Sense of Community at the Workplace

As traditional forms of community have declined, individuals increasingly turn to their workplace to satisfy their need to belong. This book investigates the conditions under which individuals across work settings experience feelings of community and how this might benefit both the individual and the employer. Particular consideration is given to small teams and work groups as the primary loci of sense of community in organizations. A German measurement instrument for use in this context is developed, based on translation and pilot-testing of an existing measure that has earned psychometric credentials in US-based community research. The result, the 8-item Brief Sense of Community Scale - German version (BSCS-G), may be applied by researchers to systematically compare their findings with previous studies, thus contributing to community theory building. Practitioners may appreciate the instrument for its brevity, allowing a quick and reliable diagnosis of the sense of community level among their staff.