How are you doing at work?
From ancient times the place of work continues to change. There are different cultural ways for doing the same thing and numerous similarities in the way we want to be less stressed at work. A variety of people have made attempts to bring the way of the work to a more mannerly approach. Frederick Taylor (1911), Elton Mayo (Trahair, 1984) and Max Weber (1947). Mayo was known for his work at the Western Electric Co., called the Hawthorne Effect and Irving Janis (1982) known for Groupthink. Thomas J. Peters & Robert H. Waterman, Jr., captured the public in their book, In search of excellence: Lessons from America's best-run companies. Looking towards the future trends of work and life are well put together by Aburence (2005); Miller (2002); Nadler (2005); Shafer (2005) and Cross (2006).
Having a safe place to work (Munsey, 2006) without being bullied (Namie, 2003), sexual harassed (Conley, 1998; Barnett, 2005), or having bigotry, prejudice (Fadiman, 1997; Falender, 2006) or racial micro-aggressions (D. W. Sue, et al., 2007) is very important. T. H. Homes and R. H. Rahe (1967) addressed grief and other life changes at home and at work in their research. In recent years many companies are providing wonderful additions for their employees, such as Employee Assistance Program (EAP), child care, flextime, family care leave, work life, health improvement programs, mentoring, ombuds-person, multi-cultural communication training and mediation training. Exercises and wellness programs are being developed and adopted. Other programs are also implemented, such as family and grief psychotherapy, yoga, anger management, substance abuse treatment and a variety of health improvement classes (Childre, 2006). These programs may have some effect on reducing absenteeism, turnover, anger, schadenfreunde, or bulling in the place of work or racial tensions. These programs may improve life quality, multi-cultural communications and work place safety.
Contact Dr. O'Riordan by telephone at (650) 948-9989,
or by email at tubrid@stanford.edu
Resources
Aburence, Patricia. (2005). Megatrends 2010: The rise of conscious capitalism: Seven new trends that will transform how you work, live and invest. Hampton Roads Co., Inc., Charlottesville, Virginia.
Barnett, Rosalind C, et al. (2001). Women, men, work, and family. American Psychologist, 56, 10, 781-796.
Childre, Doc, etal. (2006). Transforming anxiety: The heartmath solution for over coming fear and worry and creating serenity. New Harbinger Publications, Inc., Oakland, California.
Conley, Frances K. (1998). Walking out on the boys. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York.
Cross, Nigel. (2006). Designerly ways of blowing. Springer-Verlag, Ltd., London, England.
Cynkar, Amy. (2007). Whole Workplace Health: Psychologist are Taking More Comprehensive Approach to Wellness at Work. Monitor of Psychology. 38. 3. 28-31.
Fadiman, Anne. (1997). The spirit catches you and you fall down: A Hmong child, her American doctors, and the collision of two cultures. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, New York.
Falender, Carol A., etal. (Eds.). (2006). Clinical supervision: A competency-based approach. American Psychological Association, Washington, District or Columbus.
Goleman, Daniel. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. Bantam Books, New-York.
Homes, T. H., et al. (1967). The social readjustment rating scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, If 213-218.
Janis, Irving. (1982). Groupthink. Houghton & Mifflin, Boston, Massachusetts.
Miller, William R., et al. (2002). Motivational interviewing: Preparing people for change. Guiford Press, New York.
Munsey, Christopher. (2006). Healthy workplaces lauded. The Monitor of Psychology. 37, 5, 40-41.
Nadler, Gerald., et al. (2005). Smart questions: Learn to ask the right questions for powerful results. Wiley, Inc., San Francisco, California.
Namie, Gary., et al. (2003). The bully at work: What you can do to stop the hurt and reclaim your digniy on the job. Sourcebooks, Inc., Naperville, Illinois.
Peters, Thomas J., et al. (1984). In search of excellence: Lessons from American's best-run companies. Harper & Row, Inc., New York.
Rath, Tom. (2007). Strengths finder 2.0. Group West, New York.
Ryan, M. J. (2005). The happiness makeover. Broadway Books, New York.
Shafer, Ross. (2005). The customer shouts back: 10 big changes you need to make to win their lifetime loyalty. Dog Ear Publishing, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Sue, Derald W., et al. (2007). Racial Mircoaggressions and the Asian American Experience. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology. 13, 1,72-81.
Taylor, Frederick W. (1911). The principles of scientific management. Harper & Bros, New York.
Trahair, R. (1984). The human temper: The life and work of Elton Mayo. Transaction, New Brunswick, New Jersey.