Monday, September 26, 2005

Work Ethics

Work Ethics in Organizations
People working in an organization can be categorized in to three types:
Work Ethics
Worth Ethics and
Leisure Ethics

Those who believe in work ethics are people who value work and are happy when they are working. The worth ethics are also ready to work provided they get something for their work. They are always afraid of being "exploited" - somebody getting more work from them than they get from the work. Leisure ethics want to avoid work as much as they can.

Work ethics, worth ethics, and leisure ethics are especially important aspects in the working of an industrial organization, and the way the organization functions depends on the relative proportion of these. In each organization, all three types of people are there, but the proportions vary. What is more important: as the department head or unit head changes, the proportions change. This shows that people are not stationary, locked up in their respective compartments forever. They can move from compartment to compartment provided something happens. We want to see what is that something that can happen which can push more and more people from leisure ethics and worth ethics to work ethics. This can create a "work culture" in the organization.

Inculcating Work Culture

A manager can succeed in promoting work culture if he himself has the work ethics image i.e. feeling that he is trying to achieve results not to get a promotion for himself but because he believes that achieving those results is important for the organization.

Then he creates "stature " to push "worth ethics"(and even "leisure ethics") towards work ethics. A person likes to be considered the boss's man. Although he will criticize others as being "chamchas" (sycophants), he himself does not mind being considered the boss's man and getting importance.

The work ethics group by itself is contagious and infectious. Not only do they work hard, but they make people around them work hard through induction. However, leisure ethics (and particularly the core of leisure ethics) are also contagious and infectious and they go around pulling people away from work ethics.

The effective manager has to create a situation whereby this core of leisure ethics is isolated and insulated. Through judicious transfers, people can be moved into corners of the organization where their influence will be minimized. This cannot be done overnight. But over a period, it would be possible to isolate and insulate this core of leisure ethics. This is of great advantage to the organization because this increases the infectiousness of work ethics and more and more people get into the work ethics category. This is the method through which a " work culture " is introduced in an organization. Everybody comes to work with a feeling that he has to achieve something today.

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