SBenegaL

Category: Work Environment

  • Team Environment – New and Old

    In the last byte, we looked at the need for a work team. In today’s byte, we look at how the context of team has evolved over time, but begin with defining teamwork itself.

    Teamwork refers to the joint action a team of people in which individual interests are subordinated to team unity. This forms the core value of numerous high performing companies world over. Teams are also appropriate when knowledge, talent, skills and abilities are disbursed across organizational members and an integrated team effort is needed to establish the tasks – team work plays a crucial role here. In today’s world the need for team work is ever increasing.

    It would be interesting to ask if there has been any change in the way teams have worked over the last few decades. Here is an interesting comparison (please see the table below) that was made in 1991 itself!


  • Attitude in Work a Environment Setting

    In the last blog we looked at the predictability of a behavior based on the attitude. In today’s blog, we attempt to understand attitude in the context of work environment and the impact it is able to create.


    Imagine a situation where you are working with a “boss” who is not from the domain of the company you have been working for the last 1 year almost. He is recently joined your company and has taken over just a couple of weeks earlier. Your project has been in development stage for more than 2 years now, most of the team members who started working on the project have now moved out of the company, and there are many fresh faces around you. You are in fact the oldest resource of the project, which also has a US team working on it. There are over hundred defects that have been raised in the project which have been pending at various stages since no one has a clear idea of the source of these defects. Conditions seem to be completely against you – How would you react to a situation like this?


    Definitely the situation like this wouldn’t be getting you excited working on the project. The lack of control over the project, the demanding requirements of the project etc all create an attitude in the mind of the employee that is negative and this would affect the work. On the other hand a positive climate at work would lead to a positive attitude and good performance. This positive performance could in many cases lead to a better return for the company. Take the following example in the hospitality industry:


    You go and stay in a hotel and invariably meet a lot of employees out there. The employee gestures, facial expressions, and words used. If you had an unpleasant experience when in contact with the employee of the organization, would definitely put you off and you might decide never to visit the hotel again!


    There are many such work attitudes that we observe. In the forth coming bytes, we shall discuss some of these.