The best places to work have a collegial culture. Everyone helps each other. Every team member’s skills and strengths are utilized and appreciated. The mission is clear, and everyone understands its importance and commits their efforts to achieving it.
In second-tier workplaces, employees are valued and appreciated, but there is less interaction between team members. The work is done in silos, whether out of necessarily or custom. Individual contributions are recognized and respected, but there is less of a sense of camaraderie or teamwork in the organization.
The next level down is a workplace with a territorial or combative culture. Team members don’t share information openly, either because management discourages doing so, or because they view secrecy as a competitive advantage. Team members routinely criticize each other’s performance in bids to outdo their colleagues in the eyes of management or important customers. Job satisfaction is tied to perceptions of who is winning and getting ahead.
The worst places to work, where job satisfaction is abysmal, are organizations led by domineering and unreasonable supervisors. This situation can occur locally with in a larger, well-respected organization where most employees may feel that the company treats them well. Concurrently, those who work for tyrannical managers feel isolated, helpless, and demoralized.
This can be an inescapable nightmare for employees. Most companies give tremendous power to supervisors for evaluation of employee performance. Employees have few if any options to evaluate the performance of their managers. The manager’s account of events will precedence in the eyes of upper management. (Bad managers are often good at fooling their superiors into believing that they are thoughtful and productive.) The manager will be informed of the complaint, which will only create more tension. If the supervisor can convince HR and upper management that the employee is a “troublemaker,” dismissal will be likely. Even if the employee is retained, their performance history will be compromised, all but negating any hope for advancement.
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