Best Workplace Assignment Paper
MGT 415
Mrs. Connie Warner
August 31, 2015

Best Workplace Assignment Paper
Within this paper, I will describe three work environments, and identify elements that appear to foster employee motivation and group cohesion among employees that I retrieved from Fortune's 18th year of partnering with Great Places to Work. Some qualities that make a company great to work for are having a strong supportive culture. A strong culture offers mutual support, promotes trust, rewards employees’ efforts, and ensures that employees know their work is meaningful. Professional growth is a priority. Instead of growing employees’ skills to match the company’s needs, great companies look for ways to grow the company based on employees’ passions by asking employees what they are interested in doing and how they would like to see their career unfold. As an employee, it’s important to like the people you work with. Since we spend so much time with our co-workers, it’s important to like and respect them. Working with people who are supportive and understanding fosters personal connections and professional growth. Group cohesion – or connectedness – is integral to keep things productive within a group setting. It is considered vital in group decision making, group performance, goal attainment, social identity, and member satisfaction (Losh, 2011)

One company that is of the top rated companies to work for on Forbes Great Places to Work is The Container Store. Some elements that appear to foster employee motivation and group cohesion among employees The Container Store has built their brand on the joyful conviction that their employees are our top priority, our most treasured asset. One of the company’s Foundation Principles says that 1 Great Person = 3 Good People, in terms of business productivity. The Container Store culture provides something more intangible and harder to quantify which is they love their employees and we’re committed to caring for their whole being— not just as workers. As an employer, they believe that they have a moral obligation to create a workplace where people get up out of bed and look forward to coming to work in the morning. They have found that if you really and truly take better care of the employee than anybody else, your employee will take better care of your customer than anybody else. And if those two are ecstatic, then wonderfully and ironically, the shareholder will be ecstatic too (The Container Store, 2015).

Another company that is of the top rated companies to work for on Forbes Great Places to Work is Build A Bear Workshop. Their Core Values — reach, learn, di-bear-sity, colla-bear-ate, give and cele-bear-ate — can be seen in everything we do. Their employers embrace and value the uniqueness, individuality, background and experience of associates, guests and vendors by trusting in their teammates, define common commitment, make a proposal and get into action. Their culture begins with a heart and it’s how they live our values which leads to benefits. They care about the health and well-being and long-term financial security of our associates and their families and they constantly strive to provide our associates with comprehensive benefits that are competitive and meaningful in the specialty retail marketplace. (Build a Bear, 2015)

Lastly, another company that is of the top rated companies to work for on Forbes Great Places to Work is at Zappo. Zappo’s core values are more than just words, they're a way of life. Their employees know that companies with a strong culture and a higher purpose perform better in the long run. Employees of Zappos strive to do something that's above and beyond what's expected which must have an emotional impact on the receiver as they are not an average company, their service is not average, and they don't want their people to be average. Each of companies described here within all have one thing in common -- culture. Company culture is the formula that guides the team, as well as inspires and motivates employees. As well as attracting and attaining great talent, as well as creating a fun, happy and exciting work environment. After reading our text the quote within our textbook by Henry Ford “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” (Losh, 2011)

Reference
Losh, S. (2011). Group behavior in organizations. San Diego: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Fortune (2015). Time Inc. 100 Best Companies to Work for 2015. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/best-companies/ The Container Store (2015). What We Stand for Organization With Heart. Our Employee First
Culture. Retrieved from http://standfor.containerstore.com/putting-our-employees-first
Build a Bear (2015). Why You Should Become a Bear. Retrieved from https://careers.buildabear.com/AboutUs.aspx Zappos (2015). Life at Zappos. Our Core Values. Retrieved from https://jobs.zappos.com/life-at-zappos