Work Culture and Work Ethic: A Shared Narrative
At SCRO, we exercise the strategic co-dependence of organizational dynamics.
“Culture is simply a shared way of doing something with passion.” – Brian Chesky, Co-Founder, CEO, Airbnb
Work culture is the human climate of action and interaction that encompasses us constantly — be it in-person or remote. A work-environment culture is the mutual qualities, conviction frameworks, mentalities, and the series of expectations that individuals in a work environment share. This is formed by their upbringing, social, and individual setting. In a work environment the leadership, the vital management, and the team-vision impact the work environment culture to a tremendous degree. A positive work environment culture improves cooperation, raises confidence, builds profitability and productivity, and upgrades the output of the team. Professional fulfillment, joint effort, and work execution are enormously enhanced. Furthermore, above all, a positive work environment climate lessens pressure on the team members.
And when people come together to work on an idea, share a vision and keep something up, running and expanding: we have teams. Organizations. Corporates. Groups. And when something as organic and synergetic as an amalgamation of workers and creators and ideators takes place, enter the phrase ‘work culture’. A team becomes much more than just a few scurrying individuals talking and agreeing. It develops a vital meshwork and internal ecosystem of its own. And often, the difference between a mediocre team and an effective, dexterous and agile team can be as simple as the degree to which each individual commits his, her or their sincerity and integrity: their work ethic.
“We have a culture where we are incredibly self critical, we don’t get comfortable with our success.”
– Mark Parker, CEO, Nike
Let us define what we mean by work ethic here, then, before we proceed to understand how a strong and healthy work culture connotates to a positive work ethic among members of the team or organization.
Necessary disambiguation here, for readers who might not be aware, would be that when we say work ethic, we are not referring to work ethics, and the distinction between the two is exceedingly important. Work ethics would refer to the set of moral and ethical principles (or the lack thereof) that people and managers follow in their professional discourse. This is markedly different from the ides of work ethic, which would have the textbook definition along the lines of:
‘Work ethic is a belief that hard work and diligence have a moral benefit and an inherent ability, virtue or value to strengthen character and individual abilities. It is a set of values centred on the importance of work and manifested by determination or desire to work hard. Social ingrainment of this value is considered to enhance character through hard work that is respective to an individual’s field of work.’
But it is precisely here that we start delving into the context of what we mean by this. Take our team for instance: Student Copter Research Organization. It is a student-led and student-run team: there are no MBA graduates or business school white-collar hyper-professional, overzealous individuals here. Our work culture is minimalistic, yet elegantly inclusive and has spontaneously emanated in a manner to ensure that everyone finds their niche and is able to operate and contribute from a place of convenience, comfort and naturalness.
And when we attempt to structurally understand the various factors that have contributed in ameliorating this, it would something like this.
- Clarity and competence in the shared vision and ethos of the team.
Across our team members, there is a unanimous sense of understanding as to what we aim to do: what we aspire to curate, the reach and the kind of presence we aim to establish. This resonates across the various segments of the technical and corporate sub-domains, and it is due to this congruency of understanding that gives the group a unique degree of promptness.
2. A fluid and flexible hierarchy across roles, tasks and responsibilities.
There is no paradigmatic seniority. While a sense of courtesy, respect and assured dignity of conduct is a more-than-necessary prerequisite to all kinds of communication, information transfer, and exchange of ideas, task-assignment, action-oriented roles and supervisory as well as managerial positions are executed based on merit, commitment, availability and diligence to the task. Everyone is under a state of informal review all the time — performance appraisal isn’t a monotonic transaction, it’s an organic ever-evolving system in a dynamic team.
3. Respect. Sensitivity. Courtesy. Honesty. Professionalism. Simplicity. And adaptability.
A substantive part of what goes behind the constitution of a solid individual work ethic on the part of individual workers has to do with the manner in which the seniority or the commanding management deals and conducts itself with new recruits, team members, and people assigned with tasks. When individual issues are dealt with authenticity and the due gravity they command, there is a subjective impact on the psyche of the team collectively — it is understood that the team is a place where people can be honest and sincere. After all, a rule is only as strong as its greatest exception.
As the reader might have inferred at this point, what goes behind the makings of a strong work ethic is directly associated with how the work culture substantiates it. And it is important to keep in mind that while teams might differ in terms of numbers, goals, commitments and even proximity, the underlying fabric of what goes behind a dynamic and agile team are the very same principles that emphatically resonate with members, yet inspire and incentivise productivity and robust outputs.
If you liked what you read, feel free to check out some of the other blogs in the publication. We delve into some of the core and significant themes and issues relevant to organizations from a first-person approach, and if you find that illuminating, please let us know!
Regards from Team SCRO. Stay around the corner for more such enthralling, engaging, and immersive content.
