Search results

This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/13665629410071216. When citing the article, please cite: Pamela R. Johnson, Julie Indvik, (1994), “The Impact of Unresolved Trauma on Career Management”, Employee Councelling Today, Vol. 6 Iss: 4, pp. 10 - 15.

Explores the issue of workplace violence and stress in the USA. Examines the kinds of violence employees must face in the workplace and also looks at different kinds of stressors such as environmental, e.g. family dysfunction, racial oppression and sexual harassment. Addresses the question of employer responsibility and briefly proposes the development of training programmes for managers.

In decades past, workers were, in effect, told to leave their emotions at home and most complied. No more. A person with high emotional intelligence (EI) has the ability to understand and relate to people. In fact, this skill is now considered to have greater impact on individual and group performance than traditional measures of intelligence such as IQ. When emotional intelligence is present, there is increased employee cooperation, increased motivation, increased productivity, and increased profits. However, emotional intelligence is lacking in the US workplace. This lack is clearly chronicled in the comic strip, Dilbert, where Scott Adams, the creator, lampoons what occurs in the workplace: vapid corporate‐speak with no guts and no emotionally‐honest message. This article defines emotional intelligence, describes how the comic strip, Dilbert, daily depicts situations where emotional intelligence is lacking, and discusses the organizational benefits of having emotionally intelligent managers and employees.

A group of men are gathered around an office work station. On the computer screen an animated, anatomatically correct woman says, “Hello, I'm Maxie, your date from MacPlaymat. Would you like to take off my clothes? I'll guide you. Start with my blouse.” The employee at the keyboard removes Maxie's clothes and then selects “sex toys” from the “tool box.” Maxie can be handcuffed, gagged, shackled, and made to perform a variety of sex acts. The excellent graphics and digitised sound of the computer allow Maxie to writhe and moan. A woman enters the office and finds her colleagues engaged in this “entertainment.” Has a computer game set the stage for a complaint of sexual harassment?

Discusses the economic and psychological reasons for the topic of empowerment in the business world. Posits the theory, with strong examples, that because the “mind” is limitless in its possibilities then we must absorb quietly what is happening around us. Believes that managers are also creators and that good leadership is essential to maximize education for employees, to lead from within. Concludes that employees can become truly empowered but only with high participation and low attachment.

Just as human capital is being increasingly recognized as the source of organizations′ sustained competitiveness in the global economy, so too must “mental capital” be recognized as the source of sustained career development for individuals in the “white water” business climate of the 1990s. Describes several tools for using mental capital proactively in order to enhance personal empowerment and manage careers more effectively. Methods for working directly with mental images can not only improve self‐fulfilling prophecies but also enhance creativity. These methods can also be useful for career practitioners in their role of educating employees in the use of inner resources.

Managing one′s career entails knowing if one is primarily intuitive or analytical when approaching tasks. Right‐brain management techniques rely on feelings – intuition and creativity – to solve problems. On the other hand, left‐brain‐oriented managers follow rational and logical methods of reasoning. Available research indicates that at top management levels right‐brain and integrative‐brain‐skills are needed more than purely left‐brain skills in decision making. Analysis is thought to be predominantly a left‐brain activity; intuition is traditionally seen as a right‐brain activity. It is the integration and synthesis of both left – and right‐brain activity which are critical to the management process. Left – and right‐brain hemisphericity is discussed, a brain development technique offered, interpersonal dynamics which employ the intuitive right‐brain in the management process suggested, and how brain hemisphericity and intuition enhance career management is indicated.

Obnoxious behaviour has become endemic in the workplace. Some of the worst offences are: not turning off mobile phones in meetings; leaving a jammed printer, gossiping, and snapping at coworkers. Yet, it is this small stuff that relentlessly grinds down collegial working relationships. Incivility is at the low end of the continuum of workplace abuse. Workplace incivility is not violence or harassment or even open conflict, although it can build up to any of those things. Links between the work environment and indicators of employee loyalty, commitment, and productivity show this is not a “fluff” issue. In addition, a recent study on workplace incivility reveals that rude employees and managers can cost a company millions of dollars a year. This paper will look at a definition of incivility in the workplace, the causes of poor behaviour, the costs to organizations, and what employers can do to help.

Historically, employers considered domestic violence as strictly a personal issue. When asked to comment, they offered several excuses for not getting involved: it’s risky; it’s no one else’s business; it’s hard to distinguish whether it is actually abuse; it’s a lose/lose situation; it’s not my problem. Today, however, much of corporate America views domestic abuse as a workplace issue, one that warrants serious attention. As a result, companies are beginning to understand that employees are not one‐dimensional; rather, they are a complex package. Employees bring to the organization not only their skills and abilities but also their personal relationships and problems. This paper discusses the effects of domestic violence in the workplace, the costs to the employer, and what employers can do to help their employees and to reduce the company’s legal liability.

Most employees bring to their work many of the emotional characteristics and behaviour patterns they developed in childhood. For example, co‐workers become siblings and authority figures take on the roles of parents. Since 93 per cent of the US population has experienced a dysfunctional family of origin, they tend to re‐create dysfunctional patterns in the workplace. Considers several factors in managing the careers of adults abused as children. Defines child abuse, discusses adult patterns resulting from such trauma, examines the impact on working relationships and conflict management, and explores how human resource professionals and managers can foster career management for abused adults.