BSHS 485 week 2 Mon Valley Case Study

Mon Valley Case

BSHS485

Mon Valley Case

Mon Valley Case Study Responses

Strategic principle 1: Solutions to local problems should come from affected communities.

From the Mon Valley case study, it can be agreed that to solve local problems, it is necessary to learn from the affected communities to obtain solutions. As obviously recognized, problems are part of life. Every community faces various problems. Similar to people, the community also tries to find solutions to problems and they have to do that through analyzing those problems. The first and foremost aspect that community needs to consider is to look for the communities that are facing the same problems. After that, the community should look for the issues that brought about the problem and then find out ways on preventing the problem. They should also look for the challenges that the community is currently undergoing and then look for solutions on how to deal with those challenges. With this in place, the learning community will be able to come up with solutions to solving their problems through learning from the other community.

Strategic principle 2: Pragmatic leadership is present in communities, though not always recognized

From the Mon Valley case, the communities do not recognize to positive role of the pragmatic leader. Pragmatic leaders possess the ability selecting the most effective way or even solution of a perplexing challenge. The reason behind this is that what these leaders value, is based on universal facts or principles. Various concepts such as honesty, fairness, integrity and transparency are some of the aspects that pragmatic leaders put in place, but the community does not recognize them. The moment the values of a leader are aligned with principles, they, therefore, are considered confident that their selected approach is the right, defensible and sustainable. Pragmatic leaders can deal with everyday challenges and problems in a straightforward and practical manner. Therefore, this kind of leadership consists of two principles and experience. The main point is that communities should start recognizing pragmatic leaders due to the roles they perform to the communities. This implies that the leaders are beneficial to communities and help them solve problems.

Strategic principle 3: Building relationships and strategically positioning leaders to make a program work requires time, care and finesse

In the provided case, we learn that time, finesse and care are most of the most important aspects within a community in building relationships as well as positioning leaders in a strategic manner to make a program function to its best. Communities should choose leaders who are effective in their work. The leaders should take enough time to ensure everything is in place. The leaders should make arrangements ensuring that they care for the community. For instance, they should plan on how to construct various human services such as healthcare, schools, markets and several other aspects. As part of care, they should ensure that no one in the community feels that he/she is not cared for. The leaders should also ensure that all the programs within the community flow in the expected manner and the respective skills are applied according. If the community considers all of these aspects and applies them, therefore, a strong relationship will be build and the positioning of leaders will be strategically put in place.

Strategic principle 4: Self-interest can be harnessed

Self-interest is virtually taboo in the community’s social change. Nevertheless, gaining the knowledge of self-interest together with the aspects that motivate people as well as aspects that lead others to act, is the key to shifting culture together with systems. Mon Valley case study provides an excellence lesson concerning how self-interest can be harnessed. Every leader in a community operates out of self-interest. Each of them asks the question “How will this action, choice or event influence my community.” The leaders ask this question in many times. Therefore, this becomes a basic survival mechanism. Indeed, if a leader does not think this way, would, therefore, be considered a breach of responsibility to himself and the overall community. The understanding self-interest of aids people move through within their community with respect and organize in a way that creates the community, building more energy and resources for them to draw on instead of being just another drain or even destruction for an already overworked leadership.

Strategic principle 5: If a project achieves its short-term goals without positioning the participants to make even greater gains in the future, then an opportunity has been missed.

The manner in which a project team is structured performs a significant role when it comes to its function. Different style of positioning project participants will demonstrate different outcomes to the final outcomes. The different roles offered to the project team will depend on the project’s nature. People within a community should work together as a group. The reason behind this is that when people work together forming a team often sees their teammates as being on their side. These individuals will often work together and assist each other for the significance of attaining their overall goals. When working on a project, it is necessary to place the participants in the same team as this generates collaboration, knowledge sharing as well as transferring of skills from one participant to the other. Project participants who work as one team build a good, effective team, and this is one vital aspect. This implies that the structure of a team possesses a significant influence on the manner in which the team performs and behaves. When participants form a team, it is important to bring about interactions as this is the best way of getting a balanced view of all perspectives. Forming a team when working on a given project brings about more interplay than progress.

Summary: What did you learn about the strategic principles from this case study? What questions do you still have about the strategic principles? How difficult or easy would it be to implement these principles?

Communities have leaders with the strong operational skills necessary for maintaining the status quo of a community. Nevertheless, these organizations experience a critical deficit, that is, they lack individuals with positions of power with the experience and confidence required to deal with various challenges. A simple command doesn’t solve such challenges. This implies that the challenges have causes that seem to be incomprehensible and solutions that look uncertain. Therefore, the case study teaches us that we should obtain solutions to local problems from learning from the affected communities. Another significant aspect learned from the case study is that most communities do not recognize how important pragmatic leaders are to the communities. Thus, it is necessary to know that pragmatic leaders are of huge importance to the community. The last aspect learned from the case study is that participants tackling a given project should be well positioned to achieve their long-term goals.

Reference

Ohmer, M. L., & DeMasi, K. (2009). Consensus organizing: A community development workbook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage