Meaningful Workplaces: Reframing How and Where We Work

The Need to Reframe the Workplace

Virtual and self-directed teams, telecommuting “nomads,” long-distance marriages, child care and elder care at the same time, and a host of other work and life differences from the traditional nine-to-five mental model are forcing the need to reframe the workplace. In addition, although academia has studied the workplace as a social system, it is only recently that the idea of social capital has been seen as something practically beneficial for organizations. Social capital refers to the connections among individuals, social networks and groupings, and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that are the hallmarks of social cohesion. Organizations are social institutions by their very nature of being ...