Features of Counseling

Features of Counseling

Important characteristics or features of counseling may be outlined as follows:

1. Counseling is an exchange of ideas between two persons, a counselor and a counselee. Hence, it is an act of communication. Effective counseling is a function of communication skills, largely oral, by which. An individual tends to share his emotions with another individual.

2. Counseling deals especially with emotional problems It relates to the trouble or pressure or uneasiness on the “heart” rather than to the hardships on the “hands.” It precludes (prevents) job difficulties which do not have much emotional repercussions. It tries to understand and help those people who are upset emotionally.

3. Since it helps employees to cope with problems, it improves organizational performance, because the

employee is more cooperative, worries less about personal problem, or improves in other ways.

4. Counseling helps the organization to be more human and considerate with people’s problems.

5. The general purpose of Counseling is to understand and minimize an employee’s emotional difficulties.

6. Counseling may be preformed by both professional and non-professionals. Professionally trained counselors are usually required for series emotional difficulties. However, supervisor or managers can effectively counsel employees having less serious or routine problems. Company physicians also counsel

employees. Even a friend of the employee may provide counseling.

7. Counseling is usually confidential, so that employees would feel free to talk openly about their problems. (8) Counseling involves both job and personal problems, since both types of problems may affect employee’s emotional set-up and thereby his performance on the job. There may be many occasions in work situations when a subordinate feels the need for guidance and counseling to balance his psychological (mental) frame disturbed by such work situation.

8. Counseling improves employee job satisfaction. It may be noted that through a few companies had employee counseling programmers at an earlier date, however the recognized beginning of employee counseling was in 1936 at Western Electric, Company in Chicago. It is believed that this was the first time when a company used the term “personnel counseling” for employee Counseling services.