Correlation of Task, Relation and Mind Model
As already described role and task create workplace identity and so does job functionality. Together with the company's big picture of business it will become the deeper meaning of employment.
The supporting principle is each individual's contribution to act: are my actions related to the company's success, are they useful in relation to customer value and do they make sense in the overall picture of the organization. Management leaders never get tired of talking about the “big picture”—but they do not talk about the frame of work identity. In consulting, we explain the term “identity” as an act of social construction: oneself or another person is grasped in a web of meaning. The quest for identity has a universal and a cultural-specific dimension. It is always about producing a correlation between subjective “inside” and social “outside”, i.e. the production of an individual social orientation.In current management theories, results from roles and tasks, in combination with the company's vision, provide apractical and exemplary work environment. Is this really the case? Employee satisfaction is understood in terms of the usual economic theories and the respective measuring methods (e.g. morale of the team), as the exchange of a caring framework in turn for the performance of the individual. In the discussion about the design of the working environment of the future, the above is subsumed under the term “work life balance”. But in the context of the New Work movement, private life and working life become unified. It is called “work life romance”, as for example the Audi AG presents itself on the company's homepage with the statement: Some call it work, we call it passion!
In our work, we describe the potential built by the mental model of identity, by means of a matrix. We limit the space of identity, resulting in four directions from which employment may stem, similar to those of a compass.
Employee and organization are on opposing sides of one axis, and “attractors and repellors”2 on opposing sides of the other axis. This compass doesn't dissolve the demand for change, but it shows where employees and company are located in its dynamics. Innovative organizations emerge by the observing, understanding and locating of social actions within the framework of mental models. This means that the interaction between the macro level (organization), the meso level (potency of attractor & repellor) and the micro-level are (the individual) analyzed and understood. The mental model is developed from evaluating task and role based on motives and norms.[95] [96] Nature has so far been a good example for change. We understand very little about a tree's growth and we have equally little control over the development of companies. However, companies can deal with the ecosystem by recognizing it as both, growth and stagnation processes. An organization should concentrate on those conditions they can change. We introduced in our consultation the term “reflexivity”. For us, this means revising rules, principles and practices.Taking a closer look at the organizational level and at individual motives, we can see three modes of action on each side regarding the factor work. On the organization side there are: vision, structure and culture. These mechanisms form a macrolevel. On the individual's side, the macro level meets the micro, i.e. the employee's modes of “should”, “can”, and “want”. Thus, the meso level is the intermediate identity. In the research of complexity, the force that allows for a stable pattern in a dynamic system is called “the Attractor”. Attractors are community-building patterns, such as rituals or principles. An attractor can bring stability to a world out of order. In an experiment with flashing bulbs this can be shown. The light bulbs are not connected in this experiment but after a certain time a solid flashing pattern forms in all lamps.
It acts as if the bulbs have an awareness. This physical process is geared towards certain bulbs (“the Attractor”). The attractors cannot be determined in advance, it is impossible to predict what patterns are triggered. However, statements can be made, regarding which actions destabilize the pattern. In a dynamic or social system, a number of employees moves towards a number of states or relationships. Each social interaction in a group tends towards this in the course of the enterprise development pattern. The force that dissolves the pattern, is known as “The Repellor”, as it has a repelling effect.In 4.0 organizations both poles seem to contract and de-contract like a beating heart, due to blurred boundaries between work and life. On the side of the individual there is more usage of subjective potentials and resources. The transformation of work capital into work effort gradually ceases to be the obligation of an organizations' control systems, it rather becomes the actor's obligation. The actor doesn't strive for renewal of existing legislation; instead, he needs a work life tailored to his personal circumstances in life. The dynamics of this system allow for the stability of these relationships. The resulting status will then remain near this attractor. An attractor then appears to be interpretable culture. Colloquially, the term “pattern” of the organization is used. Relationships are a state towards which
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systems move.
1.4.1 Subjectification of Work and Meaning for the Collective
On the meta-level, two developments indicate a rough direction. The creation of certain types of employment, such as permanent freelancers, or the distinction of structure, such as age, qualification etc. Often, this is presented as something new, but upon closer examination it becomes clear that Tayloristic employment organizations constitute our economy's backbone; there is still sufficient flexibility and potential for optimization to carry the transformation of our society.
The increasing disintegration of the value chain leads to virtual workforce focusing on one product or service relationship; however, they cease to be on-site due to their special and functional disintegration.[97] [98]Contrary to predictions of work sociologists, it is not a social void like Pflagings definition of systems, rather it seems like Theseus ship: some planks must be replaced to ensure the functionality of work. When the old “planks” have been filled, this leads to a renewal of the identity of work.
Consider the example of the Sparda Bank in Munich. The business model of banking got under pressure, given low interest rate periods and loan comparison internet portals. The future of the bank is uncertain, however, the organization has still a model for the near future. In recent years, the bank has begun to offer new jobs which not only fulfilled the role and responsibilities of a bank employee, but it also recruited people who have special skills in addition to their experience as an employee of the bank. The combination of the special skills of employees and the existing infrastructure of the company are being used by the organization for its own transformation process. Today the bank develops consulting teams that handle different questions put forward by small and medium-sized enterprises. The task of HR was to lead the change in the employee selection procedure, the change in the payment scheme and towards a renewed personnel development. Legal had to develop contracts for new positions and performance schemes that are synchronized with the existing contracts. The intervention had to capture the individual expectations of the organization by means of rules and regulations. Changes in private life and societal consequences of digitization lead to transformation of the work environment.[99]
The example illustrates how employment can change. Oriented to potential and interaction, work can change the subjective quality of professional actions.
It develops a new idea of the working identity. Sparda remains the provider of a frame for a co-op commercial model. The resolution of existing working time structures, the significance of life-long learning and technological progress will accelerate the change of the working identity even further. The Legal function becomes the intermediary of the transformation.Movements such as the grassroots community seem to take control of the executive’s mandate, in order to soften legal requirements of employment law or even to avoid them entirely. It remains to be seen whether subjectification and Aexibilization contribute to the development of work quality. How can there be a new and fair distribution of existing risks for the organization under the aspect of subjectification of labor? The transformation of work will lead to modified work environments and new job profiles, or it might even lead to their dissolution. At first glance, companies that introduce a flexible and individual approach in designing work environments seem to be more innovative and thus able to withstand a dynamic environment better. Legal has to keep an eye on both tendencies and be prepared to stop risk regulation by writing down every eventuality; instead, Legal should assume the mandate and foster the ability to actively create room for flexibility and to manage the risk associated with it.
Legal will thereby facilitate the continuous development and marketing of the product labor; Legal will co-create the organization’s attractiveness and will thus contribute to its survival, similar to the forces of evolution.
1.5