The Importance and Possibilities of Applying Organizational Consulting.

Introduction

One of the basic prerequisites for the successful functioning of any modern company is quality personnel. The area of personnel quality opens up a wide possibility for development and improvement according to all general and specific criteria. The ultimate effect of improvement has a decisive impact on employee satisfaction and motivation, corporate image, and the level of service the company provides, and consequently on the profit it generates.

HR consulting represents the application of methods and techniques through which we help a certain organization to achieve and improve its business goals by improving and developing its personnel structure. The key effects are in the area of quality of work performance of employees, motivation and job satisfaction, and the profit that the organization generates.

HR consulting methods relate to the area of recruitment and professional selection; job analysis and work environment diagnostics; human resource development and improvement; performance assessment; human resource management; improving the mental health of employees; the area of motivation as well as the area of organizational counseling.

Organizational Consulting

Organizational counseling is a special discipline that began to develop intensively in the late eighties and early nineties of the last century, with the main goal of improving and protecting the mental (and physical) health of employees through the promotion and implementation of various programs aimed primarily at stress management skills and then at the implementation of various constructive models of education in the field of mental health protection and improvement (Summerfield, J. & Oudtshoorn, L.).

Numerous studies show a direct connection between absenteeism, fluctuation, decline in productivity and motivation, and the expression of stress factors, or the lack of knowledge and skills of employees in the field of prevention and improvement of mental health (Vujić, D.).

Within the Organizational Counseling program, preventive programs of "Stress Management" and "Overcoming the Consequences of Stress" are particularly important for groups of employees who are exposed to intense stress factors. Stress represents a specific relationship between a person and the environment, and in that relationship, the subjective assessment of threat related to the stressful event is crucial. There are huge individual differences in the capacity of people to deal with stressful life events in a constructive way. In any case, such life circumstances negatively affect the health of employees, the climate in the environment, and interpersonal relationships.

The goal of applying organizational counseling methods in this context is to protect and improve the mental health of employees through the prevention of post-traumatic stress syndrome, help in overcoming the stress they face daily, adopting constructive stress management strategies, providing help and support to employees in order to reduce the negative consequences of stress.

Models of Organizationals Consulting Applications:

• The organizational counselor is employed in the organization
• The organizational counselor is engaged by the organization for certain consulting services
• Combined model: part of the methods is carried out internally within the company and part of the methods is realized through the engagement of HR consultants - organizational counselor

Professional Role of the Organizational Counselor:

The organizational counselor must possess specific knowledge; skills in applying that knowledge as well as a clearly defined professional attitude in accordance with the role they have in an organization when applying a certain method. An important aspect of the professional role of an organizational counselor is adherence to basic ethical principles in working with clients. The specificity of the role of an organizational counselor is reflected in the fact that they work for the organization (internally or externally) but that work also includes employees in that organization whose goals, role, or specific position are sometimes not in line with the goals of the organization. The organizational counselor is obliged to clearly inform both the project client, i.e., the employer (organization) and the employees involved in that process about the basic ethical principles as well as the rules (processes) of work.

The relationship of trust established between the organization, the consultant, and the employees involved in a certain segment of organizational counseling is of decisive importance for the effects and results of the applied methods.

Prerequisites for the Realization of Organizational Consulting:

The basic prerequisite for the meaningful application of organizational consulting is the support of the company's management where these methods are applied. It is very important to bring closer to the management what the benefits of applying organizational consulting are. Benefits are best shown through the profit that is directly or indirectly achieved by preventing various dysfunctional patterns of behavior in the organization. For the application of organizational consulting methodology, it is very important that we design and implement a transparent evaluation of effects. The relationship of trust is key to developing the relationship between the company and the organizational consultant. In this context, it is very important to well define clear boundaries and the scope of "possible ranges" of applying these methods.

Importance of Organizational Counseling – Areas of Influence:

The first step in applying organizational counseling relates to recognizing "zones of stagnation" and then spaces for applying corrective and developmental measures – identifying spaces for improvement. Diagnostics and screening of the work environment represent the beginning of work on recognizing problems and stagnations that a certain organization faces.

Work environment diagnostics is a method by which we assess whether and in which segments there is a certain problem, stagnation, or space for progress, and after that, we decide which HR and organizational counseling methods we can apply for a specific organization and for the recognized problem or project task. Sometimes the organization itself expresses a request or recognizes or defines a problem, and sometimes it is the consultant's task to propose certain corrective and developmental measures based on the analysis.

The basic model for implementing changes – defined by Kurt Lewin (Ren and Vojč, 1993) – contains three steps:

1. Diagnosis of the state and problem – "unfreezing" (recognizing dysfunctional patterns and zones of stagnation)
2. Introduction of changes (implementation of HR and organizational counseling methods – application of measures)
3. "Freezing" (stabilizing the introduced change with certain corrections and additions)

We can define the diagnosis of the state as the difference between the existing and planned "state" of human resources according to different criteria. To make a valid diagnosis of the state of human resources, we need to familiarize ourselves with the strategic documents of a certain company as well as with formal and informal rules; the climate of interpersonal relationships, dominant leadership styles; corporate culture.

Recognizing Problems and Zones of Stagnation – "Unfreezing":

The first phase of the "unfreezing" process is recognizing the problem. For the problem to be recognized, this process is often preceded by the process of "managing resistance" of the system or individuals and preparation for the phase of problem recognition. This phase is crucial because without it, it is impossible to work meaningfully on introducing constructive changes. There are significant differences in the realization of the "unfreezing" phase depending on the position and life cycle of the company (new company; change of owner; organizational changes). In the unfreezing phase, the key role is played by the company's management, especially top management, which should create an atmosphere in which it is possible to implement change. Changes, or the field of application of HR methods, can be very narrow and can relate only to certain segments of the organization, and can also be global and procedural (introduction of new methods that will be systematically and consistently applied in the future - for example, the introduction of the PRU System or competency-based selection).

Unfreezing – Introducing Changes or Applying HR and Organizational Counseling:

After mapping problems and zones of stagnation, as well as zones of next development (spaces to improve the process even if there is no problem), a plan for implementing HR and organizational consulting is formed.

Every plan for applying HR and organizational consulting must have established the following segments:

• Goal and tasks (what we want to achieve and through which steps)
• Target group to which it will be applied
• Exact description of methods and outcomes (what exactly we achieve by applying a certain method)
• Method of evaluating effects (how we will verify the validity of the applied method)
• Prerequisites for the realization or application of a certain measure (what needs to be done beforehand to effectively apply a certain method).

Freezing – Application of Standards, Procedures, Instructions; Skills...

After the phase of applying organizational consulting, it is necessary for management and employees to adhere to the prescribed or agreed measures. In this sense, the key role of management is as a role model for identification and consistency in the application of created and implemented measures. Consistency in application leads to more lasting desired changes.

The impact of organization on organizational counseling and HR consulting:

To successfully apply organizational counseling, we must pay attention to the organizational context in which we will operate. "As each organization is a completely unique system, it follows that no two organizations have exactly the same needs. If the goal of counseling is to make a positive impact on an organization's culture and performance, it is necessary to respond effectively to these specific needs" (Summerfield, J. & Oudtshoorn, L.; in Workplace Counselling, 2002).

Everything we "know" about an organization based on the data we discussed at the beginning of the paper must be taken with some reservation when we start working in a specific organization. At this point, we need to ask the question "What is the relationship between organizational and human pathology?" (Miller, 1984). One explanation was that a strong connection between these two aspects can often be recognized and that we can talk about an "integrated syndrome of pathology"

If we look at the range of "stagnation zones" and problems that can greatly negatively affect both work productivity and the quality of organizational communication, and certainly indirectly affect the mental health of employees, we must consider a continuum that extends from problems arising from the system itself to problems arising within individuals.

The next step is improvement through the application of organizational counseling methods and techniques, support in creating a competent, proactive, and healthy employee structure - influencing both the individual and the system.

It is important to emphasize once again that change always happens in the "interactive field" between the individual and the system; there is constant interaction, and it is difficult to separate cause from effect - it is more accurate to define this relationship as mutual influence. The effects are most visible in the area of work performance quality, internal and external communication; areas of motivation and job satisfaction, and certainly all of this is reflected in the quality of service and the profit that the organization achieves in the market. It is also important that we nurture a developmental versus final approach, which refers to constant reassessment and focus on the organization's "zone of proximal development".

Different theoretical frameworks of organizational counseling offer primacy of individual work over acting on the organization. Cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic approaches consider that the priority is working with individuals who will adopt constructive skills to help them more adequately "cope" with the environment. In fact, it is difficult to clearly draw the line between the impact that problems have on the system or the individuals who make it up. Therefore, the approach can go in parallel in both directions; of course, the methods are different, but the goal is the same. The effectiveness of organizational counseling largely depends on the organizational context and organizational culture as well as on procedures and leadership style.

We can cite an example mentioned by Perry (1993), where he talks about the difference between "male and female management of organizations and recognizing a clearer and stronger connection between female organizational management and a higher degree of collegial and cooperative behavior style.

Corporate Culture and Organizational Culture – Organizational Persona:

Corporate culture is the most powerful means of understanding people's behavior in organizations. The comprehensiveness of the impact of corporate culture on people's behavior in organizations comes from the fact that every individual action, reaction, or decision of each member of the organization is conditioned by the meaning that corporate culture imposes on people in the organization. Corporate culture is a form of experience that has accumulated in organizations and helps its members to more easily navigate the complex and uncertain world that surrounds them. Organizational culture reveals to us the different ways that organizations use in their internal and external relations. Employees bring their personality, temperament, and uniqueness to the organization, which welcomes them with more or less explicit expectations regarding the expected way of behavior and communication in the organization. Organizational culture refers to the system of values, beliefs, and attitudes shared by members of the organization.

Organizational culture can be defined by some formal procedures such as: code of business conduct, dress code; correspondence rules; internal communication rules, but there are also numerous unwritten rules that are implied and that create a certain organizational culture and influence employees. Of course, there is always a "shadowy side" of organizational culture that refers to some hidden messages and rules that may even be "undesirable" but which can very much dominate the atmosphere.

By applying organizational counseling methods, we influence the creation of a desirable and constructive corporate culture that is stimulating for work and achievement.

Instead of a Conclusion:

In the end, I would emphasize that in our business environment there is a wide possibility of applying Organizational consulting and that it is extremely important that key people in companies become familiar with the possibilities and effects that this approach brings so that we can truly and systematically work on one hand on problem prevention and improvement of mental health of employees and on the other hand create a healthy and productive, stimulating and motivating work environment.

Literature:

• Carroll, M.(1996) Workplace Counselling, SAGE Publications, London
• Carroll,M. (1995) Counselling Supervision : Theory, Skills and Practice, Cassel,London
• Vukosavljević Gvozden, T. (2007) Theory and Practice of Psychotherapy and Counseling, Center for Applied Psychology, Belgrade.
• Vlajković, J. (1997) Theory and Practice of Mental Hygiene, Center for Applied Psychology, Belgrade.
• Vujić, D. (2002) Human Resource Management, Center for Applied Psychology, Belgrade.