Work-Based Counseling - Essay Example

Work based Counseling and Section # of Introduction: Academics teach us a great many subjects, broadly in terms of marketing as we reach the customers, finance and accounts as we count each and every penny earned and spent, and information technology as we use the advancements of technologies to ease our work process and computerize the routine tasks. Beyond the scope of these functions, in accordance with Beardwell (2001), there is another wide array of subjects studied under the cover of management, and these vary in their depth from principles of management to human resource management and from organizational behavior to strategic human resource management. The ultimate aim of this umbrella is to teach the future managers on how to tackle employees, their issues, and have them effectively resolved to keep them motivated, and to otherwise also keep them motivated in terms of remuneration, rewards, bonuses, promotions, increments, packages, and so on. Ultimately it all leads to retention of employees in a productive manner. Employee Motivation & Performance Issues: Retaining employees in an essentially productive manner rather than a mere working form has been a major challenge for various firms belonging to different sectors and industries, according to Torrington (2007). There are many reasons for this; firstly, employee retention in itself is a major issue, particularly with the booming economy in the recent past, job-switching has been very common. Secondly, productive employees were even most difficult to retain as competitors would take them off for the ride. Most importantly, the switching employees would truly impact the morale of the current employees as they would also start looking out for further opportunities and productivity would suffer. This scenario, as described, was primarily in the ages of boom that expired very recently; of late, the tables have turned the other way around. With the global economy moving deeper and deeper into the recessionary mode, unemployment and inflation both giving a tough time to the global economists, managers find it hard to keep employees motivated and to have their performance up to the mark. Torrington (2007) states that the reasoning is simple, and Effron (2003) supports the same that is with no hiring and job-cut being a routine in various organizations in the UK and the US, primarily, the employees within the organization are faced with fear leading to de-motivation and ultimately affecting their performance in the organization. Fear is defined in psychology as an impact that can deteriorated a person's routine to as much of an extent as it can demolish it all, and this fear comes from the threat that under performing can actually lead to the person being next in the firing list. Researchers have always proved that employee motivation is always directly proportional to the performance till a threshold point is reached, and the fact that negative reinforcement is very much of an obsolete phenomenon today, though there are exceptions. However, various authors debate against this concern, for instance Armstrong (2006), Torrington (2007), and Stewart (2006) state that this direct proportionality is not always valid i.e. between motivation and performance and after a certain point, adding motivation becomes less effective and performance decline for the fact that employees take it for granted and assume that lapse in performance shall be assumed to be a requirement for adding motivation. What is Counseling Defining Counseling Counseling can be defined, in terms of De Board (1983) or Nathan (1992) as a therapy, in a non-scientific manner where a therapist (or counsel or even a doctor) cures the patient through verbal medicine that is talking with the patient about the on-going issues and concerns, and making them feel better by sharing the issues that are going on, and then moving towards solving those issues by proposing simple solutions. At times also taken in the meaning of consultation, it also including advising an individual or a group of individuals on how to resolve various issues or assisting them in devising a plan of action that when executive would definitely resolve majority of the associated issues and concerns. Counseling has a wide and diverse array of application in the world. From psychological cases in hospitals to psychiatry, and from jails to human resource management; counseling has been a proven mechanism of problem solving particularly in cases where behavior correction is the need for solving issues. De Board (1983), however, states that counseling may not always be effective and this negation has been supported by various authors such as Marchington (2005) and Belcourt (2006), not to the effect that stating counseling to be ineffective but proposing better mechanisms for the same and debating the extent of effectiveness. Behavior Correction through Counseling As psychologists define counseling, with reference to McCourt (2004) as a means of behavior correction, this fact surely unleashes the fact that behavior correction is an important aspect needed in the world today. People often assume behavior correction to be associated with criminals and drug addicts only; it is true that these people need behavior correction but there is much wider array of individuals that need behavior correction. Behavior correction can also be needed in a corporate set up to counsel people for improving the work processes or for improving their attitude towards work, motivation is another issue found to be effectively resolved by means of behavior correction. This phenomenon is very interesting and has a number of studies associated to it. Armstrong (2006) defines behavior in a convenient manner as the acts that a person commits on repeated and regular basis, and once these 'habits' develop, it becomes increasingly difficult to change them. Behavior correction is a phenomenon where counseling techniques are applied for correcting the behavior for better. Application of Counseling for Motivation & Performance Issues: Defining the Need De Board (1983) states that motivation and performance are, undisputedly, two major issues that organizations face during all times. In an extreme case, by increasing salaries to what the employees expect can increase their motivation and have all performance issues resolved, but this is generally not possible in any circumstance. Thus, there becomes a need of a cost effective mechanism where the employee motivation and performance issues get resolved, and the motivation and performance level reaches an optimal point if not the maximum. This need leads to various options that a business may have. On a general note, this issue and these needs are not just restricted to the human resource department as a responsibility but also are applicable for any line manager handling staff under. Options for solving Motivation & Performance issues Researchers like Torrington (2005), Marchington (2005), etc have piled up books of human resource management that are filled with a great many options that are meant to solve motivation and performance issues. Following is a brief of some of these options and critical analyses of their application to the current global economic scenario: Salary raises and other benefits In present economic scenario where the globally economy is moving towards the worst recession, salary raises and similar monetary rewards are very much infeasible for firms so this option remains out of question. Even in booming scenarios, giving raises and benefits is not always a viable technique. Individual non monetary rewards For individual non monetary rewards, objective targets need to be set keeping in mind the factors of challenge and practicality, however, with the depression in the world, it becomes difficult even for line managers to keep track of the ratings and all. Ratings for rewards are generally subjective in nature and the factors such as personal likeness or biases are common in those circumstances. Group non monetary rewards Group non monetary rewards are effective; having a day off for the team or taking them off for a picnic or something of similar effect can be truly effective but can hamper the business activity with the absence of a whole group, and in these recessionary days, an absent day can cost merely. Ratings based rewards system This option too stands relatively ineffective because to have objectivity involved requires more minds than what currently line managers have because they are also depressed and de-motivated as their jobs are at stake too. Periodic bonuses Bonuses are again monetary rewards and relatively non-viable in current economic conditions. However, periodic bonuses are a good measure because since the bonuses are not regular, they do not become a habit or that much expensive for an organization. Counseling To a much bigger extend, counseling seems a highly viable solution for the issues today, particularly related to motivation and performance. The cost is very much similar to hiring a human resource manager, and it can be highly effective. The following section provides justification of counseling as a selected option Counseling - the prime solution In the previous sections of this report, counseling has been defined in a greater depth, so just concluding from that discussion, counseling is simply a therapy for behavior correction. According to De Board (1983), counseling is economical, and can be highly effective particularly in such recessionary circumstances where all professionals are seeking work, the hiring of a professional counsel person should not cost beyond the cost of hiring a human resource manager, and the job description shall be simple, yet can yield effective outcome. Rogers (1990) suggests that the counseling session can be 30-35 minutes each day with any particular employee where the employee can be asked to relax and the person involved can have a cup of tea and general chit-chat with him, trying to get a hold of the issues he is facing and the problems that are causing him de-motivation and ultimately affecting the performance. The issue can be any; personal or private, may be a colleague or the high volume of music or can be an ergonomic based issue, or even can be the fear and insecurity of job loss that is causing the motivation and performance level to go down. This solution is not just cost effective but also does not take much time off from the seat for an employee. As a matter of fact, to serve this purpose, it is not even necessary to hire an outside person, rather the organization can involve a human resource representative with the respective line manager, or only a human resource representative can conduct such sessions, because the ultimate aim is to resolve the employee issues and retain them in a motivated and performing manner. Raymond (2008) states that globally, when this practice is applied, firms also tend to organize parties and picnics on off days where various therapists are involved and indulged to see how individuals enjoy and get closer to them which ultimately effects the knowledge sharing and eases the process of sharing the issues between the therapist and the employees. Implications of Deploying Counseling - localized case Introduction to the Company This section is aimed at applying the counseling at work scenario to my own company. The company chosen for this project is known as Soft Innovations, a medium size firm employing around 300 employees, and having a highly integrated structure, with presence in retail, whole-sale, and corporate sales set up. The firm has various departments, similar to a conventional firm; however, the sales team is bifurcated into three sections as mentioned previously. Prior to the arrival of the global recession prevailing in the world over, the firm was doing exceptionally well for a company of its size, and had good terms with suppliers and competitors because it never competed through price-wars or anti-competitor-campaigns, rather it always created a differentiation, and a cutting edge that could not be replicated and this differentiation was based on the human resources it had. Interestingly, despite the pay-scales of individuals and salary packages being as per the market practices, no firm in the industry was able to 'buy-out' their employees and the employee turn out ratio was fairly good. This was mainly due to the working environment in the firm, and the well maintained relations between the employees and their respective line managers. However, the present economic recession has had quite a negative impact on the firm and its business. Due to loss of business and contracts with major companies that were forced to close down, the firm had to down-size and restructure it, laying-off some one-third of its employees. A lay-off of 100 does not matter much for an economy where thousands get jobless on a routine basis but for the firm itself, this was one-third of its work force size. This restructuring led to increased fear of job security for the employees, and ultimately affecting their motivation and performance levels. Not just the restructuring and the lay-offs, but also the fact that the targets given to them by the management, though revised due to economic conditions because unlikely to achieve because of lesser work force and credit crunch spreading wider and wider; factors that were not discounted for pessimistically, rather optimistically. Application of Counseling - the issues, challenges and solutions In the present scenario for Soft Innovations, the applicability of counseling is a prime point and there is a maximum possibility that applying counseling to this particular scenario can truly impact the employee motivation and ultimately the performance of the same. Knowing the structure and hierarchical positioning at the company, it is proposed that the firm should look for hiring an additional human resource manager, as Luis (2003) states that preference must always be given to a new face to the organization and if a known face in the firm's arena, then such an individual should be hired who has a positive image and sentiments amongst individuals, and known for a kind and soft heart and approachable for majority if not all. Shawn (2004) states that the existence of such qualities in a person, especially if the person is known for that, would definitely impact the attraction of the employees towards this newly hired individual, and would definitely make this person more approachable for others, and the comfort level in talking with this person would also be much higher. Accordance with the debates of Belcourt (2007), it is also recommended to have a female character on this position, preferably a psychologist, who shouldn't be known to the employees for being a psychologist but rather a human resource person. This is to ensure that the employees find it easy to communicate because ease of communication is the most essential ingredient in work based counseling. In accordance with Stewart (2006), an issue that can be anticipated at all times is that the employees may get a touch of feel that the business is further looking to downsize and these counseling sessions are meant to find whose the person to retain or the one to leave. There are several means of countering this scenario, but generally left un-attended; this idea has also been supported by Torrington (1998, 4th ed.). Firstly, the CEO of the firm should get himself involved in the scenario and ensure the present employees that the firm has reached its right-size and in foreseeable future, they do not see any further firing, rather they may resume hiring of individuals very soon, and in the similar regard, introduce the new human resource individual. These few lines can make an impact of a life time; the employees would realize that the bad times for the firm are over and secondly, the new induction would make them feel the seniority and ensure that the next time an axe falls, the juniors are the ones to leave first as downsizing generally follows first-in-first-out approach. Additionally, it is important for the employees, according to Ulrich (1996), to realize and retain this fact that the fresh hire in the human resource department is a character to resolve their issues and to eradicate the concept that the new human resource personnel is there to analyze which employee should be fired next. In this similar regard, and to enhance the understanding further in this regard, Rogers (1990) suggests that the management can opt to organize a picnic or a party primarily by the human resource department aimed at providing opportunities to the newly hired a chance to interact with the present employees of the firm. It can truly turn out to be a mingling opportunity amongst the employees It is important to resolve this issue because if left unattended, it can cause the whole campaign to flop in its actual sense and things may not work out properly. Messmer (2006) states that the important aspect of applying this approach is to develop confidence amongst the employees, and the psychologist should aim at understanding the issues that are actually causing the employees their motivation level and the performance. This approach moves one step beyond the reasons mentioned in the academic books, as the reasons of de-motivation may also lie in their personal lives or some issues at home. Confidence development is another important aspect; though to certain extend beyond the scope of discussion here, but counseling at work based structure, aims at developing confidence amongst the employees to state outright their issues in the sense of discussion and have confidence in their supervisor that they would assist them in issue resolution. Confidence amongst teams and between co-workers is highly essential and critical for the fact that confidence, or trust, is the foundation whereby people starting considering the advice and opinion, and respect the word delivered. Conclusion Work based counseling has been found to be an effective approach, in terms of cost and impact, and in accordance with Belcourt (2006), it has also worked much for resolving issues related to employees because any and everything that impacts an employee would ultimately boil down to their motivation and performance. In a crude example, a fight with a spouse or a delayed breakfast or a flat tire is so very common approach and can truly spoil the day for those who have ever experienced it, and spoiling the start of the day means having a bad day at work, and that one bad day can actually turn out to be a single bad day that may affluence the good career repute for an individual. Evans (2002) states that the need of counseling comes at the point where a line manager loses temperament when an employee fails to deliver consistently, but the point to realize is that would an angry statement make things better It actually worsens things around. Counseling is when such things happen, and the therapist tends to get things back together for the employee making him comfortable with the happenings and understanding the triggering moment, and making them realize where things went out of control and savage policy for the next such issue. Counseling is purely a verbal therapy where kind words serve as a magic and a medicine that takes no time to make an impact. In real life scenarios too, every individual likes being heard with care, and this is the point of maximization for therapists as and when they conduct counseling sessions with employees. If line managers can learn this art effectively, the need for a specialized therapist can easily die out. Organizations do tend to stress the need for line managers to learn this art, however, the need for a specialist doesn't seem to be reducing anyways. References Armstrong, M. (2006) A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. (10th ed.) Kogan Page. Beardwell, I and L. Holden (2001) Human Resource Management: A Contemporary Perspective. (rd ed.). Pitman. D. Torrington, L. Hall and S. Taylor (2007) Human Resource Management. Prentice Hall (7th edition) David Ulrich (1996) Human Resource Champions. Harvard Business School Press; 1 edition De Board, Robert (1983) "Counselling People at Work" Eileen Stewart (2006) ESSENTIALS OF MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES. Nelson College Indigenous Harold Jr. Messmer (2006) Human Resources Kit For Dummies. For Dummies; 2 edition Luis R., David B., Robert L., David E., Andrew J. Templer (2003) Managing Human Resources, Third Canadian Edition. Pearson Education Canada M. Marchington and A. Wilkinson. CIPD (2005) Human resource management at work: People management and development (3rd edition) Marc Effron, Robert Gandossy, Marshall Goldsmith (2003) Human Resources in the 21st Century. Wiley; 1 edition Monica Belcourt, George Bohlander, Scott Snell (2007) Managing Human Resources. Nelson College Indigenous Monica Belcourt, Kenneth McBey (2006) Strategic Human Resources Planning. Nelson College Indigenous Nathan, Robert & Hill, Linda (1992), "Career Counselling", SAGE Publications Ltd Paul Evans, Vladimir Pucik (2002) The Global Challenge: Frameworks for International Human Resource Management. McGraw-Hill/Irwin; 1 edition Raymond Noe, John Hollenbeck, Barry Gerhart, Patrick Wright (2008) Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. McGraw-Hill/Irwin; 3 edition Rogers, Carl (1990), "Carl Rogers: Dialogues", Constable, London. Rogers, Carl (1990), "The Carl Rogers Reader", Constable, London Shawn A., Jd; Mazin, Rebecca A. (2004) The Hr Answer Book: An Indispensable Guide for Managers and Human Resources Professionals. AMACOM Torrington, Derek & Hall, Laura (1998, 4th ed.) "Human Resource Management", Prentice Hall Torrington, D., L. Hall and S. Taylor (2005) Human Resource Management. (6th ed.). Prentice Hall W. McCourt and D. Eldridge. Edward Elgar. (2004) Global Human Resource Management: Managing people in developing and transitional countries. Read More