Amit Sharma
Work is worship, ‘All the so-called “secrets of success” will not work unless you do’, ‘The work will teach you’, ‘All work and no play makes jack a dull boy’, ‘Well begin is half the work done’ are few amongst the common quotations which are used to maintain ideal working cultures in organizations. Even the kids are told to work hard towards the studies they are doing, the female folks or housewives are advised to work hard towards all household chores and the sportspersons are asked to give 100% in their respective sport.
But in general parlance, the most common category of people for whom these work culture related sayings are used are the people working in offices or professional organizations. They are the ones who are given lot of sermons and examples so that they can maintain a steady contribution and focus towards the work-in-hand or tasks or targets assigned to them. The biggest challenge arises when a worker gets deviated from routine work assignments in spite of keeping total focus and having clear intentions to perform.
Let’s try to throw some light upon the challenges and core areas which need to be studied for ensuring apt and ideal working conditions meant for optimal performance in organizations. Perfect or nearly perfect work culture depends upon multiple reasons and conditions prevailing in organizations and it cannot ever happen in silos. It involves lot of stakeholders and factors which tend to play multiple roles in creating excellent working conditions in organizations.
From an individual’s point of view, one should be free from all encumbrances, tensions, worries and personal issues whenever one occupies the official chair. But it seem to be a utopian thought in the present era, as most of the people these days are going through some kind of challenge/pull/pressure, either from social set-ups and/or peer groups. A glaring example of the same is a constant move towards improving one’s income levels, expanding materialistic base or elevating one’s status in society, that too, by whatever available means in the shortest possible time.
If one is, somehow, able to overcome few or all of these challenges, the demand for constant success in workplace results into excessive competitiveness and creation of a pool of negativity which badly affects work contribution from an employee. The higher you climb up the ladder, the bigger becomes the task to prove one’s worth. In this streak towards fulfilment of over-ambitious goals and targets in offices, the works of the organizations keep on suffering like anything.
Sometimes, the spirit of unionism or associations also does not let workers perform their routine duties properly. It’s very much true that all the workers of an organization do not want to join this organizational politics but one is forced to be part of it because of which again work gets victimized. Although, there is no harm in fighting for one’s rights but if this fight takes an ugly turn when egos take over, strikes continue for long periods and it becomes a question of prestige to make the top management budge before all kinds of demands of workers, whether genuine or in genuine. Therefore, the work suffers adversely in many such cases.
One thing is sure, whenever a break comes in routine works, a rhythm or flow of work breaks and then, it becomes impossible to start again from the very point where you had left last. Next time, everything starts afresh and it may or may not be possible to achieve the desired output which an organization could otherwise have achieved, had the work continued as per routines without any interruptions.
Today’s external environmental factors such as unpredictable weather conditions, calls for strikes, bandhs and chakka-jams also adversely affect work culture. It leads towards creation of restlessness in society and workers often get swayed by emotions easily which deviates them from primary tasks-at-hand. As a result, the work suffers badly due to such forced anomic conditions.
Apart from this, some other very important internal factors of organizations such as biased attitude of management, lack of understanding and respect at both ends, lack of interest in job assigned, deliberate attempts to ignore inherent talent and competencies of workers, non-provision of adequate remuneration for work, non-appreciation of good work and many similar factors lead towards creation of friction and it ultimately results into break-down of work culture in organizations.
Any person who moves out of home to work would never like to sit idle or delay or disrupt work culture of an organization but if the working atmosphere is not conducive or congenial, it becomes tough to contribute. It should always be ensured that whenever one joins any particular job or profession, he/she must check own aptitude and competency levels for it. If any doubt or confusion still prevails, its better that he/she gives a re-thought to the decision and heads towards a job which is best suited to our knowledge, aptitude and qualifications.
Even the top management must adopt few strategies to ensure optimal utilization of manpower at its disposal. Few motivational lectures, socializing events, incentive-based tasks, exposure tours or even surprise holidays should be a routine in organizations to keep workers upbeat. Apart from this, Human Resource Management wings should also always be active to ensure timely promotions, work recognition drives, effective talent acquisition and utilization, job rotation, work enrichment, customized solution to respective workers’ problems so that the confidence, loyalty and contribution levels of workers always remain optimal.
We must always remember that work culture is an inter-mix of many ingredients which must be introduced in proper proportions at the right time for the desired results. The success of any organization or Government department depends upon how well this work culture is embedded and it’s indeed a true reflection of how well it is led from the front so that others are tempted to replicate its success story to achieve best results in future.
{The author is an e-Governance Expert of J&K Government and presently working as Special Secretary to Government, Animal/Sheep Husbandry Department, Civil Secretariat, J&K. He can be reached at amit1kas@gmail.com or amit1kas (Facebook ID)}
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