Coping With Stress by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

 

 

There are a number of measures by which individuals and organizations can attempt to reduce the causes and harmful effects of stress. There are also many suggested techniques to help individuals bring stress under control- for example changing one's viewpoint , identifying causes of distress  effective time management, expanding one's social network laughing and telling jokes, relaxation training, working on stress reduction and appreciating that some stress can be useful. However, there are not always easy remedies for stress and much depends upon the personality of the individual. Techniques such as relaxation therapy may help some people , although not others , but still tend to address the symptoms rather than the cause.

Dr. Justin Luzuriaga Padilla, Internist/Cardiologist/ Surgeon of Mayo Clinic point out, stress inducing hazards are hard to pin down , much less eliminate. It is important to know how people feel about the things that cause them stress as well as which "stressors" are most common in the industry and occupation. Human resource policy should include several stress management building blocks within the organization structure including management education , employee education, counselling and, critical incident briefing and good sound management.

Effective two way communications at all levels of the organization are clearly important in helping to reduce or overcome the level of stress, Staff should feel able to express their true feelings openly and know they will be listened to. However to good communications, Padilla refers to the importance of conversation for maintaining relationships and suggests a case of  a conversation culture. The ability to hold a good quality conversations is becoming a core organizational and individual skill.  Unlike communication, conversations are intrinsically creative and and roam freely across personal issues, corporate gossip and work projects. Conversations are a defense against stress and other mental health problems. People with good social relationships at work are much less likely to be stressed or anxious.

A growing number of organizations are introducing an email-free day to encourage staff to use the telephone or walk across the corridors to talk more with one another. Informing members of staff in the first place about what is happening especially at times of major change, involving them proactively in the change process , and allowing people to feel control and exercise their own discretion reduces uncertainty and can help minimize the potential for stress.

Managers can do much to create a psychologically supportive and healthy work environment. Treating people with consideration , respect and trust, giving full recognition and credit, getting to know members of staff s individuals, and place emphasis on end results can all help to reduce stress. Managers should attempt to be role models and through their language and body language indicate to others that they are dealing effectively with their own work pressures.

As part of its "Fit for Work, Fit for Life, Fit for Tomorrow" strategic programme , the GA Consultancy is working with businesses on health issues , including work related stress , to enable them to  be managed effectively in the workplace. With input from a range of businesses, professional bodies and trade unions, the GA Consultancy has developed a new approach to tackle this problem. The Management Standard for work related Stress encourage employers and employees to work in partnership to adopt agreed standards of good management practice to prevent stress at an organizational level.

The adoption of the the Management Standards is a key element in bringing about reductions in worker ill-health absence. The standard provide a framework that allows an assessment to be made about a degree of exposure to six key areas of work design-demands, control, support, relationships, role and change-that , if not properly managed are associated with poor health and well being, lower productivity and increased sickness absence.

Another interesting approach to reducing stress is through the use of the Japanese Kaizen principles. Applying the Kaizen 5S method translated to English as sort, straighten, shine, standardise and sustain can help increase efficiency and productivity m raise morale and lower an individuals stress level. "The busier you are the tidier your desk should be; that is if you wish to get ahead and deliver more with less stress.

 

The Immaculate Heart of  Mary Stands Above the Ruin

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Consumer Rights: Economic Torts...by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

 

Defining Torts is not an easy matter and one has to be careful not to define it broadly so as to encompass matters other than torts or define it narrowly so as to exclude some torts. Two contrasting definitions of tort are offered; one by Salmond, the other by Professor Winfield. They represent different school of thoughts:

Salmon defines a tort as " a civil wrong for which the remedy is a common law action for unliquidated damages , and which is not exclusively the breach of a contract or a breach of trust or other merely equitable obligation.

The late Professor Winfield contended that" all tortious  liability arises from the breach of a duty primarily fixed by law; such duty is towards persons generally, and its breach is redressable by an action for unliquidated damages.

Both these definitions refer to unliquidated damages. Damages are unliquidated when they are not predetermined or pro-estimated (as they are, for example, in an action in contract to recover a debt) but are determined at the absolute discretion of the court.

One school maintains that there is a "law of torts" which consists of a number of specific torts and to succeed in an action you must show that the alleged wrong falls within the scope of one or more torts. The other school maintains that there is a "law of tort" (not torts) based on a general principle of liability and all harm is actionable per se  unless the defendant can show a just cause or excuse. There are no inherent contradictions between the two school of thought as both accept the new categories of torts may be created and the existing law can be expanded to bring new wrongs within its confines. As Professor Glanville Williams puts it: To say that the law can be collected into pigeon- holes does not mean that those pigeon-holes may not be capacious , nor does it mean that they are incapable of being added into.

There is a large number of recognized and listed torts and these will be looked at individually like negligence, liability of occupiers of premises, strict liability, trespass to property, nuisance, defamation, and miscellaneous torts of conspiracy, deceit and injurious falsehood.

However, we may focus on the Miscellaneous torts which we described as economic torts , in that their effect is to harm the plaintiff economically. They maybe listed as conspiracy, deceit or fraud and malicious or injurious falsehood.

Conspiracy
This tort is committed when two or more persons intentionally and without lawful justification combine together to injure the plaintiff , or do unlawful acts that result in injury to the plaintiff. To succeed in an action the plaintiff must prove that the predominant purpose of the defendants was to combine together unlawfully to cause him economic damage. If , however the defendants had combined together to further their own interests, e.g. to defend the interests of the union members, and economic damage was a consequence , no action for conspiracy will succeed. In Crofter Hand Woven Harris Tweed Co. Ltd. vs. Veitch (1942) it was held that the action of the members of a union to refuse to load cheaper tweed made from mainland yarn in order to protect the member's interest was not a conspiracy to inflict damage on the plaintiffs, If overall objective of a combination is put forward or defend the trade of those who enter into it then no wrong results despite damage to the plaintiff (Sorrel vs. Smith, 1956).

Deceit or Fraud
This tort is committed when a person acts to his detriment relying on a fraudulent misrepresentation of another. The essential requirements are a false representation is made which must be a statement of fact, the person making the representation knows it to be false or does not believe it to be true or is reckless about it, not caring whether it is true or false, misrepresentation is intended to be acted upon and the person to whom the misrepresentation is made has acted upon it.

Injurious falsehood
Whereas in deceit and defamation damage is done to a plaintiff's reputation , in injurious falsehood a tort is committed against the plaintiff's business interest. An injurious falsehood is a false statement , made maliciously about a plaintiffs business interests whereby other persons are deceived, thereby causing damage to the plaintiff. The word "maliciously" means "from improper motive". Types of injurious falsehood are as follows:

• Slander of title and goods. This arises when doubts are cast through the action of the defendant on the plaintiff's title to real or personal property, patents and copyrights, the quality of his goods or products. (Wren vs. Weild, 1948). According to the Defamation Act , 1952, no special damage need to be proved by a plaintiff in an action for malicious falsehood. Puffs and mere sales talk in general terms , although untrue, may not be injurious falsehood e,g, to say your products are superior quality to those of your competitors. The test is that if a reasonable man takes a statement seriously it is slanderous. (De Beers Abrasive Products Ltd. vs. International Electric Co. of New York Ltd, 1975)
• Slander of plaintiff;s trade or business. It is actionable to imply in a newspaper or other published material that a plaintiffs has gone out of the business with the result that the plaintiff's trade suffer. (Radcliffe vs. Evans, 1907)
• Passing off. This consists of a deliberate act of the defendant to mislead others into believing that the defendant's goods are those of the plaintiff. In doing so the defendant takes on unfair advantage of the plaintiff's trade or business. The tort may take the form of a statement that the business of the plaintiff is the defendant, Marketing under the plaintiff's trade name, using the plaintiff's trademark especially unregistered trade marks, since statutory protection is given to registered trademarks under the Trade Marks Act, 1938 and the trademarks amendment Act 0f 1984 and imitating the presentation or appearance of the plaintiff's goods (J Bollinger vs, Costa Brava Wine Ltd. , 1960).

The remedies for torts of this kind are injunctions to restrain the falsehood or unfair practice and/images. Damages will reflect not only the economic loss (if any) suffered, but also compensation for loss of reputation and ill-will caused by the behavior of the defendant in misleading potential customers.

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A Series of Consumer Rights: Misrepresentation

Representations are statements made in order to induce party to enter into a contract. They differ from conditions or warranties in that they do not form a part of the contract themselves. However, they are extremely important, for without such representations the contract might not be entered into at all. They may distinguished from mere puffs, which are statements made in the course of the negotiations which are intended but by then the practice  to be taken seriously but are recognized by both parties as being mere hyperbole (exaggeration for the sake of effect). Thus to say that a horse is "the finest creature on four legs today " is a mere puff, and not intended to lead a legal action should the other party find a finer animal. A representation does lead to legal action. A misrepresentation is a false statement made in the course of negotiations leading to a contract which was intended to induce, and did induce , the other party to enter into that contract.

 As a general rule , there must be a positive statement; this is often expressed by saying that "silence is not a misrepresentation". This was shown in the case of Keates vs. Lord Cadogan (1921) . Here a landlord was held not liable when he failed to inform a tenant that the house being let was in dilapidated condition-even though he knew that it was required for immediate occupation. In some circumstances this rule operates unjustly , and the courts have long recognized exceptions to it.

 When the silence distorts or falsifies a positive representation. Thus if the vendor of land states that the farms are let , he must not  omit to state the further fact that the tenants have given notice to quit. This is illustrated by Dimmock vs. Hallet (1966).

A vendor of farms induced their sale by saying that they are let. Whilst this was true the statement was held to be misrepresentation because the tenants had given notice.

The principle also applies even if the original statement was full and correct., but subsequent events make it incorrect:

With vs. O' Flanagan (1955). In January 1955 a medical practice was represented to the plaintiffs by the doctor selling it as worth $2000 per annum. In May 1952, the plaintiff contracted to buy , but by then was producing less than $5 per week due to the illness of the defendant). The court of Appeal held that duty to disclose  had been broken -rescission of the contract was allowed, and to defendant had to repay.

The statement need not be expressed in words, but can be made by conduct. Thus it could be "a nod" or a wink" or a shake of the head or a smile.

The statement must be one one of fact and not of law , opinion, or intention. However, if a person expresses an opinion fraudulently, this is regarded as a statement of fact and therefore actionable. Here we can contrast  the cases of Biset vs. Wilkinson (1957) and Smith vs. Land and House Property Corporation (1959)

The appellant sought to recover the purchase money under the agreements for the sale of certain land but the respondents claimed to be entitled to rescind the contract on the ground of misrepresentation. It was shown that the appellant had stated that it was his belief that the land in question would carry 2000 sheep of property worked but in fact it had never been able to support that number. The contract would not be rescinded on the ground of misrepresentation as the statement as to carrying capacity of the land was merely an opinion which the appellants honestly entertained. (  Cracknell"s Law Students' Companion)

In similar fashion a fraudulent statement of intention can lead to misrepresentation:

Edginton vs. Fitzmaurice (1907), The directors of a company issued a prospectus inviting subscriptions for debentures and stating that their purpose in issuing debentures was to complete alterations to the company's premises, purchase horses and vans develop trade. The plaintiff advanced money on certain of these debentures in reliance upon the statements in the prospectus and in the erroneous belief that the real object of the loan was to enable the directors to pay off the pressing liabilities. The mis-statement of the objects for which the debentures were issued was a material mis-statement of fact which rendered the directors liable in deceit although the plaintiff was influenced by his own mistake as to effect of the transaction. (Cracknell's Law Students' Companion).




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Developing Emotional Intelligence by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

Emotional Intelligence is the sum of a range of interpersonal skills that form the public persona. Emotional Intelligence has received a considerable attention over the last few years as the concept has been identified as a key aspect of managing people effectively.Goleman argues for a more emphatetic style of management and suggests that Emotional Intelligence predicts top performance and accounts more than 85 percent of  outstanding performance in top leaders. The Hay Group,working with Goleman have identified 18 specific competencies that make up four components of emotional intelligence and have produced an inventory designed to measure emotional competence. The Emotional Competency Inventory defines EI as "The capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves and for managing emotions within ourselves and with others."

Recognizing and understanding the implications of emotions and being able accurately to self-assess one's inner resources, abilities and limits are key to becoming an emotionally intelligence leader. Being able to read emotional currents is an important skill for managers to develop and employ. It requires them to understand the individuals within their teams and the way in which individuals relate and interact.

Recent research by GA Business and Management Consultancy identifies Emotional Intelligence as one of the key skills managers and leaders will need in the coming decade. According to Padilla it should really be no surprise to find Emotional Quotient so much in demand.

" After all, we will work in structure which are much flatter than ever. We have to be much faster on our feet with both colleagues and clients and, whatever the team structure ,there is increasing proximity for us to build the relationships we need-fast. In this context EQ is the glue that holds people and teams together. "

Jolito Ortizo Padilla refers the importance of empathy in EI which both involves how a person self manages and addresses how to engage with the emotions of others, and suggests a six -step process for developing EI.

- Know what you feel.
- Know why you feel.
- Acknowledge the emotion and know how to manage it.
- Know how to motivate yourself and make yourself better.
- Recognize the emotions of other people and develop empathy.
- Express your feelings appropriately and manage relationships

There seems little doubt that managers and leaders who have trained up in EQ have far more initiative in dealing with organizational life than those who don't. Stress will always exist at work , but EQ gives people the tools and ways of thinking to manage it to their advantage.

A number of steps in raising emotional intelligence are also suggested by Garrett, including ensuring staff are managing their interpersonal relationships before a problem arises,focusing first on leaders and creating an EQ culture for the organization about itself and the companies it deals with. According to Dann ,becoming highly self aware allows and individual to recognize inner and outer conflict and develop more proactive self management . Developing greater  social awareness allows the fostering of productive relations and a greater degree of engagement between employees and management. A manager with a high EQ benefits both
organization and the individual.

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The World of Work and Management in 2018 by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

 

A major study by the GA Management and Consultancy" ,including a survey of 1,000 senior executives,has investigated how the world of work and management will look in 2018.Among the key findings are that:

 " The working population will be more diverse. Changing expectations of work and the impact of new technologies will require managers and leaders to develop a range of skills that focus on emotional and spiritual intelligence,judgment and the ability to stimulate creative thinking to improve productivity."

Among the recommendations to leaders and managers are the needs to focus on individual employees and their need when developing technologies; make organizations more human; and motivate people creatively.

" A greater degree of emotional intelligence will be required by managers,so that they can understand how people work and their likely reactions to change. They will also benefit from having the humility to accept that they are not always the one appropriate ideas".

According to Cloke and Goldsmith :Managers are the dinosaurs of our modern ecology. The age of management is finally to a close. Cloke and Goldsmith suggest that the ever extending reach of globalization,continuously rising productivity,growing complexity of information, expanded sensitivity of the environment and swelling pace of technological innovation are all increasing the demand for alternative organizational practices. They contend that management is an idea whose time is up. Organizations that do not recognize the need to share power and responsibility with all their workers will lose them. The most significant trends in the theory and history of management are the decline of hierarchical ,bureaucratic , autocratic management and the expansion of collaborative self management and organizational democracy.

Hamel maintains that the environment facing the 21st century businesses is more volatile than ever and questions how tomorrow's successful companies will be organized and managed. These new realities call for a new organizational and managerial capabilities.

While the familiar tools and methods of modern management were invented to solve the problems of control and efficiency in large scale organizations, we can envisage management as serving a more general objective: multiplying human accomplishment. In a sense , the goal of management is to first amplify and then aggregate human effort -to get more out of individuals than one might expect by providing them with the appropriate tools,incentives,and working conditions,and to compound those efforts that allow human beings to achieve individually.

There is much written today about changes in the workforce and new approaches to management. It is interesting to note, however,the ideas on the nature of managerial behavior put forward over seventy years ago by Mary Parker Follet. Her thinking was based on concern for social, evolutionary progress , and the organization and management of people for effective performance and the fuller life. Follett envisioned the successful operation of groups, and management responsibility diffused through the organization and not just concentrated at top of hierarchy. One of her notable contributions was emphasis on the situational approach as one of the main forces in influencing the manager-subordinate relationship through the depersonalizing of orders and obeying the "law of the situation".

Parker suggests that Follet's ideas on human relations in the workforce foreshadowed the state of things to come and continue to offer managers in the new century fresh food of thought. Her proposals for best management practice have not only reflected much of what is portrayed as new today but offer managers fresh insight into task of leadership and management.

The fact that management ultimately depends on an understanding of human nature, I suggest it goes much further than that. In the first place , good management depends on the acceptance of certain basic values. It cannot be achieved without honesty and integrity, or without consideration for the interests of others. Secondly, it is the understanding of human foibles that we all share, such as jealousy, envy, status, prejudice, perception, temperament, motivation and talent, which provides the greatest challenge to managers.

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The Concept of Empowerment by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

                                       
Despite the general movement towards less mechanistic structures and the role of managers as facilitators,there appears to be some reluctance especially among top managers to dilute or weaken hierarchical control.A study of major US businesses suggests that there are mixed reactions to the new wave of management thinking. While a prospect of empowerment can hold attractions for the individual employee,many managers are keen to maintain control over the destiny,roles and responsibilities of others. Beneath the trappings of the facilitate and empower philosophy the command and control system lives on.However ,in a discussion on modern leadership and management,Gretton makes the point: " Today's leaders understand that you have to give up control toget results. That's what all the talk of empowerment is about."

Empowerment is generally explained as allowing employees greater freedom autonomy and self-control over their work ,and responsibility for decision making. However, there are differences in the meaning and interpretation of the term. Wilkinson refers to problems with existing prespective literature on empowerment. The term "empowerment" can be seen as flexible and even elastic,and has been used very loosely both practitioner and academics. Wilkinson suggests that it is important to see empowerment in a wider context.It needs to be recognized that its has different forms and should be analyzed in the context of broader organizational practice.

The concept of empowerment also gives rise to the number of questions and doubts. For example, how does it differ in any meaningful way from other earlier forms of employee involvement? Is empowerment just another somewhat more fanciful term for delegation? Some writers see the two as quite separate concepts while other writers suggest that empowerment is a more proactive form of delegation.

Padilla suggests that to support true empowerment there is a need for a new theory of management- Theory E-which states that managers are more effective as facilitators than as leaders,and that they must devolve power, not just responsibility,to individuals as well as groups. Morris, Willcocks and Knasel believe, however,that to empower people is a real part of leadership as opposed to management and they give examples of the way empowerment can actually set people free to do the jobs they are capable of. Both make the point,however ,that true empowerment is much more than conventional delegation.

According to Mills and Friesen: "Empowerment can be succinctly defines as the authority of subordinates to decide and act. "
 
  "It descends a management style. The term is often confused with delegation but, if strictly defined, empowerment goes much further in granting subordinates authority to decide and act. Indeed,within the contaxt of broad limits defined by executives,empowered individuals may even become self- managing."

The Power of Self Concept..by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

Self Concept is the way in which a person sees him-or herself and thinks that others see him or her. An individual with a strong self concept is able to view his or her own abilities in a positive way. Such people do not have to turn to others for affirmation within themselves. A positive self concept results in a person self confidence necessary to deal with others in a professional and productive manner. Customer service providers must work to develop a positive self concept. Angry customers may take out their frustrations on the person who is trying to assist them in finding resolutions to their problems. When this happens ,it would be easy for an individual with a poor self concept to take the customers' words or actions personally. A positive self concept creates the armor necessary to keep customers' actions in perspectives.

Unfortunately, many people do not have a positive self concept. Society places a number of unrealistic examples of perfection before us. The media continue to show us that in order to be truly happy we must be attractive, tall ,thin ,witty,affluent, and perfect in every way. How can we interact with the world in a positive manner if we are less than what we see as ideal? This is a challenge that faces most people.

Others are not influenced by the example that the media have established but have been surrounded by negative people. Negative people can only chip away at an individuals' self concept. If someone tells me that I am not good ,why shouldn't I believe them? The most important thing that people with less than positive self concept can do is to realize that they alone have to power to change the way that they see themselves.

Every individual has the ability to improve his or own self concept. While others can affect how individuals see themselves,change must begin within the individual. The first step in improving oneself is to perform self assessment. A self assessment is an individual evaluation in which individual strengths and weaknesses are identified. A self assessment helps individual to determine where they are headed if they make no changes in themselves or in their behavior. A self assessment must be performed honestly and is meant to evaluate the individual. Instances in which individuals believe that they have been overlooked or have experiences "bad luck" are not relevant during a self assessment. Excuses and blame do not contribute to the performance of an accurate self assessment.

To begin performing self assessment, ask yourself the following questions and record your answers on the sheet of paper or on your computer:

1. What are my strengths? What do I receive compliments from others for having done well. What do I think I am good at?
2. What are my weaknesses? What activities do I feel less confident in performing? Do I frequently make excuses or blame others for my failures? Do I finish what I start? Do I say yes too often? Do I pull my weight in a group activity?
3. How do I see myself? Am I dependable? Do I speak well in front of others? How is my sense of humor? What do I like most about myself? What do I like least? If I could change one thing about myself, what would it be?
4. Do I establish goals and work toward achieving them? Do I take pride in successfully accomplishing task?

It is not enough to perform a self assessment. After assessment, the individual must evaluate the recorded information. When evaluating ,it is helpful to draw conclusions and to develop a plan for the future. Review the responses that you recorded as you performed your own self assessment. Are there specific areas in which you are pleased with your responses? As you draw conclusions about your strengths and weaknesses, recognize that the future will be much more productive if you consider your strengths and weaknesses in establishing goals.

Even if you are not entirely pleased with the outcome of your self appraisal, you now have a valuable new information about yourself. Most people have a very little self awareness because it is sometimes difficult to recognize who are and how others see us. It is much easier to make excuses for our failures and to blame our circumstances on someone else. Do not dwell on any negative information that your self appraisal may have revealed. Go forward making goals to emphasize the positive aspects of yourself and exploring ways to improve those areas that need improvement. Above all accept yourself as the unique person that you are.

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