Pub Date : 2019-01-10DOI: 10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198788232.013.15
Rebecca Taylor, S. Roth
Contemporary debates about meaningful work have drawn on ideas of autonomy and freedom, vocation or calling, dignity, and self-realization, informed by classical sociology. The third sector appears to offer an ideal space for meaningful work given its social, political, and environmental aims, and its assumed independence from state and market. This chapter takes a sociological approach to exploring if and in what ways it fulfills this ideal. It reviews what is known about the sector’s paid and unpaid workers and then focus on three different fields within the sector: social service, political activism, and humanitarian aid. Drawing on empirical studies of workers’ subjective experiences and motivations, we explore what makes this work potentially meaningful. We highlight diversity in how meaningfulness is experienced, how understandings are shaped by social position and life course, and the paradox that meaningful work in the sector can also be the source of stress and burnout.
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Pub Date : 2019-01-10DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788232.013.26
D. Gallie
In this chapter, two aspects of the meaningful work context are considered: task discretion and organizational participation. It argues that these provide opportunities for values associated with meaningful work to be realized at both an intrinsic and instrumental level. Drawing on both theoretical arguments and empirical evidence, the chapter explores the extent to which meaningful work values are realized in both domains. Two types of direct participation are found to be complementary: task discretion is particularly important for increasing the scope for informal learning, while organizational participation is a stronger lever for securing higher levels of training provision. The chapter presents substantial evidence that participation in decision-making, both at the level of the work task and in wider organizational decisions, is an essential precondition of meaningful work.
{"title":"Direct Participation and Meaningful Work","authors":"D. Gallie","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788232.013.26","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788232.013.26","url":null,"abstract":"In this chapter, two aspects of the meaningful work context are considered: task discretion and organizational participation. It argues that these provide opportunities for values associated with meaningful work to be realized at both an intrinsic and instrumental level. Drawing on both theoretical arguments and empirical evidence, the chapter explores the extent to which meaningful work values are realized in both domains. Two types of direct participation are found to be complementary: task discretion is particularly important for increasing the scope for informal learning, while organizational participation is a stronger lever for securing higher levels of training provision. The chapter presents substantial evidence that participation in decision-making, both at the level of the work task and in wider organizational decisions, is an essential precondition of meaningful work.","PeriodicalId":336620,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Meaningful Work","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130797296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-10DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788232.013.19
D. Tourish
This chapter adopts a critical stance towards meaningful work and leadership theory and asks whether it is feasible or desirable for leaders to be positioned as architects of purpose and meaning. Work is, for many, a dissatisfying experience with little opportunity for voice and agency, rather than constituting a source of fulfillment and meaning. Leadership theories fail to account for leaders’ lack of authority over meaning-making for their followers. Leaders may end up threatening rather than strengthening employees’ existing sense of meaningfulness, since employees may not “buy in” to the dominant discourse and goals of the organization or the leader. Spiritual leadership approaches adopt a unitarist notion that leaders are uniquely placed to provide employees with a sense of meaningfulness, which fails to take account of the potential “dark side” of managing meaning. For many, meaningfulness may arise from resistance to prevailing ideologies.
{"title":"Leadership and Meaningful Work","authors":"D. Tourish","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788232.013.19","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788232.013.19","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter adopts a critical stance towards meaningful work and leadership theory and asks whether it is feasible or desirable for leaders to be positioned as architects of purpose and meaning. Work is, for many, a dissatisfying experience with little opportunity for voice and agency, rather than constituting a source of fulfillment and meaning. Leadership theories fail to account for leaders’ lack of authority over meaning-making for their followers. Leaders may end up threatening rather than strengthening employees’ existing sense of meaningfulness, since employees may not “buy in” to the dominant discourse and goals of the organization or the leader. Spiritual leadership approaches adopt a unitarist notion that leaders are uniquely placed to provide employees with a sense of meaningfulness, which fails to take account of the potential “dark side” of managing meaning. For many, meaningfulness may arise from resistance to prevailing ideologies.","PeriodicalId":336620,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Meaningful Work","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114280352","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-10DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788232.013.10
T. Schnell, Thomas Höge, W. Weber
This chapter explores the connections between belonging, meaningful work, and the ability of people to fulfill their potential. Drawing on the nexus of two core human qualities, the social and the productive, it is proposed that meaningful work constitutes an arena of practice where this sense of belonging is evoked. Belonging can arise from being part of a group or team at work, where acknowledgment and recognition arise. Although psychological studies have not focused extensively on the construct of belonging, research has examined similar notions such as relatedness, social support, and psychological ownership. However, changes in the workplace such as the growing flexibilization of work and growing economism pose challenges to experiencing belonging and meaningfulness. The chapter outlines the potential “dark side” to belonging, such as the risk of over-identification, the propensity to unethical behaviors, and manipulative managerial strategies.
{"title":"“Belonging” and its Relationship to the Experience of Meaningful Work","authors":"T. Schnell, Thomas Höge, W. Weber","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788232.013.10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788232.013.10","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter explores the connections between belonging, meaningful work, and the ability of people to fulfill their potential. Drawing on the nexus of two core human qualities, the social and the productive, it is proposed that meaningful work constitutes an arena of practice where this sense of belonging is evoked. Belonging can arise from being part of a group or team at work, where acknowledgment and recognition arise. Although psychological studies have not focused extensively on the construct of belonging, research has examined similar notions such as relatedness, social support, and psychological ownership. However, changes in the workplace such as the growing flexibilization of work and growing economism pose challenges to experiencing belonging and meaningfulness. The chapter outlines the potential “dark side” to belonging, such as the risk of over-identification, the propensity to unethical behaviors, and manipulative managerial strategies.","PeriodicalId":336620,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Meaningful Work","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132160396","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-10DOI: 10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198788232.013.12
M. Steger
Work has powerful potential to enrich our lives by providing them with meaning. The idea of meaning in life (MIL) is crucial to almost every measure of human well-being or flourishing, yet there is much less consensus over the idea of meaningful work (MW). Although the two ideas are often used interchangeably, this chapter reviews different conceptualizations of these ideas to see how they are related and takes a “theoretical turn” to consider some shared themes and character strengths, such as “significance,” “coherence,” “transcendence,” “purpose,” and “empathy.” Based on these themes, it proposes two workplace models intended to make it easier for workers to find meaningful pathways in work, and for leaders to create the conditions for the meaningful organization. When these two models work together they can operate to produce social as well as economic value, and personalize work even when faced with dehumanizing effects of robotics.
{"title":"Meaning in Life and in Work","authors":"M. Steger","doi":"10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198788232.013.12","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198788232.013.12","url":null,"abstract":"Work has powerful potential to enrich our lives by providing them with meaning. The idea of meaning in life (MIL) is crucial to almost every measure of human well-being or flourishing, yet there is much less consensus over the idea of meaningful work (MW). Although the two ideas are often used interchangeably, this chapter reviews different conceptualizations of these ideas to see how they are related and takes a “theoretical turn” to consider some shared themes and character strengths, such as “significance,” “coherence,” “transcendence,” “purpose,” and “empathy.” Based on these themes, it proposes two workplace models intended to make it easier for workers to find meaningful pathways in work, and for leaders to create the conditions for the meaningful organization. When these two models work together they can operate to produce social as well as economic value, and personalize work even when faced with dehumanizing effects of robotics.","PeriodicalId":336620,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Meaningful Work","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131963386","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-10DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788232.013.5
Todd Mei
Western philosophical accounts of work tend to focus on necessity as its chief defining attribute. The relation of work to the question of the meaning of being is therefore circumscribed by the ways in which work can be said to fulfill necessary ends. There are two consequences of this view which delineate the philosophy of work. Work is either merely necessary for existence in order for us to be able to engage in higher activities—a view attributed to Aristotle. Or, work is the principal activity defining human existence as such—the thesis advocated by Karl Marx. This chapter examines the arguments of each view. The chapter concludes with an alternative account attempting to forge a more substantial role for work in relation to the meaning of being: work is essentially metaphorical in nature as opposed to being only necessary.
{"title":"Work and the Meaning of Being","authors":"Todd Mei","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788232.013.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788232.013.5","url":null,"abstract":"Western philosophical accounts of work tend to focus on necessity as its chief defining attribute. The relation of work to the question of the meaning of being is therefore circumscribed by the ways in which work can be said to fulfill necessary ends. There are two consequences of this view which delineate the philosophy of work. Work is either merely necessary for existence in order for us to be able to engage in higher activities—a view attributed to Aristotle. Or, work is the principal activity defining human existence as such—the thesis advocated by Karl Marx. This chapter examines the arguments of each view. The chapter concludes with an alternative account attempting to forge a more substantial role for work in relation to the meaning of being: work is essentially metaphorical in nature as opposed to being only necessary.","PeriodicalId":336620,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Meaningful Work","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127342086","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-10DOI: 10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198788232.013.1
Joanne B. Cuilla
The characterization of meaningful work as objective or subjective is subject to considerable disagreement. While broadly agreeing that meaningfulness has both objective and subjective aspects, this chapter seeks to transcend this debate by separating the moral conditions of work from the concept of meaningful work. Workplace ethics are important pathways for experiencing meaningfulness in work and in life. The chapter argues that most of the objective features of meaningful work are related to the moral conditions of work. These include, for example, being treated fairly and with respect, having personal autonomy on the job, and working in safe environments. When the moral conditions of work are present, then work becomes worthy of a human being. By teasing out the moral from the meaningful, the author shows us how advances in humanizing the conditions of work arise out of struggles between employers and workers over who controls the work process.
{"title":"The Moral Conditions of Work","authors":"Joanne B. Cuilla","doi":"10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198788232.013.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198788232.013.1","url":null,"abstract":"The characterization of meaningful work as objective or subjective is subject to considerable disagreement. While broadly agreeing that meaningfulness has both objective and subjective aspects, this chapter seeks to transcend this debate by separating the moral conditions of work from the concept of meaningful work. Workplace ethics are important pathways for experiencing meaningfulness in work and in life. The chapter argues that most of the objective features of meaningful work are related to the moral conditions of work. These include, for example, being treated fairly and with respect, having personal autonomy on the job, and working in safe environments. When the moral conditions of work are present, then work becomes worthy of a human being. By teasing out the moral from the meaningful, the author shows us how advances in humanizing the conditions of work arise out of struggles between employers and workers over who controls the work process.","PeriodicalId":336620,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Meaningful Work","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128122199","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-10DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788232.013.6
Christopher Michaelson
Not enough people have decent work in the world today. Fewer still have work that they consider to be meaningful. Even among those people who have the power to choose their work, the absence of work that they consider to be meaningful adversely impacts their physical and emotional well-being—and a considerable portion of most adults’ waking hours are spent at work. Accordingly, work is a primary means by which most of us can experience meaningfulness in life. This chapter offers two arguments for why we have a moral obligation to pursue and practice meaningful work, if we have the autonomy to choose it.
{"title":"Do We Have to Do Meaningful Work?","authors":"Christopher Michaelson","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788232.013.6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788232.013.6","url":null,"abstract":"Not enough people have decent work in the world today. Fewer still have work that they consider to be meaningful. Even among those people who have the power to choose their work, the absence of work that they consider to be meaningful adversely impacts their physical and emotional well-being—and a considerable portion of most adults’ waking hours are spent at work. Accordingly, work is a primary means by which most of us can experience meaningfulness in life. This chapter offers two arguments for why we have a moral obligation to pursue and practice meaningful work, if we have the autonomy to choose it.","PeriodicalId":336620,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Meaningful Work","volume":"32 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132935385","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-10DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788232.013.24
S. Rothmann, Laura Weiss, J. Redelinghuys
This chapter explores cultural, national, and individual diversity, and their relationships with meaningful work. Most studies relevant to meaningful work have originated in Western cultures and developed countries. Few studies have focused on the relationship between cultural and national diversity and meaningful work. The study of relationships between meaningful work, values, and organizational practices on individual, organizational, and national levels is challenging given different methods to aggregate data as well as the different levels involved. Both individual-level and multilevel studies are required to study the complex relationships between diversity and meaningful work. Assessing meaningful work from a national culture perspective could be problematic, as national culture fails to account for factors such as within-culture variability, acculturation, the changing nature of cultural aspects (e.g. values), and cultural tightness or looseness. Longitudinal and experimental designs should be used to study the relationship between cultural, national, and individual diversity and meaningful work.
{"title":"Cultural, National,and Individual Diversity and their Relationship to the Experience of Meaningful Work","authors":"S. Rothmann, Laura Weiss, J. Redelinghuys","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788232.013.24","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198788232.013.24","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter explores cultural, national, and individual diversity, and their relationships with meaningful work. Most studies relevant to meaningful work have originated in Western cultures and developed countries. Few studies have focused on the relationship between cultural and national diversity and meaningful work. The study of relationships between meaningful work, values, and organizational practices on individual, organizational, and national levels is challenging given different methods to aggregate data as well as the different levels involved. Both individual-level and multilevel studies are required to study the complex relationships between diversity and meaningful work. Assessing meaningful work from a national culture perspective could be problematic, as national culture fails to account for factors such as within-culture variability, acculturation, the changing nature of cultural aspects (e.g. values), and cultural tightness or looseness. Longitudinal and experimental designs should be used to study the relationship between cultural, national, and individual diversity and meaningful work.","PeriodicalId":336620,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Meaningful Work","volume":"16 1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132797011","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-10DOI: 10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198788232.013.2
N. Bowie
The central importance of dignity for meaningful work justifies an obligation to provide meaningful work. This is because people have intrinsic worth as “dignity beyond price” and also because, through meaningful work, people experience themselves as dignified persons. In the Kantian formulation, people have dignity because they have the capacity for autonomy and self-government, and therefore can be held to be responsible. This chapter takes dignity to be based on such universal characteristics, and argues that since meaningful work is a route to dignity then we must pay attention to the ways in which we can ameliorate struggles to experience our dignity in work. The normative characteristics of work designed to promote rational capacities include freedom to choose and to exercise autonomy, and conditions for independence such as sufficient pay. Management practices are highlighted which meet such normative conditions. Examples include open book management, recruitment, training, and participatory practices.
{"title":"Dignity and Meaningful Work","authors":"N. Bowie","doi":"10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198788232.013.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198788232.013.2","url":null,"abstract":"The central importance of dignity for meaningful work justifies an obligation to provide meaningful work. This is because people have intrinsic worth as “dignity beyond price” and also because, through meaningful work, people experience themselves as dignified persons. In the Kantian formulation, people have dignity because they have the capacity for autonomy and self-government, and therefore can be held to be responsible. This chapter takes dignity to be based on such universal characteristics, and argues that since meaningful work is a route to dignity then we must pay attention to the ways in which we can ameliorate struggles to experience our dignity in work. The normative characteristics of work designed to promote rational capacities include freedom to choose and to exercise autonomy, and conditions for independence such as sufficient pay. Management practices are highlighted which meet such normative conditions. Examples include open book management, recruitment, training, and participatory practices.","PeriodicalId":336620,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Meaningful Work","volume":"71 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126966303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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