May 19, 2007

On happiness and job

After the last post, I remembered something and left it as a comment on Guy's post (refering to Penelope's myth number one)

Am reposting it here for you all:

There was some research that stated that people 'happy' with their jobs are those who take ownership in it.

There was this anecdote that Dr. Udai Pareek (on e of India's foremost consultants shared) about a similar research he was doing for a hospital. He found that the gatekeeper's ownership scores were much higher and correlated with high pride he took in his job. These were higher than even the doctors' and nurses' scores. On being asked why he took so much pride in his work, he said "If I don't regulate the visitors' times, the patients won't get well".

So maybe it's not just money or relationship that guarantee happiness..but maybe something more intrinsic to oneself and not in the role/job

1 comment:

  1. Gautam,

    I sort of stumbled across your Blog and my compliments for the enormous width and depth of the contents.
    I share your comments on 'happiness and job' especially the key point made on how a feeling of 'ownership'makes the difference. I work for a well known FMCG MNC and am its Country Manager for Sri Lanka as well as managing its Southern India territory. The South India territory has a market share vs the only other competitor ( also a US MNC) of 75% while our All India average share is 52%. This territory is a delight for us -- high share, high profitability and Best Practise implementation. Its somewhat like that little village in Gaul where Asterix lived along with Obelix...Is it PEOPLE who make the difference? You bet it is. This region has seen stability of its field force and has a passionate sales and backoffice team. What is the other difference? Well, they all feel that they are entreprenuers and 'own' their territory. They will guard it fiercely , fight for resources and demand attention to the market related problems. We plan to use this territory as a case study within our company. And your thoughts on ownership resonate on this score. Cheers

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