The cultural similarities of work as dignity: bringing sense of community in business organizations

Abstract

Purpose

The pursuit of the culture of work as dignity is rarely a focus of scholarly writings. One dominant, widely shared and accepted cultural value of work ethic is the belief that it is work that accords dignity to a human being. While seemingly neglected in traditional management research, the concepts of dignity and well-being have experienced renewed attention from the humanities and social sciences. The ability to utilize this sense of dignity becomes a critical role of human resources in advancing self-worth and self-respect. The relationships between worker and management are considered within the culture of work as dignity.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a conceptual paper. A theoretical foundation of work as dignity is developed. It is uses Hofstede’s analysis of work-related cultural values in different countries. Work is identified as dignity that is equated to a universal property like the doctrine of modern democracy that is enjoyed by other societies.

Findings

If work accords dignity to humans, the ability to establish a sense of employee self-worth and self-respect and to enjoy the respect of others becomes critical objectives of management. This notion results in moving high-performance workplaces to high quality workplaces resulting in managerial conduct that is fair, equitable, reasonable and just. This paper is a call to rethink management theory from a humanistic perspective and highlights the role and protection of human dignity as a cornerstone in management theory. The concept of dignity elevates human responsibilities to the degree that they support the promotion of well-being.

Research limitations/implications

This is a conceptual paper. A rigorous empirical study needs to be conducted to substantiate the theoretical foundation.

Practical implications

Guidance is offered to managerial responsibility in promoting work as dignity, support for work as dignity, maintaining the dominant culture of work as dignity and identifying high-performance versus high-quality workplace.

Social implications

Dignity is a virtue. Cultural differences play a less meaningful role and individuals become more alike than unalike. Together with the dictates of modernizing technology, there is a measure of uniformity to how everyone approaches the world.

Originality/value

This study adds value in a somewhat different vein by presenting dignity as a central purpose of human life. This paper is a call to rethink management theory from a humanistic perspective and highlights the role and protection of human. The ability to establish a sense of employee self-worth and self-respect and to enjoy the respect of others becomes critical objectives of management. Moving high-performance workplaces to high-quality workplaces results in management conduct that is fair, equitable, reasonable and just. Human responsibilities need to be elevated to a degree that they support the promotion of well-being.

Citation

Palliam, R. and Ankli, R. (2015), "The cultural similarities of work as dignity: bringing sense of community in business organizations", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 29 No. 4, pp. 6-9. https://doi.org/10.1108/DLO-11-2014-0087