Organization culture and its role in enhancing productivity
Question:
Write about the Trends in Global Environment for Workplace Culture.
With the increased technological advancement and workplace diversification, organizations have become concerned with the adoption of techniques and strategies that keep them at par with trends in their respective industries. For technology companies, the focus has shifted to increasing collaboration at the workplace collaboration through redesigning the experience of their employees. Companies like Apple and Amazon are among the Global industrial players whose focus on this concept can be clearly. The investment into multi-billion USD modern premises is a big step towards promoting workplace collaboration and increasing their productivity. My focus on this report will be on workplace culture, change in the workplace, redesign of employee experiences and collaboration as aspects of workplace productivity
Organization culture refers to the aspects that make an organization unique. The culture of an organization is defined by the shared attitudes, behaviors, interactions, believes and traditions. These shared aspects give an organization a personality and culture and define interactions and relationships among its employees (Brewster, 2017). Businesses such as Apple and Amazon have objectives that they aim to achieve as shown through their work redesign endeavors. Apart from the business strategies employed by the two technological giants, their associated cultures will be a major determinant in whether their objectives will be achieved or not. The culture associated with an organization plays a significant role in enhancing productivity in an organization. The culture of an organization can also lead to a decline in productivity. Typically, organizations with most talented and innovative employees are known to be more productive than those with less innovative and talented employees. Employees will be attracted to an organization depending on its culture. An organization with a well defined, clearly communicated, positive and strong culture can attract best talents in the market. Through appropriate organizational culture, organizations create a work environment that promotes engagements and retention. Increased employee retention and engagement is improving employee satisfaction rates leading to increased productivity. Research has also shown that organizations with positive and stronger cultures perform better than their competitors (Lengnick-Hall et al., 2009).
The redesign process at Apple Inc is aimed at enhancing workplace collaboration and teamwork. It is an endeavor focused on creating a strong and positive organization culture whose foundation is collaboration. Through increased collaboration and teamwork, the organization will create a positive environment that allows employees to have meaningful relationships and share skills and experiences (Bratton and Gold, 2017). Collaboration is an effective way of promoting organizational productivity. Through the redesign process, therefore, the Amazon and Apple will create a positive work environment that allows employees to thrive both individually and as a group. The outcome of this approach will be increased organizational productivity.
Changes in the workplace are normal occurrences. As organizations seek to expand their operations and increase their competitiveness, certain changes become critical. Organizations change to align their current strategies with market demands. Change has become an important component of today’s fast-moving business environment. Organizations have been forced to change not only to meet the needs of their workforce and customers but also in order to maintain their competitiveness. Organization change is the process through which an organization changes its culture, technologies, operational methods, strategies, and structures continuously or in distinct time periods (Jiang et al., 2012). Workplace change is the processes which organizations shift from one state of affairs to another. Workplace change is often necessitated by changes in the external environment. Organization re-design is part of workplace change aimed at introducing important changes in how employees interact with each other and carry out their activities.
Redesign process at Apple and its impact on collaboration and productivity
Organizations implement workplace changes to achieve various outcomes. Basically with the introduction of changes at Apple, new approaches on how people interact, work and collaborate in the workplace will be introduced. Workplace changes such as the introduction of activity-based work by Apple Inc are intended to help the organization in achieving various objectives. Though activity-based work organizations remove the need of employees being required to work within a similar space every time by giving them the autonomy of deciding where they want to work, how they want to work and when they want to work (Jackson, Schuler and Werner, 2009). There is a sense of empowerment that comes with giving employees the opportunity to decide on how they want to work through activity-based working. It also facilitates effective collaboration and communication by allowing employees from different departments to work on group projects and tasks. It breaks the traditional working arrangements that require employees to be tied to their desks throughout the work period. With increased collaborations employees are able to exchange ideas and improve their productivity (Wright and McMahan, 2011). Changes focused on activity-based work, therefore, lead to improved output and productivity.
Collaboration has been viewed as one of the greatest contributors to increased productivity in an organization. The ability of employees to pull together as a team gives employees a sense of direction. Collaboration and teamwork have become part and parcel of modern workplace strategies especially due to increased competition in the corporate world .to counter this increased competition, it has become necessary to promote healthy relationships in order to facilitate increased creativity and productivity. Through working in teams, employees acquire additional skills and knowledge that make them more efficient in their work. Organizations that use a collaborative approach have been found to be more successful than those that do not (Boxall and Macky, 2009). Apart from enhancing the productivity of employees, collaboration makes employees more responsible.
The level of collaboration in an organization directly affects the outcomes of projects and tasks. Trough increased collaboration, employees are able to communicate seamlessly and share information with each other. This kind of collaboration enables employees to reach their optimum performance levels. On the contrary, working individually on projects makes it hard to complete projects in shorter durations (Gagné, 2009). Although for some employees optimal performance can only be reached when working individually on projects, for a significant majority optimal level of performance is arrived at through collaboration.
For new employees, collaboration can provide an effective learning platform. Through collaborating with their co-workers, they can acquire job-related knowledge with much ease. Apart from direct knowledge and skills, new employees also get an opportunity to be inspired by veteran counterparts which directly affects their commitment and performance.
Employee satisfaction is an important aspect of organizational success. Employee satisfaction rates increase with the level of their involvement in organizational activities. Through collaboration, an environment is created where employees can make personal input and make use of their skills effectively. The more employees feel valued for their contribution, the more they are likely to be satisfied (Subramony, 2009). It is, therefore, true that collaboration is an effective approach will be an effective approach for Apple Inc.
Understanding changes in the workplace and their importance
The desire of employees is to work on an enjoyable work experience. To meet these demands, many organizations have shifted their focus to improving the experience for their employees. The nature of employee experience has a direct impact on their job. Employee experience refers to the perceptions that employees have concerning the kind of interaction in their organizations (Guest, 2011). Employee experience is a core aspect of the performance of an organization. Employees become committed to their jobs depending on the work environment that they are exposed to.
Through Apple’s workplace redesign process, the organization is organization is focused on meeting the expectations and values of their employees.Redesigning of the employee experience will give them more satisfied with both their job and organization. With the increased level of satisfaction, employees will become more productive. The redesign process will improve the nature of employee’s engagement and interactions as well the level of their autonomy. It will also remove the need for them to remain within their workstations throughout the work period.Such outcomes will improve the overall experience for employees (Avey, Luthans and Jensen, 2009). Finally, through increased collaboration and team work, an avenue will be created where employees can freely share their ideas and put their unique skills into practical use. This coupled with a favorable working environment will create a breeding ground for innovative ideas. With increased employee productivity, employee engagement and innovation the organization will become more productive
Conclusion
In conclusion organizational productivity is dependent on multiple factors.The workplace culture determines the kind of relationships and interactions existing at the workplace. With more positive and strong organization culture, both employee and organizational productivity will be enhanced. Changes in the workplace are also a necessary component of the organizational productivity, by adopting change; the organization will be in a position of keeping up with latest practices in the industry. Collaboration is also an important aspect of productivity, the more employees are able to work collectively on projects, interact and share ideas the more productive they will be.
References
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Brewster, C., 2017. The integration of human resource management and corporate strategy. In Policy and practice in European human resource management (pp. 22-35). Routledge.
Brewster, C., 2017. The integration of human resource management and corporate strategy. In Policy and practice in European human resource management (pp. 22-35). Routledge.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Boxall, P. and Macky, K., 2009. Research and theory on high?performance work systems: progressing the high?involvement stream. Human Resource Management Journal, 19(1), pp.3-23.
Gagné, M., 2009. A model of knowledge?sharing motivation. Human Resource Management, 48(4), pp.571-589.
Guest, D.E., 2011. Human resource management and performance: still searching for some answers. Human resource management journal, 21(1), pp.3-13.
Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S. and Werner, S., 2009. Managing human resources (p. 358). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Jiang, K., Lepak, D.P., Hu, J. and Baer, J.C., 2012. How does human resource management influence organizational outcomes? A meta-analytic investigation of mediating mechanisms. Academy of Management Journal, 55(6), pp.1264-1294.
Lengnick-Hall, M.L., Lengnick-Hall, C.A., Andrade, L.S. and Drake, B., 2009. Strategic human resource management: The evolution of the field. Human resource management review, 19(2), pp.64-85.
Subramony, M., 2009. A meta?analytic investigation of the relationship between HRM bundles and firm performance. Human resource management, 48(5), pp.745-768.
Wright, P.M. and McMahan, G.C., 2011. Exploring human capital: putting ‘human back into strategic human resource management. Human Resource Management Journal, 21(2), pp.93-104.
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