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Top 10 Characteristics of an excellent co-worker. My list is more of a trickle down affect, all characteristics tie in together and all need to be ‘mastered’ in order to be considered and excellent co-worker. 1. Communication/Communicate Effectively – it may be because I am a stickler when it comes to communication either over the phone, written, or spoken. Break down in communication or poor communication can be the fine line between the ultimate success or a complete break down of an organization. 2. Productivity – the reading defines productivity as someone who can do more with less (Cascio, p.22). As a co-worker being able to perform at a high level and produce great results in the process makes everyone else around you want to work just as hard and produce just as much. The bottom line is the co-worker should be “making and delivering outputs” (Margerison, p. 117). 3. Adapt to Change – not every day is a ‘typical’/routine day in the work place, being able to adapt your works habits when something comes up with out notice makes a great co-worker, being able to adapt not only pertains to new work and new skills as well as new environments. Cohen and Bacdayan (1996) define organizational routines as "patterned sequences of learned behavior involving multiple actors who are linked by relations of communication and/or authority" (Espedal, p469). There are times where the worker may need to forget old habits and routines and adapt. 4. Time Management – this characteristic ties into the adapting to change item because when things get thrown off course, or the day does not go as planned you have to be able to readjust your schedule and mind set to complete the assigned task. 5. Team Player – The use of work teams in organizations has spread across industries, nonprofits, and national boundaries rapidly in the last decade. The concept of "team" has been reshaped to fit many circumstances ranging from temporary to permanent, single function to multi-function, routine to non routine, and co-located to virtual (Margerison p. 119). With the above-stated whatever type of team you may be a part of each individual has to do their part in order for the whole to succeed, one weak link can change the morale and attitude of the entire team. 6. Attitude – having a positive attitude about your work, the people you work with, and the company you work for, spills over to other people. A co-worker who has a genuine attitude towards what they are doing can spill over to other workers allowing them to be more productive and hard-working. Now one wants to be around negativity ally day. 7. Respect – working with individuals who respect you as a person as well as your work is a trait that some people do not have, if you feel your ideas as well as you as a person are respected by your fellow co-workers it spills over into the work you do. 8. Motivated – what captures the energetic forces that drives employees work effort (Colquitt, p.9), when you have a co-worker who is able to motivate themselves they are also able to motivate the people around them. They do not have to be Phil Jackson and give the speech of a lifetime as he may have done with the Bulls and now the Lakers. But, a silent force that is motivated by results allows the team to also want to accomplish great things. 9. Ethical – In an article found in the Human Relations Journal, perceived organizational ethical values refer to employees’ beliefs concerning what practices are acceptable or appropriate in their organization (Biron, p. 875). An excellent co-worker in a honest, trustworthy person, who takes pride in themselves as well as the beliefs and ethics of the company they work for. 10. Knowledgeable – This final characteristic, speaks for itself. A co-worker must have substantial knowledge about the work they are doing. Knowledge that they have gained from school in addition to on the job training, they take this information and put it to good use in addition to sharing the information to those around him to produce more effective co-workers. References: Cascio, W.F. (2010) Managing Human Resources: Productivity, Quality of Work Life, Profits (8th ed.) Boston: McGraw-Hill Margerison, C. (2001) Team Performance Management, Bradford: 2001 Vol. 7 Iss.7/8 pg. 117 Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu Espedal, B. (Dec, 2006) Do Organizational Routines Change as Experience Changes': The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science Arlington: Vol. 42, Iss. 4 pg. 468 Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu Biren, M. (Jun, 2010) Negative Reciprocity and the Association Between Perceived Organizational Ethical Values and Organizational Deviance: Human Relations Vol. 63, Iss. 6 pg. 875 Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu