The Workplace is defined as “the place of work or to the place of
work where the work is done.” The
Philippine definition of the Workplace as defined in the Omnibus rules
implementing the Labor Code, Book 4, Rule 1, Section 2 as
By looking at the definition, one can infer that there are two groups of people in the workplace, the “workers” or employees, and the people who hired them or the “employer”. Thus, the workplace is the place where two sets of people with different interest for their organization meet.
Like any other business, the employer's interest is generally what is best for the company and ultimately the success and profitability of the business. Efficiency and effectiveness are the main goals of the employer, with other attributes such as compliance and future impact also factoring in. Employers are generally willing to take ideas, comments and suggestions from top employees, as they realize these workers are the key to success while an employee's interest differs from the company interest in several ways. While the employee is also seeking a stable and productive company to work for, they are also seeking fairness, respect and equality. Employees generally find conflict when the company goals overturn what they feel is the best interests of the employee.
I reflected that the different interests of the employer and employee could set a workplace conflict, and having a strong ethical standard or the lack thereof could make or break an organizations success. Bringing these two parties together for workplace conflict management is about getting each side to identify the goals and motivation of the other. Often, asking each side to explain how the conflict could best be resolved will give clues on any underlying issues and open the door for negotiations. When the workplace conflict can be discussed in a calm and rational manner, with the objective of finding a solution that satisfies the majority of requirements for both sides, the conflict can turn from a negative experience into a vehicle for improved workplace communications.
The reporter stressed that Workplace and work environment are two different but intrinsically related terms and I agreed with what was pointed out. Workplace is used to broadly cover the place where remunerative work is performed while work environment refers to the conditions or circumstances surrounding the performance of work. As a “condition”, a work environment then can be perfect or hostile.
A perfect workplace condition then is when employees can perform their work without stress and a hostile work environment is one where there is severe stress. A hostile work environment is primarily a legal term used to describe a workplace situation where an employee cannot reasonably perform his work, due to certain behaviors by the employer or co-employees that are deemed hostile. Hostility in this form is not only an employer being rude, yelling, or annoying. It is very specific, especially in the legal setting when one is suing an employer for either wrongful termination or for creating an environment that causes severe stress to the employee. There’s just a handful of ways in which to define hostile work environment. Any act of sexual harassment on the part of bosses or co-workers can be viewed as hostile. Any act or remarks that are overtly discriminatory regarding age, race, gender, sexual orientation, or disability are also considered to create a hostile work environment.
I reflected that as a manager, it is very important that I could sense the change of work environment that I have in my workplace. Some employees are simply not open to their problems or dilemmas and it could affect the quality of their work. Employee grievances can be costly like having a high employee turnover or worse, legal actions arising from managements inaction in addressing employee complaints. Knowing when to Motivate employees and creating positive change to the work environment in the workplace is the key to a fruitful employee-employer relationship.
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