Introduction
Human beings are constantly in search of ways to realize a good life. Since people are social creatures who must interact with each other, achieving happiness in life requires establishing good and civil relationships with others. One area in life where relationships play a significant role is in the workplace.
In modern society, the workplace is a crucial area since most people spend a significant amount of their time in this environment. Achieving good relationships in this setting is directly linked to the level of satisfaction that a person has in his/her life. Good relationships in the work setting also contribute to the productivity of the organization. As such, the notion of best places to work can be viewed through the lens of civic relationships. Many philosophers have covered the subject of interpersonal relationships over the centuries.
Aristotle, who is considered one of the most influential philosophers, came up with some enlightening ideas on civic relationships, happiness, the virtues, deliberation, justice and friendship that might provide some insight on modern work relationships. This paper will set out to present Aristotle’s ideas on civic relationships and analyze how they compare and contrast with contemporary notions of best places to work.
Aristotle’s Ideas
The renowned Greek Philosopher, Aristotle, developed some ideas that have continued to be influential on the subject of civic relationships to the present time. Aristotle addressed happiness, which is a quality that all people seek to achieve for themselves. By definition, happiness is the overall satisfaction with life and a high level of enjoyment achieved by a person. A number of external factors contribute to the happiness of a person.
According to Aristotle, a necessary condition for happiness was active participation in the discussion of what civic goods the society should pursue. As such, happiness could not be achieved if the individual was not allowed to voice his/her opinion on what was to be done. In Aristotle’s definition of happiness, this value is centered on exercising virtue meaning that a person cannot be truly happy if he is not virtuous.
Aristotle offered elaborate ethical principles of virtue that if properly applied, could lead to the attainment of happiness by people in the society. For Aristotle, happiness is invariably linked to virtue as is evident from his assertion that happiness is “activity of soul in accordance with virtue exercised over a long life and supported by additional goods such as money and health”.
Aristotle contends that cultivating virtue is necessary for happiness to be achieved since virtue promotes individual happiness as well as that of others. According to him, virtues are a means through which further happiness can be achieved by the individual.
Aristotle also introduced the idea of civic virtues, which he describes as the dispositions that people in the society should strive to exhibit. This dispositions result in people being moral or achieving some level of excellence in their dealings with others. The civic virtues are mutually agreed-on and rationally justifiable actions that sustain the quest for the good. The civic virtues also highlight the modes of conduct that may be detrimental to the achievement of the common good.
Another quality that is essential for ideal civic relationships is justice. Justice is important since it ensures that all individuals are given the opportunity to enjoy their lives and achieve happiness and success. Aristotle considered justice to be the thing that tended to promote the common interest of the people.
The individuals in the society share in the pursuit of this common interest and they benefit from their efforts. Aristotle observed that Justice is a very important aspect of happiness is injustice prevents people from realizing the human good. For Aristotle, injustice is caused by the greed for external material such as money or psychological things such as power and honor.
Aristotle introduced some ideas of friendship that have continued to influence modern Western thought on the subject. According to Aristotle, friendship is the attribute that holds the society together since when men are friends; they treat each other with consideration and avoid acts of injustice against each other. In addition to this, friendship encourages selfless acts by individuals and this produces happiness.
This claim by Aristotle is supported by studies that review that virtues of altruism in helping others tend to make individuals happier. Aristotle defined three types of friendship that might exist in the society. The first is a friendship that is based on virtue and in this case, there exists a bond between individuals who are alike in excellence or virtue. In this form of friendship, the individuals increase the happiness of each other for the sake of it.
The relationship in this case is altruistic and therefore of a perfect nature. The second type of friendship is one that is based on the utility. In this case, the individuals feel affection towards each other because of their usefulness to each other. The third friendship is grounded on pleasure and it is typically driven by emotions. This form of friendship is most prevalent among young people and it is not lasting in nature. Aristotle holds friendship in high regard since without friendship, other virtues such as justice could not exist.
Traits of the Best Places to Work
All employees would like to be part of organizations that are best places to work in. The Great Place to Work Institute asserts that while generous compensation packages and good policies and practices play a role in creating a work environment that the employees appreciate, this are not the only things that employees consider. Some additional desirable traits must be present for a work place is considered by the employees.
While the traits might vary from organization to organization, the Best Places to Work Institute has come up with a number of traits that are common in all employee friendly organizations. The first common trait is an environment of trust. The employees are able to demonstrate trust for their employers and this trust springs from the credibility of the company’s management. This trust arises when the employees perceive that they are treated in a fair manner and with respect.
The second trait is a high level of pride by the employees in what they are doing in the organization. Employees are hired by the organization to carry out certain specified tasks. The employee needs to be proud of their work and experience a sense of delight in his/her activities.
The pride leads to a sense of satisfaction by the workers and it produces a feeling of happiness in the employee. Another trait of the great workplace is a high sense of camaraderie among the employees. The workers need to experience genuine connection with their fellow workmates. They have to exhibit a level of enjoyment working with each other. The Great Place to Work institute contends that the employees should be able to work together as a family.
The Great Place to Work institute declares that the degree of human touch is crucial to the development of an ideal work place. The institute observes that without a high degree of human touch, employees are unlikely to demonstrate the high level of commitment necessary to bring about high levels of success to the company.
In addition to this, another trait is the provision of opportunities for the employees to contribute their talents to the organization. Great Place to Work Institute declares that the best work environment provides inspiration for the employees and motivates them to foster their creativity and talents. Each employee is given the chance to make a positive contribution to the growth and development of the organization.
Comparing Aristotle’s Ideas and Contemporary Notions
There are a number of evident similarities between Aristotle’s ideas on civic relationships and the notions of the best work place as articulated by the Great Place to Work institute. The first similarity is in the importance of active participation by the individual in the affairs of the society or organization.
For Aristotle, participation in public affairs is crucial for the happiness of the person. The Great Place to Work institute also deems participation in organizational matters as an important component for happiness. The institute declares that a great place to work is one where the employees are given the opportunity to showcase their talents and creativity. Management includes the workers in the decision-making process and shows consideration to their suggestions.
There is agreement between Aristotle and the contemporary notions that certain physical and psychological factors contribute to the positive assessment of the workplace. Aristotle admits that happiness requires some external goods such as wealth, power, and health. He states that a certain level of power and honor leads to the increase in happiness by the individual. The Great Place to Work institute declares that employees must have some level of pride in their work.
It then proposes that employees want to feel respected and appreciated by their employers and colleagues. This suggests that power and honor are important in the best work place. When addressing the issue of human happiness, Aristotle declares that all human activities seek to accomplish some particular good as the goal. This observation is true in contemporary work places where the employees seek to achieve some predetermined goals and objectives.
Another similarity is in the importance of friendship bonds between individuals working together. In the great place to work, the employees experience a form of friendship with each other as they do things both with each other and for their fellow workers. The employees have a level of authentic connection and camaraderie with each other.
This results in greater enjoyment of the work environment as the workers operate as a family. The friendships formed in the best places of work conform to the second type of friendship highlighted by Aristotle. These workplace friendships are often grounded in utility. The employees feel affection not necessarily for one another but in terms of their usefulness to each other. The workers will therefore have a bond based on the value they add to the workplace.
Aristotle and the Great Place to Work institute agree on the importance of virtue in human interactions. From Aristotle’s teachings on ethics and virtues, one can deduce that virtue tends to promote happiness while vice tends to promote unhappiness. These ideas are compatible with the modern work setting where virtuous acts tend to produce good results for the employees and the company while vices tend to promote negative results for all the individuals involved.
A significant difference between Aristotle’s ideas and those of the contemporary work place is with regard to happiness. Aristotle’s definition of happiness is strongly tied to morality since he asserts that individuals have to act in morally desirable ways in order to promote happiness. In the modern workplace, the definition of happiness is morally neutral and subjective in nature.
The moral neutrality of happiness is partly due to the diversity of moral views by individuals in the workplace. The heterogeneous nature of the modern workplace makes it undesirable to impose uniform moral values on all employees. The Great Place to Work institute favors the adoption of policies that are all inclusive. Workers are able to attain ideal civic relationships and a high level of happiness in the morally neutral environment.
There is also a major difference between Aristotle’s ideas and contemporary notions on how happiness can be derived from work. Aristotle suggests that an employee can derive happiness from undertaking his given task according to the highest standards. He argues that the activity that the employee engages in brings about the highest good.
This is not the case in the contemporary work place where a myriad of factors contribute to the happiness of the employees. In most cases, the individual does not derive joy from engaging in his designated task. On the contrary, most employees find their work repetitive and boring. It is therefore unlikely that absolute happiness can be achieved by carrying out these uninspiring activities every day.
Aristotle’s ideas of justice are not compatible with the contemporary notions of the good work place. The high levels of individualization and personal ambition for success in the modern society differ from Aristotle’s teachings on justice. In all work places, employees strive to achieve the maximum benefit for themselves.
The employer on the other hand aims to increase the productivity of the employees in order to increase profits. In this setting, all individuals have a desire to gain more external and psychological goods for themselves. In most instances, these goods are not shared in an equitable manner among the individuals working in the organization.
Conclusion
This paper set out to discuss Aristotle’s understanding of ethics and virtues and compare these ideas with contemporary notions of best places to work. It began by noting that happiness is an important attribute in human life.
It then discussed Aristotle’s ideas of civic relationship and expounded on his concepts of civic relationships. The paper then provided a concise review of the traits of the best places to work as articulated by the Best Places to Work institute. It noted that trust, pride, and a sense of camaraderie are some of the most important traits from the employee’s perspective.
The paper has shown that the ideas of friendship, virtue, and respect are agree on by Aristotle and the contemporary notions of best places to work. However, there is a significant difference in the concept of happiness and justice as articulated by Aristotle and as it is applied in the contemporary work place. On the whole, it can be concluded that Aristotle’s ideas on civic relationship are by the large applicable to modern work relationships.