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NAME OF GROUP MEMBERS
MOHD UZAIR BIN YAHYA PC76984
LEE CHEE WEI PC76950
JOSEPH LAU CHIH HIN PC76972
HAMDI BIN ADAM PC76948
MOHD SAHRUL BIN HATTA PC76954
HAIRUL HAQIM BIN HITAM PC76955
MOHD NOOR FIZUAN BIN MOHD SOHIB PC76962
LECTURERS NAME: PN. HUSNI BINTI MOHD RADZI
SUBMISSION DATE: 29TH OF AUGUST 2008
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CONTENT
TITLE PAGE
1. INTRODUCTION 1
a. What is counseling?
b. What is counseling in corporate industry?
c. What is workplace counseling?
2. HISTORY OF WORKPLACE COUNSELING 2
3. PROBLEMS IN WORKPLACE 4
4. WHY WORKPLACE COUNSELING? 6
5. MODELS OF WORKPLACE COUNSELING 7
6. CRITICISM OF WORKPLACE COUNSELING 12
7. CONCLUSION & REFERENCES 14
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INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, counseling has been applied widely in corporate industry. One of the most
applied counseling is workplace counseling. It is a system that helps to improve the smoothness
& productivity of a corporate industry. What is workplace counseling?
What is counseling?
Counseling is a service provided to help people in a systematic way according to
psychological concept. It involves the verbal and non-verbal communication between a helper
(counselor) and the person who needs help (client). Counseling is proven as an effective way to
facilitate and solve psychological issues.
What is counseling in corporate industry?
Counseling in corporate industry is a specialized counseling practice which is used in a
corporate industry. It consists of a variety of counseling practice such as organizational
counseling, vocational counseling, workplace counseling and others.
The main purpose of counseling practice in a corporate industry is that it is a part of
workers welfare and to enhance the productivity of the industry.
What is workplace counseling?
Workplace counseling is a counseling practice that is held in a corporate industry. It is
conducted to help workers in a corporate industry by solving their problems in their workplace.
Workplace counseling usually deals with workers who have problems in their workplace.
Some of them may be referred by the employer while some of them may come willingly for the
counseling session.
Big corporate industry usually have employed counselor in their human resource unit so
that the counseling session can be done within the company itself, but some corporate industry
send their workers to private counseling practice that specializes in workplace counseling.
Workplace counseling consists of many modules according to the clients problems. The
modules of counseling are usually done in a quick way. This is to ensure that the productivity of
the company will not be affected.
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HISTORY OF WORKPLACE COUNSELING
If modern counseling started during the Reformation Era in 1900 then when did workplace
counseling started? Counseling in the workplace actually has existed about the same time in the
early 1990s although it is uses a much different format than the ones we use today.In brief, there are three stages or eras in the history of corporate counseling. The three eras are:
1. Human Relationship Era
2. The Alcohol Awareness Era
3. Internal and External Counseling Provision Era
(Michael Carroll 1996)
THE HUMAN RELATIONSHIP ERA (1900s-1940s)
Where did it started? It began in the US and is intertwined with the arrival in industry of
medical, psychiatric and social work provision (Michael Carroll 1996). The first era in employee
COUNSELING emphasizes on human resources and human relations.
1913- By this year, there were about 2000 welfare workers in the industry (Carter, 1977)
1914- First counseling program in industry was initiated by the Ford Motor Company
1920- A survey commissioned by the Engineering Foundation of New York found out that 62
percent of employees where discharged sue t social problems than occupational incompetence.
1922- Metropolitan Life Insurance employed full time psychiatrists.
1924- R.H. Macey employed full time psychiatrists. Anderson, the first psychiatrist for Macey
provided the first book connecting psychiatry with industry entitledPsychiatry and Industry
(McLean et al., 1985)
1948- It was only until this year the first training program in occupational psychiatry was
introduced. (McLean et al., 1985)
THE ALCOHOL AWARENESS ERA(1940s-1960s)
What happened during this era?
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During this era a new phase of interest emerged directed at employee health and growth.
However, alcohol concerns pretty much dominated much of the counseling provision from this
stage until the 1960s.
The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism introduced the term EAP (Employee
Assistance Program) as a way of widening the counseling provision to include other than
alcohol.
During this era, a whole range of people became involved with employees: ex-alcoholics,
psychiatrists, social workers, psychologists and personal officers. Counseling covers a variety of
approaches from job testing to alcoholism and family problems.
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL COUNSELING PROVISION ERA
What happened during this era?
The third phase in employee counseling move beyond dealing solely on alcohol issues. Still with
an emphasis on drink and drunk problems, corporate counseling move swiftly to encompass a
range of services, legal and financial help, stress management, telephone counseling and face-to-
face counseling. The numbers of EAPs grew quickly and were set up as either:
1. Internal services as a part of the organization
2. External Services- a service specializing in providing EAPs to a number of organizations
Apart from internal and external EAPs, in-house counselors, counselors hired by companies to
work with their staff, began during this era.
TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY EAPs
What is the difference between corporate counseling now and in the past?
Traditional Programs Contemporary ProgramsEmphasis on alcoholism Broader approach: Any issue appropriate for
serviceProblems identified at late stage of
development
Problems identified at earlier stage of
development
Services offered by medical and alcoholism
specialist
Services offered by counselors
Focus on employees with work performance Focus on work and non-work related problems
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problems e.g. family problems
PROBLEMS IN WORKPLACE.
Nowadays, there is a lot of pressure at our workplaces. This leads to stress which then leads to
diseases and health complications such as hypertension, high blood pressure, asthma, stroke and
heart attacks. Stress also cause employers and employees to resort to negative activities to
release their daily tension such as smoking, taking drugs and alcohol. Among problems that arise
at workplace include:
Work-Related Problems Non-work Related Problemsa) Low motivation a) Family problems
b) Demanding Employer b) Addiction e.g. alcohol, drugs
c) Peer pressure c) Personal problems
d) Sexual harassment d) Financial problems
e) Low pay e) Health problems
Problems at workplace will result low productivity, financial cost and slow growth. How can we
tackle these problems? This is where corporate counseling comes in.
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SURVEY
1. Do workers think counseling is important?
2. Do workers think that counseling helps them in their working life?
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WHY WORKPLACE COUNSELING?
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Why do employers and large organizations are turning to corporate
counseling?
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Overall, workplace counseling is pivotal to ensure that a company is able to succeed.
MODELS OF WORKPLACE COUNSELING
Counseling-orientation models
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These models are characterized by its use of a counseling approach as the key
factor in what is offered to employee client. Counselors, by and large, subscribe to
or are affiliated to, and trained in, a particular therapeutic approach which they
use when working with organizational clients. Subscribing to a particular
counseling orientation normally means accepting a specific view of human nature
and an explanation of why individuals behave the way they do. This, in turn, leads
logically to an assessment congruent with the counseling approach and
interventions designed to bring about change. However, their main interest is still
focused almost exclusively on individuals and the organizational dimensions of
counseling work are largely ignored.
Brief-therapy models
Brief therapy differs from other schools of therapy in that it emphasizes a focus
on a specific problem and direct intervention. In this model, the therapists take
responsibility for working more proactively with the clients in order to treat
clinical and subjective conditions faster. It also emphasizes precise observation,
utilization of natural resources, and temporary suspension of disbelief to consider
new perspectives and multiple viewpoints.
Rather than the formal analysis of historical causes of distress, the primary
approach of brief therapy is to help the client to view the present from a wider
context and to utilize more functional understandings (not necessarily at a
conscious level). By becoming aware of these new understandings, successful
clients will de facto undergo spontaneous and generative change.
Problem-focused models
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These models of counseling see the counselors role as helping individuals to
work with the immediate problems they bring. Whereas these problems may not
be entirely worked-based, counseling confines itself to working with the
immediate issue. One model of this is contained in a training manual for
counselors in the workplace; formulate problem, generate solution, and action
plan. Problems-focused counseling emerges for a number of reasons: the limited
amount of time counselors can provide to clients, the number of counselors
available to service a company, the theoretical background from which counselors
emerge, and organizational constraints (e.g.: finance). However, problem-solving
approaches to counseling are a fairly well-established perspective in their own
right and like brief therapy will no doubt play a large part in workplace
counseling.
Work-orientated model
Work-orientated models of counseling pinpoint the immediate problem as a
workplace issue and work with it. They do not spend time on the underlying areas
of why problems exist, nor are they interested in problems or issues that are not
related to the workplace. Their aim is to facilitate the individual to overcome
workplace problems and move back to work as quickly as possible. This is anattractive counseling model for managers who want value for money and want to
think that time spent in counseling is for the welfare of the organization through
the individual. However, it is not always easy, in practice, to differentiate between
what is the workplace problem and what is a personal problem not related to
work.
Manager-based models
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Though not widespread, there is vulnerability in some organizations to view
managers as quasi-counselors for their staff. With the introduction of counseling
training for personnel officers, human resource officers, managers and a host of
other individuals in industry and public services, there is the tendency for people
to combine a number of roles with employees this gives rise to innumerable
problems. It is a small wonder that legislation in the United States of America
forbids managers to enter into counseling with their subordinates. On the other
hand, training in counseling skills for managers helps them to recognize signs of
disturbance in employees and no doubt provides valuable aids in their managerial
and personal roles according to Martin (1994). However, Nixon and Carroll
(1994) have argued strongly against managers taking on a formal counseling role.
Not only does it cross boundaries, in their view, but it puts employees in an
impossible situation: asking on one hand, that they share personal issues with
their manager, and on the other hand, that they be ready for appraisal their careers
with the same manager.
Externally based models
Externally based models of counseling are the counseling services brought in, and
bought in, from outside the organization. It is usually in the form of an Employee
Assistant Program (EAP) and they are administered and organized from outside.
The format used can be any of the above models, or even mixtures of them. One
of the strengths of external counseling services is that it can offer clear
confidentiality and training as well as counseling. It also provides a range of
services and a number of counselors with different skills and backgrounds.
However, it also brings along other unwanted problems. The counselors may not
be flexible in what they offer and may not have had experience of workplace
counseling. Besides, they may not adapt easily to individual companies and may
also not understand the culture of the organization.
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There are several formats of external counseling provision used by organizations:
some employ established EAPs, others set up an internal EAP while others opt for
employing individuals to work on a session basis with employees. Full-service
programs, limited utilization programs and information and referral-only
programs are the examples of EAP programs.
Internally based models
In-house counseling provision is the norm in a number of companies. A part-time
or full-time counselor, or a team of counselors, is employed to work with
employees. The counseling service can be part of an already-existing department
or an independent unit in its own right. The strength of internal counseling
services is that the counselors are in touch with the culture of the company. Thus,
they can adapt counseling work to organizational needs and they have flexibility
to adapt to client needs. This can build up great credibility for the counseling
service. However, one of the weaknesses is that the counselor can be more
subjective in his or her assessments and he or she may get involved in politics of
the organization. It is also more difficult to maintain confidentiality. In-house
counseling provision can be set up in a variety of ways: an in-house EAP, with ateam of counselors, with an individual counselor, as within a particular
department, as outside all departments, as part-time or full-time.
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Welfare-based models
Welfare-based models of counseling combine a number of roles with employees,
one of which is counseling. Welfare officers have traditionally been employed in
a number of organizations to fulfill several tasks depending on client needs:
befriending, information-giving, advocate, home-visiting during sickness, giving
legal and financial advice, advising on a range of topics and counseling. Welfare-
based models of counseling have been the predecessors of counseling provision in
the workplace. Such models were more social work based, seeing counseling as
one of many roles enacted with employees. Their strength is their ability to
provide a range of interventions, one of which may be counseling.
Organizational-change models
Counseling which is targeted on the organization as a whole though is mainly
implemented by working with individuals and groups. Counseling in
organizational settings is directly valuable to the individual and indirectly
beneficial to the organization. Perhaps beginning to integrate counseling more
specifically into organizational growth, development and transition would be a
valuable asset to organizations.
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CRITICISM OF WORKPLACE COUNSELING
From the Newtons criticize about the current theories of stress and the use of such provision as
individual counseling as a method of managing, he criticizes workplace counseling such as:
Individualizes problems such as stress will makes someone become in isolation and not
interested in politic. When the counseling was introduced in 1936, Newton looks to the
history of EAPs where the Hawthorne Works as a prime example of employee problems
becoming individualized and made the responsibility of the individual.
The way of managing emotions where it could be view as a method of organizational
social control to individual client which emotion are permitted and which not within the
organization.
Newton summarizes:
Rather than expressing problems and grievance through a collective channel, through
stress management practices they become individualized, a personal problems rather than one
which be share by a large number of employees (1995:146)
Allied to the criticism, further indictment counseling in the workplace is that it becomes a tool of
management.
In some organization, there is great anxiety that going for counseling will be seen as a
weakness that will take its roll on career and promotion.
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There is some validity in the criticism that counseling help individual deal with emotion
that needs advice to be more appropriately directed outwards towards the injustice.
Counseling is not integrated into the organization but remains on the outside. This can
happen all too easily in certain kinds of companies which relegated counseling to the
periphery of the organization.
If inadequate introduced, the counseling service itself can become dysfunctional.
On the other hand, over-involvement of the organization in its counseling service can
lead it to become a form of social control.
Wilensky and Wilensky were critique the Western Electrics counseling service in 1951,
The company has developed a network of lower-level functionaries to drain off
hostility and has integrated into its structure those forces which represent a potential
challenge to its control over the worker(1951:280)
The other criticisms from the other person about the counseling of the workplace:
Trying to teach employeesto cope with stressful working conditions, proponents of this
approach can be seen to be blaming the victim of poor communicationchannels,
inadequate training, autocratic management stylesand other common sources of
workplace stress.
The second criticismoften directed at the individual-oriented approach is that strategies
aimed at helping people to cope with stressful working conditions, without addressing
those conditions, contravene the occupationalhealth and safety legislation that exists in
many industrializedcountries. In the UK,for example, employers must monitor both
physical and psychosocialhazards and, as a result, a failure to address adverse working
conditions, so far as is reasonably practical, is a breach ofthat legislation.
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The final majorcriticism directed at the worker-oriented stress preventionstrategies is
that they often fail to achieve any significanthealth and or productivity outcomes.
It is important to take the criticisms of workplace counseling seriously and to isolate the
underlying philosophies that drive the implementation of counseling services. It is nave to see
automatically as of value to employees .Organization are certainly beyond introduction
counseling to control their employees above making organization problem the responsibility of
individual employees.
CONCLUSION
Workplace counseling is proven to be effective in handling workers psychological
problems in their workplace. The usage of counseling in corporate industry must always be
revised and improved, and the criticism on it must not be taken lightly for the better of both
corporate industry and their employees.
REFERENCES
1. Workplace Counselingby Michael Carroll, SAGE Publications (1996)
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2. An Introduction To Counselingby John McLeod , Open University Press (1998)
3. Counseling At The Workplace by Norman C. Hill, McGraw-Hill Book Company (1981)
4. Psychology Applied To Workby Paul M. Muchinsky, Thomson Wadsworth (2003)
5. Introduction To Industrial / Organizational Psychology by Ronald E. Riggio, Prentice
Hall (2000)