Alcoholism Rehabilitation in the Workplace, Article Critique Example

Roman, P. and Blum, T. (2002). The Workplace and Alcohol Problem Prevention. Alcohol Research and Health Journal. Volume 26, Number 1.

The way a person performs in an organization specifically helps in the process of aiding the entire business in relation to the progress that it aims to attain. Workers are specifically expected to realize their value towards the realization of a particular organizational goal through helping them cope up with particular problems they may be having especially the ones that are affecting their performance in the organization. One of the most common issues of performance downgrade that is currently affecting most organizations today is that of alcohol abuse. Most often than not, occasional drinking does not hurt, especially if such an act is considered responsibly by the individual involved in it. However, on the other end, when such an act is handled irresponsibly, then problems are sure to arise.

Individuals who manifest alcohol problems often show such symptoms in relation to their behavior and the attitude they have towards others. Since the workplace is likely to be affected by such attitudinal changes, then the workplace supervisors and managers are then expected to do something about the problem. Nevertheless, reprimand and rules as well as policies are not enough to contend with the need to fix the said issue. In the study handled by Roman and Blum (2002), they have indicated a course of development that EAP provides for individuals manifesting drinking problems at work. EAP or Employee Assistance Programs is a collective form of organized approaches to helping employees handle personal and career –related problems that are usually intervening in the course by which they complete their tasks at work.

Notably, EAP, as defined by Roman and Blum, provides the supervisors and managers the opportunity to seek the attention of their employees and have them realize of the possible problems that they are seeing in them and relatively providing relief for such issues. Manifesting genuine concern for the welfare of the employees, these programs are designed to create a bridge that connects the managers and the workers at risk in relation to how they work together to increase personal and professional competence which is desirable both for the individual workers and for the companies they are working for as well.

In this study, Roman and Blum insist on the capacity of EAP to provide the most convening assistance that workers who have drinking problems need. Not directly scolding those who are suspected to have drinking problems, these programs are designed to address the work-body in a holistic manner, thus suggesting that its goal is to keep every individual working for the organization at pace with the development that the whole team is engaging in. With 50 and 90 minute sessions of alcohol education programs, everyone in the employment team is addressed and is given attention to. Not singling out the one that has the problem, this system allows the chance for others who might have problems regarding alcohol intake to come forward willingly or voluntarily and accept rehabilitating assistance that the company provides.

The primary objective of the EAP is to specifically change the attitude of the individuals who might have been addicted to alcohol intake already as well as those who are still under a relatively lower level of alcohol tolerance at the time. Giving these individuals a sense of personal-examination approach, it is expected that they would take the courtesy to accept the help they are being given. Upon research , those that have actually responded to such call have been observed to develop stress-related drinking and worker alienation problems that causes them to lose the value of satisfaction that they once had for their job. These risks that develop to worker dissatisfaction and later on developing to drinking problems ought to be checked and adjusted well so as to make sure that they do not contribute to the aggravation of the problems of those already undergoing rehabilitative programs for their drinking situations.

Overall, the research of Roman and Blum provides normative information that could best support the idea on how the administrators of an organization could formulate effective ways that are sure to provide good source of support for workers undergoing drinking issues. Considerably, pointing out how EAPs should be formulated and defining what particular elements of risks they should address provides a dependable source of data for the research to be completed regarding Alcoholism Rehabilitation in the Workplace. It could be agreed upon, based on the data collected by Roman and Blum, that alcohol-drinking problems should be addressed accordingly under work-area supervision would increase not only the capability of the individuals to withdraw from a developing addiction but also provide them the chance to improve their performance further while being rehabilitated. Helpful as the information is, this research is expected to provide great support to the indication on how Alcoholism Rehabilitation programs actually help individuals in their personal and professional competence.

Walls, R; Moore, L; Batiste, L and Loy, B. (2009). Vocational Rehabilitation and Job Accommodations for Individuals with Substance Abuse Disorders. Journal of Rehabilitation. Volume 75, No 4: 35-44.

Substance abuse as a whole has become a compelling problem among workers and the way they perform in relation to the tasks they have to complete in their job assignments. Giving attention to this matter has been a primary concern for administrators as they see how former company assets become the liabilities of the organization as they become linked to substance abuse. Therefore, creating investigative approaches to finding out who needs to be helped and what help they actually need is an essential aspect of the solution being searched for.

The research of Walls and his colleagues regarding vocational rehabilitation programs provide a great indication on how much development and adjustments some administrators have taken into consideration in assisting their employees to become more dependable and functional when it comes to their performance at work. Focusing on RSA and JAN, two of the most important record-keeping systems that provide information about issue and cases connected to employee substance abuse disorders, the research of the team of Walls provides helpful information that would indicate the how[s] and the why[s] of the situation being dealt with.

To complete the study, Walls and his team tried the best they could to investigate the records of RSA and JAN. RSA or the Rehabilitation Service Administration provides data from years 1996, 2000 and 2004. Among the information carefully noted in these records include demographics of the clients, the services they received, the case outcomes and the occupational outcomes of the programs that have been directed towards the course of redefining the situation of individuals whose substance abuse cases have been reported and have been addressed. On the other end, JAN or the Job Accommodation Network provides a list of 1365 cases from years 1996 to 2005. These cases included the data on the individuals’ job functions, their limitations, the causative factors for the development of the abuse along with all the issues and concerns included within the situations dealt with by each individual. Through cross referencing the cases between these records provide the study of Walls and his team a thorough presentation of the data that needs to be included in the hope of finding the causes of substance abuse and likely create a distinctive pattern of solutions that are most likely able to create changes in the situation of individuals needing attention at present.

The data coming from this research specifically creates a definite indication that the development of substance abuse among workers often come from lack of education and training, personal and attitudinal problems as well as program level barriers. The RSA reports indicate that counseling approaches help so much especially when it comes to dealing with the individuals as they deal with both their personal and professional problems. Alcohol abuse, being among the most common form of substance abuse, is seen to have a great impact of commonality among those who have been recorded to receive assistance and rehabilitation from the administrators and the programs they have. Gaining all these helpful data does provide a better foundation for the research being completed regarding alcoholism rehabilitation in the workplace especially that it provides a presentation of actual substance abuse cases, hence providing the new research a sense of reliability when it comes to measuring the actual value of the situation given attention to.