Please submit answer to the following question.
- The workforce is the second most important resource available to management. The first is the customer. The workforce is needed to deliver high-quality products and services. They need to be in a state of self-control to do this. Getting to this state requires their participation to define and carry out effective and efficient processes. What are some of the challenges management may encounter when attempting to get their workforce in a state of self-control? What techniques might management use to overcome some of these challenges?
Written Assignment 7
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Written Assignment 7
The self-control of both leaders and employees is vital for all organizations to thrive. According to Psychology Today Staff (2022), self-control is defined as the “ability to manage one’s impulses, emotions, and behaviors to achieve long-term goals”. As such, organization managements always strive to ensure that their workforce attains the desired level of self-control, but is still facing challenges. Therefore, it is important to identify these challenges and address some of the strategies companies can employ to overcome these challenges.
Challenges
As per the definitions, self-control is the ability to control one’s feelings, emotions, and desires. It requires people to guide and tame their desires, anger, and happiness to make a deliberate choice in whatever they say or does (Wang et al., 2021). Therefore, self-control works at a personal level and cannot be executed by a third party. This brings about the first challenge organizational management might face while inculcating self-control because it is more of an individual decision and inclination than the organization one (Psychology Today Staff, 2022).
Additionally, employees’ self-control is easily affected by external factors such as the environment, physical condition, financial condition, spiritual tranquility, other people, and so on (Wang et al., 2021). For instance, a person might be annoyed by a colleague and lose self-control. They can also be annoyed by a family member or a friend outside the workplace or be troubled by financial constraints back at home. This makes it hard for the management to control because they cannot control the challenges people face outside the workplace, though they can do it within. For instance, Yam et al. (2017) report that people who have a good sleep show a high level of self-control. However, the management cannot control how people sleep even if they release them early. The challenges of limiting these triggers pose a great barrier to achieving self-control.
Addressing the Challenges
Various strategies have been proposed to help address the barriers to inculcating self-control among employees by the management. Yam et al. (2018) recommend that managers should strive to create a conducive environment that can prevent the negative behaviors associated with lower self-control. Organizations that promote unethical behaviors easily make employees behave in deviant behavior (Wang et al., 2021). For instance, a company can display the company’s code of conduct where employees can easily see it to lower the temptation for unethical behavior.
Other recommended strategies are giving employees time to rest and have enough sleep to restore self-control. Organizations can also amend organizational policies to remove the ones that can inadvertently reduce employees’ self-control (Wang et al., 2021). Yam et al. (2017) also recommend having employees take self-control tests during recruitment, promotion, and assignments to account for their self-control abilities. Organizations can also provide special training to employees to improve their self-control abilities for the long-term benefit of both the employees and organizations. Motivation is also reported to enhance self-control among employees (Wang et al., 2021).
Self-control is a behavior that is encouraged by many organizations to encourage better performance. Organizational management will keep having challenges trying to ensure that employees display self-control because it is an attribute that can only be executed by an individual though also affected by external factors. Management can try to mitigate these external factors that affect self-control, they should create an environment that enhances self-control, teach and encourage employees to embrace self-control, among other strategies. With self-control, a company will surely realize high performance.
References
Psychology Today Staff. (2022). Self-Control. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/self-control
Wang, Y. J., Chen, K. Y., Dou, K., & Liu, Y. Z. (2021). Linking Self-Control to Voluntary Behaviors at Workplace: The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction. Frontiers in psychology, 12, 587. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.530297
Yam, K. C., Lian, H., Ferris, D. L., and Brown, D. (June 05, 2017). Leadership Takes Self-Control. Here’s What We Know About It. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2017/06/leadership-takes-self-control-heres-what-we-know-about-it