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Simplified from
1. Watch the video with Japanese subtitles. The speaker is talking about the same topic as this story. The video is HERE. It is about 8 minutes long. You might want to stop to talk with a partner about the ideas.
2. Read the newspaper story. When you get to a dot (• ), discuss what you just read with a partner. Talk about the main ideas, what you understood and questions you have.
Word in red are the key ideas for the next section.
Rethinking Work
By BARRY SCHWARTZ AUG. 28, 2015
Many people don’t like their jobs. Most jobs don’t let people make decisions and be creative.
2. Read the newspaper story. When you get to a dot (• ), discuss what you just read with a partner. Talk about the main ideas, what you understood and questions you have.
Word in red are the key ideas for the next section.
Rethinking Work
By BARRY SCHWARTZ AUG. 28, 2015
Many people don’t like their jobs. Most jobs don’t let people make decisions and be creative.
HOW satisfied are we with our jobs?
Studies show that almost 90% percent of workers were “not engaged” with their jobs. Think about that: Nine out of 10 workers spend half their waking lives doing things they don’t really want to do. Work places are places they don’t really want to be.
Why? Maybe it’s just human nature to dislike work. Adam Smith, the father of “business management”, felt that people were naturally lazy. They would work only for pay. He said everyone wants to have the easiest life they can.
Many businesses seem to believe this. Today, in factories, offices and other workplaces are the same. Work is organized as we do it only because we have to. Someone is always watching workers, making sure they work fast. Their work involves a few decisions – and as little thinking – as possible.
•
People want a challenge.
This thinking is backwards. It is making us dissatisfied with our jobs — and it is also making us worse at them. Things need to change.
Adam Smith’s thinking is too simple. Of course, we care about our salaries, and we wouldn’t work without them. But we care about more than money. We want work that is challenging and engaging. We want some control over what we do. We need chances to learn and grow. We want to work with colleagues we respect. We need supervisors who respect us. Most of all, we want work that is meaningful. It must make a difference to other people.
We want these things so much that we may even be willing to work for less money. Some lawyers decide to help poor people for free. Doctors leave their nice jobs to volunteer in poor, dirty countries. In many countries, teachers have high status – but low pay.
•
But those examples are professional jobs. How about the cleaning staff? Telephone sales people? Fast-food workers?
People can change parts of their jobs to make them more creative.
I think these people are looking for something more than money. About 15 years ago, Yale University professor Amy Wrzesniewski studied cleaning staff at a large hospital. The cleaners’ official job duties never even mentioned other people. But many cleaners saw their jobs as including doing whatever they could to comfort sick people and their families. They wanted to help the doctors and nurses care for patients.
They would talk with patients. They helped calm sick people down so that nurses could insert IVs. They even danced for them. They would help family members of patients find their way around the hospital.
The cleaning staff received no extra pay for this “extra” work. But this part of the job, they said, was what made their jobs worthwhile. “I enjoy entertaining the patients,” said one. “That’s what I enjoy the most.”
When given the chance to make their work meaningful and engaging, employees do it. They do it even if it means that they have to work harder. Such cases should serve to remind us there is a human cost to making jobs simple but boring. When we do that, workers can’t be proud of what they do. The don’t get satisfaction from doing it well. Instead, they get nothing from their job except the pay.
•
Companies try to make money by being more efficient/ stopping waste. But investing in workers is a better way.
Businesses try to simplify work to be more efficient. That should make more money. But does it work? Actually, There is not much proof that it does.
Stanford University Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer found that workplaces that gave employees challenging, engaging and meaningful work were more profitable that workplaces that treated employees like parts of a machine.
He points to a study of 136 companies in many different industries. Those that place a high value on their people were 20% more likely to grow that those which didn’t. Growth was up to 50% higher in these companies.
Many other studies have shown similar results. When employees have work that they want to do, they are happier. And when they are happier, their work is better. The company does better, too.
•
The idea that people are lazy only becomes true if companies believe it.
This is not new information. So why so do many companies do things that take away challenge and interest?
I think it goes back to Adam Smith’s ideas that people are lazy and don’t really want to work.
Because companies act like that it true, it has become true.
Adam Smith wasn’t describing a fact about human nature. He was creating one.
I think it works something like this. You start a job with dreams. They are dreams about how you are going to create things. Change them. Solve problems. Make progress.
But you find out find out the company isn’t thinking about those things. They are only looking at how fast you can do the same thing over and over. They don’t pay you to create things. They don’t pay you to make progress. They just care about how much money they make.
Pretty soon, your dreams die.
•
Money is not the only thing. Companies should find ways to let workers create.
But people are not just driven by money. For example, people are more likely to do something difficult – for example, putting a sofa into a truck – if they are doing to help someone that if they are offered money. People like to help each other.
Of course, people should be paid well. But companies should remember that money isn’t the only thing we receive at work. People want to receive satisfaction
How can we do this? By giving employees more of a say in how they do their jobs. By making sure we offer them opportunities to learn and grow. And by encouraging them to suggest better ways to the work. And by listening to what they say.
But most important, we need to focus on the ways in which an employee’s work makes other people’s lives at least a little bit better. (And, of course, to make sure that it actually does make people’s lives a little bit better). The hospital cleaner is easing the pain of patients and their families. The fast-food worker is helping a busy parent.
Work that is well-paid is an important good. But so is work that is worth doing. Half of each day is a terrible thing to waste.
This is not new information. So why so do many companies do things that take away challenge and interest?
I think it goes back to Adam Smith’s ideas that people are lazy and don’t really want to work.
Because companies act like that it true, it has become true.
Adam Smith wasn’t describing a fact about human nature. He was creating one.
I think it works something like this. You start a job with dreams. They are dreams about how you are going to create things. Change them. Solve problems. Make progress.
But you find out find out the company isn’t thinking about those things. They are only looking at how fast you can do the same thing over and over. They don’t pay you to create things. They don’t pay you to make progress. They just care about how much money they make.
Pretty soon, your dreams die.
•
Money is not the only thing. Companies should find ways to let workers create.
But people are not just driven by money. For example, people are more likely to do something difficult – for example, putting a sofa into a truck – if they are doing to help someone that if they are offered money. People like to help each other.
Of course, people should be paid well. But companies should remember that money isn’t the only thing we receive at work. People want to receive satisfaction
How can we do this? By giving employees more of a say in how they do their jobs. By making sure we offer them opportunities to learn and grow. And by encouraging them to suggest better ways to the work. And by listening to what they say.
But most important, we need to focus on the ways in which an employee’s work makes other people’s lives at least a little bit better. (And, of course, to make sure that it actually does make people’s lives a little bit better). The hospital cleaner is easing the pain of patients and their families. The fast-food worker is helping a busy parent.
Work that is well-paid is an important good. But so is work that is worth doing. Half of each day is a terrible thing to waste.
1010 words
Talk to your partner.
Do you agree with Dr. Schwartz? Why or why not?
Do these ideas make sense for Japanese business? Why or why not?
3. Now watch the TED talk again with English subtitles.
Click HERE.
Barry Schwartz is professor of psychology at Swarthmore College and the author of the book “Why We Work.”
Talk to your partner.
Do you agree with Dr. Schwartz? Why or why not?
Do these ideas make sense for Japanese business? Why or why not?
3. Now watch the TED talk again with English subtitles.
Click HERE.
Barry Schwartz is professor of psychology at Swarthmore College and the author of the book “Why We Work.”