Think about your last car rental. Did you wash it upon your return? For most people the answer is No. This phrase encapsulates the Tragedy of the Commons as advocated by Garrett Hardin in a 1968 Science magazine article.
What Hardin was talking about was individual productivity and prosperity and how they are affected by property rights or the lack thereof. Hardin used the analogy of a common area for grazing. Everyone shares the common area for grazing their livestock. There is not any reserved common area because the rationale to leave it ungrazed someone else might benefit from it. Eventually, all the grass is gone due to over grazing and everyone suffers.
Today's economist call this concentrated benefits and dispersed costs. However the bottom line is the same, productivity eventually crashes because there is no ownership of the property.
So how does this translate if the business goal is to increase productivity in the workplace? That depends upon each organization's structure. When people do not own their performance, the desired result to increase personal productivity will suffer. Just think how much more productivity would have happened in the labor intensive business model of the 20th century if more people had discovered "What's in it for me."
In the late 20th century, training and development specialists also known as instructional designers started to create training programs that built in the What's in it for me (WIIFM). However, many of these training programs or training curriculums did not truly deliver the necessary sustainable attitude change. For it is the attitudes, habits of thoughts, such as "can't leave any common area ungrazed because someone else might benefit" that drive the behaviors resulting in an over grazed common pasture.
Now in the 21st century, the focus is on knowledge and how to apply that knowledge more efficiently and more effectively. In the research based book, Mobilizing Minds, the authors revealed companies where at least 35% of the workforce were engaged in thinking intensive positions achieved 400% to 500% greater profitability per employee. This increase was compared to companies where less than, 20% of the workforce was engaged in thinking intensive roles.
This finding reinforces that ownership is the driving force in productivity. For when I am thinking, I own those thoughts. Sure, maybe someone is paying me for those thoughts, but the thoughts are of my own creation. And those thoughts are what drive my behaviors.
To increase productivity and profitability then demands exchanging brute force (labor intensive business model) to mental force (thinking intensive business model) while simultaneously developing an attitude of ownership among all employees. Companies who can create such a workplace environment will outlast their competitors and clean rented cars will become commonplace.
Avoid the Tragedy of the Commons through better planning. Download this free checklist http://www.processspecialiist.com/strategic-planning-steps.htm.
FACT: Customer loyalty is the strategic advantage. Receive your downloadable Customer Loyalty Audit at http://www.processspecialist.com/customerloyalty.htm
Please contact, Leanne Hoagland-Smith, Your Chief People Officer and Business Coach, who works with individuals and organizations just like you that are tired of not being where they want to be and truly want more for their businesses and their selves. 219.508.2859
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