Introduction
Background study
The success of any business enterprise normally draws into consideration many factors that that act in varying degrees. Of great interest is the success of businesses dealing in single-line merchandise such as sports franchises. Sociology of business culture reveals another aspect of organizational culture that breeds sustained success in most successful businesses. Camaraderie in the workplace is not a new thing. Most businesses operate smoothly due to this form of friendship. The recent view is merely due to the incorporation of camaraderie in large and corporate organizations. This latter development has led to multiple effects in the workplace, some of which inform the discussions in this research paper. The growing concern for groups in organizations operating informally raises various questions concerning the growth and prosperity of business. The latest culmination of group dynamics manifests into camaraderie, where team members bond to become friends in the workplace. In sport, teams play along with the learned styles of each member. As a result of solidarity, the teams become successful by winning championships.
The problem, therefore, lies in the functionality of camaraderie that influences organizational output. Since camaraderie is a social construct involving real people doing some work for a living, the main problem lies in the sensitivity of the group as influenced by aspects of camaraderie; any slight changes in the composition of the group affect both the benefits and drawbacks of camaraderie in the organization.
Aim
The purpose of the research is to investigate the effects of camaraderie (in the workplace) on the success of sports franchises and other leading businesses.
Scope
The research is intended to cover all the facets of camaraderie in the workplace and in teams participating in various sports tournaments. From language use to models of doing work and the size of the business involved as well as the nature of the industry. In addition, the study is limited to sports franchises and leading businesses formed in the last decade of the 20th century.
Literature Review
Fundamental concepts
Camaraderie refers to the state where members of an organization team up to do a given task together. The concept of camaraderie derives from people’s need for moral as well as physical support when confronted with extremely challenging tasks. In sports where the term is widely used, camaraderie refers to the spirited teamwork put up by various teams as they contest in a given tournament. Various sports franchises in various countries have succeeded as a result of camaraderie. Example of such teams includes football clubs such as Manchester United which is currently worth $ 2 billion. In the US, Dallas Cowboys is the richest club whose net worth is $1.65 billion while New York Yankees’ worth is $1.5 billion (Salmon, 2010, p.1). The success of these sports organizations is owed to the camaraderie that has been incorporated. Both Abel (2004) and Shank (2004) agree that camaraderie received much acceptance in the business world after it was found out by industrial psychologists such as Maida, Norma, Gordon, and Farberow, (1989) that it contributed to boosting the morale of workers and as such could lead to greater output per worker in firms.
Camaraderie in the workplace
Marcia (1999) observed that group dynamic aspects underwent dramatic changes in the last decade of the 20th century, to accommodate aspects of modern civilization in the workplace. Franke (2004) conducted extensive research on the subject and came up with the same conclusions. In his book, HR networking: performance management, Frank identified eight important factors motivating camaraderie in the workplace, more than half of these factors concern the relationship between the individual and their family other factors that tackled competencies revolved around the work environment itself. Crew and Sweet (2004) also outline seven facets of camaraderie while relating each one to an organizational aspect of either management or the employee. For example, the employee’s need for recognition by his fellow workers influences the nature of the reward he or she may obtain from the organization. Another important aspect of camaraderie touched on the worker’s response to routine in the workplace and the need to team up, for variations in the sequence of activities.
According to Crews and Sweet (2004), camaraderie in the workplace leads to high-quality production with huge returns of investments (p. 237). They also noted that camaraderie yields strong ties among co-workers and this has the effect of turning work into fun. In the bid to promote products of leading companies like Adidas and Nike, observation indicates that the fun generated by people working close to each other while sharing their episodes makes work more enjoyable. Like in the case of Michael Crews Development, when employees in sports franchises in different parts of the world, like the Export Processing Zones in Asia or Africa, the management observes that they tend to work harder. Crew (2004) suggests playing as the most successful way to build camaraderie. A social psychologist studying the effects of camaraderie in the workplace finds that common forms of play reflect on the daily challenges of everyday life. For example, the jokes people make about their families, bills, and possessions, especially over meals, act as a reminder of the responsibilities ever waiting for workers’ attention. Since the employees in the sport franchise outlets are people just like you and me; camaraderie is found when they laugh together and play together makes the tasks less routine (Crew & Sweet, 2004, p. 237).
Camaraderie in practice
In the observation of Franke (2004), camaraderie measures are associated with employee confidence and trust in the company. Using the Trust Index a company like those that dominate the sports franchise business confidentially assesses the views of its workers in its decision-making process. The index gives up to 67% of the scores to the responses of the workers by precisely capturing their sentiments. Approximately 33% goes to the benefits and management strategies used by the company. In the view of those who enjoy camaraderie on the job, the most important aspect of the experience in successful businesses pertains to worker pride. A group of camaraderie co-workers may derive a lot of pleasure in working under casual procedures rather than under the strict formalities followed in other organizations. In certain sports franchises like Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, and Boston Celtics as well as Detroit Pistons, the pride of being associated with the team shown are individual recognition in-group acts as the benchmark for better performance (Gennard & Judge, 2005, p.208).
In a successful business, researchers found human resource focus as an important variable in award-winning criteria used in the United States. Besides leadership born successfully out of camaraderie, an organizational culture that acknowledges camaraderie as the best culmination of group aspect of the business’ culture emerges successful because the employees encounter less supervision that would bother them to work. With camaraderie, the general surveys indicate that workers serve in the company out of their interest. Gennard & Judge (2005, p.209) points out that some camaraderie develops because of inappropriate schedule enforced by the management. In this respect, employees recognize the need for effective communication in their workplace. Therefore, some of the groups created to the appeal of camaraderie aim at filling the gaps that remain after the schedule defining vertical communication in the organization fail to address horizontal communication. This scenario is particularly common in an extremely hierarchical company. Camaraderie helps in reaching a balance that leads to employees’ convergence with a strategy for efficient production in their schemes.
Organizational culture and camaraderie
As organizational culture deals with the company governing principles, thereby incorporating camaraderie deliberately or otherwise, there is a need to consider that, the organization has objectives that depend on the employee’s efforts for implementation. Consequently, camaraderie in the workplace serves as the best strategy to meet such objectives. In 2006, Abel found out that successful businesses across the United States invoked the creation of deliberate camaraderie in their firms. In as much as the organization spoke less of the clicks, they supported the groupings every effort to work in comfortable and peaceful environments. While at Queens University, he observed in a simple survey that as soon as works in a typical company get absorbed in a chat to catch up with the latest gossip of their fellow peers and colleagues, their attention shift and becomes more focused on the job. They become keener on swapping jobs and helping each other at will. The research findings of Dr. Abel confirms Shank’s (2004, p. 101) observations which suggest camaraderie as the ultimate technique to get the best out of an organization’s human resource. These claims derive from the basis that, workers often act beyond their call of duty to serve the organization while in the comfort of friends (fellow employees) at work.
Camaraderie is a unique aspect of the organizational culture in business. It is the true reflection of the group dynamics affecting the organization. Primarily camaraderie in the workplace means practical sharing of the workspace with other fellow workers called comrades. Therefore, it becomes imperative for the company to sustain the positive values and responses created by camaraderie in its success. Since we have established that camaraderie significantly improves the turnover of organization productivity, this research would be incomplete without mentioning that camaraderie directly leads to success in sports franchises, while all other factors remain under normal circumstances. The concept of franchising while admitting camaraderie should however be limited to large-scale businesses with intentions to merge with other companies.
Methodology
In conducting research, the researcher should make use of the most appropriate research design. In conducting the study, both qualitative and quantitative research designs were incorporated. Creswell (2003, p.205) defines a research design as a framework that assists the researcher in collecting the necessary data to conduct a study regarding a certain phenomenon. Alternatively, Maxwell (2004, p. 2), defines research design as the various tasks or stages which are involved in conducting a study. The objective of integrating a research design is to ensure that the study results into logical and appropriate findings of the study. According to Creswell (2003, p. 206), the research design selected should contribute towards the study being of a high degree of accuracy. In addition, Maxwell (2004, p.2), asserts that a good design should enable all the components in the research to work harmoniously to promote the study’s success. The design adopted should be reflexive of the entire research process. These include the process of collecting, analyzing, and elaborating the research questions. The research design used for this study is a qualitative research design. The objective of utilizing qualitative research design arises from the exploratory nature of the research. Secondary sources are used as the main source of data for the study. Some of these include past case studies documented in various archives such as the internet journals, magazines, relevant books, the media, and other peer-reviewed articles containing past experiments with similar objectives.
Research Questions
- How does camaraderie influence work in large organizations?
- What is the extent of camaraderie in American workplaces?
- What are the effects of camaraderie on the normal functioning of employees of successful organizations?
Procedure
After the target population is defined as team players in franchising sports groups and a sample drawn from both business and sports groups, the researcher generates questionnaires that are filled online while he or she moves manually to interview with responsive correspondence.
The research would make use of video recording for companies that allow discrete coverage of some of their activities. This would be used in analyzing the general mood of the workers. Analysis of the rate of workers in isolation will be weighted on these findings compared to those in groups. Internet and company records of past performances shall be analyzed.
The collected shall be presented in form of bar graphs, tables, and pie charts. Different facets of camaraderie studied shall be analyzed using SPSS and Excel datasheets while tests of significance will be carried out using t-test and ANOVA for the case of businesses. Trust index developed by Franke (2004) shall be used to harmonize the correlation between camaraderie and businesses’ performance.
Results and Discussions
In sports franchises, strong bonds created by the camaraderie that makes co-workers work curtail the usual boredom that may result from having workers performing their tasks in isolation. For mass producers of sport franchise products in various parts of the world, an optimal achievement never compromises the quality of the goods. Consequently, the level of achievement affects the level of sales leading to the great success of the company in revenue (Shank, 2004, p. 98)
In the sports franchise, success is market by victory and celebrations. Ultimately, we are left with the deduction that camaraderie creates the condition for success on one hand, and it sustains the condition all the way to success on the other. If we consider a typical case of the Chicago Bulls against the Phoenix Suns, for example, this sample represents a limited proportion of sports franchises in the country. However, with camaraderie, there is provision to train and play in a free atmosphere for both teams. The principle of camaraderie encourages the sharing of work but extreme losses or gross loss caused by an individual deemed as risk becomes his or her sole responsibility.
Analysis of the social response mechanism in the state of camaraderie proves beyond doubt that unless camaraderie creates synergy, it does not automatically lead to success in sports franchising or business. Conversely, if the business can harness the easy-to-do approach of work created by camaraderie in the workplace, then its success draws closer to reality. Furthermore; given the close ties and bonds formed by camaraderie in the workplace, any business organization or a franchising sports group may count on long-term membership from its comrades in various groups. This follows from the general observations and true findings outlining the social benefits derived by the group members from their camaraderie outfits. Abel (2006), identified when co-workers routinely join hands in doing the same task every day, they develop certain indispensable social attachments to one another and some extent, to the organization.
According to Maida, Norma, Gordon, and Furbelow (1989, p. 11), the depth of camaraderie in an organization is felt in the absence of some members who may leave that particular outlet to another because of, transfer, promotion, or even retirement. The effect is that it alters the rate of performance and may hamper output for a while before workers get used to their new members (Shank, 2004, p. 98)
This reveals one important setback associated with camaraderie; Marcia (1999) leaned that over time, people get used to doing things in a certain way under the comfort of their friends who encourage them. (p.74). similarly, in sports franchising players are often comfortable with playing alongside someone they already know their style and skills. Moreover, in business, just like in sports franchising, the presence of any new member to the team presents new energy input in the view of the management. The management in either of the organizations knows their group’s culture to the finest detail. Therefore, as the organization alters the composition of the team under various circumstances, they are certain that whoever is absorbed in the team has similar or even better skills. Perhaps, this is the most important reason that explains the success of businesses using the strategy of franchising. However, to the level of this research, it is an indicator of the general progress of most successful businesses.
Conclusion
Much of the research findings lead to conclusions that require the need for management’s decisions to incorporate the diverse views of workers while making decisions affecting them each time they have to do so. This can only be attained if the management has incorporated the concept of camaraderie in the organization. By integrating all the employees in the decision-making process, the implementation of decisions become more effective. That way many businesses shall stand better chances to succeed.
Reference List
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Creswell, J. (2003). Research design: qualitative, quantitative and mixed method approaches. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publishers.
Crews, M. & Sweet, E. (2004) Hard Work: Success Made Easy. Escondido, CA: SDG Press.
Education Asia Limited and Tsingua University Press.
Franke, L. R. (2004), HR networking: performance management. Chicago, IL: CCH INCORPORATED
Gennard J. & Judge. G. (2005) Employee relations. Broadway, London: Chartered institute of personnel Development.
Maida, C., Norma S. Gordon, H., & Furbelow, N. (1989). The crisis of competence: transitional stress and the displaced worker. New York: BRUNNER/MAZEL, INC. pp. 3-18.
Marcia, A. Black Enterprise Oct 1999, “Closer than the average co-worker.” Web.
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Salmon, A. (2010). Most financially successful sports franchises. Web.
Shank. M. D. (2004). Sports marketing a strategic perspective. Beijing: Pearson