Introduction
This paper critically examines the problem of psychosocial hazards faced by employees in Fullerton healthcare that calls for applications of a leadership style (s) to successfully attain the desired outcome. Health care organizations, in this case, hospitals do provide services that include; direct care to patients, lab and research work, food services, laundry, waste management, pharmacy services, housekeeping, security services. In addition to exposing employees to psychosocial hazards, biological, chemical, physical, and ergonomic and safety hazards are also a threat to employees.
Leadership refers to a process whereby an individual can influence the thoughts, ideas, and actions of others in achieving a set of preset goals, tasks, duties, and responsibilities. In any given organization setup whether healthcare, business enterprises, or academic institutions, leadership has been considered to be very vital in contributing to the achievement of success (Day & Lord, 1988; Kaiser, Hogan, & Craig, 2008). Planning, leading, controlling, staffing, and organizing are done together to enhance the attainment of the desired organizational goals/outcomes.
Psychosocial hazard has been referred to as the potential to be harmed, not in physical terms but in the way, workers are treated in an organization, the stress they undergo in the workplace, and issues concerning to once working environment. According to Rick & Briner (2000), stress at the workplace today is significant in our working experiences thus having a huge insinuation on workers’ psychosocial health.
Generally, the main causes of psychosocial hazards include the following; poor communication between employees and employer, vagueness concerning the job responsibilities, lack of support for work-family balance, lack of supervisor support, lack of control of how work should be done, harassment, bullying or even discrimination. Other causes include lack of respect for workers by those in authority, lack of adequate and appropriate rewards, and appreciation for the efforts done by employees. Finally, constant work overload does cause psychological hazards (Cotton, 2008).
Desired outcome
It is worth noting that specific causes of psychosocial hazards to employees of Fullerton healthcare should be identified so that the desired result is set and attained. In this case, the desired outcome is to reduce the causes and ensure that the working environment for these workers has minimal or no stress. Close to seven million healthcare employees face hazards, something thus needs to be done in addition to identifying the stressors.
Any organizations that don’t seriously address the issues concerning psychosocial hazards, as well as other hazards, will lose in one way or another; absenteeism, employee disability, reduced level of output and increased amounts in terms of compensation normally through a court order.
Leadership style
Even though the key role of leaders is to influence the psychosocial work environment, there is minimal research that explains how leaders can reduce work-related stress in their staff members (Theorell et al., 2005). Despite this, it is evident that leadership style(s), attributes, processes, and behaviors are vital in influencing employees’ attitudes and behaviors in the working environment (Ahlborg et al. 2008). In this case, the participatory/democratic leadership style will help achieve the desired outcome. The being that the system brings everybody in the board, where all get an opportunity to air their view and consultation are made before making any decision, encourages creativity, development of a positive working environment and help reduce employees’ turnover.
After providing an avenue to employees to talk, the causes of psychosocial hazards will be made known, I will be thus aware of their plight changing my attitude hence discussing with them the possible solutions and strategies and developing desired intervention strategies (Kouzes, Posner, 1987).
The style will allow me to directly deal with the emerging problems and those that can be handled by respective departmental managers and supervisors to be addressed at that level. Before they are allowed to handle such situations, a psychosocial training program will be necessary to successfully decrease stress indicators. Provision of support to the entire team in form of money, time, and emotion by the leader is vital in attaining the desired outcomes. The characteristics of a supportive leader which include adding value, fairness/equality, competence/credibility, vision/planning, honesty, and integrity, appealing to others’ hopes and dreams inspiration, and motivation will be employed in addressing this issue (Schein, E.H. 2004).
It is worth noting that leadership is a multidisciplinary field that calls for the application of several various leadership strategies/styles, for instance, delegate/ Laissez-Faire or dictatorship as it is difficult to exclusively employ one style.
Conclusion
It has been noted with concerns that every organization is usually faced with various problems, but how the problems are handled by the present leaders makes all the difference. In this case, psychosocial hazards are among the many problems employees face. The desired outcome of the entire activity as a leader is to completely do away or significantly reduce stressors in Fullerton health care services. The leadership style used to help address the problem is democratic or participatory leadership. It is important to have in mind that multiple leadership styles have been recommended in trying to successfully address emerging issues in any organization.
References
Cotton, P. (2008). Psychological Injury in the Workplace. Web.
Rick, J & Briner, R. (2000). Psychosocial Risk Assessment: Problems and Prospects. Web.
Theorell, T., Emdad, R., Arnetz, B., & Weingarten, A. (2001). Employee Effects of an Educational Program For Managers At An Insurance Company. Psychosomatic Medicine. 63 (5), 724–733.
Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (1987). The leadership challenge. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Schein, E.H. (2004). Organizational culture and leadership. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons