Question One
Workplace alienation is the feeling of indifference or detachment from the job, work or position held by an individual in an organisation. This is depicted by the employee’s lack of concern on what happens at the organisation as well as the feeling that their job and positions held are not significant to other aspects of their lives. This lack of connection to one’s work affects the general output of an individual at the workplace and impacts negatively to others. Some of the causes of alienation at the workplace include the lack of involvement and association especially in making decisions that impact directly on an individual or group of employees. This creates a feeling of subordination and powerlessness that leads to employees developing a negative attitude towards their employers. The lack of concern or human contact especially when handling workplace issues coupled by the lack of hope for improvement also leads to alienation. This creates the need for addressing the issue as a way of improving the work output at the workplace.
There are two main theories that address the problem. The theory of Karl Marx argues that alienation is felt by all employees equally and therefore it is objective while Robert Blauner’s theory argues that there is a possibility of it being subjective because the effects vary among employees. One of the ways in which the employees respond to alienation is by making out where they mainly toy around with the system until they discover ways of overcoming it through the use of shortcuts. Alienation can also lead to fiddling which is mainly the use of unlawful activity like acquiring the organization’s property and overstating expenses. Joking diverts the boredom at the workplace and therefore is termed as an effective way of countering alienation. Because alienation creates a sense of powerlessness, the employees may result to sabotage as a way of having control. Sometimes all these strategies fail and the employees result to escaping which could be in terms of daydreaming or mental absenteeism or even failing to show up.
The issue of alienation is crucial mainly because it has been identified as one contributor to employee low performance as a result of detachment from the work place. Some of the strategies employed by the employees to counter the problem could have gross implications on the general performance of an organization. For instance, sabotage could affect the operations of a company especially in the production sector. The management should therefore come up with ways of solving this problem. The best way of addressing this is by ensuring that the employees are satisfied with the policies being implemented by involving them in formulation. They should also be empowered to make simple decisions as well as having their concerned listened to and their opinions respected without unnecessary dismissal. This creates a healthy working environment and result to improved service delivery.
Question Two
Stress at work is the effects of an individual’s reaction to excess pressure. This is mainly where an individual at the workplace is required to attend to a lot of things than they can handle. It is sometimes made worse by the management that believes that pressure is a way of boosting people’s performance and therefore pushes employees too much. Some of the major causes of stress at work include overworking of employees, lack of job security, poor working environment as well as poor management. These are more inclined on the employer’s side. Others may include bullying and blaming culture which is mainly in terms of association with others. Stress at work affects all aspects of an individual and impact negatively on their general performance. It affects the physical, emotional, intellectual and behavioral aspect of an employee therefore, should be addressed.
Workplace stress affects the morale of the employees and makes them less motivated to work. This is more so when it is caused by the pressure from the management or employer’s side. It leads to high cases of absenteeism and the general production and performance rate of the employee is reduced. Stress hinders the ability to make informed decisions and limits the level of concentration which increases the risks of workplace unfortunate incidents and accidents. If not addressed at the right time, it could be passed to other people because it creates a feeling of anxiety and aggressiveness. This bring the need for the management team to solve stress related incidences in time mainly due to the fact that they affect the operations of an organization by limiting the performance of the staff.
The effects of workplace stress are adverse and impacts greatly on the performance of the organization which is determined by the individual contribution of each employee. It is therefore important for employers to monitor the performance of their staff and solve stress related cases as a way of creating a perfect working condition. Some of the best ways of solving the problem is by conducting surveys regularly to determine the level of employee job satisfaction and ensuring that the employees are not overworked. Guaranteeing job security is also crucial as it makes the employees to only concentrate on the performance.
References
Tonks, Graeme. & Nelson, Lindsay. (2008). HRM: A Contributor to Employee Alienation? Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 16(1), 1-17.
Triggle, Nick. (November 2009). Tackle work stress, bosses told. BBC News, Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8343074.stm on 20th May 2013.
