Good Case Study On A Woman In The Business World Case Study

A Woman in the Business World Case Study

Problem statement
In our case, Sheila is a woman in a business world setting where she needs to balance her personal life of being a woman and a wife, her career especially the growth part, and the different effects of being in a work setting with people from all walks of life. She started off as a legal secretary after graduating with literal arts bachelor and later moved on to the State of Illinois as a social worker where she did counseling. Later she was promoted to work with planning where she experience a lot of disappointment from realizing she would do much better work than her colleagues who held positions merely because they had the finances and held MBAs. This triggered her to get back to business school and further her education, almost the same time she got to manage a project for the very first time, and it was interesting. It aided in boosting her confidence and gets rid of her poise problem. This was also facilitated by other women at Harvard business school who shared common feelings of inferiority and low confidence levels. Confidence among the older women was more than among the younger ones because with time they realized they were equally effective in doing thing. As she advanced through business, interest in production, the technical part -- how things are put together increased and her communication abilities and relation abilities were boosted. Sheila was often affected by the discrepancies in education levels between her and her colleagues who made her frustrated as they were slow and methodical while performing duties.
In connection with the evolution of Sheila's career and her personal view, quite a lot of organizational mannerisms affected her. She considers that evolving from a traditional submissive woman's role and advanced to a career in the business world was facilitated by self-confidence which a challenge at the beginning, giving credit where it was deserved, took quite some time. There existed certain levels of sexism, for instance, the boss who told her on the face that she wouldn't find any better job elsewhere as she quit. Lack of childhood exposure and experiences-mentorship- was also quite a challenge as she started and learned it all from scratch. Sheila preferred treating business like cooking where at the induction stage, recipes come in handy but after that it all remains in the mind, more of a lifestyle.
In handling family life and the change of roles, scheduling was quite a challenge as her husband was in academics where the schedule is left to a lecturer which can be unnerving and uncomfortable at times and in business for Sheila, schedules were tight all year round. During the very first year, it was particularly difficult for Sheila as Paul was dean hence had to counsel students with Sheila as well as study-time constraints came in handy. Getting off for vacations and scheduled dates was quite a challenge as schedules were not similar. To rejuvenate the marriage, they agreed on compulsory vacations in March, June and Christmas and dates where both appreciated each other's presence. Paul complains in regard to reversal of roles where he ended up performing all the chores and hopes that with time she will not bring as many problems and anxiety about work at home to ease the pressure on him.
As a resolution, they both decide to focus their lives on a similar schedule and be home at the same time. For Paul, dealing with students was quite emotional, and it affected him so much that he was unable to get back home and work on German history; according to Sheila it was hard and demanding. Sheila was undergoing emotional adjustments at work too where people came running to her, the social worker. At times, both Sheila and Paul got angry at each other out of pressure especially with students but the results were exciting and worth-0 getting the luxury to be alone again without student issues. With time frustration became cynicism at work and outbursts of irritability at home, (Schell, 1997). By this time their job content was almost similar and Paul providing Sheila a global perspective of things was quite convenient as it aided her growth. The role reversal had also brought them closer.
Sheila and Paul decide to move to Germany in order for Paul to complete his studies. The expectations are quite large, and Sheila thinks it is perfect timing as they don't have anything holding them back. Career-wise, she anticipates growth being her second year in consultancy as she is already reputable, more effective, and more sought for. Unfortunately, it will take her a few months’ time. She feels that it puts her at a competitive advantage considering she has held several jobs in different strong economies. Sheila anticipates a good reception judging from the good feedback she is receiving from the German office where she has pulled an occupation already. Although there are no many Americans, she has doubts if people will buy scores from a foreign woman, and Paul thinks it's a common practice globally. However, she expects things to be more formal based on neither the belief that in Germany everything is well structured and being a woman will not be different nor a hindrance.

Theoretical framework

As a woman in the work setting, Sheila thinks challenges women encounter are intertwined with the tasks they perform for instance being a secretary is different from being an executive assistant. She is not bothered by Semi-sexism talks and finds it more offensive for old folks to enquire about her husband's status and assume her as this is a traditional idea. She considers herself immune to sexism talks and more radical in thinking and reasoning than earlier. Paul hopes that women in business will have an appreciation and understanding of efforts. Sheila wishes she had a role model in business and family to share with her and get guidance. She finally thinks it's easier for a woman with an MBA and a career woman to be accepted and respected in society.
As per the case study, the emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and lack of personal accomplishment is easily identifiable when Sheila's realizes she can perform better than her colleagues and meet her abilities and decides to go back to business school. This is personal feedback, and it is effective enough in reducing the risks of burning out (Schell, 1997). Lack of assertiveness takes one down through emotional turmoil; evident from Sheila's hard work to balance studies, work and family which almost killed her family and marriage. This has a lot of negative effects on an individual for instance mind effects which include guilt, anxiety, and irritability. Body-wise they cause poor physical health especially tiredness, lack of sleep colds and headaches. Behavioral, such individuals adopt a stereotype manner of handling others; have difficulties concentrating and finally unproductive.
The organization should also provide feedback on whether they uphold energy balances among their members. This is to balance work and macro system factors that make employees totally worked up, and emotionally empty risking an emotional outburst. The human resource has increasingly become crucial in organizations and exploitation of psychological healthy will continue (Schel, 1997). For Sheila and Paul, they handled this by going away from their schedules every March, June and Christmas. This enabled them to take a break from their schedules and have time to unwind.
In conclusion, personalities should be considered while laying organizational goals and while staffing in order to incorporate vacations and leaves for individuals as per their requirements. Understanding organizational behavior requires a more practical setting as compared to other concepts in the business world.
William Bartell came up with the C-O-P-E model to enhance stress management among the employees in Wyler Industries Limited. The model acted as a new structure of the operations of the company. The model created an impact into studying the stress phenomenon in the lives of the employees and their efforts to make the company work. The model came to an end with the model carrying out its major functions. It allowed the employees identify their strengths and weakness concerning how they managed their stress. The last part of the model gave the employees an opportunity to identify their life energy in relation to their working capabilities. The frameworks ensured that the employees also interacted with their energy expenditure and returned patterns.
They also looked at the responsibilities of the company in ensuring that the employees committed themselves to their work. As a human resource manager, he understood that the company needed to go through a great deal to create a conducive environment for the employees to ensure their work becomes effective. He also knew that the society had other companies that looked into fishing their employees. Wyler Industries needed to step up its relationship with its employees both in their social and mental health improvement through prudent services.
First and foremost the company lacked enough instruments in their clinicians to enhance their work. The shortfall nature of the resources resulted from the motivation and dedication the employees had in their daily work. The resources also referred to the inner strength possessed by the employees. The employees worked hard to ensure that the company achieved its objectivity in different sectors of their work (Adkins & Caldwell, 2005). The employees spend most of their energy working forgetting that they need to regain their energy every time they provide their services. Their working status creates a sense of working imbalance among them.
The decades held different views concerning the definitions of the burnout phenomenon. Maslach came up with a structured methodology to understand the influence of the term. He came up with a way to enhance the properties of the phenomenon. The properties he came up with revolved around emotional exhaustion, task accomplishment and an aspect of depersonalization. He stated that emotional exhaustion entailed depletion of the resource in an organization in relation to psychological levels. Depersonalization focused on understanding the relationship between several relations in an organization. Nevertheless, accomplishment looks into the negative perception on the tasks employees accomplish in their working environment.
Maslach came up with a Burnout Inventory, which came up with a report to describe the degree of the phenomenon. The Maslach Burnout Inventory works with a category of twenty-two items with different indicators. The indicators include moderate, low and high risks resulting from the burnout phenomenon. The indicators describe the three situations related to burnout. The high degree of burnout refers to emotional burnout. The inventory states that depersonalization and reduction occur at the lowest level of its functionality.
Golembiewski and his colleagues describe depersonalization and reduction as the onset of the burnout stages. They related the exhaustion to the high level of the health disease stage. According to different research different values, have occurred concerning burnouts. The phase model has facilitated the operations of different populations. The studies made by the model have had a uniform status. Completion of the Inventory states the kind of emotions an employee possesses.
Other researchers like Einsiedel, Carroll and White, came up with a list of eighty-four and forty-seven burnout symptoms list respectively (Adkins & Caldwell, 2005). The symptoms also looked into the psychological distress. Through relevant researchers, the scholars came up with burnout behavioral models that described mind symptoms, body symptoms and behavioral symptoms. The stress coping behavioral system enables employees manage their stress. Stress management has a possibility when employees tend to know their inner capabilities and accepting their weaknesses. According to Schmidt, people learn their styles in the influencing approach through understanding their strengths.

Recommendations

Micro-level individual skill building entails developing the skills of an employee at the personal level. It denotes the weaknesses individuals have towards their working capabilities. The micro-level skill development comes from an individual’s urge to learn new things through different desirable methodologies. Developing skills for Sheila and other employees’ level also determine the perception individuals have towards their position in any given organization. It influences their relationship with others in the workplace. Skills come with the different status and nature depending on the characteristics of the work people do in an organizational setting. Peoples’ relationships with their working mates matter in the development of skills. People become drawn to their positions when they identify that they possess the necessary skills to create the best performance.
The micro-level skill development comes from choices made from a personal level by the employees. One may decide that they need to learn skills that shape their mental capabilities in a positive and better manner. Others may want to learn how to cope with any situation in the operations of the company. Time also influences how individuals perceive and use their skills. One may have an urge to learn new skills and develop them further when they feel that they want the promotion. Others develop their skills to use them outside their working areas. Companies should encourage their employees to develop their personal skills in order to improve their status in the organization. Skills should improve the operations of both the companies and the employees. Macro-level skill development, on the other hand, enhances the development of skills among its employees in a group perspective. The companies come up with a platform to train its employees to enhance the objectivity.

Managerial application

For any manager, the responsibility of knowing the well-being of the employees matters. An employer should understand how the employment portfolio works. First and foremost, he/she should come up with a strategy to identify how to make the working conditions of the employees better. The management should not make the employees go through a status of stress. Therefore, both the employees and their managers should identify their challenges and work to alleviate their status. The stress management techniques influence all the working levels within an organization. They determine how the company operates and end up having a successful outcome. Many companies that try to solve the stress levels their employees have on a daily basis tend to do well in the market in terms of their objectivities.
Companies and their management should come up with a development strategy to enhance the working aspect of their employees. Employees undergo a series of stress both in their working and social life. People tend to have a disclosure of whatever factors that affect their lives. They keep everything to themselves for fear that others would make fun of them if they find out. Companies that work with good stress coping strategies identify the problems that their employees suffer from and help them change their behavior (Schell, 1997). Through the improvement of their current status, the individuals would develop a good relationship with their work and social life. The phenomenon creates the best platform for the employees to deliver their services.
Workers should know that the company appreciates them through incentives made to improve their lives. Companies should hire psychologists and other behavior professionals to work closely with the employees in order for them to improve their lives. The psychologists and the other experts come up with the best strategies to make their working conditions better. They use strategies like surveys and interviews to draw data from their lives about their social and working environment. A manager who identifies the challenges that affect their employees tends to develop a withstanding working factor among them that lasts for a long period. Managers should have information portfolios for all their employees.
Through the profiling, they identify the various weaknesses and strengths possessed by their employees. They also know how to interact with their workers in order to know more information about them. The profiling of the employees’ information acts as a guideline for the company’s remuneration and benefits strategy. The management of the company determines the plans for the company through the profile of the employees. Companies should ensure that their employees have a balanced and healthy mental status in order for them to achieve their goals.
It is interesting how the workplace harbors different personalities and interesting enough they interact and relate to each other on a daily basis. The different personalities are seven and include; the contender who are critics, aggressive, cynical and demoralizing, they are troublemakers. To manage them, they are often trusted with challenging assignments. The governor freak who feels obligated to manage everyone and are deficient in tactics. They are controlled by getting instructions and being trusted with results. The drifter who is a totally opposite of the control freak, respects organization, and organizational components of the company. They are innovative, and mostly works on such projects require patience while dealing with them. The Public amuser is the people who don't know how to decline anything in an effort to keep the peace within the organization. They are handled by using their good nature for the common good of the entire organization.

Bibliography

Adkins, B., & Caldwell, D. 2005. "Firm or subgroup culture: Where does fitting in matter most?". Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25(8), 968-978. doi: doi:10.1002/job.291
Arnold, J., & Randall, R. 2010. Work psychology: understanding human behavior in the workplace. Harlow, England, Financial Times Prentice Hall.
Schell, B. H. 1997. A self-diagnostic approach to understanding organizational and personal stressors: the C-O-P-E model for stress reduction. Westport, Conn, Quorum Books.