Research and argue a problem/ solution or cause/effect paper - Essay Example

Both the company and the worker get affected. Hence, workplace alcoholism must be controlled through proper means. This paper intends to argue the alcoholism is a problem in Boston workplace, along with some solutions that managers may use to encounter this issue. Workplace alcoholism in Boston is an increasing problem that is affecting work environment negatively, as it motivates non-drinkers to start drinking (Hingson et al., “Job Characteristics and Drinking Practices in the Boston Metropolitan Area”).

This is also called peer pressure. Those who do not drink may get influenced by their friends who drink, and may begin to indulge in alcoholism. Since job performance gets impaired due to drinking, productivity decreases, and eventually the organization suffers. The drinkers have negative social relations at work, since they are not able to maintain healthy relations properly. Absenteeism increases because the person feels sick most of the time, and this worsens his reputation. Drinking alcohol raises the alcohol level in the blood, because of which the person may not be able to think clearly.

Thus, he makes frequent mistakes in his work, makes errors in judgment, and is more prone to accidents. Thus, both work attendance and work performance are affected. The workplace culture gets negatively affected since absenteeism increases and work performance decreases. Job persistence also decreases. The use of alcoholism is a challenge for employers since the overall work environment is disturbed. Poor interpersonal relations resulting from alcoholism are dangerous for job productivity, since the importance of workplace relations is very strongly related to stress free work environment.

Issues raised due to alcoholism include: (1) increased sickness absence, (2) inability to work, and (3) premature deaths of people of working age. McFarlin and Fals-Stewart (17-21) conducted a research on 280 participants employed in a large company in Northeastern U.S., to determine the relationship between workplace alcoholism and absenteeism. They stated in their research that, “A significant relationship was found between alcohol use and workplace absences; workers were, roughly 2 times more likely to be absent from work the day after alcohol was consumed” (17).

This research shed light upon the workplace culture of Northeastern states like Boston, and clearly shows that workplace alcoholism has a direct influence upon a worker’s job performance and attendance. However, it is also important to ponder over solutions to this problem that Boston workplaces are exposed to. One solution to overcome these challenges is to implement proper alcohol policies to eliminate the chances of alcoholism in the workplace (Verstraete 147). Such policies are stated with the job advertisements, or are present in the companies’ policies, so that the candidates know before applying and getting selected that they will have to conform to the alcohol policies if they want to stay on the job.

Non-conformation leads to penalties and fines. The company can even have a total elimination of alcohol policy, under which no drinking candidate is to be selected. For this, at the time of selection process, drug testing is conducted to know whether or not the candidate is alcoholic. Rountree (2), in his article, mentions a prospective study of 2,537 new post office workers in Boston. This study was