DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATION
5.5 Contributions of the Study
Significant contributions have been made by testing a theory in a new setting, commercial banks in large sector, Thailand examined in this study. Each bank illustrates a unique context that affected perceptions of employees. Each bank should develop its own strategies to suit them. The study confirms and reveals that burnout in employee is occurred in a high level of demand, high level of control, but low level of social support. This had been augmented by including self-efficacy and job performance in the model. Interestingly, job control fails to explain in causing the
reduction of burnout, because employees receive too much autonomy – curve linear relationship. Employees face more uncertainty, difficulty in decision making, and high responsibility on the job. Therefore, organizations and HR should assist by providing coach, or mentor to them. Managers or supervisors should encourage employees to talk about problems encountered at work in order to reduce their jobs’
insecure and stress. Characteristic of employees with self-efficacy was significantly related to burnout and informal learning both directly and indirectly. They feel more capable to cope with challenging situations or tasks; they are less likely to suffer from anxiety. They have a capability to control and influence their environments to meet accomplishment. Job control and social support carry the influence between self- efficacy and burnout as well as informal learning. The result confirmed the assumptions that burnout in employee was negatively related to individual job performance. Informal learning was positively related to individual job performance.
Employees are the most important asset in organizations. Organizations and HR should be committed to protecting employees’ safety, health, and welfare at work.
Organizations and HR should recognize the importance to identify and reduce workplace stress. Organizations and HR should establish policy to give guidance to managers and employees how to prevent, identify and manage stress in the workplace.
Organizations and HR should provide, for instance, stress management system to promote wellbeing and prevent or minimize the occurrence of stress. Creating a supportive environment and culture in which the safety and welfare of staff is a priority. To provide support to employees who experience stress in the workplace by providing confidential advice, guidance, support or counseling. Corporate management, senior managers, line managers and employees each have a accountability to contribute to involve creating supportive workplaces that facilitate employee who experiences stress to report it. Organizations and HR could develop standards for assessing workplace stress including demands of the job, control, support, relationships, role, and change. Managers or supervisors should require following activities to promote employee well-being and reduce stress in the workplace. For instance, regular and open communication can reduce suspicion of management and improve teamwork by ensuring all employees comprehend and appreciate each other’s role. Good interpersonal relationships in the workplace are the
most powerful way to protect against potential stressors. Where strong tie of relationships exists between work colleagues, employees show higher levels of coping skills and are better able to identify possible solutions to problems. Giving employees an opportunity to provide suggestions and give the space to listen to them. Giving employee regular feedback on the things they are doing well, not just on the things that can be improved, can reduce the potential for stress in the workplace. Some flexibility or control of own work significantly helps to reduce potential stress in the workplace.
In order to deal with challenging demands and to meet ever uncertain external environment with strong skill-grounded competition, learning is seen as a central which work is designed. Organizations and HR should establish policy that support workplace learning not only short-terms objectives, but also long-term strategic goals.
Organizations and HR should consider that learning outcomes are new skills, and knowledge of employees. Therefore, organizations and HR should incorporate learning into organizational culture, systems and management. Not only training programs, since according to this study, psychological job demand, job characteristics (skill discretion, decision authority), and social support from supervisors and coworkers influence learning process of individual. Organizations and HR should support learning and development activities involving creating challenging projects that employee can use his variety of skill and receive authority to make decision and plan by him. Project working is a strategy to develop individual competence, problem solving, and mutual learning process. Project team is effective way that new products and services can be created.
Since the finding suggested that employee perceived job control as motivating factor for burnout. In order to protect employee from burnout out, organization and HR should support employee through providing clear objective to employee, so that employee can keep on the right track. In addition, coach from supervisors or mentoring from seniors is effective way of supporting them and encourage individual learning. Many researches have recognized that coach and mentoring is an effective way of supporting workplace learning. Coach help employee how to do things effectively, while mentoring prepare employee for future changes. Organizations and HR should train managers and supervisors by using coach firms to help managers or
supervisors to become coaches. One-to-one mentoring which is training managers to mentor employees who are not their own staff. There has been a shift from the role of manager as controller to a coach or mentor to develop employees is a major part (Silverman, 2003).
Due to the organizational structure of commercial bank is matrix organization, cross-functional team becomes potential and effective way for supporting employees to engage on-the-job learning. Employees could learn in cross-functional teams.
Knowledge and skills from other team members is transferred directly, informal learning occurs from observing others working, members try to seek or give new information, and test out ideas, and reflect on hidden assumptions. Organizations and HR should create the culture of trust, a foundation of building teamwork, and this can avoid from silos effect, individual and department limit their tasks and responsibilities.
Lastly, organizations and HR should promote teamwork, a crucial part of business, work collaboratively with a group, using their skill, and provide constructive feedback, despite any personal conflict between individuals. Teamwork can make the dream work; it is good to use teamwork when working on project to get as many ideas bounded around as possible.