Jane Doe
One of the key roles of the Human Relations Management is to ensure that the working conditions of an enterprise are adequately considering the needs and well-being of the employee base. In order to avoid behaviors that lack professional integrity, the human resource department oversees the rules and regulations that are to be honored by each employee within an organization. However, in addition to this responsibility, the HR Management team must help decrease the bad stress (distress), while increasing the good stress (eustress). The following essay will use the example of the “X Company” whose employees have faced excessive stress while at work and complained about the lack of motivation that they feel due to the nature of the owner’s behavior and expectations that are improperly communicated on a regular basis. As the “champion” of the HR Management team, I will provide a number of ways to help the owner and the employees dissipate the level of distress, ideally while increasing the eustress at “X Company.”
At “X Company,” the owner runs an extremely tight ship with his employee base, which includes supervising the behavior of the employees through camera observation that allows him to see and hear what individuals are doing and talking about. Although one could understand his need to want to enforce a work environment where employees could be trusted, taking on this position in a somewhat smaller business with less than 25 employees all working in the same office as him seems unacceptable by certain standards. As the expert advisor of HR Management methods, my advice to the owner would be to reconsider his use of these cameras in a business like his. As mentioned in an article by Mishra and Crampton (1998), issues including the invasion of privacy rights are a problem when management decides to observe employees through video monitoring. One possible obvious issue here is that people have a certain amount of casual conversing between working and the environment limits the level of comfort that these employees have while on the job. Naturally they are guarded and feeling a higher amount of stress while at work than the counterparts who work without camera and sound surveillance. A possible alternative to enhance eustress is to remove the cameras and trust that the individuals will fairly complete the workload required of their positions without the invasive pressure of the camera. The sense of faith may shift the attitudes of the hard working individuals to produce improved gains in their workload through the sense of comfort gained by not being watched.
The next large complaint and issue involving “X Company” is the woman in charge of the employee base who delegates the tasks around the office when the owner is unavailable. The woman placed in this position is a difficult and arrogant individual who does not progressively connect with any of the other individuals working at the company. Due to this problem, the employees lack empowerment in the tasks they are assigned when there is no logical supervisor to turn to for assistance. Several suggestions are made to the owner on how to handle the situation with his supervisor, 1) do not ignore the issues surrounding this employee and her role, 2) intervening as soon as possible is recommended,3) personally research the issue regarding the supervisor’s relationship with the employees, 4) help design an alternative system for how the supervisor is to engage with the employees, and 5) if all else fails, replace the supervisor through terminating her position (Javitch, 2009).
The third large problem, which in my opinion is the one most in need of fixing is the temperament of the CEO/owner of “X Company.” Mr. John (fictitious name) is a man focused on hard work and integrity in the quality of work done within his company, but displays outrageous temper tantrums when things go wrong. He has been known to yell at employees, throw things in his office, and create severe tension among the office when things do not go as planned. He displays this unprofessional behavior in both his disappointment about work and personal matters. This is a key factor to change for the sake of best practices within “X Company.” Often times the employee turnover rate at the organization is rather high; however, this is to be blamed on Mr. John’s anger issues that are inappropriately directed at his employee base.
Perhaps the owner, Mr. John, needs to be made aware of the implications his temper has on his role as the employer for the company. According to an article in the Society for Human Resource Management website (2011), “retaliation charges were the most common charge filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in fiscal year 2010, surpassing race discrimination” (Hastings, 2011). The owner must consider the legal problems that could arise from his lack of professionalism, which are the worst of things possible for his business. There is also the hindrance on productivity in the workplace that exists as a result of this irrational behavior that is regularly displayed at the offices of “X Company.” It would be my obligation to have a frank dialogue with him on the ultimate cost on his organization that results due to his lack of mindfulness with his employee base.
In my final recommendations to Mr. John for a better work environment at “X Company” that is focused on decreasing distress while increasing eustress would involve five specific goals to incorporate with the help of an HR team. These goals include- 1) implementing legal employment practices, 2) improving employee satisfaction, 3) constructing fair and equitable compensation packages for the employees, 4) a development of reliable evaluation strategies, and 5) and to create effective training and development programs for the employees at “X Company” (Plowman, 2011). It is with confidence that I can confer that if these changes recommended are taken seriously, the complete turnaround in the environment at the organization will likely result in improved productivity and sales with a much more pleasant working environment.
In conclusion, it is crucial to both big and small business to consider the advice of the Human Resource Management teams to support the overall conditions of an organization and its employees. Often times these adjustments suggested by the HR professionals could result in a make or break difference for the corporations. In the case of “X Company” it is critical to take the advice given with complete urgency and seriousness if Mr. John hopes to see his enterprise remain solid and productive business in the marketplace in the upcoming years. To re-state, Mr. John has been recommended to take various steps to change the way that he monitors his employees because the camera surveillance makes for a stressful and harsh work environment. In addition to this problem his supervising manager is an individual who is does not have the skills necessary to empower the employee base to encourage a productive work environment. These things coupled with the owner, Mr. John’s temper that is regularly displayed at the workplace is only enhancing the distress of the employees, which hampers the quality of the work that could be done. With the numerous suggestions provided by my expert knowledge, the chances of transforming this distressing workplace into one with eustress is a much more likely and will result in a beneficial situation for both the company and all entities involved.
References
Hastings, R. (2011, January 26). What Not to Do with Employee Complaints . Retrieved
Javitch, D. (2009, May 31). 5 Steps to Deal with Difficult Employees. Retrieved December 31,
2015, from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/201950
Mishra, J., & Crampton, S. (1998). Employee Monitoring: Privacy In The Workplace?
Retrieved December 31, 2015, from http://faculty.bus.olemiss.edu/breithel/final backup
of bus620 summer 2000 from mba
server/frankie_gulledge/employee_workplace_monitoring/employee_monitoring_privacy
_in_the_workplace.htm - See more at:
http://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/employeerelations/articles/pages/whatnottodo.aspx#st
hash.k44SgHm2.dpuf
Plowman, N. (2011, June 2). Top Five HR Strategies for Small Business Owners. Retrieved
December 31, 2015, from
http://www.brighthub.com/office/entrepreneurs/articles/59731.aspx
