Sometimes I wonder what makes a company, organization, institution ..etc a great workplace. What are those factors that usually matter to employees to really love where they are working.
Now I’m not going to discuss whether the person is in the right type of job or not, that’s a completely different story. I am just trying to understand if people are doing the job they supposedly want, what makes the place they work at be a great one.
I was reading “The Great Workplace”, authors Michael Burchell and Jennifer Robin, and in it they write, “you need to do your job realizing that how you do what you do makes a world of difference to employees. The secret of great workplaces is relationships.”
In another chapter, the book highlights that the employees said “they believe their leaders to be credible, respectful, and fair—they trust them. They also take pride in what they do, and they share a sense of camaraderie with their coworkers.”
So it really revolves more about the relation of employees amongst each other and with their leaders or senior or managers or whatever you wish to call them.
Some people argue that what holds leaders back from doing something about this is the not having the faith that there are bottom line results from doing the right thing. Another excuse is no time. Lack of situational awareness and the belief that they should just be focusing on the business also keep leaders from focusing on the relationships that really underlie everything they do.
After further research I found that there is a institute called “The Great Place to Work Institute” and the researchers there found that great workplaces exist regardless of size, industry, or location because the Model is based on universal “needs and values—trust of the people you work for, pride in what you do, and enjoyment of the people you work with.”
So I felt like sharing the Model with you and to get your feedback on it. Check the diagram bellow and let me know your input. 😀
Afif's 
I truly like this article, especially that it is so motivationally-realistically true. The type of relations controlling your work is what underline the results you are going to have; even if the work results were successful, if the relations were messed up, the results wont be successfully positive!
Keep up the good work dear 🙂
Afif Tabsh, Hi:
I have no doubts that no one is going to argue with your definition of a great workplace and the qualities of this workplace that make it great.
If someone worked at such a place, I am curious to know about it.
In my employment career I worked on 22 jobs in four countries. I met with a few of these features on a few of the jobs, but that’s all.
The model you present, however, is not a fiction IMHO. If not all, the most part of your features can become reality. For that, our obsolescent Mode of Labour Utilization (MLU) called Employment (literally use of labour for the employer’s profit) must be scrapped.
The progress of our society and economics is due to Capitalism that replaced slavery or feudalism, depending on the country. The economic premise of Capitalism is “the market rewards every investor with a profit or loss on his investment of money and/or labour”. This premise is in action everywhere, except at the workplace. At the workplace, the employer expects from his employee to maximize efforts that lead to his profit maximization. Such an attitude worked reasonably well at the Slavery MLU, when the slave-master could kill his slave for disobedience. It worked satisfactorily the first 200 years of the Employment MLU, when employees did manual work without machinery under watchful supervision and the alternative to employment was starvation at fresh air without a roof. It works worse and worse in the recent hundred years, when employees operate machinery and supervision cannot tell how diligently they apply their labour. That will continue until at least one employer will realize what is going on and will stop pocketing profit on labour. When the employee will receive the profit on labour, he will maximize this profit, thereby maximizing his employer’s profit on means of production (building, maintenance, utilities, raw materials and advertising).
Many of the features of the great workplace you describe will appear automatically in this next MLU.
Visit my website ProfitOnJob.com, read my book Smiling for Profit. Enjoy.
artistically formed and designed article filled with facts and reality providing to create motivational environment in an office.
Thank you Riwa, MOtty and Bimala … I’m really glad you lied the article 😀
Great article and a very pertinent issue! I think in the present situation where jobs are hard to find the employers are taking full advantage of employees. There is exploitation of all sort in terms of , lack of transparency, communication, fair practices and respect. These are just the basic requirements of a workplace and we aren’t even mentioning employee empowerment and development. We need more leaders who bring out the best in the employee by giving them space, providing support where and when needed and trusting in their abilities instead of micro managers who are just managing people and their time and not contributing anything positive to the individual and organization. workplace can be transformed and employees can be more productive and enthusiastic when we have leaders not managers who stunt the growth of employee and the organization. I believe that managers/leaders play a very important role in the efficiency of the employee and organization. I have had some great bosses who gave me a chance to tread in unfamiliar territories and supported me to grow and I was able to be effective and productive in my role. I have also experienced micro managers who note every movement that you make and provide verbal support but nothing practically, disrespect/mistrust you as a professional with the result they don’t even care to explore the true worth of the employee. The failure of an employee to a certain degree reflects on the boss too. The past history of the employee should vouch for the potential he/she has and should be given a fair chance in terms of space, support and time.
Thank you Kaukab for the insight…
I agree with what you said and things definitely depend on upper management in most of the matters.
I guess we should also stress more on an employee’s past history as it speaks on the behalf of him in several issues. 🙂
Afif
Hi, Afif:
Aren’t you amazed how little attention does your effort produce?
Employers pay zillions of dollars to endless thousands of consultants, who promise to improve their workplaces by introducing at least a few of the Dimensions you enumerated above. The fact that none of those consultants is successful for longer than their actual involvement at the workplace (due to the attention that the employees always enjoy) does not deter the employer from continuing to invite other consultants in hope to finally get some improvement, or to invite the same consultant who offers a “new” approach this time.
And none of the employers has come to the realization yet that the problem is in the obsolescence of Employment itself as a Mode of Labour Utilization (MLU) in the Western World for a good hundred of recent years. No “new” invention will bring lasting results until one substantial employer will realize that and move to the next MLU, where the workforce will receive the market profit on their investment of labour.
This move will bring to life just about every Dimension you have mentioned above and usher in a much higher level of wealth, just as it has happened over 300 years ago with the implementation of the Employment MLU after Slavery or Serfdom.
Do go to ProfitOnJob.com for an intro to my book Smiling for Profit. Reading the Story of Joe and Bloe there may whet you appetite for reading the book.
Hello Motty… I totally agree with what you’re saying 😀
Thank you for taking the time to contemplate on this and I will check the website you mentioned for sure 🙂
Have a great day and come back often for new posts!
Afif
Relationships are the key to a great workplace. To develop and nurture these relationships, employees need to communicate sincerely and effectively. We recently posted a piece http://academy.justjobs.com/practice-situational-awareness that describes not only the aspects and elements involved in communications among team members, but also tips to help employees practice situational awareness. i hope it helps. – Erich
Hello Erich,
Glad to receive your feedback and I did have a look at the article you posted…its quite informative. Thanks for Sharing.
I’d like to mention another article that might be of your interest on this blog, check https://afiftabsh.com/2011/09/24/creating-organizational-structures-that-work/
Enjoy!
Afif
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