ASSIGNMENT:
Topic: Mentoring for effective workplace behaviour.
Introduction
There is a modern day notion that a company with a good working environment constitutes a great workplace as a whole. Having a good and healthy workplace environment also makes a further step in the organisation's overall success and prosperity. This essay argues in the favour of mentoring effective workplace behaviour with the help of contemporary examples and concludes the fact that the same is integral for corporate success.
Discussion in favour of effective workplace behaviour
Effective and Precisely planned policies are not responsible for a company’s success as it is the talented employees who contribute to the success by formulating the strategic policies to achieve the organisational goal more efficiently. Thus, it is the duty of every management team to keep its employees happy and satisfied in the work (Ilongo, 2016). It is also the duty of every employee to maintain effective workplace behaviour. For example, if an employee arrives late at an office regularly, then that employee must change this type of behaviour at work immediately because it affects his or her performance and other people's work as well. Thus having a proper code of conduct in place is very important for the wellbeing of the entire company.
According to Saifulina & Carballo-Penela (2016), Google Inc. has been able to successfully maintain a productive workplace behaviour as well as the sustainable corporate success because Google employees are flexible enough to work on their own terms so that they can more productive and creative. Real Flexibility ensures freedom in a workplace to approach the work with more creativity and innovation. There is always room for improvement for an employee in order to handle more responsibilities (Oke, 2015). Creativity and innovation are the most welcoming concepts of the company. Individuals with similar objectives are grouped together to promote a collaborating culture while letting the group innovate new ideas. Employees are provided with the required information needed for a job and given the freedom to complete the job on their own with full passion and creativity resulting in more employee happiness. Though there is a lot more work pressure in Google Inc. than any other company, it has converted its workplace a fun place where employee engagement process is undertaken. Even the place of work is decided by the employees (Impact of Human Resources Management Practices on Workplace Knowledge Hiding Behaviour. 2019). Employees are happy to work on weekends continuously because of the facilities and perks they enjoy while working. Free benefits are also offered such as healthcare, video games and meals prepared by chefs and so on. Google is a perfect example of the fact that it is the people responsible for making the workplace great.
With the help of a highly sophisticated hiring process, Google employees are not only intelligent and smart, they are helpful to peers, polite and humble also. While having an entire section on dogs in their workplace code of conduct, all employees are free to bring their dogs at work as Google believes dogs are also equally crucial to enhance one's work life. Sharing values across the company is the secret of a healthy workplace environment, which ultimately fosters healthy behaviour. Google employees share personal values among themselves along with knowledge and treat every other fellow employee positively irrespective of race, religion, caste and geographical locations. Trust forms the major reason behind creativity and job satisfaction of the employees. Google knows that poor work-life balance may result in poor performance of employees. While considering the work-life balance, perks and pay it may be stated that Google encourages a working environment aligning with the employee needs at the core. Employees are promoted strictly on the basis of performance. While following a policy of caring the employees personally and challenging them directly, Google has a clear purpose of gathering the world's information and making it universally reachable by everyone. From the above case study, it is clear that having positive workplace behaviour is important for business success. Workplace behaviour and working environment go hand in hand. Unethical workplace behaviour decreases employee productivity. When one employee expresses his discontent with the company, it may get spread among all the employees resulting in chaos. Similarly, the negative attitude of the manager can damage the working environment for the team he leads. It is utmost necessary for the organisation to identify the problem at the earliest because gradually everyone in the office might start behaving unethically. There are always instances of a productive employee resigning because of his manager's behaviour. The way of treating new employees in their probation period is very crucial for the retention of new employees. New employees get an idea of the working culture of the company on the very first week of their joining. Moreover, some of the already working unhappy employees may add to the adverse image of the company's working environment in the minds of the new ones. Sometimes employees are harassed and bullied in the workplace. Unable to achieve targets also leads to bad behaviour on the part of the managers. In 2018, 420 workplace harassment cases were registered by the Australian human rights commission (Nwinyokpug, 2015). As a result, it will be impossible for the most efficient and diligent workers to work in the company for a long time. Talent will be drained out of the company unnecessarily leaving the future of the company in vain.
Unethical workplace environment also affects customers by the poor quality of the products and services by the company. Whenever a customer encounters an unethical behaviour from or among employees, the possibility of returning of that customer becomes negligible. This uncivil behaviour leaves a long-term image in the customer's mind. Not answering emails and phone calls of customers also add up to unethical workplace behaviour. If this negative behaviour is not addressed properly for a long time, then it may start affecting the turnover and performance of the company. Thus, it is the utmost duty of a qualified HR team to draft a well explained impartial code of conduct and it should be published publicly in the office premises so that everyone is aware of the same. Mentoring workplace behaviour will help the organisation to build loyal employees and customers. Few ways to maintain proper workplace behaviour are:
Regular training and development of the employees increase the productivity of the individual employees along with their self-confidence and self-awareness (Appropriate and Inappropriate Behaviour in the Workplace. 2019). Every company should foster a knowledge sharing culture in the workplace so that relevant skills can spread to employees. This will automatically create an environment, which is both fruitful and helpful at the same time. The mentors guiding on workplace code of conduct should not shy away from discussing feedback in a respectful manner. Mentors should carefully listen to what the employees say about the workplace and also invest in long term relationships with the employees (How to make mentoring work and why your workplace will benefit. 2019). Proper vigilance system should be maintained to curb sexual harassment at the workplace while improving the current laws. Benefits of mentoring workplace behaviour are:
Better workplace behaviour often reduces costs of maintenance, as employees are well aware of their responsibilities by not damaging any of the assets of the company. It encourages a sense of ownership among the employees (Hilliard, 2016). Employee performances will boost to a large extent if they value the work which they have undertaken due to the eagerness and interest created in the employee's mind to do the work. In a situation where all the employees are taking ownership of the work they do, automatically teamwork and mutual understanding among the employees will be developed at its best (Moffat, 2018). From Google's example, it may be concluded that teamwork, in turn, will be able to complete complex projects, which are vital for the company's existence in the demanding market conditions. It also makes an organisation adaptive to changes with the help of dutiful and trustworthy employees. Positive work culture fosters customer loyalty and customer engagement and accordingly enhances the brand image of the company with a large satisfied customer database.
Conclusion
The above essay states that mentoring workplace behaviour is always important for the happiness of the employees and an overall company's long term performance. If employees are able to maintain a better work-life balance, better work stress management with the help of employee engagement programmes, they will automatically strive to create a better product every day with the help of continuous innovation and creativity. While ensuring adequate perks and facilities are received by the employees, the company will eventually see a more talented workforce and more advanced product for the customers. As everything is well managed and systematic, it is expected that new heights will be achieved by the organisations following effective workplace behaviour and prosperous working environment.