Do co-workers matter to productivity? Apparently, according to this article in the NY Times.
"Difficult people are not harmless. The impact of slowing productivity or creating unhappy customers and vendors is immeasurable, unknowable and often a company’s biggest cost, said Ms. Harrison of CareerTrack, paraphrasing W. Edwards Deming, a management consultant."
But a Dwight Schrute Bobblehead may make you feel better about yourself.
16 comments:
I agree completely with this article. The people around you determine the way in which you work and the quality of work that you produce. Difficult people make it hard to focus and people who have annoying habits cause most people to lose their focus and produce work that is generally under their standards. Although the population of difficult people in this world will never diminish pehaps these self help books on ways to deal with them may improve the standards in which you find your self working and dealing with these people.
I do believe that the people one works with can affect their productivity and the productivity of the company. When people are happy it does seem that they are less willing to work at a fast rate so to have people that are causing a problem and inturn making everyone unhappy is never good.
The effects of worker relations a persons productivity, or the productivity of a company can vary depending on the situation. With the right mix of workers you can have a synergistic effect on productivity, as one employee increase the ability of another employee to work. THis is why it is important to have workers that are compatable with eachother and don't inhibit one another's abilities. Of course if workers get along too well there could also be a negative effect on productivity, mainly if the employees socialize rather than accomplish their tasks.
i think that this article is totally right regarding people in the work place. i have found myself that in school if im in a hardworking environment with more studious peers, i work harder. where as if im in a class with more slackers, i tend to do less work. i also agree that if im in a class with someone who i find really annoying, i tend to do a little worse in that class because im so frusterated. but, i guess thats something ill have to learn how to deal with. but we all have those kinds of problems, and if we can learn how to deal with it productively, it will be better for all of us
i think that we, who live in the hamptons, could benefit from reading books like the ones described in the article. they really have a lot to do with psychology as well. these could prove to be very useful to us especially in the summer considering all the lovely people that come out to visit us. i do think that this is a legitimate problem among people in any living space but i also think that it can be overplayed a lot. the reason why we think this is a tremendous problem is because it is personified on the television for pretty much every show it makes for great controversy (like newman on seinfeld for example). if there was no such thing as crazy people there would be no such thing as sane people. therefore it keeps a balance for us to live by.
This cant be more true, difficult people definitley affect the performance of people in the workplace. I know from experience, if theres someone you dont like and they're annyoing you the whole day your whole attitude is changed. These classes and seminars now being offered i guess could help people in big business get along in the office, but personally i think theyre stupid. Either just get over it or tell the person what you think. Reading a book telling you how to get along with other people also might help but again just do it yourself. But to get back to the real question, your attitude and the attitude of your coworkers definitley affects the productivity and performance in the workplace.
Honestly this article is so dumb. Doesnt everyone already know that if you like the people you are around you will work better. Im sure if i was put into a factory with a bunch of nice people that liked me i would be able to produce more. And would i do less work if i felt that i hated that guy over b/c he was wearing glasses and smoked mega pot.
Well of course productivity is affected by the people one works with, because we do not try as hard for a company to be succesful.
I totally agree with this article. The people that you work with have a major impact on your quality of work and the amount of work you can do. If your co workers make you miserable and make you want anything but to be at work than ofcrouse you are going to be less productive and efficient than you would be if you had people who you enjoy being around helping you out.
i also agree with the artical i find it much easier to work and work well when i am around people i like however when i am around the people i don't like i feel more cought up about them bothering me then the work i am doing which would make me less productive
I too have to agree with this article, not only because of it's explainations but because i've actually worked with somebody that was such a terrible co-worker and the way they conduncted themself was so bad it distracted not only me but all of my colleauges, and it was very frustrating, and as soon as that person left everybodies job became much easier
I definitely work more productively alone. And thats not even because the people that I would otherwise work with are jerks, its because they are usually my friends and we end up having to much fun and not getting anything done. But I guess that is not the case with everyone. For the kind of work I'm doing it is possible to do alone, and adding more people does not make it synergistically more efficient, as it does with some kinds of work. Anyway, I guess if I am going to be more productive working with other people, I would definitely not want them to be jerks that would annoy me and slow me down, but it sure doesnt help if they are your good friend either.
Yeah I definitely have to agree with this article from self exprience. Obviously who you work with is gonna affect your productivity. I can say working with people who I am friends with never seems to get me anywhere atleast with school related work. But even when I am working with people Im not really friends with no matter what, depending on wether they are looking to really get the work done or goof around it will affect my productivity to what ever they are doing.
This article is true. Everyone works better in a happy, positive atmosphere. At my current job, this one girl was really annoying and no one liked her. Our productivity was low when she was working cause she always ruined our "buzz." We made fun of her and harrassed her. She used to sleep on her breaks, and when we were bored we would throw suff at her to see who could wake her up first. One of my co-workers shot her in the thigh with an airsoft gun. Left one of the nicest welts I ever seen. I once put a cheese stick in her purse and she found it a week later all melted and smelly and yelled at me. Although this may seem irrational, all these activities built up our spirits after her actions brought them down. After she quit, we were all very happy. We were a lot happier without having her poor work ethics and negative attitude. Our productivity greatly went up.
Optimal worker productivity is a paradox. If you work with people you hate, its definetly harder to get anything done. However, if you work with friends, socializing will take away from productivity. It depends on the nature of your work. If you work alone in a cubicle it probably helps to be surrounded by people you don't want to talk to. If you work on a team, it is essential to work with people you are compatible with, even if socialization results in some productivity loss.
i think either side of the spectrum creates distractions. a neutral atmosphere helps concentration. that becomes more difficult when you have a social job, where you’re working with other people, some who might annoy your or some that might pleasantly distract you for working. as far as my personal experience... econ is my first AP class and i think everyone in class with me has been in APs and everything before, so they are generally more dedicated and more focused. Everyone is collective attitude effects me positively
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