[kethinov]

A well-functioning organization would not devalue people who are more judicious about their use of time, preferring productivity over unnecessary socializing.

But while what you're describing does not describe a well-functioning organization, it's definitely true in practice. People who buck the silly social dynamics in office cultures will be perceived as less productive whether it's true or not and are frequently devalued.

A knee-jerk response to what I just wrote of course will be maybe those people just can't see the real value of all these allegedly silly office rituals, but before you jump to that conclusion, consider the possibility that it's at least equally likely that the people perpetrating the rituals are overvaluing them.

The point is all of these social dynamics and office rituals should be open to being reexamined every so often to see if they're truly adding the value people think they're adding so they don't devolve into rituals people do because they're rituals. Keep the good ones, ditch the useless ones, and be proactive about objectively evaluating which are which.

[gregjor]

The organization doesn't devalue people. Other individuals feel put-off and alienated by people who act the way the author of the article describes. Like it or not personal relationships matter, reducing friction matters, and small talk and the apparently wasteful social rituals can add to team and organization cohesion. Lone wolves, high-performing or not, get perceived as not team players, not someone willing to help others even with small things, hostile to routine human interaction.

Some workplaces go too far in one direction or another. I would prefer working in a more casual and friendly environment even if that meant engaging in idle chit-chat and signing birthdays cards, rather than a workplace where everyone had to shut up and pretend to optimize their performance. In my long career I have always found jobs and freelance work through friends and former work colleagues, and a big part of that comes down to them perceiving me as someone they enjoyed working with and hanging out with, not just someone who optimized my productivity and told them to buzz off because I had to write more code.

[Pet_Ant]

> People who buck the silly social dynamics in office cultures will be perceived as less productive whether it's true or not and are frequently devalued.

Younger, I would have agreed with your sentiment. Now, I appreciate good coworkers. If I don't have a socialisation outlet during the day, it's just draining and I burn out faster. If you're a person that is just a grumpy Gus isolated in their cubicle, you can make your team less effective and undermine the team spirit.

This is where I feel like management fails. To build a team you need to really pick personalities that work well together and honing and tuning the group composition is something that managers can do. Put the introverts together. Put night owls together. Parents are more understanding of taking something to over to cover for someone because they need it sometimes too.