Trends in Global Environment: Workplace Culture, Change, Collaboration, and Redesign of Employee Experience

This report discusses workplace culture, change, collaboration, and redesign of employee experience as aspects of workplace productivity. It focuses on the workplace culture, change in the workplace, redesign of employee experiences, and collaboration as aspects of workplace productivity.

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TRENDS IN GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Workplace Culture...........................................................................................................................3
Change in the workplace.................................................................................................................4
Is collaboration effective?................................................................................................................6
Redesign of the employee experience.............................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
With the increased technological advancement and workplace diversification,
organizations have become concerned with the adoption of techniques and strategies that keep
them at par with trends in their respective industries. For technology companies, the focus has
shifted to increasing collaboration at the workplace collaboration through redesigning the
experience of their employees. Companies like Apple and Amazon are among the Global
industrial players whose focus on this concept can be clearly. The investment into multi-billion
USD modern premises is a big step towards promoting workplace collaboration and increasing
their productivity. My focus on this report will be on workplace culture, change in the
workplace, redesign of employee experiences and collaboration as aspects of workplace
productivity
Workplace Culture
Organization culture refers to the aspects that make an organization unique. The culture
of an organization is defined by the shared attitudes, behaviors, interactions, believes and
traditions. These shared aspects give an organization a personality and culture and define
interactions and relationships among its employees (Brewster, 2017). Businesses such as Apple
and Amazon have objectives that they aim to achieve as shown through their work redesign
endeavors. Apart from the business strategies employed by the two technological giants, their
associated cultures will be a major determinant in whether their objectives will be achieved or
not. The culture associated with an organization plays a significant role in enhancing
productivity in an organization. The culture of an organization can also lead to a decline in
productivity. Typically, organizations with most talented and innovative employees are known to

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be more productive than those with less innovative and talented employees. Employees will be
attracted to an organization depending on its culture. An organization with a well defined, clearly
communicated, positive and strong culture can attract best talents in the market. Through
appropriate organizational culture, organizations create a work environment that promotes
engagements and retention. Increased employee retention and engagement is improving
employee satisfaction rates leading to increased productivity. Research has also shown that
organizations with positive and stronger cultures perform better than their competitors
(Lengnick-Hall et al., 2009).
The redesign process at Apple Inc is aimed at enhancing workplace collaboration and
teamwork. It is an endeavor focused on creating a strong and positive organization culture whose
foundation is collaboration. Through increased collaboration and teamwork, the organization will
create a positive environment that allows employees to have meaningful relationships and share
skills and experiences (Bratton and Gold, 2017). Collaboration is an effective way of promoting
organizational productivity. Through the redesign process, therefore, the Amazon and Apple will
create a positive work environment that allows employees to thrive both individually and as a
group. The outcome of this approach will be increased organizational productivity.
Change in the workplace
Changes in the workplace are normal occurrences. As organizations seek to expand their
operations and increase their competitiveness, certain changes become critical. Organizations
change to align their current strategies with market demands. Change has become an important
component of today’s fast-moving business environment. Organizations have been forced to
change not only to meet the needs of their workforce and customers but also in order to maintain

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their competitiveness. Organization change is the process through which an organization changes
its culture, technologies, operational methods, strategies, and structures continuously or in
distinct time periods (Jiang et al., 2012). Workplace change is the processes which organizations
shift from one state of affairs to another. Workplace change is often necessitated by changes in
the external environment. Organization re-design is part of workplace change aimed at
introducing important changes in how employees interact with each other and carry out their
activities.
Organizations implement workplace changes to achieve various outcomes. Basically with
the introduction of changes at Apple, new approaches on how people interact, work and
collaborate in the workplace will be introduced. Workplace changes such as the introduction of
activity-based work by Apple Inc are intended to help the organization in achieving various
objectives. Though activity-based work organizations remove the need of employees being
required to work within a similar space every time by giving them the autonomy of deciding
where they want to work, how they want to work and when they want to work (Jackson, Schuler
and Werner, 2009). There is a sense of empowerment that comes with giving employees the
opportunity to decide on how they want to work through activity-based working. It also
facilitates effective collaboration and communication by allowing employees from different
departments to work on group projects and tasks. It breaks the traditional working arrangements
that require employees to be tied to their desks throughout the work period. With increased
collaborations employees are able to exchange ideas and improve their productivity (Wright and
McMahan, 2011). Changes focused on activity-based work, therefore, lead to improved output
and productivity.

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Is collaboration effective?
Collaboration has been viewed as one of the greatest contributors to increased
productivity in an organization. The ability of employees to pull together as a team gives
employees a sense of direction. Collaboration and teamwork have become part and parcel of
modern workplace strategies especially due to increased competition in the corporate world .to
counter this increased competition, it has become necessary to promote healthy relationships in
order to facilitate increased creativity and productivity. Through working in teams, employees
acquire additional skills and knowledge that make them more efficient in their work.
Organizations that use a collaborative approach have been found to be more successful than
those that do not (Boxall and Macky, 2009). Apart from enhancing the productivity of
employees, collaboration makes employees more responsible.
The level of collaboration in an organization directly affects the outcomes of projects and
tasks. Trough increased collaboration, employees are able to communicate seamlessly and share
information with each other. This kind of collaboration enables employees to reach their
optimum performance levels. On the contrary, working individually on projects makes it hard to
complete projects in shorter durations (Gagné, 2009). Although for some employees optimal
performance can only be reached when working individually on projects, for a significant
majority optimal level of performance is arrived at through collaboration.
For new employees, collaboration can provide an effective learning platform. Through
collaborating with their co-workers, they can acquire job-related knowledge with much ease.
Apart from direct knowledge and skills, new employees also get an opportunity to be inspired by
veteran counterparts which directly affects their commitment and performance.

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Employee satisfaction is an important aspect of organizational success. Employee
satisfaction rates increase with the level of their involvement in organizational activities.
Through collaboration, an environment is created where employees can make personal input and
make use of their skills effectively. The more employees feel valued for their contribution, the
more they are likely to be satisfied (Subramony, 2009). It is, therefore, true that collaboration is
an effective approach will be an effective approach for Apple Inc.
Redesign of the employee experience
The desire of employees is to work on an enjoyable work experience. To meet these
demands, many organizations have shifted their focus to improving the experience for their
employees. The nature of employee experience has a direct impact on their job. Employee
experience refers to the perceptions that employees have concerning the kind of interaction in
their organizations (Guest, 2011). Employee experience is a core aspect of the performance of an
organization. Employees become committed to their jobs depending on the work environment
that they are exposed to.
Through Apple’s workplace redesign process, the organization is organization is focused
on meeting the expectations and values of their employees.Redesigning of the employee
experience will give them more satisfied with both their job and organization. With the increased
level of satisfaction, employees will become more productive. The redesign process will improve
the nature of employee’s engagement and interactions as well the level of their autonomy. It will
also remove the need for them to remain within their workstations throughout the work
period.Such outcomes will improve the overall experience for employees (Avey, Luthans and
Jensen, 2009). Finally, through increased collaboration and team work, an avenue will be created

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where employees can freely share their ideas and put their unique skills into practical use. This
coupled with a favorable working environment will create a breeding ground for innovative
ideas. With increased employee productivity, employee engagement and innovation the
organization will become more productive
Conclusion
In conclusion organizational productivity is dependent on multiple factors.The workplace
culture determines the kind of relationships and interactions existing at the workplace. With
more positive and strong organization culture, both employee and organizational productivity
will be enhanced. Changes in the workplace are also a necessary component of the
organizational productivity, by adopting change; the organization will be in a position of keeping
up with latest practices in the industry. Collaboration is also an important aspect of productivity,
the more employees are able to work collectively on projects, interact and share ideas the more
productive they will be.

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