PSY_665_Week_1. DISCUSS QUESTIONS

Topic 1 DQ 1 What attribute of a work environment do you feel has the greatest influence in determining whether the environment becomes hostile or not? The most obvious attribute is one regarding anything sexual in nature, which is why I won’t use that subject. I believe that favoritism has the greatest influence on hostile work environments. Favoritism doesn’t have to be gender oriented. The hiring of friends and family, and promoting the same, can create an environment that is hostile towards other employees. They can be passed over for promotions, raises, and high profile projects. I have witnessed favoritism (as I am sure many have) regularly. Friends of supervision get the extended lunches, non-punishment for arriving late, and receive the accolades for subpar efforts. When these activities go unchecked, they themselves end up creating a hostile environment that can often times become the normal work culture. As noted by Richards (2016) department heads can create toxic cultures by using favoritism in the hiring process. These types of actions can lead to higher turnover numbers and the loss of clients. Reference Richards, B. (2016). A toxic culture: a department leader creates a hostile work environment by promoting friends and abusing employees and company assets. Internal Auditor, (6), 21. Retrieved from Topic 1 DQ 2 How is the work environment being affected by the changing nature of work in the 21st century? The dawn of the internet has changed the entire nature of work. We are no longer held “captive” by the clock and can work globally. Connecting with others worldwide has enabled us to do things quicker and cheaper than ever before. This has allowed the working environment to go virtual and has allowed many to telework. This has reduced the need (in some cases) for the typical brick and mortar office settings. We no longer have to commute globally. This has been beneficial to some and detrimental to others. Cost savings on travel a huge boon to companies, whereas this has hurt the airline industries as well. As a society, we are moving away from face- to-face and are beginning to work in a virtual world. This has also brought about the replacement of stability with job-hopping (Cascio, 2011). Gone are the days of people remaining with one or two companies for life. My father only worked for 3 companies before retiring. That number would have been less, but two of them shut down. Personally, I have had several “careers”, but they have spanned upwards or 6 years or less. My current position is with the federal government and while I will remain here until retirement, I plan on moving on to other opportunities once I have completed my degree. With today’s technological advances, we are able to become mobile employees and move wherever the wind takes us.