn't ever have to turn into a huge argument within a group chat as long as the group leader ensures the safety of everyone and a peaceful non-biased setting when witnessing opposing sides of a certain topic during discussion. It can always go civilly, but these situations are often challenging to deal with.
I am so glad to see how you handle it when situations like those come up!
We do all have different backgrounds and that's okay, we are still valid.
Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!
So, the prompt here was: Discussion: What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room? What would you do to handle it?
So, I have seen in the past some discordance with regards to: sexual orientation.
While members were supportive of the person who was sharing, they were judgmental towards the person's share afterwards, and suggested that the person see it another way. In some way, I saw the harsh judgement as homophobia.
What did I do to handle it? I suggested that we refrain from judgement about people's particular shares and that we try to support the person who was sharing.
I don't think I was going to be able to erase the person's judgement, but I could at least acknowledge that I saw it happened and I could affirm to the person sharing that their share was valuable and they are worthy as a person.
@VioletVeritas, it is indeed terrible to come to a room, open up about something that makes us feel vulnerable and receive unsupportive comments. I am always sad when I see that and usually try to make sure it does not happen again. It is so much worse, if it is a problem that involves prejudice and hate. It is true that we cannot erase those hurtful statements. I agree that we should at least be there for them, empathize with them and affirm their worth. I hope that overall, they will still feel better and somewhat safe, but that can be hard to tell.
I think in certain situations, we need to clearly stand up for the member who got hurt. Racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination are not tolerated for a reason. The challenge I see is that sometimes, hurtful statements are written to only imply those things and it can therefore be difficult to address the matter in a group chat that moves quickly.
@VioletVeritas
Great answer violet. Since 7 cups is judgment free zone we should try our best to not judge a person and remind everyone to do the same. And everyone has stories behind them, since we don't know what is that, that's totally unfair to judge.
@VioletVeritas I see how that is a tough thing and you had a good response. Texting is up to interpretation that is why is it one of the least popular ways to communicate though. Maybe they didnt mean it to be rude or could they have been frustrated?
What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room? What would you do to handle it?
I will talk about an ethical problem that concerns hosts who are also moderators.
Sometimes people in a room will call on the moderator to use their moderation tools. They may try to inform a moderator who just joined about something that happened before they entered. Or they may try to convince them of something that may or may not be true or obvious.
They often expect the moderator not only to be able to do what they believe to be the right thing, but also that they should be believed and relied upon when it comes to determining facts. This expectation becomes stronger for some the more regularly they are in the room. After all they are known in the room and command a certain amount of respect because of that.
This notion becomes stronger with the growth of the relationship between them and the moderator. Especially if it's a member-listener relationship, there is a lot of trust involved. It may seem natural to them if the moderator took their word as truth.
This results in certain expectations and their disappointment when a moderator acts according to the rules and treats everyone fairly.
The moderator does not only have to disappoint that particular member by treating them like everybody else. They should also question themselves: they need to be aware of their own bias and emotions.
@MagnificentSunrise
Sunn! Great answer. As a leader we should always treat everyone with equal respect. We should value everyone. Leaders can't do favouritism because it can disappoint others and may lead to another conflict or argument.
@MagnificentSunrise so true
@ASilentObserver
What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room?
New members feel not welcomed and ignored.
Sometimes the group chat turns into 1-1 chat because the regular members doesn't reply to new members and carry-on with their chat. Then they feel ignored and may cause lack of confidence to start a new conservation or join the ongoing conservations. Maybe they can decide to not join group chats because they don't feel welcomed.
What would you do to handle it?
Always try to welcome the members when they entered to the room.
Start a conversation which can relate to everyone in the room so they all can participate.
Use icebreaker questions and riddles .
@Tobedoctor
I have noticed the same and I have handled it the same way. Great job
@Tobedoctor I agree with this, it happens a lot when there are less group members in a chatroom as well as a full chatroom. In a discussion, it's definitely up to a group leader/ host to make sure everyone get's a chance to share or express their thoughts, as well as welcoming newer visitors who may also want to participate. Those suggestions on ways to handle it are great :)
@ASilentObserver
One issue I often recognize Is the cultural issue, where members will be conversing in a non-English language in a group. I would solve this by kindly asking members to speak in a language that we all understand as we don't want anyone to feel excluded, especially in a time where they need support. of course if still they don't listen then issuing warnings is the solution.
@SoothingHope
That’s a good suggestion and probably they should add in the group chat rules to make sure everyone uses the English language and for anyone wanting to converse in the other languages they know they can always chat in the 1:1 chat messages.
@SoothingHope I like this observation, are there now subgroups with thos who are not ELL?
@ASilentObserver
Discussion: What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room? What would you do to handle it?
One group management issue I recognized in the room is when participants already in the group chat would talk about a specific topic and not recapping or opening that discussion to new participants to join in.
What I would do is let everyone know that it would be more inclusive as a group to summarize the conversation and offer input from some of the new participants so that they’ll know what’s happening and at least feel they are acknowledged whether they can respond or intend to just read along.
@Mari228
I make sure to summarize what is going on in the room as well as it is important to get newer members or those who have just joined a chance to participate if they want. Also encouraging the room to welcome others is another good way to foster inclusiveness.
@ASilentObserver
What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room? What would you do to handle it?
one group management issue is that sometimes leaders will become "clique-ie" and pay more attention to the members or other listeners they are more familiar with. If this happened, I would reach out to the discussion leader and see if there was a way we could work out that would make the room more inclusive. Using icebreakers to get others involved is a great way to disperse cliques in the rooms as well.
@Endure777 I don't think I've witnessed it myself so far during my time here, but that is definitely an issue to prevent from happening in a group support room.
@Endure777 great reflection and plan on how to increase inclusivity!
What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room? What would you do to handle it? I think one ethical issue that I recognize in a room is that if someone asks a question or others wont read prior messages or the members or listeners dont feel heard. Something I do is I repeat the question or ask the person to repeat it and I also mention to hold typing for a couple minutes and that usually works.
@blissfulTouch29 yes this happens a lot since many users are accessing group chats from different platforms, so the way they can see earlier messages can vary. Which is why it's good to repeat sending the questions or topics so that everyone can catch up with the discussion, even though it can be quite tedious depending how crowded the group is :)
@OakSerenity
Yeah
@ASilentObserver
Discussion: What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room? What would you do to handle it?
I recall a group management issue I had when I was volunteered as an on-spot host in a chatroom for the new hour. For some reason, this caused a few members to be unhappy when I proceeded to start a new session. They assumed I was ignoring the queue (which I already took note of) of one member that has yet to share. This was already a new hour, so I chose to follow the script as usual knowing that it's a new session with a new host (me). It lasted several minutes of arguing between members and listeners before the moderators were able to sort it out.
If it were to happen again, I have to make sure to share and explain how the chatroom works as there are support rooms that more structured than others, this way the group members will know and understand what to do in this particular chatroom. This is mostly found in the script anyway, so it's good practice whenever I always start a new session. And if one were to ask questions during the beginning of a new session, I'll happily answer so that they'll be able to understand. Then usually half of the hour during the session I have to post the rules again for those who joined late, which also works out.
@OakSerenity great idea of repeating the rules halfway through, I will have to use this!