Discussion
The increased level of competition in the business world and in the internal business environment of organizations have led to the growth of anxiety, stress, fear and lack of confidence in the day to day operations of business executives and therefore it is very important from the point of view of every organizations to develop and implement various strategies and initiatives which will help in reducing the level of stress, anxiety and lack of confidence of the business executives which will led to enhancement of their day to day operations. This reports focuses on the importance of executive counselling in addressing the various issues faced by top level executives and also focuses on the development of models for effective implementation of executive counselling.
Project Title- The development of executive counselling models for performance improvement of the executive and business professionals in GCC countries.
Objective- The main objective of this study is to develop executive counselling models for executives and business professionals of the GCC in order to tackle their personal and professional issues.
Problem Statement- There has been not much effort which has been put in development of executive counselling models for the executives and business executives mainly belonging to the GCC, and the techniques which are currently being implemented in the GCC countries in order to tackle the personal and professional issues of the executives and business professionals are executive coaching, mentoring and developing strategies. There is no specific approach will help in tackling all elements in order to improve of the quality of human life based on positive, psychology, coaching and counselling.
Research Method- The research involved collection of relevant information from various executives and business professionals belonging from multiple sectors in the GCC countries regarding the personal and professional issues they faces in their day to day life in order to get an idea of the underlying problems. The research also proceeded by collecting information from the executives and business professionals regarding the effectiveness of the current strategies implemented by their organization regarding addressing of personal and professional issues and their drawbacks. The research has been conducted by reviewing multiple peer reviewed work and literature in the area of management psychology, positive psychology and shortcomings of executive coaching and mentoring and then accordingly developing the models for executive counselling combining the approaches of all the above mentioned areas.
Literature Review
Professionals and Executives remain frequently indulged in coping with various unique challenges which other individuals do not have the capacity to understand. As stated by Athanasopoulou and Dopson (2018) executives and professionals outwardly need to show a competence in adjusting with whatever comes in their way but in their interior they seem to be struggling regarding insecurities and injustices present in the workplace and also have to deal with diverse kinds of people. An executive or a business professional could not share such feelings with others in their workplace as it could lead to danger in their professional career and also it is not appropriate to do so but at the same time supressing those feelings could lead to the generation of stress which can further lead to mental and physical illness. As opined by Barrett (2017) the stress reaction is defined as a reaction which occurs when a portion of our brain perceives and assumes that we are threatened. As opined by Rossington (2015) though this response can help us in providing with the much required resources to fight to one’s potential, majority of the modern day stresses are badly suited to the primitive stress reaction which an individual’s body manifests. Therefore current stressors can negatively impact the physical health of the executives and also impacts the emotional well-being of the executives which means that either the work performance or the personal lives of the executives suffer or at times both due to various types of problems and issues.
Literature Review
According to Bickerich, Michel and O’Shea (2018) in order to successfully meet and exceed the various types of stresses which are encountered in various professional and business roles, executives need to develop a range of adaptive coping strategies which are designed effectively to manage the stresses of the executives and business professionals. In various instances it is observed that executives and business professionals also suffer from stresses which arise from issues related to their personal lives and at majority of the times it undermines the performance of the executives and business professionals and therefore it is very vital to analyse the reasons which causes stress among executives and business professionals in order to implement the most appropriate adaptive coping strategy. Executives and business professionals often find themselves with the least possible sources of support while shouldering the responsibilities which are associated with the personal and professional lives. The type of work problems which are mostly common among executives and business professional are lack of assertive skills, issues regarding confidence, lack of work-life balance, anxiety regarding performance, conflict with business partners or with top management, frustrating level of politics in workplace, coping with business pressures, dealing with complex personalities, struggle regarding career decision, existing level of rivalry and competition among colleagues, lack of work recognition, dealing with various types of injustices and affairs and attractions in the workplace.
Executive counselling provides executives and business professionals with a safe and confidential place to discuss various types of work related problems or difficulties which are faced outside their working environment and which negatively impacts their workplace performance. The executive counselling process in particular is very helpful for business leaders, business executives and business professionals who perceive themselves isolated in their workplace. As opined by Sandeep (2018) the life of business executives, in particular can be full of stress as they not only remain mostly responsible for the success and failure of their business organizations but also because they are considered as role model for their subordinates and other employees of the organization. It is very vital for business organizations to encourage their executives and other business professionals to take the help of executive counselling in order to identify and implement solutions regarding various stress related problems so that it can help in bringing out the best from those individuals and will also enable them to carry out their day to day responsibilities in an effective manner. Executive counselling helps executives and business professionals identify their underlying sources of difficulty or stress and accordingly they implement adaptive coping strategies in order to enhance satisfaction and happiness in their day to day working environment as the main aim of executive counselling process is to find and implement solutions which helps in reducing stress in executives and business professionals.
As opined by SunHee and Lee (2017) Management Psychology is basically a sub-discipline of organizational and industrial psychology which mainly focuses on the efficiency of individuals, groups and organizations in workplaces and it is understood by the object it tries to understand, study and control. The main aim of management psychology is to particularly help the executives and managers of organizations to gain a better and systematic understanding of the psychological patterns which are mostly observed among individuals and groups of an organization. Managerial Psychology is used to predict and prevent harmful psychological patterns within a particular workplace and it can also be implemented in order to control psychological patterns among the individuals and groups of an organization in such a way which will benefit the organization in a long term.
A large number of organizations which are based in various countries of the world generates a lot of focus on the well-being of the employees of their organization and mainly for the top level executives of the organization as the success and failures of an organization is influenced by the effectiveness of the top level executives of the company and therefore companies need to ensure that the top level executives of the company do not suffer from any kind of problems such as stress or frustration which can affect their day to day performances in both their personal and professional lives and therefore in order to enhance the performance of the top executives of the company, companies mainly relies on certain strategies and initiative such as executive coaching, mentoring and executive counselling.
In context of the GCC countries, it can be said that the main strategy or initiative which is followed there is executive coaching and development of strategies which mainly focuses on coaching and mentoring of the top level executives of the company but it can be said that executive counselling can be a far more effective model in context of the GCC countries in order to improve the performance level and efficiency of the executives of the company but as the concept is currently not so popular in those regions therefore the companies belonging to the GCC countries mainly follow executive coaching theory due to lack of available models regarding implementing executive counselling in those companies.
The executive counselling models which can be applied in the GCC countries for improving the performance of the executive and business professionals are as follows:
Cognitive behavioural therapy model- According to Cummings (2013) the cognitive behavioural therapy model is a goal oriented therapy model which is based on the idea that thoughts, feelings and behaviours of individuals in workplaces are inter-connected in nature. If an individual in a workplace perceives a situation as negative in nature, then it results in negative behaviours and negative emotions among the individuals of a workplace. This particular model of counselling focuses on the changing pattern of thinking or behaviours which are behind the difficulties faced by individuals in the workplace in order to generate alternatives which are more balanced in nature. As stated by Hannafey and Vitulano (2013) the cognitive behaviour theory model will help in examining individual patterns of thoughts, emotions and actions among executive employees in workplaces helping them to make sense of overwhelming problems by breaking them into smaller parts, examining ways to change unthoughtful thoughts and behaviours among individuals and groups in workplaces, exploring strategies to deal with problems in workplaces, providing homework exercise which executive of an organization can practice so that those strategies can be integrated in their day to day life, aiming to achieve explicitly agreed therapeutic goals within a limited time framework, equipping executive professionals at work to better learn some life-long skills so that they can continue to practice these even after the completion of executive counselling sessions making it less likely that their rectified symptoms or problems will not return in the future.
As stated by Borgen, Butterfield and Lalande (2013) the cognitive behavioural therapy model can be implemented in workplaces on Executive professional located in the GCC in order to address issues related to stress, depressions, anxiety and panic management, anger management, compulsions, low mood, low self-esteem and obsessive compulsion disorder. The cognitive behavioural therapy model aims to reach these executive level employees to a point where they can feel that they can perform things by themselves without any sort of assistance by developing their own ways of responding to a problem.
Gestalt counselling model- As stated by Boysen-Rotelli (2013) the main aim of Gestalt counselling model is to assist the executives and business professionals to identify where they have got stuck emotionally or in their thinking and beliefs and how those affect their professional and personal life in the current scenario. The expert who remains responsible for providing executive counselling to the executives, business professionals and to various other group and individuals in a workplace accordingly help them to change their beliefs, fixed patterns or any kinds of unresolved feelings which gets into the path of the executives, business professionals, groups and individuals of workplaces to resolve all their personal and professional issues. According to Whiteside (2014) gestalt counselling models in workplaces can assist executives, business professionals, groups and individuals in identifying where they have got stuck emotionally and mentally in context of their day to day operations or where they have got emotionally struck in their perceptions and beliefs in context of their day to day operations. Gestalt counselling model also help in examining how fixed patterns are affecting the day to life operations and interactions of the executives, business professionals, groups and individuals present in a workplace. As opined by Gan and Chong (2015) gestalt counselling models even help in exploring new, creative and innovative ways in order to resolve the difficulties encountered by executives, business professionals, groups and individuals present in a workplace. Gestalt counselling models can help in supporting executives, business professionals, groups and individuals to discover the solutions of their own personal and professional problems and to lead their lives in a simple manner without any stress. Gestalt counselling can help to address anger management, stress control, shyness, lack of confidence regarding performance in day to day activities and can help executives, business professionals, groups and individuals of workplaces to relate with others.
Integrative counselling model- As stated by Barkhuizen, Jorgensen and Brink (2014) the integrative counselling model can be considered as the best model for implementing executive counselling in workplaces as according to this model, there is no single model of executive counselling which is able to provide the enormous level of complexity of each individual in a workplace scenario. The Integrative counselling model enables an executive counsellor to draw upon various models of executive counselling in order to suit the needs of executives, business professionals, groups and individuals in a workplace. The different individuals or groups, who are present in work environment react, feel and behave in different ways in different situations and scenarios. As opined by Edwards (2013) in order to integrate different techniques for helping groups and individuals within a workplace to bring about changes in their day to day personal and professional lives, an Integrative executive counsellor can work with each groups and Executive in workplaces in order to develop and implement an unique therapy which is adapted to meet the demands and requirements of the various individuals belonging to an organization mainly those who are at higher levels as they experience the maximum level of stress and anxiety which affects their productivity and decision making ability. As stated by Hughes (2014) an integrative executive counsellor will primarily analyse the experiences of the executives, business professionals, groups and individuals in a workplace and accordingly apply appropriate theories and techniques which suits their needs and requirement in the most effective manner. An integrated executive counsellor can also work with the executives, business professionals, groups and individuals in a workplace in order to build personal counselling programs for each groups or individuals in workplaces. According to Kinder (2013) an integrated executive counsellor also responds in a personal, flexible and effective manner to the whole experiences of the executives, business professionals, groups and individuals in a workplace. Further as opined by Biggio (2016) an integrated executive counsellor also draws on a variety of techniques and theories in order to suit the exact requirements and needs of the executives, business professionals, groups and individuals in a workplace and provides different kinds of tasks in the form of homework to the executives or business professionals which proves helpful to them in order to bring changes in their day to day personal and professional experiences (Treadway 2013) An integrated executive counsellor even recognizes and acknowledges the importance of knowledge, skills and insights from various effective models of counselling thus helping these professional at leadership role decide and perform effectively even under various pressing conditions.
Conclusion
From the above report it is clear and evident that executive counselling is one of the best possible strategies and initiatives to address the issues faced by top level executives such as anxiety, stress and lack of confidence so that their organizational performance can be improved. Top level business executives face various types of issues within their personal and professional lives as a result of excessive work pressure and responsibilities, therefore organizations should ensure that the top level executives of companies are given regular counselling session and professional advices to keep their stress level under control which can further help in increasing their work performance through accomplishment of the goals of the company.
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