Why do you work reveals the true meaning of work. Many people are numb to work, do the same thing every day, can't find the value of work, lose their enthusiasm for work, and can't experience the happiness of work. This working state of employees will not only make employees lose their enthusiasm for work, but also affect team effectiveness and enterprise development. The content of this book can change the working state of employees, help them to improve their work enthusiasm and increase their performance.
Who are suitable for reading?
Business leader
entrepreneur
People who want to change their working conditions
About the author
Barry. Schwartz, a professor of psychology at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, USA, is regarded as the second Nobel Prize winner in economics. After Kahneman, one of the most influential psychologists in the West published The Contradiction of Choice: Why More Is Less, which was selected as one of the top ten business books of the year by Businessweek and Forbes magazine and translated into 25 languages.
Learn what? How to keep working enthusiasm?
We go through thousands of struggles every day, get up, enter the company and start a day's work, just to make money? Of course not. Work is about doing what you like, making some contributions to society and reflecting the value of life. However, many people gradually lose their enthusiasm for work in repeated work steps, and mechanically carry out the same actions and processes every day, without upward motivation. Such a working state will not only affect the personal performance of employees, but also affect the overall development of enterprises. So, what should leaders do to keep employees enthusiastic? Today's article introduces ways to improve work enthusiasm. For employees, we should look for extra value and sense of mission; In the enterprise, we should give employees trust, set lofty enterprise goals and build a humanized enterprise. Only in this way can employees maintain their enthusiasm and improve their work efficiency.
You will also find that
The true meaning of work;
What are the ways to change the result of work?
What is "job remodeling"?
For more than two centuries, we have always equated "work" with "income". Until today, many people still ask "how much is the salary?" Of course, this is not because we are "superficial". In fact, this idea has a deep origin, which can be traced back to the economist Adam Smith.
Adam Smith believes that human nature is selfish, and people work only to get money. He advocates that entrepreneurs divide their work into simple, repetitive and meaningless units to improve production efficiency. In order to publicize this view, Adam Smith also gave a detailed description of the work of the sales factory: "One person stretches the metal wire, another person straightens it, the third person cuts it off, the fourth person sharpens it, and the other person cuts it to the top and connects it with the head."
If this assembly line is adopted, only 65,438+00 workers are employed, and 48,000 pins can be produced in one day. And a person can only do 20 stitches a day to complete all the processes. The method of assembly line has really greatly improved work efficiency. As long as workers are given enough money, they can do so much work.
Many psychologists also agree with Adam Smith's theory of human nature that "the exchange between people is profitable". Since then, many management scientists have inherited and promoted Adam Smith's views, among which Frederick Winslow Taylor is the most influential. Taylor found that most enterprises in the United States generally implemented the experience management system at that time. Capitalists don't know how much work workers can do in a day, and they always think that workers do less and get more wages, so by extending working hours and increasing labor intensity, the exploitation of workers is intensified. Workers, on the other hand, don't know how much work they can do in a day, but they always think that they work too much and get too little reward. Therefore, when capitalists aggravate exploitation, they use the method of "slacking" to resist, so that labor productivity will naturally not be high.
In order to help enterprises improve this vicious circle and improve labor productivity, Taylor proposed: enterprises should set up a department or institution specializing in setting quotas; In addition, through various tests and calculations, it is necessary to work out a "reasonable daily workload" for workers with scientific basis; Finally, it is necessary to implement a differential piece-rate wage system according to the quota completion, so that the contribution of workers is closely linked to the wage level. Taylor greatly improved the production efficiency of the factory by studying the actions and time spent by workers. He designed a perfect salary system to encourage employees to work harder, faster and more accurately.
It is these economists and psychologists' views that implant the theory of working for money into people's minds, and the incentive mode of money has become the main way for entrepreneurs to improve production efficiency. Barry schwartz, the author of this book, opposes the statement of Adam Smith and many economists that "people work for money". He believes that human nature is actually shaped by the environment, and financial incentives can really improve the production efficiency of enterprises, but at the expense of employees' autonomy and job satisfaction.
The author cites the survey data of Gallup, a famous survey company, on the job satisfaction of global professionals for more than 20 years from the 1990s to today to support his point of view. Gallup's survey spanned more than 20 years, covering 25 million employees in more than 65,438+000 countries. The results show that only 13% of the 25 million people are satisfied with their work.
Chaplin in the movie Modern Times was unfortunately born in an era of big machine industry. He was forced to do repetitive mechanical work on the production line, but there are more than one or two such enterprises in our real life. The "employee jumping off a building" incident of Foxconn, a typical assembly line enterprise, is no secret. Foxconn employees are no different from robots. They repeat assembly line work for a long time every day and work overtime.
They can rest every two hours 10 minutes. If they want to go to the toilet or drink water, they must solve it within ten minutes. The basic salary of employees is not high. Do you want to earn more money? No problem! If you work overtime, you will have money! However, overtime is conditional. Once employees apply for overtime, they will work overtime for one month in a row. Therefore, it is normal for Foxconn employees to work overtime with excessive physical load. It is precisely because of the lack of humanistic care that any small matter may become the last straw to crush Foxconn employees.
Foxconn's example strongly criticizes Adam Smith's view that people are not born to love money. If money is the only motivation for people to work, why didn't the incentive of money make Foxconn employees happy? In fact, human nature is the product of environment, and changing the working environment can change human nature's view of work, thus changing behavior. Next, we will talk about how to improve the enthusiasm of employees from two aspects: employees and managers.
We have read "Living Method" and "Dry Method" by Japanese business sage kazuo inamori, and there is a famous life equation in the book:
The result of life (or work) = way of thinking × ability × enthusiasm
Compared with thinking mode and ability, enthusiasm is obviously an easier factor to cultivate, change and control. Therefore, kazuo inamori has always advocated that employees should be enthusiastic about their work. If they want to maintain their enthusiasm for a long time, they can start with "giving extra value to their work" and "finding a sense of mission in their work".
1, giving the work extra value.
The author, Barry schwartz, has been taking part in summer internships during his college years. During his first internship, he was assigned to work in a clothing factory. He noticed that the ironing workers in the clothing factory had to work eight hours a day. They have been standing there ironing clothes. The conditions in the factory are very poor, and there is no air conditioning. The hot air in summer combined with the hot air from the ironing machine turned the factory into a big steamer. However, because it is piecework, workers keep ironing clothes in order to get more pay. He was assigned to write a financial report during his second internship. If the work is just boring, it can be tolerated. The problem is that their office is in the middle of a big office, surrounded by a circle of leaders' offices, which makes him feel that he is always being watched and his work is completely boring.
One summer vacation later, the author went to practice in a clothing factory in his family. Although the work content is no different from that of the previous internship, that is, ironing clothes and writing reports, he has always felt that he is contributing to the family business and working hard. He consciously understands all the workflow of the garment factory and works overtime voluntarily every day, hoping to improve the productivity of the enterprise through hard work. Why is there such a big difference in the author's performance, feelings and actions in the same position and the same work content? The reason is that the author gives the work extra value. In his eyes, work is no longer just about money, let alone completing tasks. His enthusiasm for work changed his behavior. What he thought was a "bad" job turned into a "good" job with his thoughts and mentality. If he loses his enthusiasm, a "good" job may become a boring "bad" job because it is repeated day after day, so his job is full.
2. Remodel the work and find a sense of mission in the work.
In the book, the author tells us the story of an ordinary cleaner. Luke is a hospital logistics staff, who is responsible for cleaning the ward every day. Once when Luke was cleaning a young patient's room, his family scolded him because they didn't see Luke cleaning the ward and thought he was lazy. But in fact, when Luke was cleaning the ward, the patient's family went out to smoke and didn't see it. But in the face of misunderstanding and scolding from the patient's family, Luke stood there without making any excuses for himself. He waited for the patient's family to vent, then picked up the broom and swept the room. Someone asked Luke why he did it.
In fact, Luke's job requirements include cleaning the floor, cleaning the glass, cleaning the bathroom, taking out the garbage and keeping the ward clean and tidy. But there must be no saying of "understanding the patient's family". Luke did this because he understood that the purpose of hospital service is to save lives and relieve the suffering of patients and their families. As a result, he redefined his job and consciously added "not blocking patients" to his scope of duties, which is what we call "job remodeling".
When people regard what they do as a "career", they will also get a sense of accomplishment. Some people will enjoy their work very much, but they are more concerned about their promotion and progress, because they can continue to be promoted and get higher salaries along this track. When people regard their work as a "mission", their sense of satisfaction and accomplishment is the highest. For these people, work is no longer a tool to earn money, but shows the meaning of survival. They believe that their work can make the world a better place. Undoubtedly, if you regard work as a "mission", you can gain more recognition and value from your work.
Third, save managers: full trust and decentralization.
If employees want to work hard and be enthusiastic about their work, they need the help of enterprises and managers in addition to self-efforts and self-salvation. Let's see what managers can do for employees.
1, set lofty goals for the enterprise.
When employees realize that their work is meaningful and can bring happiness to others, they will work actively, and what managers should do is to create happiness for employees and create the meaning of work. Interface, the largest commercial carpet manufacturer in the world, experienced a great change at the beginning of this century. Ray Anderson, then CEO of the company, realized that his company's pollution exceeded the standard and the environmental pollution was serious, so he set a goal for the company to achieve zero pollution in 2020. You know, the carpet manufacturing industry is actually an extension of the petrochemical industry, which is itself a highly polluting industry. The transformation is very difficult, which means that the company has to make great efforts and spend huge costs to develop environmentally friendly products and processes. In this process, it is possible to stop production or reduce production, which directly affects the profits of enterprises, but Anderson insists on the goal of "zero pollution" from beginning to end. Under the guidance of this goal, by 20 13, the pollution discharge of INTERFET has been reduced by 90%. What's even more surprising is that I thought the business volume would decrease during the transformation process, but I didn't expect it to increase. It turns out that the goal of "zero pollution" makes employees feel that they are working for a great enterprise that pays attention to public welfare, and the grand goal of saving the earth and the environment makes employees full of enthusiasm. It can be seen that the lofty goal of the enterprise can make employees have a sense of honor and belonging, and they will double this passion to their work. It's like when kazuo inamori was in his seventies, he was ordered to save the JAL enterprise on the verge of bankruptcy. Tens of thousands of employees who had been lazy before saw the old man doing the great cause of saving JAL without taking a penny. Who has the courage to be lazy? Take active action like chicken blood. As a result, with collective efforts, JAL enterprises recovered their vitality in just one year.
2. Trust employees and don't over-supervise.
When it comes to "trusting employees", you have to mention Liu Bei. Why did Zhuge Liang devote himself to Liu Bei till his death? Of course, it is inseparable from Liu Bei's trust. Zhuge Liang's company in Shu got enough respect from his boss Liu Bei, and he also had strong autonomy in his work. This is why he put his passion and creativity into his work, and took the development of Shu as his lifelong career. In fact, in the history of our country, Liu Bei is definitely not the only one who can trust employees so much. Zhang Jun, one of the four famous players in Southern Song Dynasty, is also a good leader who trusts employees.
According to Feng Menglong, a writer in Ming Dynasty, in The Complete Works of Think Tank, Zhang Jun once walked in his back garden and saw a veteran dozing off in the sun. Zhang Junyi kicked the veteran and asked, "Why are you so lazy?" Still sleeping in broad daylight? "
Arguably, the leader found that he was lazy, so he had to get up and explain and find a reason to get along first. Unexpectedly, the veteran sat up slowly and calmly replied, "Nothing except sleeping." This sentence aroused Zhang Jun's curiosity, so I asked him, "Then tell me, what else will you do and what do you want to do besides standing guard and patrolling as a soldier?" Seeing that Zhang Jun was not angry, the veteran became bolder. He said, "I know a little about everything, and I am good at business."
Zhang Jun was a good money collector. He became more interested when he heard the word "doing business". He quickly asked, "Then I will give you 10,000 yuan to go overseas. Do you dare to go? " Hearing this, the veteran only took ten thousand yuan. He said disdainfully, "Ten thousand dollars is not enough for me to waste my time." "Then how about I give you 50 thousand?" The veteran replied, "It's still not enough." Zhang Jun thought, this old guy tone is quite big, the heart is horizontal. He said, "Then tell me, how much do you want?" I saw the veteran holding out five fingers and saying to Zhang Jun, "At least 500,000." Zhang Junyi gritted his teeth and stamped his foot. Deal! So he gave the veteran 500 thousand to be at his disposal.
The veteran first built a luxurious ship with money, then recruited hundreds of beautiful women and musicians who can sing and dance, then sent people to buy silks and satins, exquisite porcelain, gold and silver utensils, and recruited 10 generals and 100 soldiers. After learning the customs of overseas countries for a month, they set sail.
A year later, the veteran came back with a boatload of treasures, rhinoceros horns, spices, precious medicinal materials and countless exotic goods. Roughly speaking, the value of these things is at least dozens of times the initial capital of 500 thousand. This made Zhang Jun very happy. He asked the veteran, "How did you do it?" At this time, the old minister said, "I went to overseas countries, claiming to be the trade envoy of the Great Song Dynasty, met the kings of various countries, and presented silk, satin and gold and silver treasures. As soon as they were happy, they gave me such a big treasure in return. "
Zhang Jun listened to silly, this business can do this? So he quickly said: "This business is worth it. How about you walk a few more times? " The veteran replied: "If you run again, you will be exposed. If you want to commit suicide, this is no joke. " . Zhang Jun felt reasonable after hearing this, so he gave the veteran a sum of money to enjoy his old age.
It can be said that Zhang Jun, who is addicted to money, gave 500,000 yuan, which can be said to be absolute trust. But then again, how did Zhang Jun see that this veteran can achieve great things? This is not mentioned in The Complete Works of Think Tank or The Jade Dew in He Lin, which also records this story. Some descendants speculated from the veteran's tone and supercilious look that Zhang Jun was not bragging.
These are the last words. Tell the story of Zhang Jun, what we want to say is: As a manager, once you agree with yourself, you should not be suspicious everywhere, but should give full trust. In addition, you may have noticed that after Zhang Jun gave the money to the veterans, he didn't ask about it again. He didn't ask the veterans about their progress from time to time, nor did he send someone to supervise them. This is particularly important.
Some grass-roots managers are accustomed to over-supervising employees out of concern for team performance, which can easily cause employees' rebellious psychology. If an employee is not only not cared for in the company, but also can't feel the basic trust and respect, how can he work actively?
Money is the motivation for people to work, but it is by no means the only motivation. The disadvantages of fast pace, assembly line and no humanistic care have already been fully reflected. People in the modern workplace pay more and more attention to spiritual things such as trust, freedom and sense of accomplishment. Therefore, as enterprise managers, we should create a working environment with a sense of mission and value for employees and give them more trust and care. As employees, we should learn to find the value outside the work itself, reshape the work, and find a sense of mission and value in the work.
Only when the mission and vision of the enterprise and the values of employees form the same frequency vibration can the enterprise truly find its own course and the employees truly become a self-motivated value-oriented talent.
Congratulations, you have finished reading 1272 books of your life with today's Happy Reading Club. I hope today's content can give you useful inspiration. (folio: Moon Cat)
Who do you work for? People do the right thing because it is the right thing.
Give employees full trust and care, create a valuable working environment, and improve the enthusiasm of employees.