ipl-logo

Malcolm Gladwell's Case Study: Success In Social Work

1409 Words6 Pages

Case Study: Success in the Social Work
In today’s society, people are obsessed with the notion of success and the ways to achieve mastery. Many people believe it is all based on luck and innate talent versus opportunity and practice. In this case study, I analyze how Malcolm Gladwell’s concepts in Outliers applies to being a successful professional member of the social work discourse community. In order to gain insight, I conducted an interview and job shadowing with Mr. John Davis from the University of Sacramento. I went on to find more information and evidence by reading an article, “Facilitating Dissertation Completion and Success Among Doctoral Students in Social Work” by Janet Liecty, Minili Liao, and Christine Schull.
Background:
As …show more content…

It has to do with opportunities given throughout life, the motivation and dedication each one has, and being both book and street smart. Generally, the only way to reach the master level of success, is via hours upon hours of practice and hard work. As a social worker, the only way to improve “people-skills” is through the actual act of human interaction and honesty desire to help others improve their own life.
Approach:
Before actually conducting the case study, I had to read and annotate Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell during the semester. After reading and discussing the different concepts on success, I was ready to conduct my interview. I decided to interview Mr. John Davis after he helped me with my major advising and influenced my decision to officially declare social work as my major. I went into the interview hoping for at least fifteen minutes, but ended up with an hour worth of information. A few days later I followed up with a job shadowing during one of his Interview techniques classes. …show more content…

In the article, “Facilitating Dissertation Completion and Success Among Doctoral Students in Social Work” by Janet Liecty, Minili Liao, and Christine Schull, it described several skills and talents needed as a way to excel in social work. On page 483 of the article, it reiterates the exact same topic of having knowledge mentor for the reason that as humans we need reassurance and praise especially from someone experienced. A few pages later, it describes key elements: confidence, responsibility, and patience as a necessity to accomplish success. When helping individuals with trust issues and family troubles, it takes technique and time to get them to gain your trust and speak about issues. If a social worker goes to a client unprepared and doubtful, it increases the chance of unsuccessful

Show More
Related

Social Work Case Study Paper

397 Words | 2 Pages

Patient is a 51 year old Caucasian female living alone in her own home. The patient has a history and current syntoms of geralized anxity disorder, social phoina and panic attacks, which she takes madications for and sees a psychrist 2-3 times per month in Havasu. Patinets lives with six cats and the house environment is somewhat cluttered. The patinet is orinally from Glendale, CA., has a brother in Palmdale, CA, who is stays in contact with sometimes. Pt has a daughter in Big River, who is not supportive of her, but has three grandchildren who visit her.

Read More

Malcolm Gladwell Persuasive Techniques

787 Words | 4 Pages

In the book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell uses the persuasive techniques such as figurative language, rhetorical questions, and analogies to persuade readers that the American view of success is wrong, and that success is the product of opportunities, hidden advantages, and hard work. In Chapter Two, these techniques are used to describe his idea of “The 10,000-Hour Rule” - that belief it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something. Gladwell’s basis for the 10,000-hour rule is that people who are experts in their field became so good from hidden and rare opportunities that allowed them to practice their skills. One example gladwell uses are The Beatles, whom Gladwell identifies as one of the most famous rock bands ever.

Read More

Malcolm Gladwell Outliers The American Dream

1751 Words | 8 Pages

My understanding of the “American Dream” is a concept of migrating to the United States, starting from scratch, and becoming rich and successful by working hard. But after reading Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell change my perspective of the “American Dream” by providing the idea of luck and opportunity playing a major factor in one 's success. Almost all the success story of the immigrant in the book was by opportunity because of birth, chance by cultural background and circumstances. Gladwell changed my view of how the “American Dream” is accomplished, not solely by hard work, but luck and opportunity are what factor into someone accomplishing the “American Dream”. Reading Outliers, the main thesis or central premise of Gladwell on why some people

Read More

Personal Identity In Social Work

1353 Words | 6 Pages

Who I identify as, including identifying as a social worker once I graduate, will have some level privilege and power attached to the chosen identities. Gelfand, Sillivan, and Steinhouse (2002) noted that there are may dimensions that influence our personal and professional relationships with others, and these dimensions shape how we see and interact with, include or exclude them, and ways that we oppress or discriminate against them. As a social worker whose clients share my same identity, we may benefit by my having a shared understanding of cultural norms and expectations to reach a common goal. For clients who share commonalities with me, we may benefit by being able to work more collaboratively and possibly a more trusting relationship than one that must be built over time. However, just as similarities can be empowering, I must remember that the client knows best despite our shared identities that may speak otherwise.

Read More

Reflective Essay: My Emerging Social Work Identity

495 Words | 2 Pages

The social work practice skills I have achieved to date include a wide range of communication and interpersonal skills that have been developed through writing up case notes after meetings with clients, as well as debriefing with other social workers. Advocacy skills have been developed through liaising with other services and speaking with supervisors to extend clients financial and casework support. Further, active listening skills have been developed through listening to the client’s needs and asking important follow up questions; this has allowed me to establish trust with my clients and obtain a better understanding of their circumstances. Moreover, I have obtained a greater self-awareness through reflecting in supervision and regular debriefing with peers in my PSAG group. Self-awareness has also been developed through my previous placement where I had the opportunity to observe a Family and Community Services (FACS)

Read More

Critical Reflection On Social Work

1278 Words | 6 Pages

Practice based on empirical knowledge helps reduce bias, enables workers to study interpretations, perspectives or alternative solutions, and makes social workers more accountable for their decisions JD Hudson (1997). The dialogue between theory and practice In the past and present, there is hesitation among practitioners in social work to adapt theory and research because they feel that the reference to theory is the loss of connection with reality when practicing social work. In order for the social worker to be an effective practitioner, man must have a sound theoretical basis and this is not easy to achieve.

Read More

Strength Based Theory In Social Work

1104 Words | 5 Pages

According to Jacqueline Corcoran (2011), people were basically viewed in terms of their pathologies, weaknesses, limitations, and problems. However, in strengths-based models, in contrast, the helper, in collaboration with the client system, identifies and amplifies existing client system capacities to resolve problems and improve quality of life. Strengths-based approaches can be viewed as respectful toward and empowering of the oppressed and vulnerable people to which the field of social work traditionally has been committed (Corcoran,

Read More

Social Constructivist Approach In Social Work

895 Words | 4 Pages

Marx highlighted the struggle between the powerless and powerful which resulted in different societal classes (Fook, 2002). Thompson (2006) states that society is made up of diverse people who make up societal structures and these structures determine and control the destitution of power and opportunities which results in layers of inequality and oppression to people who are marginalised. Radical social work is interested in the examining structures of personal problems, focusing on oppressive practice and self-emancipation and social change (Adams et al, 2005). For this to be achieved professionals need to recognise that individual knowledge might display reality but could also be constructed by society through language, values and beliefs. In order to identify this it is vital for social workers to be able to self-reflect (Adams et al, 2009).

Read More

Professionalism In Social Work

830 Words | 4 Pages

Maintaining all the different aspects and qualities of professionalism will not only portray us as good social workers, but also the more competent and empathetic we are the better we are able to help and assist our clients. Preparing for this in my field work has already showed me how I need to behave and appear to the patients at Hardin

Read More

Social Worker Personal Statement

684 Words | 3 Pages

My passion for helping and supporting those whose economic and financial standings have hindered their growth in our society, has driven me towards social work. I feel I have exhausted every possible avenue in my current degree field. Pursuing a master’s in Social Work, will give me the diversity that I need, while aiding me in bringing my dreams of working more in depth with clients, by helping assist them with their individual needs and issues to reality. The Social work field also offers versatility which allows me to work in many dimensions, such as clinical, case management, and many other composites which enables me to help every population. Becoming a social worker gives me other benchmarks in which I can use to evaluate programs,

Read More

Essay On Clinical Social Work

1299 Words | 6 Pages

After my bachelors in social work, I would like do my masters and try to work in a psychiatry hospital in the adolescent's department. After graduation, the path to becoming a licensed clinical social worker is different for each state due to different licensing requirements. But typically, students should expect to complete a minimum of post-graduation work experience requirements almost like internships (which takes two to three years to complete). Also passing licensing examinations. After all the requirements social

Read More

Social Work Self Analysis

1681 Words | 7 Pages

In this paper, I will assess my identity and my personal history and how it relates to social work professions. I first address my personal history and cultural background, where I came from, as well as my experience in working in the community. I then talk about my overall strengths, both in personal and professional lives. My strengths are listening skills, open-mindedness, respect for diversity and eagerness to learn and improve my weaknesses. Afterward, I discuss my weaknesses, such as nonassertive communication skill and low self-esteem problems, and how I plan to address these issues.

Read More

Social Work Personal Statement Examples

1290 Words | 6 Pages

I am confident that the skills that I will gain from completing a social work master’s degree will help me collaborate with people in need and aid sustainable growth in their lives. My first introduction to social work as a profession came while living on a small

Read More

Symbolic Interaction Theory In Social Work

1651 Words | 7 Pages

This is as to how the social worker and the population interact. It involves the people making sense in their interaction. This theory enables the social worker to study the behaviour of the people he or she is involved with. This is demostrated on her role as a consellor and educator.

Read More

Social Work Self Reflection

1276 Words | 6 Pages

Over the semester I have learned many new aspects of social work that have helped deepen my understanding of what social work is really about. This course has taught me things that will help me become a better person and will also help me with my future working with children. Self reflection is a key skill to have when working in social work. We need to understand how we are, and our social location, influence everything we do with social work. My beliefs and values would be beneficial for being a social worker because I have a caring no judgment, personality that allows me to be a neutral and to listen to people.

Read More

More about Malcolm Gladwell's Case Study: Success In Social Work

Related Topics

Open Document