Sunday, September 9, 2012
Considering the Alternatives
I think sometimes leaders or groups don't evaluate all possible alternatives to every gameplan. Too often we think that there is one and only one possible solution for all problems. Sometimes at my job, we are put in certain circumstances that we face as a group. For example, we didn't know if we should kick out a kid for his actions that he caused at our program. A participant brought a BB gun to school, and one of our staff members saw it. After program was over, we had to talk about the repercussions. Immediately, our thought was kick him out of our program. That might have been the easiest decision to make, but the punishment may not have fit the crime. So, we talked about how he was as a student in our program and if this was a new behavior or if this was a continuing behavior. After coming to the conclusion that he was not a major threat and this was his first offense, we thought of other alternatives for him. We could have suspended him from our program, we could let this slide and give him a warning, or we could talk to his parent. After our meeting, we decided that although he was a pretty disruptive kid, this type of behavior was unlike him. He was just trying to show off to his friends. But, this was a pretty serious case because there is no tolerance for that in our program, and in the end, instead of kicking him out, he was suspended by us and the school. It worked out because he really wasn't a nuisance.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
That is a difficult situation you and your group were in and had to make a decision for. It reminded me of the examples the book provided where it had a bad outcome because of groupthink. There were many alternatives your group had and each had their own pros and cons. I don’t think all groups may use the T chart the book provides, but it’s good to discuss the pros and cons of each. In your example, maybe your group could have discussed the situation with the student instead of deciding his fate for him. That would have provided even more alternatives to the situation.
ReplyDeleteGreetings,
ReplyDeleteI also wrote about Alternatives. I believe that children should have a second chance when it comes to discipline. If not, options. I feel that students that got suspended were a great decision. The student had a weapon in his possession! Even though he wanted to show off his BB gun, it was not appropriate. There are other ways to be cool, and having a weapon is not one of them. However, I remember when I got my cousin in trouble for a bb gun in his backpack. I told him to bring his kit, so we can shoot bottle after class. I felt terrible when he told his family it was my idea. WHOOPS.