By: A. Lorenzo Lucino Jr, M.D-Ph.Dc
In this day in age, it is important to implement a healthy organizational culture so that companies can function effectively in society as well as facilitate a healthy environment for the staff that are employed by the said company. Organizational components, actions, and attributes affect culture, either providing the basis for a healthy culture or an unhealthy culture (Thomas and Hersen, 2002). Innate to any organization, either it be a financial institution, a health care company, a research firm, is the culture within an organization. This culture is what facilitates and influences a group of people in an organization with one another and with individuals outside of the company. Culture is the one that influences that enables a company’s competitive advantage over other high performance organizations (Serrat, 2009).
A strong culture in a company allows it to outperform, out compete, and garner the quantity of customers that can assure its existence for long term, establish itself as a force that customers and trade partners can rely upon, which can survive the tests of time and the evolving market. When we look at this said situation, it is important to note that when organizations lack a healthy, effective culture, the company is affected negatively. A negative culture can inhibit staff from working and completing their duties and roles to the best of their ability, can divert a company from its goal, ostracize it from its target population, and can ultimately, if it is not addressed, can lead to the capitulation of an organization. One thing that one has to note about culture of an organization is that it can be described as a process; organizational culture is hard to change because it has the tendency to out-survive founders, managers, corporate leaders, strategists and personnel (Serrat, 2009).
The way a organization’s culture changes is related to the times and the environment that it is placed in (Thomas and Hersen, 2002), and its ability to survive and in some ways integrate to the environment it is in, even if it is different to the original environmental situation. The article written of Cynthia Webster and D.S Sundaram emphasizes how organizational culture and values in business outcomes affect both customer satisfaction as well as business performance and that the culture of a business is successful when the cultural values of that said organization are consistent with the host country, the technology and growth characteristics (Webster and Sundaram, 1999). This is illustrated by large global companies that are sensitive to the different cultures and are taking advantage of the globalized market and cultural sensitivities and setting up stores in offshore markets to increase retail sales.
Two specific America-based companies that have bee driven by a positive and healthy organizational culture, awareness of ethnic and national culture, are Best Buy and Walmart. These two companies, which have established itself as a consumer-based company in the United States of America as well as North America in general, have expanded their marketing sales in China (Best Buy China, 2007). It was observed that in October of 2006 alone, Walmart had announced that it would expand its presence in China by building a 100-store chain in the People’s Republic of China. Best Buy has recently built a 4-story building in Xu Jia Hui area of Shanghai City, China and the said facility is said to be, “the largest Best Buy in the World†(Best Buy China, 2007). In analysis, one clearly identifies that the successful business culture of the said two companies, Walmart and Best Buy, is due to the fact that the companies have a functional organizational culture, with an established communication system, an effective leadership and strategic research team, an effective and fluid marketing team, and work force that effectively does its job , to the best interest of the company culture, and the customers’ liking.
In order for a particular organization to have a healthy culture, it must be able to assess the microscopic and the macroscopic aspects of the organization. It must be able to assess the needs of the workers, the research team, coalesce the strategic initiative of the management with that of the working body. Central to this, is the communication of the company with each other and with customers and other trading partners. In a research that studied the health care organization and the specific effect a healthy culture had on a company, they identified three things that were necessary for bringing about a successful culture transformation, and in the end, a successful organizational culture. These three things were 1) determining the most important organizational priorities that needed to be addressed in the changing environment, 2) assess the current organizational culture and 3) design, implement, evaluate, and modify interventions targeted at the highest organizational priorities necessary for establishing and maintaining an innovative and adaptive culture ( Barriere et al, 2002).
A company’s ability to determine the most important organizational priorities that are needed to be addressed in the changing environment is one of the major important factors that can affect its adaptability. This takes into consideration the culture infusions of media, the new generation, new social trends that may affect an organization’s ability to cater to a specific target population. A company can implement a healthy culture by making sure that its workers, its management and supervisory staff can share their ideas and innovative thoughts for company projects. The second factor is assessing the current organizational culture. Organizational culture assessment allows a company to see its current strengths and weaknesses, identify a problem, and offering ways to mitigate and solve this problem. An example of this would be the Kaizen method that is implemented by many companies such as Lockheed andMartin. These companies assess the weaknesses, identify the weaknesses of that culture, and resolve it by eliminating the weak chinks in the chain of an organization. In order to maintain a healthy culture, a company has to have the ability to eliminate these weak chinks in the chain. This separates a healthy culture from an unhealthy culture. The third important factor is the design, implement, evaluate, and modify interventions targeted at the highest organizational priorities necessary for establishing and maintaining an innovative and adaptive culture (Barrierre et al, 2002). This aspect takes into consideration the internal workings of the worker employed in a company, that worker’s mental and physical health and providing the resources to maintain his or her health so as to reassure a company’s fluid operation (Kitchener and Jorm, 2004). This can be implemented by establishing group counselors for workers in cases of acute mental attacks, interventional groups, drug enforcement groups, establishing a no-tolerance policy, as well as seminars to handle altercations and to offer workshops to reduce worker-to-worker aggression and hostility. All of these are essential in maintaining a healthy and culture in an organization.
An unhealthy culture in an organization is due to the failure of a company to implement the three major factors listed. A company that has an unhealthy culture is unable to communicate with each other, has a failing management system, no provisions for workers to handle altercations and aggression in the work place, no provisions or lacks the resources to handle the mental strains of workers or has no policy in mental awareness and mental health programs for its employees. A company culture that is unable to implement new plans, designs as the times change, or is deaf to the new demands of the target population exhibits negative culture. This clearly illustrates a company’s inability to adapt to the times and thus, will doom a company to capitulation, as has been the case for many companies with unhealthy cultures, and poor organizational components (Thomas and Hersen, 2002).
Leadership has an integral role in transforming workplace culture to promote a healthy organization. It is the leadership that can guide a company, an organization towards a new future with an awareness to worker needs, awareness to the current weaknesses the company is experiencing, either it be financial setbacks, lacking in resources etc. The company leadership’s ability to market, and brainstorm new production ideas, ability to expand the company’s growth in the offshore market and the company leadership’s ability to consider the local host culture so as to enable the sustainability and growth of the company in that foreign market (Best Buy China, 2007). Leadership is critical in establishing culture, but it is the workers and the employees themselves that animates the culture set in forth by the founders of companies, the board members, managers, supervisors, as well as strategic analysts of companies.
In the field of psychopathology in the work place, one has to understand the mental workings of individuals, workers. It is important to know that workers, who make up companies, can only take so much stress, can only take so much responsibility before expressing stress. Stress affects work and production, so therefore, company leadership has a role in reducing stress by advocating workshop groups, hiring and employing industrial psychologists to counsel workers in cases of psychotic attacks, to counsel workers to handle drug addictions and substance abuse issues (Thomas and Hersen, 2002).
The legal and ethical considerations of companies rests in understanding the law by implementing a no tolerance policy in regards to drug addiction and drug proliferation in work facilities, so as to evade law enforcement and legal entanglement. Yet at the same time, offer counseling and therapy or even intervention groups for workers with possible substance abuse issues (Thomas and Hersen, 2002). Leadership has a role not just in the executive management of company acquisition, sales, mergers, all macroscopic aspects, but also has a microscopic role: the internal homeostasis of its workers and maintaining a healthy production and organizational culture. It is this organizational culture that gives a company a certain advantage over other high-performance companies vying for the same target population. The healthier the culture of a company, the more advantageous it will be as compared to other companies. Leadership, as is observed, is critical and integral to this process (Patterson and Berman, 1991).
Even though leadership can bring heightened awareness of how to deal with mental health issues in the workplace, there are still instances of problems occurring. There are 5 mental health issues that can pose a problem for the workplace environment and these are Job Stress and Health, Work/Family Conflict, Depression, Schizophrenia and Violence.
Job Stress and Health can affect workers because job stress has the ability to transmit mental strain on workers, which can manifest even systemic problems. In an article by Elizabeth Heubeck, a negative work environment can erode an employees morale. These incidents may include insults, back stabbing, and aggressive actions. It is rather interesting because one’s feeling of being ‘trapped’ in the workplace, a sign of job stress, can actually increase an employee’s risk for coronary heart disease, which is a leading cause of death in the United States of America (Heubeck, 2007).
Heubeck stated a significant point in that how workers react to negative interpersonal relationships in the workplace, be it passive-aggressive colleagues and disgruntled management has an effect on stress levels. These stress levels, as reiterated by Heubeck, can increase workers’ high blood pressure, high cholesterol intake and even increase weight gain, alcohol intake and tobacco use, all of which can reduce life expectancy and health. Possible treatment for this issue would be implement a supervisor that is specialized in worker-to-worker tension programs, hiring of counselors that can be available for workers to talk to and to vent out their stresses in the work place, or even have management open to the complaints and concerns of employees. It is noted that employees that are heard exhibit a positive attitude and increase work and production (Thomas and Hersen, 2002).
For the second disorder, Work/Family Conflict, this is manifested when workers have an inability to separate work stress with family responsibilities. This is rather dynamic in that work stress actually coalesces with family and relationship responsibilities, which leads to the deterioration of family settings and poor performance in the workplace (Thomas and Hersen, 2002). Individuals that suffer from this require marriage counseling, parental help in raising children, in cases of single parent workers. What companies can do to reduce the stresses involved in this situation is by having a accessible management and supervisory staff that can be present to hear the concerns of the workers. Management should also implement family-worker events to help reduce work/family tension, additionally, management should show more appreciation and concern for workers so as to help reduce work-related stress.
Depression is another concern for management and for companies. Depression is due to low morale, stress and is due to an imbalance of hormones, including dopamine, serotonin and melatonin levels within the body. Depression can manifest in the workplace by reduced attention span, reduced work ethic, reduction in positive mood, increased suicidal thoughts, increase in cases of substance abuses, and in some cases, even isolation by workers. Treatment of depression can be by psychotherapy as well as medical treatment by taking anti-depressants (Thomas and Hersen, 2002). It is the company’s role in identifying these cases so as to prevent depression-induced suicides in the workplace, due to stress. By having work counselors, therapists, and intervention groups that focuses on pin-pointing depressed workers, can companies combat this issue of depression (Mrazek, 2008). Companies can also provide support by encouraging workers to see their primary health care providers to help them manage their depression, and to follow through with treatment plans.
Schizophrenia is another psychopathology that needs consideration. It is due to an imbalance of dopamine levels, specifically an increase in dopamine in the brain , which results in psychosis. Schizophrenia has an effect in that it actually reduces cognition for workers. Workers with schizophrenia have lost their touch with reality and thus their work ad their manner of speech has been cancelled. This is a serious medical issue that needs proper psychiatric management as well as psychotherapy, if possible (Thomas and Hersen, 2002). The proper treatment for this condition are anti-psychotic drugs, anti-anxiety drugs and in some cases, anesthetics.
The last issue that we want to take about is passive-aggressive behavior in the workplace. Passive aggressive behavior is a psychological trait in individuals who show disinterest, dissatisfaction towards a particular profession, individual, and social responsibilities that an individual is required to uphold.
Individuals who are passive aggressive may even acquiesce to the responsibilities required of them; sometimes even accepting their roles with a smile or positive effect, however, deep inside are antagonistic to it. Their internal objection to the outward acceptance is indirectly shown by different ways (Hall-Flavin, 2009).
Taking this class, Psychopathology In The Workplace, has been an eye opener for me in many cases. The reasons for this is that I never really knew the advanced importance of group therapy, group counseling, psychoanalysis in mental disorders as well as seeing the thorough relationship between mental health disorders and its effects on the work place, organization, and the overall work of a company (Cook et al, 2003). As a medical student, I’ve studied and have helped in the diagnosis and treatment of these mental disorders, but my background has only been in the pharmacological treatment of the disorders. Not really so much onto counseling therapy of the disease, let alone, seeing the organizational aspect, the financial aspect. Since taking this class, I was able to see how effective it is to implement intervention on substance abusers, depressed patients, aggressive patients, and stressed patients. This includes the importance of having industrial psychologists available for talks, seminars in dealing with aggression and tension, as well as having an available and understanding management to the situations of the workers. It is important to make sure that workers with mental deficits be able to have medical treatment, as well as therapy, and support from employees until they recover.
Reference:
Cook, R. F., Back, A. S., Trudeau, J., & McPherson, T. (2003). Integrating substance abuse prevention into health promotion programs
in the workplace: A social cognitive intervention targeting the mainstream user. In Bennett, J. B., Lehman, W. E. K.
Hall-Flavin, Daniel K. (2009). What are the signs and symptoms of passive-aggressive behavior.
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http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/passive-aggressive-behavior/AN01563Thomas, J. C. & Hersen, M. (2002). Handbook of mental health in the workplace. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Barriere, M. T., Anson, B. R., Ording, R. S., & Rogers, E. (2002). Culture transformation in a health care organization:
A process for building adaptive capabilities through leadership development.
Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 54(2), 116-130.
Kitchener, B. A. & Jorm, A. F. (2004). Mental health first aid training in a workplace setting: A randomized controlled trial.
BMC Psychiatry 2004, 4-27. Retrieved from
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-244X/4/23/ Patterson, D. Y. & Berman, W. H. (1991). Organizational and service delivery issues in managed mental health services.
In Austad, C. S. & Berman, W. H. Psychotherapy in managed health care: The optimal use of time & resources, pp. 19-32.
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Serrat, Olivier. (2009). A Primer on Organizational Culture. Retrieved from:
http://www.adb.org/documents/information/knowledge-solutions/primer-on-organizational-culture.pdfWebster, Cynthia., Sundaram, D.S. Exploring the Relationship Among Organizational Culture, Customer Satisfaction, and Performance.
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http://marketing.byu.edu/htmlpages/ccrs/proceedings99/webster.htm Best Buy China. (2007). Retrieved from:
http://www.wpp.com/NR/rdonlyres/F98EC5A1-48E0-4144-B75C- 368AE250FED5/0/TheStore_newsletter_006_BestBuy.pdf
Heubeck, Elizabeth. (2007). Workplace Stress and Your Health. Retrieved from:
http://men.webmd.com/features/work-stress?page=3 Mrazek, David. (2008). Managing Depressio in the workplace. Retrieved from:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/depression-in-the- workplace/MY00357
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Topic: The Dichotomy between Healthy and Unhealthy Organizational Culture (Read 1315 times)