by According to Keith Davis “Employee counselling involves a discussion of an emotional problem with an employee with the general objective of decreasing it.”
HR counselling has become very important responsibility of HR managers as counselling plays vital role in different aspects of managing human resources like career planning and development, performance management, stress management, and other areas which may affect employees emotionally. Counselling has very wide application both within and without organizational context.
The need of the hour is to remove the problem and help the individual to regain his or her self-confidence and esteem and put his strength in work. Counselling can do the magic and help an individual to overcome his lost confidence and self respect because of the problem. So counselling is the process of helping an individual facing a problem and to regain his lost confidence and self esteem and put his mind in his job.
according to Keith Davis: Employee counselling involves a discussion of an emotional problem with an employee with the general objective of decreasing it.
This definition has three concepts:
(i) Counselling deals with emotional problems.
(ii) Counselling involves discussion i.e., it is an act of communication. Successful counselling depends on communication skills, primarily face- to-face, by which one person’s emotions can be shared with another.
(iii) The general objective of counselling is to understand and/or decrease an employee’s emotional disorder. If two individuals merely discuss an emotional problem of either of them, a social relationship may be established, but hardly a counselling one, because intent is not there. For counselling to exist, an employee must be seeking an understanding or help and/or the other (known as counsellor) must be offering it.
Need
- The employees need to know as to how much the employer care for the employee.
- There is a need for the employees to come out from the problems, gives a new way to deal with the problems.
- There is a need to increase the productivity of employee and the confidence about the work.
- There is also a need to identify the work related problems and the poor performance.
Objectives
- Understand his behaviour and reasons for such behaviour.
- Provide an opportunity for the employee to discuss his frustration, tension, conflicts, concerns and problems.
- Help the employee to realise his potential.
- Understanding the work environment.
- Help him to understand his strengths and areas for development.
- Improve his personal and interpersonal effectiveness.
Types of Counselling:
Directive Counselling:
Under directive counselling the counsellor issues certain instructions to the counsellee or he is directed to do certain things e.g.: he is asked to behave in a particular manner, asked to abstain from alcohol or drug, asked to respect his colleagues and superiors.
Non-Directive Counselling:
Under non directive counselling counsellor does not issue directions but observe the behaviour and attitude of the counsellee towards his work and his colleagues and superiors and subordinates. If he errs then counsellor comes to his rescue and corrects him realizing him that he was wrong. He will not issue him any instructions or will not direct him.
Cooperative Counselling:
This is a kind of counselling that can be done through extending full cooperation to the counsellee and makes him realize his mistakes relating to his behaviour and attitudes so that he himself will be back on the track and improve himself. It is winning the heart of the counsellee through cooperation. His confidence will be won by the counsellee and he in turn will extend his cooperation and become self disciplined.
Marital and Family Counselling:
Employees need counselling in respect of marriage and family problems. The troubled employees can discuss out their problems with the counsellor who can take them into confidence and prescribe solutions for their ills.
Developing the New Patterns:
Developing new patterns becomes very often necessary when other methods to deal with weak spots remain ineffective. In order to develop new, more satisfying emotional reactions, the individual needs to expose himself to situations where he can experience positive feelings. The manager who deals with such individuals may motivate or instigate them to put themselves into such situations, so that their self-confidence may increase.
Every counsellor must concentrate his/her full attention on two aspects viz., using of assessment tools, and utilizing counselling methods, choice of which differs from person to person, situation to situation, and from case to case.
Participative Counselling:
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 counselling used in most situations is in between these two. This middle path is known as participative counselling.
Participative is a counsellor-counselee relationship that establishes a cooperative exchange of ideas to help solve an employee’s problems. It is neither wholly counsellor centered nor wholly counselee-centered. Counsellor and counselee mutually apply their different knowledge, perceptions, skills, perspectives and values to problem into the problems and find solutions.
Insight:
Founded by Sigmund Freud, psychoanalysis or insight delves deep into an employee’s past and brings to light past experiences and current unconscious thoughts and behaviours of the employee, that are believed to be the cause of their current problems. Specifically, it targets how inner drives such as the id, superego, and ego conflict with outside pressures such as cultural or religious obligations.
Insight is the ability to acquire a new accurate awareness or comprehension about a thing or person. Insight therapy is a type of therapy that helps the employee to understand how events in the past are negatively influencing the current thoughts, emotions, and behaviours. This type of treatment can be quite empowering for employees, because it is identifying the source of their problems. Identifying the reasons for low self-esteem, insecurity, depression, anxiety, etc., is the first step towards resolving those conflicts and issues.
Desensitization:
According to Desensitization, once an individual is shocked in a particular situation, he/she gives himself/herself no chance for the situation to recur. This method can be used to overcome avoidance reactions, so as to improve the emotional weak spots. If an employee is once shocked by the behavior, approach or action of his superior, he would continue to avoid that superior.
Catharsis:
Discharge of emotional tensions can be called catharsis. A Catharsis is an emotional discharge through which one can achieve a state of moral or spiritual renewal or achieve a state of liberation from anxiety and stress.
Counselling process has three important phases:
(1) Rapport building
(2) Exploration, and
(3) Action planning.
- Rapport Building:
Rapport building is essential for any effective counselling outcome. In this phase, a good counsellor 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 counsellor attempts to understand as well as help the employees understand their own situational strengths, weaknesses, problems, and needs. Counselling 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.
