IntraOrganization Negotiation May 11, 2012

A Happy Workplace Runs Like a Happy Family

Based on my research and experience, it seems to me that the factors that lead to a productive goal-directed organization and a harmonious workplace environment are much the same as those that guide happy families at home.

In both settings, people work together no only cooperatively but also collaboratively on a daily basis. In both, arguments, disruptions, and disagreements do take place but are resolved amicably most of the time.

Happy families are happy because they have learned to deal with internal differences by communicating with one another candidly and by negotiating differences between them with mutual gain and relationship building uppermost in their minds.

Happy families maintain their felicitous relationships because they have learned to negotiate internal discord in a collaborative way: a way that supports good relationships and mutual gain. Those in charge, the elders or parents in this case, use their strength to encourage an open exchange of viewpoints rather than gloss over or bury discord to maintain peace.

The same is true in successful teams and work groups. Where people work together collaboratively and cooperatively to meet goals, and where they show respect for one another by listening to diverse views, work becomes fun and gets done more effectively.

When individuals in organizations fail to communicate or fail to work out disputes through civil give and take, the organization wastes its collective energy and resources in bickering and discord. Production and the capacity to meet challenges innovatively diminish. Satisfaction is lost.

Happy organizations operate like happy families.