Potential Problems with Macro Work!?

Sometimes trying to work out the problems of macro practice can seem like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle ....


After reading and researching about Macro Practice as it applies to social work their are evident presenting problems that could occur. Three presenting problems I chose to focus on are:
1. There is not enough leadership

2. There is not enough change in the community or system

3. Their are unintended or unwanted outcomes.

But how will we address these problems you ask? Well, that's what I'm here to tell you about. I'm going to briefly explain each of these problems in the macro work and how us social workers should address the problems!

Starting with ..
There is not enough leadership:
This is a loaded question but it breaks down fairly easily, without leadership there is no organization or set plan with a macro project or group work. Substantial leaders must be identified as the people that make sure everything comes together and runs smoothly for the client. There are a lot of processes and questions that the group must go through to elect a leader or two (depending on what the group decides) and to ensure that it's the right choice for them. A technique that I think is the most resourceful and works as the building block for solving this issue is: Does the leadership team reflect the community? The team and leaders must reflect the vision of the community work. A helpful tip, is to include someone from the community or organization's population you are trying to help and include them on the leadership team. This way the group has substantial leaders and a person who can relate and speak for the population on the leadership team. It ensures a successful project. Another important aspect with keeping this potential problem out of macro work is to: recognize your failures as well as accomplishments! It is critical that successful team acknowledges failures and reevaluates how to turn it into a success. Failure is all part of the problem and if you have substantial leaders who can turn around a negative situation, the group will be successful!

There is not enough change in the community or system:
Well .. that just won't do! This problem breaks down into performance and the quality of performance. One thing I really enjoyed reading about this particular problem is the optimism that goes with it. We can change the community if we try hard enough. A willingness to change the community and striving to accomplish goals will result in the right amount of change. In macro work any change is enough change! Regardless of what's accomplished, small change is still steps towards bigger, broader change.

Their are unwanted or unintended outcomes
Well in Macro work their are several ways to prevent this from becoming a potential problem and a few solutions for if it has become a problem. Ways to prevent this would be organization of a mission! A mission statement is a tool that can be used to set a goal for a specific outcome to organize an outcome for a specific community or group. Another way to stop unintended outcomes is to constantly gain feedback from the community or organization that you are working with. To ask members or leaders of the community for their feedback, we can adapt plans and missions to maintain the outcome intended for the community and fix any issues that arise.

It seems when reading about the potential problems there is a lot that can go wrong. As a social worker, it's overwhelming to see about all the potential problems that could arise with macro work. But with these specific solutions it is refreshing to always see a optimistic look with many options of how to solve any issues!