Relationships between Happiness and Organizational Success - Essay Example

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Psychology at Work and of the Contents 0 Introduction 3 2.0 The Management 5 3.0 Symptoms of Stress 5 3.1 Consistency of absenteeism 6 3.2 Decline in work performance 6 3.3 Overreaction and anxiety 6 3.4 Weird eating habits and excessive drinking 7 3.5 Worsening health status and increased accidents 7 3.6 Isolating from others 8 4.0 Causes of unhappiness at work 8 4.1.0 The organizational factors 8 4.1.1 A wage structure that is associated with discrimination 8 4.1.2 Stringent regulations 9 4.1.3 Lack of appropriate communication 9 4.1.4 Conflicts of goals 10 4.1.5 Excessive control by the shareholders 10 4.2.0 Individual factors 10 4.3.0 Factors related to an employment 11 4.4.0 Factors beyond the organization 11 5.0 Techniques for Managing High Levels of Unhappiness and Stress among Managerial Staffs at Workplaces 11 5.1.0 Organizational strategies 11 5.1.1 Encouraging an effective communication 11 5.1.2 Formulating an impartial wage structure 12 5.1.3 Ensuring fairness and safe working condition 12 5.1.4 Recognizing the accomplishment and exceptional performance of a managerial staff 12 5.1.5 Encouraging job rotation among various managerial staffs 13 5.1.6 Provide independence in respect to decision making among managerial staffs 13 5.1.7 Firm owners should ensure realistic objectives and goals to be met by managers are set 13 5.2.0 Personal Applications 14 5.2.1 Developing emotional intelligence 14 5.2.3 Managerial staffs should develop social network with other managerial staffs in similar or different industry 14 5.2.4 Embracing a healthy routine 14 6.0 Conclusion 15 List of references 16 1.0 Introduction In the contemporary world, there have emerged a number of heated debates regarding the relationships between happiness and organizational success. A good number of researchers, however, claim that happiness is realized following a positive result at work as opposed to being one of the factors that lead to a firm’s success (Freeman and Freeman, 2012). Nevertheless, there are considerable scholars who believe that happiness is one of the main determinants of a firm’s success (Freeman and Freeman, 2012). Despite the disagreements among scholars with respect to the issue of happiness in an organization, there has been an increasing acknowledgment of the significance of mental health at a workplace. This is due to the fact that a big number of individuals spend a large portion of their life at work. As a result, happiness that is realized at workplace has become an essential factor in determining an individual’s wellbeing. Additionally, owners of various firms have realized that happiness is an invaluable element in managing and improving employees’ performance. Researches indicate that happiness at work is important to both an employee and employer (Bateman and Snell, 2013). The importance of happiness is also realized by the entire organization and community. On the other hand, it has been established that unhappiness and stress in an organization lead to various negative impacts, such as a decrease in the levels of productivity, increasingly accidents, employee-employer conflicts, augmented employee turnover levels and absenteeism. Unhappiness at a workplace also leads to other negative aspects such as reduced levels of performance, disabilities, tiredness, sickness and other associated costs. Although stress and unhappiness is realized at various levels of an organization, it is established that various levels of management are highly associated with an augmented degree of stress and unhappiness. According to Bateman and Snell (2013), the various levels of management include the senior, intermediate and operational. The intermediate management is above the operational management. However, it is junior to the senior management. The operational managers oversee the functioning of the junior staffs, while being answerable to the middle-level management. On the other hand, the middle-level management is tasked with mediation of the operational and senior management. Additionally, middle-level management inspires the lower-level of management in an attempt to ensure that optimal results are yielded at the organizational level. 2.0 The Management The functions of the management are: planning, monitoring, developing and assessing. In respect to planning, management performs a number of functions. These functions include: assessing and reviewing roles, as well as responsibilities of each organizational position; ensuring future expectations are understood by employees; and, approving the performance agreement. In regards to monitoring, the management staffs monitor the performance of workers, as well as reviewing the performance plan and advising on relevant corrections (Lussier and Hendon, 2013). Management is also responsible for documenting the observations made during a given period, as well as appreciating excellent performances among the employees. Developing is associated with improving the skills and expertise of employees. Management is normally advised to offer a constructive reinforcement (Djoleto, 2013). 3.0 Symptoms of Stress There are various symptoms that are experienced by an employee that is facing stress. These symptoms are notable at either an early or later stage of stress. Various symptoms that are experienced by a stress employee are behavioral, physical, cognitive and emotional. Among the cognitive symptoms include memory associated problems, poor judgment, anxious thoughts and consistent worrying. Emotional symptoms may include: feelings of being overwhelmed, irritation, loneliness and feelings of unhappiness. Physical signs include dizziness, constant colds, constipation and frequent aches. Behavioral signs may include frequent drinking of alcohols, isolating from co-workers, poor eating habits and nervousness. However, these signs of stress can be caused by psychological or medical factors. In the event that management staff experiences unhappiness, one would be able to notice the following symptoms. 3.1 Consistency of absenteeism Management staffs are perceived to be pertinent as far as the organizational activities are concerned. This is due to the fact that management is tasked with overseeing the daily activities of the junior employees. This is the main reason why owners of firms require management staff that is hard-working and time conscious. However, in the event of stress, the management staff can be witnessed arriving late at a workplace (Quick, 2013). The late arrival can also be coupled with early departure at a workplace. The late arrivals and early leaving may be followed by avoiding various responsibilities, such as lack of employees’ performance assessment. These symptoms can occur at an early stage of stress and unhappiness at a work place. 3.2 Decline in work performance The management staff faces a declined job performance in the face of stress. In most cases, the job performance of a managerial staff would decrease consistently in a given period. In relation to Volkmar (2013) argument, the decrease in a job performance could be witnessed by various aspects, such as, a work that is associated with a large number of mistakes. A managerial staff would be characterized by high levels of memory loss. These signs are adequate to indicate unhappiness as far as a given managerial staff is concerned. 3.3 Overreaction and anxiety An unhappy managerial staff is characterized by high level of anxiety and aggressiveness. A employee would also be seen arguing most of the times as opposed to having a friendly conversation. They also seem to get irritated by every issue raised by a junior staff. In many cases, a senior staff would be witnessed quarreling with a junior staff as opposed to settling issues in a friendly manner. Greenberg (2013) found out that the frequent aggressiveness and overreaction to events that happen in an organization may signify an increasingly mental distress with respect to a given staff member. These symptoms may occur at early stages or later when a managerial staff cannot put up with the level of stress. 3.4 Weird eating habits and excessive drinking A managerial staff can be witnessed experiencing inappropriate eating habits and excessive drinking. A number of individuals can be witnessed eating lesser than the normal amount of food. Others are characterized by overeating habits. A number of them would be witnessed drinking and smoking in excess. In other circumstances, an individual would experience sleeplessness or sleep more than normal. This is the reason why a managerial employee would be found sleeping during the daytime for a long period. However, others experience sleepless nights. Perrewe? and Halbesleben (2013) states that individuals would attempt to drink in an endeavor to forget about the stressful moments, but it seems to be a temporal solution. Other individuals that did not used to drink alcohol would be seen for the first time attempting to buy alcoholic drinks. These habits would explain that a managerial staff is witnessing unhappiness at a workplace. 3.5 Worsening health status and increased accidents At a later stage, a managerial staff would experience worse conditions such as a deteriorating health status and increasingly road accidents. These symptoms are worse since they can have grave effects on an individual’s life. Accidents may arise from psychological distress. The psychological distress is attributable to the working conditions that are not in line with the needs of an employee. The persistency of a psychological suffering may lead to a deteriorated health condition as a result of poor eating habits, excessive consumption of alcohol, as well as sleeplessness and general anxiety. 3.6 Isolating from others There is normally a tendency of a stressed employee isolating from other co-workers. In a number of circumstances, an employee would be witnessed having a brief conversation with fellow workers. A brief answer is also characterized by an individual suffering stress. This is as a result of the need to have an adequate time to think about a certain situation that is associated with stress. Experiencing of a brief conversation and frequent isolation is common at an early stage of stress. 4.0 Causes of unhappiness at work In order to formulate effective strategies, it is necessary to identify the causes of stress in an organization. The causes of unhappiness are classified into various categories. 4.1.0 The organizational factors There are a number of factors arising from an organization that causes stress. 4.1.1 A wage structure that is associated with discrimination Source of unhappiness among the management is at a large extent associated with a wage structure that is perceived to be discriminatory. In this regards, it is expected that senior staffs should be paid a wage that is in line with their level of management, as well as responsibilities. As a result, managerial staffs expect to be paid a wage that is relatively above that of the junior staffs by a reasonable margin. However, various firms overlook this factor, which leads to increasingly unhappiness among managerial staffs. In given companies, managers are normally paid almost the same wage as that of the junior staffs despite management being tasked with heavy responsibilities. In other circumstances, managerial and junior staffs are paid the same wage. This situation leads to increased levels of unhappiness among the managerial staffs. 4.1.2 Stringent regulations Stress and unhappiness among managerial staffs is also found out to result from strict rules by the owners of a firm. Most of the rules and regulations are perceived to be unrealistic in terms of meeting the set objectives. Although a number of managerial staffs attempt to meet these goals, they are frequently shortchanged by failure of realizing the set objectives. According to Cao and Zhang (2013), this often leads to stress since owners of the firm demonstrate lack of trust. This leads to various concerns among the employees such as the durability of their employment. In addition, under strict rules and regulations, managerial staffs lack peace of mind due to emerging thoughts of how various functions would be executed. 4.1.3 Lack of appropriate communication Managerial staffs are often faced with miscommunication. This normally arises between them and the owners of affirm or employees. An inefficient communication between a junior and senior staff may lead to poor performance. The poor performance may lead to several questions arising from the directors. In this regard, managerial staffs find themselves in consistent conflicts between the directors and junior staffs. Conversely, a managerial staff may receive certain directions from the firm’s ownership that is not understood clearly. In this case, the directions cannot be transferred perfectly to the junior staffs. Consequently, the employees would perform as directed by the management. This would lead to an unexpected performance as anticipated by the directors. The unexpected performance would lead to directors questioning the management about the improper results. This would, accordingly, lead to an unhappy condition among the managerial staffs. 4.1.4 Conflicts of goals There has been a consistent of goals’ conflict between the managerial staff and firm’s ownership. The management goal is to maximize the profits of a firm while the shareholders objective is to optimize the share value. The attempts of formulating goals that would maximize profits of a firm and consequential wages increases are normally thwarted by shareholders emphasis on a plan that increases a share value. The persistent discouragement of goals that would increase a firm’s profit always frustrates managerial staffs. As a result, managerial staffs are not motivated despite working at a prestigious level. Due to unhappiness at the work place, managerial staffs are always faced with poor performance. 4.1.5 Excessive control by the shareholders In the contemporary world, it has been identified that a number of firms are characterized by shareholders who are associated with excessive control in regards to a firm’s management. As a result, the managerial staffs find limited opportunities to make their own decisions regarding the firms operations. Consequently, the management is faced with an inflexible working environment which results in unhappiness at a workplace (Shim and Siegel, 2008). 4.2.0 Individual factors The individual’s factors that cause stress include unrealistic expectations from a family and friends. In a number of circumstances, it is established that family relatives and employee do not communicate effectively about the realistic expectations. As a result of poor communication, family members raise their expectations which an employee fails to meet. This consequentially leads to a family conflict. Other factors in this category are associated with personal traits such as impatience and aggressiveness. Other aspects such as financial instabilities may increase the chances of stress among the managerial staffs. 4.3.0 Factors related to an employment Factors that are related to a job include repetitive nature of job, lack of privacy, as well as poor working conditions. 4.4.0 Factors beyond the organization There are a number of factors which are beyond an organization, and causes stress among the managerial staffs. The extra-organizational aspects increase on a daily basis due to increasing levels of technology in the modern times. Perrewe and Halbesleben (2012) argue that as a result of increased economical activities, managerial staffs are exposed to inflation which reduces their purchasing power. Due to changing technology, managerial staffs face major changes which are stressful to adopt. In addition, managerial staffs face extra-responsibilities in the current world as a result of increased social responsibilities. 5.0 Techniques for Managing High Levels of Unhappiness and Stress among Managerial Staffs at Workplaces Given the negative effects of unhappiness and general stress on an employee health status and organizational performance, there is a need to formulate effective strategies of managing managerial staffs’ stress and ensure happiness at a workplace. However, for an organization to realize an effective change, the strategies for managing stress should be categorized into two groups: Organizational and Personal stress management strategies. 5.1.0 Organizational strategies 5.1.1 Encouraging an effective communication An effective communication should be encouraged between managerial staffs and junior staffs. An effective communication should also be administered between the managerial staff and firm’s ownership. In regards to the junior employees, Pestonjee (2013) provides that the managerial staff should ensure that clear instructions are provided to prevent the occurrence of ambiguity at a workplace. As a result, junior-employees are more likely than not to perform their work effectively and contribute efficiently to the firm’s goals as expected by the shareholders. 5.1.2 Formulating an impartial wage structure In order to ensure that there is no conflict as far as unfair wages are concerned among the managerial staffs, a firm ought to formulate a wage structure that is characterized by impartiality. The wage structure should consider the imperative roles played by the managerial staff. It should as well consider the management of level of different staffs. In the event that a fair wage structure is developed by a firm, stress that arises from discrimination with regards to wage structure would decrease significantly. 5.1.3 Ensuring fairness and safe working condition Managerial staffs should be provided with a safe working condition, as well as being offered extra-conditions to ensure fairness. In most circumstances, the managerial staffs are treated similar to the junior staffs. This normally demoralizes a number of managerial employees that are committed in ensuring an effective management of a firm. Due to the existence of an organizational hierarchy, managers should be provided with extra services, such as management office. This would ensure prestige among managerial staffs; as a result, they would be encouraged to work harder. 5.1.4 Recognizing the accomplishment and exceptional performance of a managerial staff There has been tendency of a large number of organizations failing to appreciate an excellent performance of an employee. This leads to demoralization among the hard-working managerial staffs. In the event that the managerial staffs is appreciated for exceeding the set targets by various rewards, such as salary increase and bonuses, there is a possibility of other managerial staffs working hard to meet a number of objectives. Appreciation of an intermediate manager via promotion to senior manager can increase the level of happiness among the managerial staffs that experience an outstanding performance. 5.1.5 Encouraging job rotation among various managerial staffs Due to job monotonous arising from working in the same department, it is advised that job rotation should be encouraged among the managerial managers that perform functions that are fairly similar. For instance, an accounting manager, who works in an accounting department, should be assigned to the finance department for a given period. Similarly, sales manager should be assigned to the responsibilities of a marketing manager. These changes are necessary in ensuring that a managerial staff does not face monotonous while working in the same department for a period of more than five years. 5.1.6 Provide independence in respect to decision making among managerial staffs There have been increased levels of stress among the managerial staffs due to excessive control from the shareholders, and owners of firms. As a result, the managerial staffs have been characterized with minimal opportunities of making managerial decisions regarding a firm’s performance. Consequently, this has led to lack of unhappiness and stress since managers feel that they have been subordinated. In order to ensure the managerial staffs experience happiness, they should be allowed to perform the traditional functions of the management. 5.1.7 Firm owners should ensure realistic objectives and goals to be met by managers are set There have been reports of unrealistic goals being set by firm’s owners. This has led to several managers working tirelessly to meet the goals. However, in many cases, these goals are not met due to aspect of impracticality associated with the set goals. As a result, a large number of managerial staffs are frustrated due to fruitless efforts that were expended towards meeting the set goals. Choudhury (2013) provides that Stress also arises from the fact that owners of a firm would raise hard questions as to why the goals were not met. In this regard, the owners of a firm should set goals in line with the available resources and market conditions, as well as considering a time frame. This would ensure that managerial staffs are relieved from the stress of achieving targets that are too high to be achieved under normal market conditions. 5.2.0 Personal Applications 5.2.1 Developing emotional intelligence According to Hough (2013), emotional intelligence has been proved to be effective in ensuring employees do not face stress and unhappiness at a workplace. Emotional intelligence includes knowing self. It also includes developing self-control and confidence. Managerial staffs that are able to control various types of emotions such as aggressiveness and anxiety stand a high chance of controlling levels of stress at a workplace. 5.2.3 Managerial staffs should develop social network with other managerial staffs in similar or different industry Cooper and Kahn (2013) affirm that managerial staffs face intensive stress due to lack of fellow employees in the same organization whom they can approach to share diverse views regarding the workplace. As a result, managerial staffs face high levels of stress since they do not appreciate sharing their views with the junior employees. In order to mitigate this problem, managerial staffs should be encouraged to share their views with other mangers in the same or different industry. This would help to boost their level of confidence. As a result, unhappiness at a workplace is inclined to reduce extensively among various managerial staffs. 5.2.4 Embracing a healthy routine Fielding (2013) suggests a number of healthy aspects with respect to reducing levels of unhappiness and stress at a workplace. Among them, include listening to music, watching television, taking a frequent shower, and practicing regular sleep. Other practices such as appropriate eating habits would ensure that the managerial staffs do not experience unhappiness. 6.0 Conclusion Unhappiness and stress is a frequent occurrence in various institutions and firms. The causes of stress either emerge from an organizational or external environment. An organization has the ability to reduce the high levels of unhappiness experienced by the managerial staffs if the right strategies are implemented. Among the strategies that have been proved to be effective include: ensuring a fair salary structure; effective communication; and, provision of adequate independence of decision making by managerial staffs. In addition, individual managerial staffs have the responsibility of ensuring happiness at work is significantly realized. In this regard, various practices should be adopted; it includes developing emotional intelligence, embracing healthy practices and networking with other managerial staffs. A firm that is characterized by happy senior and junior staffs can achieve unprecedented business success. On the other hand, unhappiness can lead to poor firm performance. List of references Bateman, T. and Snell, S., 2013. Management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Cao, M. and Zhang, Q., 2013. Supply chain collaboration roles of inter-organizational systems, trust, and collaborative culture. London: Springer. Choudhury, K., 2013. Managing workplace stress the cognitive behavioral way. India: Springer. Cooper, C. and Kahn, H., 2013. 50 Things You Can Do Today to Manage Stress at Work. Chichester: Summersdale Publishers. Djoleto, W., 2013. Electronic commerce and organizational leadership: perspectives and methodologies. Hershey, PA: Business Science Reference. Fielding, J., 2013. Health at Work. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. Freeman, D. and Freeman, J., 2012. You can be happy the scientifically proven way to change how you feel. Harlow, England: Pearson. Greenberg, A., 2013. Social computing, behavioral-cultural modeling and prediction 6th International Conference. Berlin: Springer. Hough, S., 2013. Managing stress at work in a week. London: Teach Yourself. Lussier, R. and Hendon, J., 2013. Human resource management: functions, applications, skill development. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. Perrewe, P. and Halbesleben, J., 2012. The Role of the Economic Crisis on Occupational Stress and Well Being. Bradford: Emerald Group Pub.. Perrewe?, P. and Halbesleben, J., 2013. The Role of Emotion and Emotion Regulation in Job Stress and Well Being. Bradford: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Pestonjee, D., 2013. Stress and work: perspectives on understanding and managing stress. New Delhi: SAGE. Quick, J., 2013. Preventive stress management in organizations. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. Shim, J. and Siegel, J., 2008. Financial management. Hauppauge, N.Y.: Barron's Educational Series. Volkmar, F., 2013. Encyclopedia of autism spectrum disorders. New York, NY: Springer. Read More