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THE DOLLARS AND SENSE OF PSYCHOLOGY IN BUSINESS (cont.)
4. Health Promotion:
We know that most healthcare problems today are caused by how people act. They smoke, they drink, they eat too much, they fail to respond to the warning signs of too much stress. The results are cancers, heart disease, liver disease, obesity related illnesses, blood pressure problems, and other health difficulties. What does this cost you in medical bills?
Nobody wants these diseases, but many people do not know how to change their behavior. Psychologists know how to teach people about changing health related behavior. One research psychologist recently reviewed forty-seven different studies of health promotion: activities sponsored by employees. Forty-six of those studied showed that not only did behavior change, but that employers saved much more than the cost of the programs themselves.
5. Leadership:
American business has an inexhaustible need for new leaders. Employers need people who can take a work team to its goals, who can communicate a vision, and who can draw out the best that their employees have to offer. Leadership is about capturing the hearts and minds of your employees along with their bodies. Imagine the gains in productivity that improved leadership within the various levels of your organization could provide.
Leadership is not an inborn trait. Some learn it more easily than others, but the skills of leadership can be learned by many more than are learning them now. Some leaders know the skills of leadership, but are blocked personally in performing them. Psychologists are uniquely trained to help your leaders understand their blocks and move forward.
6. Organizational Health/Team Building:
Do you know the attitude of your employees toward your business? Do your employees feel like they are part of a team and want to provide their best for the benefit of the business? Subtle changes in the attitudes of your employees can make phenomenal changes in their productivity.
These attitudes have to do with many factors, for example perceptions of fairness and support. These perceptions may, at times, develop from outside .the organization, such as when racial or sexual bias is brought into the organization. Psychologists can help with the organizational health of your business by meeting with employees and by team building.
Team building sometimes involves problem-solving, enhancing communication, or developing mutual support. At times it may be best -to have a team meeting, at other times a business picnic. Psychologists can help you make a plan to improve the climate of your organization so that your employees function most efficiently.
7. Specific Problems At The Workplace:
Different workplace environments have specific events which affect employee morale and effectiveness. For example the business may downsize for reasons of efficiency or market change. Many businessmen do not realize that downsizing is a very difficult emotional experience for those who remain. Employees grieve the loss of their friends and worry about their own well-being. There may be other reactions, all of which must be managed for the downsizing to have its anticipated efficiency gains. Currently, the vast majority of downsizings fail to achieve their monetary goals because of these issues.
At times in the work environment trauma occurs such as when an employee is injured or dies. Traumas are life-threatening events that are unexpected: apart from accidents or fatalities, project failures or other business problems can be experienced in a traumatic fashion. When people experience trauma, they usually can think of little else, they may become weepy or unusually dependent, and they may experience overwhelming anxiety. Psychologists know how to respond to trauma and minimize these reactions. They know how to treat the worst effects of trauma and help them subside in the shortest amount of time. Major change of any sort is disruptive to human functioning. When one major hospital remodeled it had to move all of its doctors and nurses around.
The change process, both practical (such as where equipment was located) and emotional (such as whether everyone would have jobs afterwards), was upsetting. Staff conflict and morale problems developed. When a psychologist helped process the changes with the staff, they pulled together, problem solved, and felt better.
The process of understanding the psychologically healthy functioning of your employees needs to be somewhat like how we take care of our own physical bodies. Our first task is to develop healthy habits such as eating properly, exercising, breathing clean air and so on. We maximize the probability of our physical health remaining well when we take care of our bodies. From time-to time, even when we treat ourselves in a healthy fashion, there are periods of sickness. When those occur we need to treat them. Sometimes an illness is a wake-up call to work harder at health maintenance
Employees who are psychologically distressed cost you in many ways.
Psychologically distressed employees take up more supervisory time, they have higher rates of absenteeism, they quit or get fired, they are less productive, and they have increased medical problems. It is in your interest to attend to psychologically distressed employees, in part because they cost you money, in part because they can be helped to become productive employees. Employees do not function well for a variety of psychological reasons. Here it is useful to make a distinction between two types of psychological distress in employees. The first type, we will call the 'stressed" employee and the second type we will call the 'upset" employee. These differences may be a matter of degree, but essentially the difference has to do with the level of intervention required to bring the employee back to a high functioning state. The stressed employee may be having some reaction to the job situation, the demands of the work environment, or uncertainty about their ability to perform.
Stress is often a function of people believing there is a very important outcome for them to achieve, but not believing that they can achieve it.
Stressed employees may be unproductive because they are having a difficult time managing their own life. They may have problems that they cannot resolve such as sick family members or financial difficulties. They may be lacking encouragement or motivation in. their life.
Material supplied by Dana C. Ackley, Ph.D.
Peak Performance Consultation
Roanoke, VA |
