Work Environment: Compared to the conventional business book, the new story of work for a living age is very different. It appears more like a book about nature at first glance, with lots of lovely photographs; however, the text also clearly challenges prevalent conventional organizational thinking, with numerous passages referencing the natural world.
However, Nature of Work is a business book, so we wanted to make sure it was as useful as it was thought-provoking. We’ve done this, in part, by highlighting numerous instances of businesses that are actively pursuing the Nature of Work. There are some excellent examples of businesses that are thinking more like a living system than a machine, ranging from small start-ups to the biggest global brands. In the book we’ve styled these examples as ‘biomarkers’.
Personally, I found it fascinating and surprising to research these case studies. Many organizations are beginning to think differently thanks to their compelling missions, daring organizational designs, or simple connections to their roots. I’ll discuss examples of organizations implementing the Nature of Work across six of the book’s components in this post. In a future post, we’ll cover the other six elements.
| Advocacy Groups | Alliances |
|---|---|
| Governments | Institutions |
| International Organizations | Military Organizations |
| Neighborhood Association | Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) |
| Non-profits | Partnerships |
Why is workplace organization important?
Because it ensures the security of all employees and documents, workplace organization is crucial. Workplace organization can be used for physical office space as well as digital files, machines, tools, and other items. When the workplace is organized, employees can quickly locate and retrieve the tools they need, saving time on searching throughout the office.
By maintaining a structured and secure filing system, implementing an effective workplace organization strategy also keeps documents safe and secure. This reduces the risk of losing crucial files and having negative effects on the company’s data by ensuring that only authorized parties can access sensitive information.
What is workplace organization?
Companies can use the workplace organization system to set up their offices. With the help of this system, managers can create formal procedures for classifying and organizing files, documents, storage, and other office necessities in order to cut waste, boost productivity, and increase efficiency. Employees can ensure that the office maintains its organization and order by adhering to the following five key elements:
Examples of workplace organization
To ensure that everything is in its proper place as you implement new workplace organization structures, communicate them to the staff. Common examples of workplace organization include:
Establish a desktop filing system
Cleaning your desktop and clearing it of clutter will help you be more productive as you complete tasks throughout the day. Spend some time every so often going through everything on your desktop and archiving any unnecessary files. Create distinct folders and organize any additional files or documents you have on your computer into folders with distinct labels. When you’re working and need to quickly reference important information for an assignment, this makes your information easy to retrieve.
Examine each folder and file to identify those that are crucial or contain private company information. Put these documents in password-protected folders and distribute them only to staff members who have access. This guarantees the security of all company data and lessens the possibility of confidential or proprietary information leaking to third parties.
Pin applications and notes to your taskbar
You might use certain programs frequently throughout the course of a workday. Pinning them to your desktop’s taskbar will save you time from having to constantly search for them on your computer. You can quickly click on and open an application as a result, which enables you to save time and work more productively while working on other tasks.
Bookmark important pages
If there are websites you frequently visit during the workday, bookmark them in your browser to make it simple to find them later. By doing so, you can avoid having to repeatedly type the website’s address into a search engine. Instead, you can quickly click on the link in your bookmarks to go directly to the page you want. If you have a lot of bookmarks, group them into a folder with clear labels so you can quickly find the websites you need.
Follow a file naming structure
You should set up a system that instructs all staff members on how to categorize and name these files and folders in order to ensure that you and every employee within the company properly store and retrieve files. For instance, you could tell everyone to name their files “year, month, day filename” when saving their documents. This clarifies the contents of each file so that staff members can quickly access them without spending a lot of time looking for them.
Purchase additional storage
You might be unable to archive a number of documents because they take up too much space on your desktop or in your filing cabinets. To keep and access all of your files without clogging up your computers or using up too much space, think about investing in additional storage solutions. You can quickly access your files using almost any device with the aid of cloud storage solutions when necessary.
Sharing folders with others, creating a central location for others to access your files, and avoiding bottlenecks when searching for specific documents are additional features of cloud-based storage.
Implement organizational procedures and policies
By establishing organizational procedures, you can ensure that every employee is aware of where, how, and when to upload, retrieve, and organize their documents. To keep everything in one place, you can also introduce software systems or tools that everyone must use. Many businesses use company intranet systems to enable all staff to share, access, and view various files.
Include this information in a policy within the employee handbook so that they can refer to it whenever necessary if you prefer employees to use specific organizational procedures or software systems.
Schedule appointments and meetings electronically
Use an electronic scheduling system that all staff members can access when necessary to keep everyone informed of upcoming meetings or appointments. It should keep track of everyone on the team’s availability so that other workers can review it and base their own schedules on it.
For instance, if a worker needs to schedule a one-on-one meeting with their manager, they can look up a time on the business calendar when the manager is not scheduled for any other meetings. To let others know when they are available for appointments, questions, or assistance on projects, people can share their personal calendars on company calendars.
Plan projects with integrated workflow charts
Workflow charts can help you organize your projects in a way that will make them simple to complete quickly. Workflow diagrams also keep your team members informed of your project progress. Using certain project planning tools, managers can also delegate deadlines and tasks to team members.
You might also be able to offer suggestions, advice, or additional direction in comments on the work of other employees. This keeps all tasks in one place, notifies team members of project progress, and notifies everyone when employees submit projects.
Update the office layout
A well-structured office layout can create a more productive organization. You can plan workstations with file cabinets in easily accessible places so personnel can quickly locate the data they require to finish a task. You can put the copier in a location that’s quick and easy to get to if employees need to print or copy documents. Moving all of the office equipment and supplies to a central location that is easy for all employees to access can also be beneficial.
Utilize time management tools
If you have your assignments scheduled and organized properly, it can be simple to maintain productivity, focus, and on-task behavior throughout the day. To increase productivity and make sure all work is submitted by the deadlines specified, you can use time management tools that let you make to-do lists and prioritize your tasks. Additionally, there are tools that time your work so that you can be responsible for it and keep track of how much time you spend on each assignment.
What is an Organization? – the Nature of Organizations
FAQ
What are the 3 types of organizations?
The organizational structures used by the majority of businesses today can be classified into three types: functional, departmental, and matrix. Before choosing which of these forms to use for their business, owners must weigh the benefits and drawbacks of each.
What are the 4 types of organization?
- Hierarchical org structure.
- Functional org structure.
- Horizontal or flat org structure.
- Divisional org structures (market-based, product-based, geographic)
- Matrix org structure.
- Team-based org structure.
- Network org structure.
What are the 5 types of organizations?
Functional, divisional, flatarchical, and matrix structures are the four types of organizational structures.
