Passive Behaviour and its effects on both Social Care workers and those who seek their help.
...ation can be difficult as required information may not be given and when the person is trying to communicate they may exhibit non verbal communication such as fidgeting or lack of eye contact which are associated with passive behaviours. This could distract the social worker from concentrating on what the person is trying to say. The social worker may also find it hard to stay patient with the person as they complain about their situation but are not willing to make a decision to try and rectify the problem. I think there is a positive to using passive behaviour also. If someone is displaying passive behaviour there is a gut instinct from someone in the caring profession to look after that person. They would recognize this person as being very vulnerable and should do whatever is in their power to take them out of any position that could be dangerous or unsafe. If the person wants to make progress they need to take responsibility for their decisions. If they are unable to do so the social care worker may have to be assertive for them and make a decision. This could have a positive outcome as the social worker may be well experienced and may well feel they know what is best for that person. However it may be the wrong decision and if that person is not assertive enough to tell the social worker what is wrong and what they want they will never be satisfied. There are many reasons social care workers could choose the passive approach. I would suggest mainly it is because it avoids conflict. Social care workers may be in the position where they are in an unstable situation. Using aggressive or even assertive behaviour may lead to an unpredictable reaction whereas the passive approach, in the short term, evades a clash. Passive behaviour also releases you from the pressures of responsibility as you tend to defer difficult decisions until someone else makes them for you. The social care field is highly stressful and I can understand why a person would actively choose not to make decisions. They won’t have to think of the consequences but leaving someone else to make the decisions will only create tension and bad feelings as the other person will no longer hold respect for you. Along with that if the person you are trying to help sees you ...