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WorkSTEPS, Inc., 3019 Alvin
Devane, Suite 150, Austin, TX 78741, Phone: (512) 617-4100
Motivational Evaluation
J ust as assessment of appropriate physical
strengths, endurances and body mechanics skills are highly appropriate to job performance,
mental strengths, endurances and skills are equally assessable and important for work
efficiency, especially with regard to the development of stress reduction and work
satisfaction. Most important to these aspects relate to potential counter productivity of
an otherwise successful worker.
Results of poor mental fitness assessments
and programs have shown that worker counter productivity to be reaching epidemic
proportions. For example, the California Worker's Compensation Institute (CWCI, 1990)
reported that during the 10-year period between 1979 and 1988, the frequency of mental
stress claims for every 1,000 workers increased 540% whereas the incidence of all
disabling injuries declined 8%. In 1986 alone, there were 1.7 stress claims filed for
every 1,000 public sector employees, nearly six times the frequency for all employees. The
costs of these claims was $263 million in 1985 and $383 million in 1987.
The health factors are significant to the
costs of mental fitness, reflecting power production and greater costs. The direct illness
categories related to stress alone are coronary heart disease, headaches, restless sleep
and fatigue, and accidents. Low worker morale, high job turnover, employee alcohol and
drug abuse, interpersonal conflicts are all the direct conclusion of low mental fitness,
only to name the most obvious.
Occupational mental fitness falls into four
general categories of functions that have been found to be highly predictable but
treatable in most job structures. The first of the four includes the relationship of the
required mental skill level of a job description to the individual's capacities to fulfill
the standards. The more capable the person is in dealing with the intellectual demands,
the personal conflicts, the management decisions, etc., the more probable that person will
be successful in the job, encountering fewer obstacles and having less stress. Although
the obvious levels of functions can be measured fairly directly, such as intelligence and
professional skills, the overall emotional maturity may be less direct. For example, a
young individual assuming the management position of a large corporation may have all the
skills and aptitudes for the job, but the lack of experience in the development of
judgment and wisdom may actually endanger health over a period of time.
The second area of mental fitness that
should be considered prior to or during the job assessment are the mental health or
pathological tendencies that concerns challenges beyond mere cognitive functions,
especially as they are relevant to long term demands. These attributes include self
esteem, self confidence, anxiety levels, security, frustration tolerance and cognitive
flexibility. Regardless of well trained or brilliant a person is, if these attributes are
not understood the results can be costly for the individual as well as the company.
The third area of measurable factors of
occupational mental fitness are the ways and means an individual is reinforced and
motivated to continue high work standards over a long period of time. Although a person
may be capable of performing the tasks of a job at high levels of accomplishment and the
individual's mental health factors are well integrated, the kinds of rewards are simply
not what keeps the person interested in the job. For example, a individual may be a very
good brick layer and when he decides to take on a job, he maintains excellent mental
intensity and good interpersonal relationships. However, many brick layers are motivated
by the money paid for such skilled work and the satisfaction of creating a good job. If
the person is reinforced by needs for security and always being clean, he probably will
not remain in a brick layers position. Other examples are people who may be very good in
sales work, but want to be rewarded with routine tasks each day, instead of the potential
money and freedom such jobs typically offer.
As the saying goes, "There are strokes
for different folks," and unhappiness is inherent in the situation in which the
individual is reinforced inappropriately to needs or desires. In our research in
motivation, we have found 12 basic ways in which people are "paid" for their
work. These are money, security, prestige, time flexibility, creativity, employer support
and care, spiritual needs, service to others, routine needs, variety of tasks, dominance
and future rewards. These may represent internal conflicts within themselves. For example,
few jobs offer all of these things, and some may be at the expense of the others. Security
and financial reward are two typical factors that are not often included in the same
situation, and those who have these needs as priorities often experience anxiety and
depression on any work they choose.
The fourth area of mental fitness relates to
the work environment itself that may be injurious to any worker regardless of how
excellent his or her skills are. Examples are plentiful. The management environment may be
too stressful to the point of harassment to be productive. The demands for productivity
may be inappropriate or ill conceived for workers to perform, creating helplessness and
despair. And the building structure itself may be in need of assessing for possible
low-level chemical toxicity or poor planning of lighting or space.
| Approaches to
Mental Fitness |
The good news about mental fitness dynamics is that they
can be assessed with predictable and reliable measures that give practical descriptions of
how a person will function or is presently coping with the challenge forces of a
particular job. Some of the most recommended measures are:
Motivational
and Behavioral Assessments
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Management Power and
Response Assessment
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ADD Concentration and
Focus Assessment
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Workplace Anxiety and
Depression Questionnaire
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Violence Potential
Checklist
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Health Attribution Test (IPAT)
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Stress Attribution Profile
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The Motivational Systems
Analysis
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The other good news is that there are clear evidence that
effective programs can be designed and implemented that can affect poor mental fitness
dimensions within an organization. More than 80% of Fortune 500 companies have active
programs in mental fitness, as compared to 25% during the 1970's. Corporations have
discovered that terminating or punishing the mentally impaired or troubled worker is less
profitable than helping him or her to gain health, well-being, and productivity. Through
meaningful consultation of needs assessment, well development of important evaluation of
mental fitness dimensions, such as the ones decided earlier, and job analysis. The lowered
events related to health risks, dishonesty issues and conflicts can be enjoyed by the
employer and employee alike in terms of economic as well as personal satisfaction.
The Motivational Dynamics Division of WorkSTEPS is designed
to assist various corporate clients in the areas of:
Stress Evaluation and Management Training
Corporate Re-organization and Change Facilitation
Management Aspects of Performance and Effectiveness
Customized Corporate Packages for specific Psycho-social issues |
G. Frank Lawlis, Ph.D., an internationally acclaimed author and evaluator, heads the
division. He is highly successful consultant to numerous corporations around the world,
especially in Japan.
THE PROGRAMS THAT HAVE BEEN MADE AVAILABLE TO LARGE CORPORATIONS NOW ARE AFFORDABLE
AND CAN BE USED BY ANY SIZE CORPORATION TO SAVE TIME AND RESOURCES, ENHANCE MORALE,
DECREASE ABSENTEEISM, INCREASE, PRODUCTIVITY, CREATIVITY AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT.
| Stress Evaluation and Management Training Programs |
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