Social Aniety in the Workplace
Social Anxiety in the Workplace
Definition and Analysis of the problem Approximately 15 million American adults have been diagnosed with social anxiety according to NIH, The National Institute of Health. This is not the most severe case of anxiety, nor the largest sector, but it is one of the easiest to define, understand and treat. Social Anxiety is the “intense, persistent, and chronic fear of being watched and judged by others and of doing things that will embarrass them” (NIH 1). This disorder is common in many people and many situations, but becoming more prevalent in the workplace. At work, this anxiety can happen during any one of the common activities, business lunches, daily meetings or networking and client interaction. This is proved by the Social presence theory presented in our textbook, it concludes that the more social interaction once has, the more acclimated they become and therefore has a more social presence. But what is happening in our present day society is that more phone calls are made rather then lunches, more emails are exchanged, causing the employee to be isolated from the face-face interaction one needs to effectively communicate and bring in future clients (DeVito 198). According to Technical Communication Today, virtual offices will become a much more common occurrence, making it mandatory for employees to learn how to effectively work with others. This can be difficult because it takes time to work through ones social anxiety issues, and while the business world is slowly integrating technology and new advances, so should the employee. Although advances in technology can be a god thing their has also been some struggles found including, the lack of non-verbal cues (smiles, shrugs, scowls) and the level of misunderstanding because they people are not actually I the same room most of the time. So this requires the employees to meet ahead of time, practicing time management,
Definition and Analysis of the problem Approximately 15 million American adults have been diagnosed with social anxiety according to NIH, The National Institute of Health. This is not the most severe case of anxiety, nor the largest sector, but it is one of the easiest to define, understand and treat. Social Anxiety is the “intense, persistent, and chronic fear of being watched and judged by others and of doing things that will embarrass them” (NIH 1). This disorder is common in many people and many situations, but becoming more prevalent in the workplace. At work, this anxiety can happen during any one of the common activities, business lunches, daily meetings or networking and client interaction. This is proved by the Social presence theory presented in our textbook, it concludes that the more social interaction once has, the more acclimated they become and therefore has a more social presence. But what is happening in our present day society is that more phone calls are made rather then lunches, more emails are exchanged, causing the employee to be isolated from the face-face interaction one needs to effectively communicate and bring in future clients (DeVito 198). According to Technical Communication Today, virtual offices will become a much more common occurrence, making it mandatory for employees to learn how to effectively work with others. This can be difficult because it takes time to work through ones social anxiety issues, and while the business world is slowly integrating technology and new advances, so should the employee. Although advances in technology can be a god thing their has also been some struggles found including, the lack of non-verbal cues (smiles, shrugs, scowls) and the level of misunderstanding because they people are not actually I the same room most of the time. So this requires the employees to meet ahead of time, practicing time management,
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