According to Catherine Bailey and Adrian Madden’s published study on sloanreview.mit.edu:
- “Recently, researchers have shown meaningfulness to be more important to employees than any other aspect of work, including pay and rewards, opportunities for promotion, or working conditions. “
- “Meaningful work can be highly motivational, leading to improved performance, commitment, and satisfaction.”
- “We interviewed 135 people working in 10 very different occupations. It was often revealed to employees as they reflected on their work and its wider contribution to society in ways that mattered to them as individuals. People tended to speak of their work as meaningful in relation to thoughts or memories of significant family members such as parents or children, bridging the gap between work and the personal realm.”
- “Our research showed that poor management was the top destroyer of meaningfulness.”
Professor Jennifer Aaker, a social psychologist at Stanford Graduate School of Business, has explored in her study how happiness and meaningfulness lead to different choices. In her interview with Stanford news service, she says:
“The meaning of happiness shifts in systematic ways over the life course. This finding is important for two reasons. First, it suggests the meaning of happiness is dynamic, perhaps more than people think. In general, people leading happy (but not necessarily meaningful) lives derive joy from receiving benefits from others. In contrast, people leading meaningful (but not necessarily happy) lives experience joy from giving to others. Whereas meaningful choices are often not pleasurable to make, and indeed may come at a cost or involve pain, they are often associated with a larger purpose. ”
Important points from her study:
- “If happiness is about getting what you want, then meaningfulness is about expressing and defining yourself. A life of meaning is more deeply tied to a valued sense of self and one’s purpose in the larger context of life and community.”
- “We spend most of our time at work. So understanding how we should be spending our time at work is much more important. The more time that individuals spend with their partners, best friends, and close friends, the happier they are. When they spend time with people who they dislike or when they spend time alone, their happiness levels drop.”
Source: news.stanford.edu & sloanreview.mit.edu
Legal Notice: The information in this article is intended for information purposes only. It is not intended for professional information purposes specific to a person or an institution. Every institution has different requirements because of its own circumstances even though they bear a resemblance to each other. Consequently, it is your interest to consult on an expert before taking a decision based on information stated in this article and putting into practice. Neither MuhasebeNews nor related person or institutions are not responsible for any damages or losses that might occur in consequence of the use of the information in this article by private or formal, real or legal person and institutions.
