counsellor london | Working in Organization

An organization is a group of people with a systematic structure that is managed to meet a certain need and to pursue collective goals on an on-going basis. The members of the organization have functions and specific relations for accomplishing the goals for which they assembled in that particular form of organization. Organizations are open systems in which roles, responsibilities and authority work together to carry out defined tasks. (www.businessdictionary.com). According to Kakabadse, Bank & Vinniecombe (2005), a few essential factors are crucial for the well functioning of an organizations: 1) A gifted manager, passionate towards his domain who also has humanist values and is capable of motivating his employees, of understanding and guiding them in a healthy fashion, while maintaining a sense of authority. 2) Motivation: even though the extrinsic motivation (financial, for social status, for professional recognition etc) is extremely important, the intrinsic motivation also counts very much. If we spend 8 hours every day doing something that we don’t enjoy at all, all the money in the world won’t be able to buy our happiness. Notions about needs, expectations and rewards constitute the basis of an efficient organizational strategy. 3) Teamwork – an organization is, by definition, a team sport. Collaboration, competition, group roles and group thinking are factors that lead to the success of an organization, but also to the individual development of the group’s members. 4) Diversity and individual differences – an heterogeneous group, in which diversity is being encouraged and differences are being cultivated, may seem at first as a bit more difficult to control. However, with good management, with an organizational culture that respects differences and with a strategy that is aware of them, the group can actually be more efficient than a homogenous one. Differences related to age, sex, religion and physical appearance must be understood and integrated within the group so that the people can actually work together as a team and respect those around as individuals. Working in an organization always implies: mastering certain effective interpersonal communication methods, establishing means of communicating with the group as an entity in of itself, having the capacity to face imminent conflicts and to resolve them constructively, the capacity of setting up and maintaining an organizational policy and also having an understanding of the mechanisms and traps of power. Any individual working in an organization should benefit from the support of a counselor. Usually, organizations have a counseling service for personal or organizational matters, so that an optimal efficient communications between the different structures of the organization can be facilitated. People working in such places spend at least half of their waking state at the work-place and need to identify it with a place where they enjoy spending their time. Any problem, from minor issues such as where a desk should be positioned to issues like relations with colleagues or people outside of the organization can affect the productivity of an individual and his/her contributions to the fulfillment of the organization’s goals. For this reason, a great deal of emphasis is placed in the organizational culture on organizational psychology and on the tasks of those who practice it (psychologists, counselors, trainers, coaches etc). The purposes or organizational psychology are: (1) raise performance, (2) improve processes and relationships, (3) enhance fairness and equity and (4) increase subjective well-being. (http://gsappweb.rutgers.edu/programs/org/definition.php) The interventions that psychologists can make in order to fulfill these objectives are based on various theories and psychological concepts, however they all follow, in principle, a progression of stages – diagnosis, design and implementation of intervention strategy, evaluation of results. What’s most important to remember – both for those who lead the organization as well as for those who are aspiring to be a part of it – is that organizational culture influences the individual’s life much more than exclusively professional. For this, a certain initial compatibility between the individual’s personality and organizational culture must be established (Lejeune & Vas, online). The process of adapting to an organization will always be different from one person to the other (depending on one’s own rhythm, resistance to change, motivation, expectations etc) and the staff qualified to ease this process of adaptation must not be missing from any type of organization. However, if you are facing difficulties related to the organization that you are involved with (you no longer feel good there, work relations have transformed, the organizational policy is not in tune with your beliefs, you feel the need for something new etc) and you don’t have a department of psychological and vocational counseling to help you, don’t be afraid to search for answers by yourself. Choose a counselor who is capable of listening to you and discover together with him/her what needs to be done. What happens at the work place can affect our lives completely, so it would be best to not hesitate to ask for help when we feel the need to do so.