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Counseling Notes Unit I & II
Introduction to business (MBA1)
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NEGOTIATION AND COUNSELING SKILLS :: STUDY NOTES (UNIT 1)
WHAT IS COUNSELING
- Counseling is face to face communication by which you help the person to make decision or solve a problem and act on them.
- Counseling is a helping process aimed at- problem solving. Counseling – done with individual OR group. DEFINITION Counseling is that interaction between two individuals to find a solution to the problems, which have an emotional angle, of one individual. Such a solution usually includes behavioral change in the individual whose problems are being discussed”. Pepinsky and Pepensky(1954) Two persons: A counselor A counselee Sometimes more than two person Involves exchange of ideas Expression of feelings Act of communication and Introspection Objectives of counseling To help solve employees problems Support employees on: Self confidence Self direction COUNSELING FUNCTIONS Advice: Telling a person what you think would be done; coaching Reassurance: Giving people courage and confidence that they are capable of facing a problem. Communication: Providing information and understanding Clarified thinking: Encouraging more coherent , rational and mature thought. Release of emotional tension: Helping a person feel free from frustration and stress. Reorientation: Encouraging an internal change in goals ,values and mental models The counseling process has three important phases:
(1) Rapport building (2) Exploration, and (3) Action planning.
- Rapport Building: Rapport building is essential for any effective counseling outcome. In this phase, a good counselor attempts to establish a climate of acceptance, warmth, support, openness, and mutuality. He/she does this by listening to the employees’ problems and feeling, by communicating his/her understanding to the employees, and by expressing a genuineness of interest in them.
- Exploration: In the exploration phase, besides accepting the employees, listening to them, and establishing a climate of openness, the counselor attempts to understand as well as help the employees understand their own situational strengths, weaknesses, problems, and needs. Counseling skills lie in this.
- Action Planning: In the action planning stage, the counsellor and the employee jointly workout or plan specific action steps for the development of the employee. EVOLUTION OF COUNSELING Phase I 1850 -1900 (First psychological lab was set up in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany followed by USA) Phase II 1900-1930 (Significant events took place) These movements boosted the efforts to develop knowledge and services in order to assist individuals in need to help without which they would have wasted away. Phase III 1930 – 1940 (post war situation remarkably changed the character of the guidance movement. Plethora of literature made available) Phase IV 1940 – To date (This period established counseling as a science) Workplace counseling Workplace counseling will always remain an important resource for organizations. It offers employees a safe, confidential place to talk about anything that may be confusing, painful or uncomfortable, and allows them to talk with someone who is trained to listen attentively and to help them improve the situation
- Seeking/Giving Help
- Confidential Process
- Empowerment
- Trained/Experienced people’s job
- Recognizes each persons uniqueness Scope of Counseling The wide ranges of human problems create a widened scope and field of counseling. Broadly, the scope of counseling includes individual counseling, marital and premarital counseling, family counseling, and community counseling. Employee Counseling –Main Functions The basic objective of counseling is to help employees to improve their mental health and develop self- confidence, understanding, self-control and ability to work effectively. This objective can be achieved by performing various counseling functions.
- Advice: One of the important functions of counseling is offering advice “to the counselee.” The counselor has to understand the problem of the counselee completely, before offering advice and suggesting a course of action.
- Reassurance: In order to give courage to face a problem confidently, counseling provides employees with reassurance. Normally reassurance is not acceptable to the counselee. However, it is useful in some situations.
- Communication: Counseling helps improve both upward and downward communications. In an upward direction, it is a key for employees-to make the management know their feeling. Counseling initiates an upward signal. Another part of the counselor’s job is to discover emotional problems relating to company’s policies and to interpret those problems to top management.
- Release of Emotional Tension:
Releasing emotional tension is an important function of counseling. People feel emotional release from their frustration after counseling. Release of tension may not solve the entire problem, but it removes mental blocks to the solution. 5. Clarified Thinking: Another function of counseling is that of clarified thinking. As emotional blocks to straight thinking are relieved while narrating the problems to the counselor, one begins to think more rationally. Clarified thinking tends to be a normal result of emotional release, but a skilled counselor can act as a catalyst to bring about clear thinking more quickly. The client begins to accept responsibility for his own problems and strives to be more realistic in solving them. 6. Reorientation: It involves a change in the employee’s psychic self through a change in basic goals and values. Mostly, it needs a revision of the employee’s level of aspiration to bring it more in line with actual attainment. It is largely a job of the professional counselor. Employee Counseling – Benefits and Challenges Employee counseling offers employees a facility that is confidential, easily accessed, provides a properly qualified and supervised practitioner, does not raise the threat of a diagnosis of psychiatric disorder, and promises to alleviate distress within a reasonably short period of time. Workplace counseling offers a service that is valued by employees. It has the potential for reducing sickness, absence, takes pressure off managers through the availability of a constructive means of dealing with ‘difficult staff or situations’, and contributes to its reputation as a caring employer. Employee Counseling is often viewed by employers as an insurance policy against the threat of compensation claims made by employees exposed to work-related stress. Some benefits may be highlighted as under:
- It helps employees to tackle with the problems effectively
- Employees are able to sort out their problems with ease
- Counseling helps in taking correct decisions, be it personal or official
- Counseling gives a new way to look at the situation with a new perspective and positive outlook
- It also May reduce the number of absenteeism of employee
- It may prevent termination from employer or resignation from employee
- It reduces the cost of hiring new employee and training new staff as old staff is retained
- It results in Possibility of smooth coordination between employer and employee
thought and practice. Psychodynamic counseling is based on Freud’s idea that true knowledge of people and their problems is possible through an understanding of three particular areas of the human mind. These areas are: The Conscious – things that we are aware of, including feelings or emotions, such as anger, sadness, grief, delight, surprise, and happiness. The Subconscious – these are things that are below our conscious awareness but fairly easily accessible. They may include, for example, events that we have forgotten, but will easily remember when asked an appropriate question. The Unconscious – this is the area of the mind where memories have been suppressed and is usually very difficult to access. Such memories may include extremely traumatic events that have been blocked off and require a highly skilled practitioner to help recover. Freud's main interest and aim was to bring things from the unconscious into the conscious. This practice is known as psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis is used to encourage the client to examine childhood or early memory trauma to gain a deeper understanding of events. This in turn may help the client to release negativities associated with these earlier events. Psychoanalysis is based upon the assumption that we can only progress psychologically by becoming aware of earlier dilemmas that have been repressed into our unconscious because of painful associations. Freud maintained that the personality consists of three related elements: The Id (identity) is the part of our personality concerned with satisfying instinctual basic needs of food, comfort and pleasure. It is therefore present from (or possibly before) birth. The Ego is defined as “the realistic awareness of self”. It is the logical and common sense side to our personality. Freud believed that the Ego develops as the infant becomes aware that it is a separate being from its parents. The Superego develops later in a child’s life, from about the age of three. The Superego curbs and controls the basic instincts of the Id, which may be socially unacceptable. It therefore acts as our conscience. Freud believed that everybody experiences tension and conflict between the three elements of their personalities. For example, desire for pleasure (from the Id) is restrained by the moral sense of right and wrong (from the Superego). The Ego balances the tension between the Id wanting to be satisfied and the Superego being over strict. The main goal of psychodynamic or Psychoanalytic counseling, therefore, is to help people to balance the three elements of their personality so that neither the Id nor the Superego is dominant.
It is rooted in exploring and understanding past experience to identify repressed issues that are affecting current behavior. Psychodynamic counseling is therefore a long and ongoing process, and is mainly used when people are experiencing severe problems that are not resolved using other methods. Behavioral Approach to Counseling The behavioral approach to counseling focuses on the assumption that the environment determines an individual’s behavior. How an individual responds to a given situation is the result of past learning, and usually behavior that has been reinforced in the past. Behavioral therapies evolved from psychological research and theories of learning concerned with observable behavior, i. behavior that can be objectively viewed and measured. Behaviorists believe that that behavior is ‘learned’ and can therefore be unlearned. Behavior therapy focuses on individual behavior and aims to help people to modify unwanted behaviors. Unwanted behavior is defined as an undesired response to something or someone in the environment. Using this approach, a counselor would identify the unwanted behavior with a client and together they would work to change or adapt the behavior. Problems which respond well to this type of therapy include phobias, anxiety attacks and eating disorders. Objective of behaviouristic counseling is to change effective and self defeating behaviour into effective and winning behavior. Credit for this approach is with Joseph wolpe, BF Skinner, Kazdin and Lazarus. Qualities and Role Necessary for a Counselor Qualities of a Counselor:
Counselor should be a morale booster for the employee
Counselor should be unbiased and must never compare one employee with other employees
Counselor should have warm manners and social etiquettes
He/she must be well versed in excellent communication skills
The counselor should possess professional qualifications, experienced, maturity
Effective listening skill
Pleasing personality
Immense Patience
Compassionate approach
Eclectic (Cooperative) Counseling,
Participative Counseling and
Performance Counseling
Interactive counseling
Directive Counseling: It is full counseling. It is the process of listening to an employee’s problem, deciding with the employee what should be done and telling and motivating the employee to do it. This type of counseling mostly does the function of advice, reassurance and communication. It may also perform other functions of counseling. It centers on the counselor. The counselor, after hearing the problems of an employee, decides what should be done and gives advice and suggestion to him to resolve the problem. But directive counseling seldom succeeds, as people do not wish to take up advice normally, no matter how good it might be.
Non-Directive Counseling: It is the process of skillfully listening to the emotional problems of an employee, understand him/her and determine the course of action to be adopted to resolve his problem. It focuses on the counselee hence it is called ‘client centered’ counseling. Professional counselors usually adopt this method of counseling. The unique advantage of this type of counseling is its ability to cause the employees reorientation. The main stress is to ‘change’ the person instead of dealing with his immediate problem only. The non-directive counselor deals with respect the person so affected. He takes the person as best to solve his own problems and he facilitates the person to reach his goal. In non-directive counseling, the employee is permitted to have maximum freedom in determining the course of the interview. It is the process of skillfully listening and encouraging a counselee to explain troublesome problems, understand them and determine appropriate solutions. Fundamentally, the approach is to listen, with understanding and without criticism or appraisal, to the problem as it is described by the employee. The employee is encouraged, through the manager’s attitude and reaction to what is said or not said, to express feelings without fear of shame, embarrassment, or reprisal. The free expression that is encouraged in the non-directive approach tends to reduce tensions and frustrations. The employee who has had an opportunity to release pent-up feelings is usually in a better position to view the problem more objectively and with a problem-solving attitude. Cooperative Counseling: This is the process in which both the counselor and client mutually cooperate to solve the problems of the client. It is not neither wholly client centered nor wholly counselor centered but it is centered both counselor and client equally. It is defined as mutual discussion of an employee’s emotional problem to
set up conditions and plans of actions that will remedy it. This form of counseling appears to be more suitable to managerial attitude and temperament in our country. Among the three from of counseling, the advice offered in directive counseling considers the surface crises; the nondirective counseling goes to the underlining cause, the real crisis that leads the employee to understand his problem. It is thus suggested that nondirective to counseling is, probably, the best among the three forms. In attempting to help an employee who has a problem, a variety of counseling approaches are used. All of these counseling approaches, however, depend on active listening. Sometimes the mere furnishing of information or advice may be the solution to what at first appeared to be a knotty problem. More frequently, however, the problem cannot be solved easily because of frustrations or conflicts that are accompanied by strong feelings such as fear, confusion, or hostility. A manager, therefore, needs to learn to use whatever approach appears to be suitable at the time. Flexibility is a key component of the employee counseling process. Performance Counseling: Performance Counseling is a very important activity that helps employees to know themselves better. Performance Counseling refers to the help provided by a manager to his subordinates in objectively analyzing their performance. It attempts to help the employee in: I. Understanding himself - his strengths and weaknesses. II. Improving his professional and interpersonal competence by giving him feedback about his behavior. III. Setting goals and formulating action plans for further improvement. IV. Interactive Counseling V. Interactive Counseling’s goal is to break the stigma that goes along with counseling. VI. It incorporates theatre and humor in the counseling workshops there is interaction with the employee/client VII. Plays, mono acting, games, toys are used to express thoughts and emotions. VIII. Interactive counseling is helpful in handling the people with excessive anger, fear, sadness, anxiety, abuse and neglect, social adjustment and trauma. Participative Counseling Both directive and non-directive methods suffer from limitations. While the former is often not accepted by independent employees, the latter needs professionals to operate and hence is costly. Hence, the counseling used in most situations is in between these two. This middle path is known as participative counseling. Participative is a counselor-counselee relationship that establishes a cooperative exchange of ideas to help solve an employee’s problems. It is neither
The first most important requirement for effective counseling is that the individual to be given counsel should be interested in developing himself. Superiors usually hold the view that subordinates do not take sufficient interest in their growth and development. On the other hand, subordinates allege that they do not feel free to participate in the process of the review and feedback. 2. Continuous Dialogue: Counseling is not one-way process of communicating to the employee what he should or should not do. It is a process of continuous dialogue directed toward better understanding of the situation. This presupposes the existence of a general climate of openness, mutuality and trust. 3. Interest of Superior in Subordinates’ Development: In order to make counseling effective it is necessary that the counselor should have empathetic attitude towards his subordinates. To put it differently, counseling should not be considered as a burden or an unpleasant task and practiced half-heartedly or as a compulsion. 4. Mutual Participation: Both the superior and the subordinate should whole-heartedly participate in the goal setting and reviewing of goals and performance. Without such collaboration counseling would be reckless. Factors Necessary to Build a Successful Counseling Program The philosophy behind a counseling program is based on the belief that each person is a unique individual with specific needs and talents. Believing and promoting a respect for human dignity and fostering that concept among employees are important for their positive growth. The counseling program plays a key role in coordinating and facilitating growth and development of the employees. One of the most widely used counseling programs is interviewing which maybe directive, authoritarian, non- authoritarian or non-directive. Whatever the method of Interviewing, it is directed at finding a solution to the problem at hand. Counseling is essentially helpful. Morrissey in 1972 has suggested many techniques, some of which are as follows –
- You-we technique where in the compliment is directed towards ‘you’ and the criticism towards ‘we’. This is effective way of establishing a rapport since collective acceptance of blame instead of throwing it on others help to break the ice and build in confidence.
- Second hand compliment technique is passing on the compliment received from a third party on behalf of the counselee.
- Advice-request technique as the name itself suggests it is seeking the solution to the problems.
- Summary technique is summing up the decisions and fixing responsibilities and integrating the whole decision.
The counseling programs are aimed at developing the employee and eventually developing the organization. It includes supplementing the Developing Capable People program through self-awareness guidance; decision making and problem solving strategies on various issues. The counseling works on the dictum of Bradley which says that “If you touch me soft and gentle, If you look at me and smile at me, If you listen to me talk sometimes before you talk, I will grow, really grow” and should be as a rule by every manager. Factors Necessary to Build a Successful Counseling Program: The corporate world is getting changed and so the HR process also. Counseling not only helps employees but also show how much the organization cares for employees. Employee Counseling needs to be tackled carefully, both on the part of the organization and the counselor.
- The counselor should be either a professional or an experienced, mature employee.
- The counselor should be flexible in his/her approach and a patient listener.
- The counselor should have the warmth required to win the trust of the employee so that he/she can share thoughts and problems without any inhibitions.
- Active and effective listening is one of the most important aspects of the employee counseling.
- Time should not be a constraint in the process.
- The counselor should be able to identify the problem and offer concrete advice.
- The counselor should be able to help the employee to boost the morale and spirit of the employee, create a positive outlook and help employees to make decisions to deal with the problem.
- Counselor must give that kind of advice which is workable and possible to follow by the employee.
- Counselor must give an advice which is workable and possible.
DEALING WITH PROBLEM SUBORDINATES
"Problem subordinate" is typically used to refer to a worker who fails to conduct himself/herself in a responsible and professional manner in the workplace. Effectively dealing with such employees can be among the greatest challenges that face small business owners and managers. Few relish the prospect of disciplining or criticizing others in or outside the work environment. But when difficult employees become an issue, their failings must be addressed quickly and decisively lest they erode morale and efficiency. A natural management response is delay, temporizing, and wishful thought. When such traits are indulged, they just make things worse. A reasonably formal, reasonable orderly, well-organized, straight-forward, crisp but friendly work environment helps instill the right expectation in the workforce. Such an environment is almost always
processes to ensure that policies are followed. Rarely if ever will a problem employee, managed in a rational, methodical, and orderly manner succeed in prevailing against the employer. The pain, generally, of facing up to problems early is almost always negligible compared to the "uproar" that results from neglect and avoidance. Here the famous "Pay me now or pay me later" warning applies in full. The general rule—assuming, again, that good policies are in place and properly implemented—is to insist on rational and sensible behavior, full disclosure of problems on both sides, and clearly spelled out consequences which are actually applied. Problem subordinates are part and parcel of any organization. Every Manager has to deal with them. They are generally avoided because managers want to abstain from direct confrontation or are reluctant to play God. Some of them may feel insecure or frustrated. In organizations, different types of problem subordinates include talented but abrasive, charming but unreliable and plateaued but indifferent. While dealing with problem subordinates, the manager will have to confront them directly, avoid frozen evaluations and learn to attend to various signals. They also have to understand not to neglect the problem subordinates and also to accept their own mistakes. This will help the manger to enhance their personal relationship with subordinates and convert them into ideal subordinates. ETHICS IN COUNSELING Ethics and morals relate to “right” and “wrong” conduct. While they are sometimes used interchangeably, they are different: Ethics refer to rules provided by an external source, e., codes of conduct in workplaces or principles in religions. Morals refer to an individual’s own principles regarding right and wrong. COMMON UNETHICAL BEHAVIOUR OF COUNSELOR 1. Violation of confidentiality 2. Exceeding one’s level of professional competence 3. Negligent practice 4. Claiming expertise one does not possess Imposing one’s values on client 6. Creating dependency in a client 7. Mala fide intention 8. Dual relationship 9. Questionable financial arrangements 10. Improper advertising
COMPONENTS OF ETHICAL COUNSELING
The components of good ethical behavior include:- Understanding & implementing ethical codes. Doing what is best for the client Practicing the four core virtues: prudence, integrity, respectfulness, & benevolence Realizing importance of intuition, integrity, & honest self-evaluation in ethical decisions Placing client welfare as paramount. ETHICAL PRINCIPLES Respect for Autonomy: Individual’s right to self determination. Autonomy must be respected. -Rights of the individual end where others right begin. -Individuals understand the implications and consequences of their choices. -This ability to comprehend the meaning of choices is called competence. -Counselor must respect the choices of priority of a competent man. Beneficence: (state of doing or producing good) -promote good or wellness for others -Counselors have dipper ethical responsibilities -Counselors are “Expert Helpers” -People see them when they are distressed to get out of a situation that they can’t cope with Non - malfeasance (Act of committing harm or evil) Do no harm -Most fundamental ethical principle guiding all human service professions -Counselor should assess client’s problems accurately -Choose counseling strategies wisely. Fidelity (Trustworthiness) : make honest promises / don't deceive / exploit clients
Adopting to life transitions
The death of a loved one
Appropriate referrals after assessment. Good indicators are, you seek counseling when you're having difficulties at work, your ability to concentrate is diminished or when your level of pain becomes uncomfortable. Dimensions that can be added to workplace counseling:
Managers could be trained in some basic counseling skills.
Some growth and development workshops can be conducted in emotional Intelligence,
Transactional Analysis (psychoanalytical theory to understand behavior) , Marriage enrichment etc can also be conducted by the counselor.
A counselor in a work place can work with designated personnel as a thinking partner, a revealing mirror, and a pace setter among others.
A counselor can help in leveraging core capacities of employees.
A Counselor can help create a culture for greater synergy in organizational learning and development.
A counselor can help employees increase their self-awareness regarding their thinking patterns and behavioral tendencies so as to make them more effective as an individual and in turn effective in their job also.
Managers know that many problems at work often stem from an employee's personal life rather than just the work situation.
What we do from 9 to 5 at job is directly related to what we do between 5 to 9 outside the work place.
Counseling is an effective and preventive people management strategy for organizations to help employees’ better managing stress, personal issues or work related problems. Benefits to the organization:
Decrease costs related to turnover, burn-outs, absenteeism & accident-related disability.
Improvement in employee performance & therefore increase in productivity.
Counselor can play the role of a business partner to manage behavioral Problems brought about by organizational changes.
Unfortunately our educational system does not equip us with living skills.
A counselor can train people in managing themselves and thus enhancing Personal growth. PERFORMANCE COUNSELING It is a Process of improving employee’s performance and productivity by providing employee with feedback regarding areas where he is doing well and areas that may require improvement. It is a supportive process by a manager to help an employee define and work through personal problems or organizational changes that affect job performance. It is a set of Techniques, Skills and Attitudes to help people manage their own problems using their own resources Performance. Purpose: To provide an employee with the info, advice and assistance they need to contribute fully to the achievement of organization's objectives. To improve the performance of employees or to maintain already existing desirable level of performance. OBJECTIVES: PERFORMANCE COUNSELING Helps an employee to understand himself-his strengths and weaknesses. Helps employee to have better understanding of the environment. Helps employee to review his progress in achieving various objectives. Helps to realize potential as a manager. Increases his personal and inter-personal effectiveness. Encourages him to generate alternatives for dealing with various problems. Provides him atmosphere for sharing and discussing his tensions, conflicts, concerns and problems. Encourages him to set goals for further improvement. Helps him to develop various action plans for further improvement. PERFORMANCE COUNSELING PROCESS Preparation Schedule the counseling session and notify the employee.
Counseling Notes Unit I & II
Course: Introduction to business (MBA1)
University: Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology
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