Module -5

Counselling
MBA 3rd Semester HRD Lecturer Notes
Module - 5 Counselling

1. Table of Contents
1. Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................................1
1. Counselling ............................................................................................................................................2
2. Employee Counselling ...........................................................................................................................5
3. Career Counselling ................................................................................................................................6
4. Performance Counselling ......................................................................................................................7
5. Question Bank .................................................................................................................................... 10

HRD Lecturer Notes | Table of Contents 1

Module - 5 Counselling

1. Counselling

 Human Resource an important corporate asset and the overall performance of

companies depends upon the way it is put to use.
 Counseling: it is a process of helping other persons to find & act upon a solution to their
problems, anxieties, uncertainties & issues. Counseling assists the employees to resolve
difficulties in supportive & professional setting. It enables the employee to understand
the problem its impact & to develop strategies to cope with it.
 Processes and systems in place to ensure effective use of HR
 Performance Appraisal
 Performance appraisal Process
 Performance Management
 Counselling?????
 Guidance, something that provides direction, Advice etc
 Process of providing help and support to people to face and sail through difficult times
in life.
 Helps people to see things from a different viewpoint and encourage them to draft their
action plan.
 Counseling is confidential & private it is provided for both work & personal issues such
as
 Stress – change- conflict-career planning
 Communication – depression
 Relationship issues- family problems- gambling
 Drug & alcohol abuse- work satisfaction

Objective of Counseling
 To provide help for employees who are having problems, before they develop into more
serious issues.
 To offer counseling by fully qualified counselors & such a process will be strictly
confidential.
 To ensure that counseling is separated from disciplinary actions.
 To ensure that counseling services are available to & fro benefit of all employees.

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Module - 5 Counselling

Features of Counselling
 The focus is on developmental, educational, preventive concerns
 Processes such as guidance, classification, suggestion etc., are commonly employed
 The emphasis is on problem-solving and situational difficulties
 The relationship between the counsellor and the counsellee is friendly, advisory, helpful
and trustworthy.
 The aim is to clear the mind (of a counseller) of cob-webs, mental blocks and improve
personal effectiveness.

The process of counselling

1. Identifying needs for counseling
2. Communicating effectively
3. Managing the counseling interviews
 Setting up the interview

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Module - 5 Counselling

 Creating the right interview opportunity

 Starting the interview
 Encouraging the people to talk
 Reaching the core problem
 Discovering when to ask, what to ask
 Exploring the feeling
 Solving the underlying problem
 Develop & provide the solution
4. Controlling emotions
5. Follow up

Areas of counseling or counseling for development of organization

1. Career counseling: Career Counselling is a process that focuses on helping one
understand one’s own self, as well as work trends, so that one can take an informed
decision about career and education
2. Performance counseling: Performance counseling is basically given by the manager to
an employee exhibiting poor performance. Mostly, counseling sessions take place when
an employee fails to improve his performance even after receiving an informal
notification or advice about the same.
Therefore, formal performance counseling sessions take place to discuss the problem
areas and methodologies to overcome it. This can be done under various circumstances
like the regular performance appraisal process, analyzing the performance of a
probationer or during a regular assessment of key development needs of the
employees.
3. Redundancy counseling: Redundancy is the dismissal of an employee from their job,
due to the employer reducing the work force.
4. Correction counseling: A little less than one percent of our nation’s populace is behind
bars, either in jails or prisons. While some of those inmates will probably be there for
life, many others can be coached toward a better, more meaningful way of living upon
release, if they have the tools.

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Module - 5 Counselling

That’s where correctional counseling comes in. Counselors in correctional facilities work
one on one with inmates to talk through their issues, find ways of coping with mental
health conditions.
Correctional counselors have two main goals: to help people change their mindsets and
find better responses to environmental and interpersonal challenges than crime; and to
reduce recidivism or the chance that a particular individual will commit a crime again.
By using the theories of psychology, correctional counselors are able to explore their
patients’ thoughts, emotions and behaviors to see what really drives them. They can
talk through these motivations with the individual, helping them see the connections
between their thoughts and behaviors. They can also help them think through what a
different life might look like, and how to achieve it once they’re on the outside.
5. Grievance counseling or Grief counselling is a form of psychotherapy that aims to help
people cope with grief and mourning following the death of loved ones, or with major
life changes that trigger feelings of grief (e.g., divorce, or job loss)

Purpose of Counseling
 Communicate concerns to the employee
 Determine the cause of the employee’s activities
 Identify avenues for improvement and/or development
 Improve employee performance

2. Employee Counselling

 Employee Counselling is a dyadic relationship between a manager who is offering help

and an employee to whom such help is given. Counselling helps a person overcome
emotional problems and weaknesses related to performance.
 Effective employee counselling requires active participation from the subordinates, fair
and objective evaluation of performance-related factors by the superior with an
intention to rectify mistakes and improve subordinates’ performance and a proper
organizational climate built around mutual trust and understanding.

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Module - 5 Counselling

3. Career Counselling

One of the most crucial issues facing management is preserving employee commitment to
company goals and objectives despite organizational instability. We are experiencing a time of
great organizational change led by oversees outsourcing, downsizing, global restructuring, and
diminishing career advancement paths. Because of these changes, employees are less likely to
rise up the ranks and more likely to change jobs or area of specialization often. With
performance being a fundamental cornerstone to financial success, employers will need to
implement continuous learning programs and enable employees to acquire new skills to thrive.

At any time, employees may experience career challenges which may seriously affect success at
the company. If these difficulties go unresolved for a period of time, they are likely to impact
the employee's ability to cope effectively on the job. For senior-level professionals, the impact
can be even more devastating because their work usually has a direct impact on overall
business strategy and direction. Career counselling is a strategic resource that employees can
use and managers can rely on when work performance, career transition, personal conduct in
the workplace and/or cultural fit becomes an issue. It provides a means for employers to
encourage their employees to seek career assistance early to prevent small problems from
getting out of hand and creating greater barriers to success. It's also a way to help key
employees reach higher career aspirations so that they continue to add significant value to the
company.

The Career Counseling Process

5 stages
1. Establish a counselor-client relationship
2. Diagnosing the problem
3. Goal setting
4. Intervention
 Gathering Information
 Identifying Transferable skills
 Multi-cultural Considerations
 Facilitating Decision Making
 Guided Fantasy

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Module - 5 Counselling

 Improving Time Perspective

5. Evaluation

4. Performance Counselling

 Process of improving employee’s performance and productivity by providing

employee with feedback regarding areas where he is doing well and areas that may
require improvement.
 A supportive process by a manager to help an employee define and work through
personal problems or organizational changes that affect job performance
 Set of Techniques, Skills, Attitudes to help people manage their own problems using
their own resources
 Purpose
 To provide an employee with the info, advice and assistance they need to
contribute fully to the achievement of organization's objectives.
 To improve the performance of employees or to maintain already existing
desirable level of performance
 Two way process
 Essential for management and development of employees and is natural
component of managing people.
 Performance Counselling focuses on employees performance in assigned task

Need of Performance Counselling

 Keeping pace with dynamic business environment may land people in stressful and
dilemmatic situations
 May result in stress, low productivity and drop in performance.
 Some indicators of employees requiring counselling:-
 Not able to mobilise his strengths
 Not performing in expected manner
 Acting disobediently
 Not responding to seniors
 Develop negative attitude

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Module - 5 Counselling

 Not able to make decisions

 Not able to solve Problems
 Lack of team spirit
 Inter personal relations with superiors & subordinates
 Absenteeism and Late Coming
 Slipping Deadlines
 Problems in adjusting to organizational culture
 Aim is to wriggle out stressful situation an individual is in so that he works
constructively
Objective of Performance Counselling
 Helps an employee to understand himself-his strengths and weaknesses.
 Helps employee to have better understanding of the environment.
 Helps employee to review his progress in achieving various objectives
 Helps to realize potential as a manager.
 Increases his personal and inter-personal effectiveness.
 Encourages him to set goals for further improvement.
 Provides him atmosphere for his sharing and discussing his tensions, conflicts,
concerns and problems
 Encourages him to generate alternatives for dealing with various problems.
 Helps him to develop various action plans for further improvement.

Conditions for effective Performance Counselling

 Openness and mutuality with faith in each other.
 Helping attitude of management.
 Joint goal setting and performance review by employee and reporting officer.
 Emphasis on work oriented goals & not other issues.
 Prevention of debate on salary and other rewards as pa aims on planning and
improvement of employees & not relation between performance and rewards

Performance Counselling Process

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Module - 5 Counselling

Preparation
 Schedule the counselling session and notify the employee.
 Get a copy of the employee’s job description and appropriate counselling checklist &
evaluation form.
 Think about how each outcome or critical element of the employees’ job supports the
mission/objectives of the organization.
 Decide what you consider necessary for success in each outcome or critical element.
 Make notes to help you with counselling.

During The Counselling Session

 Discuss mission/objectives of organization and how his/her performance contributes to
success of organization.
 Discuss items that require top priority effort (areas of special emphasis).
 Discuss what tasks and level of performance you expect for success.

HRD Lecturer Notes | Performance Counselling 9

Module - 5 Counselling

 Discuss competencies needed to perform duties. Ask employee for ideas about how
he/she might perform/performed assigned duties.
 If Manager and the employee have different views, discuss them until you both are
clear on requirements. Even if the employee disagrees, he/she must understand what
is expected.
 Emphasize the employee’s positive strengths. Give examples of what excellence
performance is to give the employee specifics to aim for.
 Ask the employee about career goals and training needs

Follow Up
 Summarize key points of the counselling on relevant form
 Give the employee a copy and keep the original to use for the next counselling session.

Benefits
 Reduces turnover when employees feel they can vent their thoughts and feelings and
deal with problems openly and constructively
 Improves productivity of the organization since employees feel listened to and
supported
 Increases efficiency of business by understanding the motives and needs of each
employee and how he/ she will react to organizational events.
 Reduces conflict and preserves self-esteem when parties are really listened to
 Improves decision-making when everyone's ideas are heard and employees' strengths
and abilities are complemented
 Increases self-knowledge and personal satisfaction in job

5. Question Bank

1. Mention difference between employee counselling and career counselling.

2. What do you mean by redundancy counselling? Give example

3. Explain how to go about with the counselling programme? How can organisation help
employees to cope with stress?

HRD Lecturer Notes | Question Bank 10

Module - 5 Counselling

4. Explain career counselling process.

5. Write a brief note on Career counseling.

HRD Lecturer Notes | Question Bank 11