The Importance of Human Relations in the Workplace

Human relations refers to the study of human behavior at the organizational level and the use of systematically gathered information to analyze and increase organizational performance. Accordingly, human relations pertains to how people interact and cooperate at the workplace in a bid to meet their individual as well as organizational objectives (Brewster et al., 2011) . In this regard, human relations is limited to workplace interactions and revolves around interactions of people in the workplace, the conflicts resulting from these interactions, the effective resolution of such conflicts, the collaborations that arise from these conflicts, and finally the groupings that emerge as a result of successful collaboration. 

As a field, human relations emerged as a management approach in the 1920s. This followed the harsh criticism of the classical model of management that had a mechanical view of workplace interactions. Specifically, the proponents of the classical management viewed employees as people who only derived economic benefits from their work. Classical proponents thus failed to treat employees like human beings. Consequently, this resulted to low morale, poor craftsmanship, diminishing performance, unresponsiveness and confusion in the workplace (Brewster et al., 2011) . Therefore, the human relations model was adopted to help make employees feel important and appreciated in the discharge of their workplace responsibilities. The ultimate goal of introducing human relations at the workplace was to create a cooperative as well as a compliant workforce capable of maintaining and improving workplace productivity. 

The human relations theory as proposed by Elton Mayo. The theory is based on three key components which include the individual employee, informal organizations and participatory management (Coyle-Shapiro et al., 2013) . The concept of individual employee advocates for the recognition and appreciation of every employee and the value they add to a particular organization. This is based on the premise that due to their skillset and collective experience, the employees are the organization’s main assets (Cania, 2014) . As a result, the individual employees should be treated with respect. Further, the theory contends that informal interactions of employees at the workplace should be encouraged and nurtured. This is premised on the fact that the employees have social needs. Specifically, employees have the desire to belong to and to be accepted by their work groups (Edemivwaye, 2015) . Therefore, informal groups play a major role in strengthening the formal organization, building formal and informal communication channels and creating a relations-based as opposed to task-based culture and leadership. 

Participatory management on the hand advocates for the involvement of all members in the organization’s decision-making process. This is especially important when the decisions being made significantly affect the employees. Employees can participate in the decision-making process either through their informal groupings or their informal leaders. However, according to the human relations approach, participation is only viewed as a least-cost method for getting cooperation from and decisions accepted by subordinates (Coyle-Shapiro et al., 2013) . This is one of the key reasons that the human relations approach has been criticized for using participative management to buy the cooperation of subordinates instead of appreciating the usefulness of collaboration between the managers and subordinates . Collaborative participatory management has been found to be significant in exploring areas that may have been overlooked , not considered or considered only in passing by the management . 

Human relations slightly departed from the traditional concept of management leading to the development of the human resources approach. In the 21 st century, human relations is based on the human resource approach to management. This approach is not fully developed though its implementation has already resulted in a significant departure from the traditional management concept. The human resources approach views all members of an organization as pools of available organizational resources based on their abilities and values (Cania, 2014) . In addition to physical energy and skills, these resources include creativity and the capacity to behave in a responsible and self-controlled manner. This view changes the modern manager’s responsibility from giving direction and obtaining cooperation to creating an environment where all the human resources in an organization can be fully utilized . 

More importantly, the human resources approach views subordinate participation as a vehicle for improving decision-making and general organizational performance as opposed to being a tool of buying subordinate cooperation and compliance with predetermined decisions (Coyle-Shapiro et al., 2013) . This is because most often decisions are efficiently and effectively made by employees who are both directly involved in decision-making and are most affected by the resultant decisions. Subsequently, the more important a decision is, the more a manager should be incentivized to solicit ideas and suggestions from his subordinates. Further, the human resources approach advocates for the broadening of the subordinates’ areas of self-control and self-direction based on their growing ability and experience. This is as opposed to limiting it to mundane and inconsequential tasks. 

In the 21 st century, human relations skills are as important as technical skills in the workplace. This is because technological advancements have made the modern workplace more relational and hence the need for soft skills for optimum performance (Cania, 2014) . Human relations skills such as communication and conflict resolution are critical in building workplace relationships (Edemivwaye, 2015) . Working relationships significantly reduce conflicts hence resulting to a more productive workplace. Also , human relations skills foster teamwork. Moreover, modern organizations prefer the deployment of teams to meet organizational goals as opposed to individual effort. This is because teams have a variety of skills which when collaboratively harnessed can significantly improve organizational performance (Brewster et al., 2011) . Finally, human relations skills in the modern organization directly reduce the cost of recruiting. This is evident because most drivers of employee turnover in the 21 st century relate to human relations. Some of these drivers include lack of interpersonal skills, inability to work in teams, ethical and moral reasons among others (Edemivwaye, 2015) . Therefore, success in the modern organization can be attributed to an employee’s social skills and their ability to effectively and positively interact with others at the workplace. 

Literature Review 

The last four decades have been characterized by a steady increase in the uncertainties of employees about their work and private lives. Evidently, this can be attributed to, among other factors, the increasing rate of competition and unemployment as well as economic fluctuations. As a result, the mental and psychological health of employees has become as equally important as their physical health (Barkhuizen et al., 2015) . Since the start of the 21 st century, mental health problems at the workplace have been increasing steadily. The most rampant mental health challenge in the workplace is stress. Workplace stress is mainly caused by work-related and organizational-based factors such as work-overload and workplace politics. Workplace stress can manifest in the form of fatigue, burnout, apathy, and loss of interest in work (Ekpang, 2015) . If left unchecked , workplace stress can result in reduced job satisfaction with negative consequences on employee performance. As a result, it is necessary for employees to receive social support in order to cope with workplace stress among other mental health problems. 

Employee social support can be achieved in two ways. These are social support programs and employee-assistance programs. Social support is the best and most effective way of coping with stress. Social support includes physical and emotional assistance from friends, family members, colleagues, and peers ( Aydogdu & Ezgi , 2010) . Social support is critical in meeting the emotional needs of employees such as love, belonging, and self-esteem through formal and informal interaction. Employee-assistance programs, on the other hand, are designed to solve the personal problems of employees and subsequently results in improved workplace productivity and performance. Such programs are premised on the fact that employees spend most of their time at work and therefore a number of their mental problems are likely to originate from the workplace (Barkhuizen et al., 2014) . These programs originated back in the 1970s when their scope was limited to specific issues such as substance abuse and alcoholism. Modern employee-assistance programs are broad and cover the areas of personal, couples and family counseling . They also offer legal, financial, career and personal advice. Workplace counseling is one of the most common forms of employee-assistance programs. 

Workplace Counselling 

Workplace counseling entails providing employees with psychosocial and therapeutic support and is geared towards helping them cope with and solving workplace issues (Mrisha et al., 2015) . This form of counseling can be approached from two perspectives; career counseling and personal perspectives . It is attributed to the mutual relationship between an employee’s work life and his or her personal life. The employee’s work life could affect his personal life, and similarly, his private life could have an impact on his work life. Either way, the objective of workplace counseling is to equip employees with the capacity to better handle obstacles at work and in life ( Henderson et al. , 2003) . Employees who can cope with work and life demands, in general, have been linked to increased productivity. They also significantly contribute to greater efficiency in an organization’s performance and development. On the other hand, employees with reduced ability to cope with the stresses of work and life have been found to affect the performance of their organization negatively . This is done through absenteeism, high turnover rates, and lower productivity. 

Workplace counseling is one of the tools that organizations can use to support the well-being of their employees. This is in addition to creating a conducive work environment for increased productivity. Therefore, this form of counseling supports organizational development through both management and humanistic perspectives (Fong, 2015) . Workplace counseling involves a network of interactions and relationships between employees, systems, jobs, organizations, inter-relationships and intra-relationships (Henderson et al., 2003) . Accordingly, workplace counseling can be developed in three critical stages. Stage one involves applying counseling to organization settings (Ray, 2011) . Stage two merges counseling needs with organizational needs while stage three refers to organizational counseling (Ekpang, 2015; Ray, 2011) . 

Workplace counseling is similar to general practice (GP) counseling given the fact it takes the same format. Workplace counseling involves the application of humanistic psychology to employees in a private, empathetic and confidential setting (Inzai et al., 2016) . Similarly, workplace counseling in most cases involves therapeutic conversations between employees and counselors . Workplace counselors are also supposed to provide services that are patterned on friendliness and acceptance (Joseph & Walker, 2017) . However, counselors are not supposed to befriend their clients in the workplace as is the case in the GP setting. Face to face interactions between counselors and the clients a re preferred. Nevertheless, as a result of the fast-paced nature of the workplace, telephone and Skype-based therapeutic sessions are gaining popularity (Smollan, 2017) . The counselor ’s primary responsibility during the therapy is to help the client assess events and behaviors that seem troublesome and consequently help initiate some changes where possible. In cases where a client is faced with multiple options, a counselor may assist them to assess the options and select the best one. 

The practice of workplace counseling is different to GP counseling in several ways. For instance, unlike GP counseling , workplace counseling typically takes place on a short-term basis and within a shorter period (Joseph & Walker, 2017) . Also, workplace counseling usually takes place in two to six sessions based on an agreement between the counselor and client. Also , therapy sessions are solution-based and hence the short time frame within which they occur. Further, a workplace counselor is expected to be conversant with the organizational culture of the client’s workplace and the common work-related issues that can negatively affect the mental wellbeing of the employees (Huet & Holttum, 2016) . Should their assessment dictate so, workplace counselors have the leeway to refer their clients to a specialist in the GP setting for further assistance. 

According to Friery (2006), workplace counseling is significant to organizations in various ways. Firstly, counseling provides employers with the opportunity to offer additional social support to their employees. This support is significant in stress alleviation, helping employees cope with workplace change, enhances employee welfare, improves retention and reduces absenteeism (Vanhalakka-Ruoho & Ruponen, 2013) . From a human resource management perspective, workplace counseling provides a handy way of managing difficult employees and provocative situations that could potentially result in lawsuits . Conversely, from a public relations perspective, counseling is significant in augmenting the view that the organization is caring (Tanwar & Prasad, 2016) . 

Employees can access counseling services in the workplace either through self or manager referral. In self-referrals, employees choose to see a workplace counselor on their prerogative. In this case, the employees take responsibility for their wellbeing and seek counseling services whenever necessary (Fong, 2015) . For this form of counseling to be effective , confidentiality is vital. On the hand, managers can refer employees they are concerned about to counselors . Managerial referral counseling is usually targeted at employees who have demonstrated a trend of taking sick leaves due t o mental health problems such as anxiety, stress, and depression (Smollan, 2017) . However, it is necessary for this form of counseling not to come across as coercion. This is because coercing employees to seek workplace counseling services negates the positive consequences of counseling . 

1. Application and Critical Analysis 

Organizational Setting 

The internship was undertaken at the Naval Hospital’s Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Clinic. The Naval Medical Center Substance Abuse and Rehabilitation Program (SARP) is charged with the responsibility of providing active and retired members of the armed forces , their families and local civilians with substance abuse treatment. The SARP is, therefore, a thorough psychiatric and medical program aimed at combating substance abuse within the military (Federal Health Care Center, 2016) . Before commencing the program, an initial assessment is mandatory to ascertain the nature and degree of the client’s condition. All programs offered by SARP are individualized and evidenced based. Depending on the nature of substance abuse, SARP programs can consist of either group, individual or a combination of both forms of therapy. Treatment under SARP can either be a short-term intervention, intensive outpatient intervention or month long residential intervention. Further, it is mandatory for all clients to attend 12-step meetings and group meetings about trauma-informed care and psycho-education. 

Apart from psychotherapeutic interventions, SARP also offers educational workshops and physical fitness activities to clients . For resident clients, a SARP program is supposed to last for 34 days in an intensive program that runs from Monday to Sunday. Once treatment is completed , clients receive aftercare through weekly programs that run up to one year. Further, SARP offers educational programs on substance abuse targeting family members of service men and the local civilian population (Federal Health Care Center, 2016) . Courtesy of SARP, the civilian population, is also a beneficiary of general mental services for adults and children, the tobacco cessation program and medical and psychiatric assessments. To discharge the mandate above , SARP is extensively staffed with medical doctors, counselors , psychiatrists, and psychologists among a host of other clinicians. 

During my internship, I was positioned as a counselor with my primary responsibilities being providing structured services to qualifying clients. My responsibilities also included developing a training curriculum and checklist for prospective Intern-Counsellors, records management improvement, assisting the program director in case management and referral, process improvements, and the promotion of active communication, management, supervision and leadership skills within a clinical setting. 

Critical Analysis of the Effectiveness of the SARP Program 

The SARP has been quite effective in the discharge of its mandate to treat and prevent the problem of substance abuse among service members and their families. For instance, Navy SARPs have been found to offer comprehensive therapeutic treatment programs with varying degrees of intensity based on the needs of the clients. Further, all practices and programs at Navy SARPs across the country have also been found to be evidence-based and ideal for clinical and workplace settings ( Morden et al., 2013) . In addition to treatment interventions, SARPs are also instrumental in the prevention, early indicated intervention, screening and diagnosis, and substance abuse aftercare. The focus, extensiveness, operation and supervision of the Navy SARPs is unrivaled in the prevention, screening, diagnostic and treatment services and has thus been praised internally within the military and by other substance abuse intervention stakeholders. 

The Navy runs the SARPs based on standard best practice principles. As a result, for one to be accepted as a client at the Navy SARPs, they can either be self-referrals or be referred by their specific Command (Fong, 2015) . Self-referrals are encouraged for alcohol misuse, abuse or dependence but not for being involved in alcohol-related incidents such as drunk driving, domestic violence, drunkenness on duty and arrest among others. These incidents are a preserve of Command-based referral. For alcohol-related incidents, screening is mandatory before the case is referred to SARP (Federal Health Care Center, 2016) . After receiving the referral, the SARP is supposed to conduct an assessment after which it advises the referring Command on the results and treatment recommendations. 

Urinalysis and breath testing are the main substance testing programs in the military. According to the military policy, a positive test for drug use warrants Command referral to SARP. However, the military substance abuse policies have been criticized for being personnel-based rather than health-based. Substance abuse is categorized as being unsuited for high performance, readiness, discipline and military missions (Nilsen et al., 2013). Therefore, the military advocates that drug-dependent people should not be accepted to join both the Navy and the Marine Corps . Further, military policy on substance abuse advocate for the disciplining and separation from the force of service members found to be drug dependent and those who are involved in alcohol-related incidents while in substance abuse treatment (Federal Health Care Center, 2016) . Separation can also be triggered by involvement in two more alcohol-related incidents after receiving substance abuse treatment. An exception can be made where SARP recommends that there is a high likelihood of recovery. Before separation, service members should receive treatment. However, the scope and intensity of this treatment are limited. 

As opposed to other branches of the military, the Navy has several positive features in its substance abuse policies. Specifically, these policies recognize that substance dependence is preventable and treatable. As a result, it encourages self-referral and recommends assessment, diagnosis, and treatment ( Morden et al., 2013). In the other military branches, the heavy involvement of Command in substance abuse related cases and the lack of self-referral characteristics severely limits self-disclosure and hence the treatment of substance abuse . Also , the SARP treatment interventions also treat other mental health issues that are closely associated with substance abuse . These include depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among other psychiatric disorders. All Navy SARPs also offer aftercare treatment on the completion of the treatment program through My Ongoing Recovery Experience (MORE) programs. 

Recommendations for the SARPs 

While the military policy largely recognizes the need for treatment and prevention of substance abuse among service members, their families and civilian employees, a lot needs to be done to make this a reality. Firstly, drug treatment and preventive policies in the military need to be standardized across all branches. Currently, variations still exist on how the different branches of the military choose to implement intervention and prevention policies (Hurtado et al., 2010) . Standardization of these policies will increase the effectiveness and efficiency of SARP-based interventions in addition to encouraging cooperation and collaboration of all branches of the military in the fight against substance abuse. 

Testing has also emerged as the main deterrence strategy adopted by the military to prevent drug and substance abuse. Consequences of testing positive for substance abuse such as separation have therefore become the leading motivation for service members to keep off substance abuse as opposed to the increased capacity to deal with workplace stress (Federal Health Care Center, 2016) . However, there is no evidence that drug testing is a proven substance abuse preventive strategy. The military’s reliance on drug testing as a preventive strategy limits its consideration for other proven scientific deterrence strategies . 

Thirdly, in addition to the psychiatric and therapeutic interventions that have been implemented , the military can adopt environmental based strategies to prevent alcohol abuse, especially in its bases. For instance, alcohol is readily available in most bases and is sold at lower prices compared to the market rates. This has been cited as one of the leading causes of alcohol abuse, misuse, and dependency within the military community. The military can, therefore, implement price controls to limit the availability of alcohol. Secondly, the availability of alcohol stores on military bases might have to be reevaluated moving forward. Finally, the military can also look into the context of which alcohol is consumed and put safety strategies such as sobriety checkpoints and random breath tests on military bases as has been implemented in the Keesler Air Force Base ( Morden et al., 2013). 

Critical Analysis of the Internship Experience 

My internship experience has proved beyond reasonable doubt that workplace counseling is an effective employee assistance program. The United States (U.S) military is among the many organizations globally that have found a way of seamlessly incorporating counseling services into their operations ( Hurtado et al., 2010) . However, the circumstances that surround the employees seeking workplace counseling must be addressed . Issues concerning confidentiality must be addressed to encourage more employees to embrace self-referrals. Moreover , mental health issues at the workplace should be taken seriously and treated from a health and not personnel management perspective ( Huet & Holtum, 2016) . Consequences attached to the various mental issues should be revised to minimize stigmatization of employees seeking the benefit of workplace counseling . 

The internship experience was an eye opener on the need for professionals such as me to be involved in the fight against substance abuse. As a result, I will be on the lookout for volunteer opportunities for counselors in substance abuse rehabilitation and prevention programs in my local community. Moreover, as a consequence of the exposure gained from my internship experience, I have resolved to seek further education in the area of substance abuse rehabilitative counseling . This is in a bid to become better equipped to discharge my responsibilities at the workplace. Finally, I believe that moving forward my workplace experience will also be a significant learning resource for my colleagues in my educational pursuits. 

References 

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