Page 84 - Communication in Organizations Basic Skills and Conversation Models

The personal problems interview 73

If the various goals have been reached, manager and employee can conclude their
cooperation as far as personal problems are concerned.

When Harry thinks Alex is working up to standard, the conversations
about personal problems can be concluded. Of course Harry cannot make
Alex’s wife return: in view of the situation that would be best. Alex would
not feel abandoned anymore, and he would not feel the need to go to the
pub every night. However, Harry can help Alex to deal with his situation,
whichever turn it takes.

Giving advice
An important skill in the action phase is giving advice. Although the cooperation model
is based on cooperation between manager and employee, there are situations in which the
manager has more skills to deal with certain aspects of a problem. In those cases the
manager should take on a more directive role. If Alex Armstrong’s only problem were
choice of further education and Harry Haddock, with his more extensive experience,
could give him sound advice, then he should. Advice should be given in plain terms, be
well argued and succinct (see p. 22).
A special case of giving advice is referral. As we have said before, managers in
organizations who conduct personal problems interviews should be well aware that they
are not professional counsellors. If Alex Armstrong’s drinking problem is a case of
alcoholism, Harry Haddock should refer him first to his general practitioner, who in turn
might refer him to a psychologist specializing in alcohol abuse. More generally but
equally relevant, managers should consider carefully whether they are dealing with work-
related or purely private problems. If a manager decides he is not competent enough to
deal with the problem, or that there is no relation to the work situation, he will have to
use the skill of situation clarification (p. 28) and refer the employee.

Dealing with reactions to advice
When giving advice, the manager should pay close attention to the employee’s reaction.
After giving advice the manager should once again become a careful listener. Sometimes
an employee may have doubts about the feasibility of the advice, or may feel a strong
resistance to it. The manager can respond to such reactions by paraphrasing content or
reflection of feelings (see p. 17). Thus the employee knows he is being taken seriously
and the resistance may even diminish. Responses of this kind are certainly better than
insisting on the advice being given. In relation to this we would like to mention the
formula: E=Q×A (Vrolijk, 1991). Here E stands for Effect, Q for quality and A for
Acceptance. In other words: the Effect of advice does not just depend on its quality, but
also on the Acceptance. No matter how sound the advice, if the employee does not accept
it, the effect is zero. The formula also leads to the conclusion that the effect will be
maximal if the quality of the advice is sound and the employee accepts it and acts on it.
Of course an employee has the right to ignore any advice. If he does accept it, it is
important to try and make concrete agreements. In another conversation the manager and
employee can decide whether the advice has been beneficial (see also step 7, Evaluation