[00:00.00]Unit Ten  Text
[00:14.94]Do you view work as a burden or an opportunity?
[00:18.83]Are you the kind of person who looks for ways to save your energy
[00:22.78]or the kind that finds spending your energy satisfying?
[00:26.12]Why do people like to complain about work?
[00:29.49]Find the answers to questions like these in the following essay.
[00:33.72]WHY PEOPLE WORK  Leonark R.Sayles
[00:39.39]Jobs and work do much more than most of us realize to provide happiness and contentment.
[00:46.24]We're all used to thinking that work provides the material things of life--
[00:50.47]the goods and services that make possible our modern civilization.
[00:54.73]But we are much less conscious of the extent to which work provides the more intangible,
[01:00.53]but more crucial,psychological well-being
[01:03.76]that can make the difference between a full and an empty life.
[01:07.81]Historically,work has been associated with slavery and sin and punishment.
[01:14.06]And in our own day we are used to hearing the traditional complaints:
[01:18.79]"I can't wait for my vacation," "I wish I could stay home today,"
[01:23.33]"My boss treats me poorly,"
[01:25.39]"I've got too much work to do and not enough time to do it."
[01:28.95]Against this background,
[01:31.04]it may well come as a surprise to learn that not only psychologists
[01:35.66]but other behavioral scientists have come to accept  the positive contribution of work
[01:40.81]to the individual's happiness and sense of personal achievement.
[01:45.12]Work is more than a necessity for most human beings;
[01:49.30]it is the focus of their lives,the source of their identity and creativity.
[01:54.55]Rather than a punishment or a burden,
[01:57.39]work is the opportunity to realize one's potential.
[02:01.73]Many psychiatrists heading mental health clinics have observed its healing effect.
[02:07.79]A good many patients who feel depressed in clinics
[02:11.42]gain renewed self-confidence
[02:13.56]when gainfully employed and lose some,if not all,of their most acute symptoms.
[02:19.81]Increasingly,institutions dealing with mental health problems're establishing workshops
[02:26.29]wherein those too sick to get a job in "outside" industry can work,
[02:31.90]while every effort's exerted to arrange "real" jobs for those well enough to work outside
[02:38.54]And the reverse is ture,too.
[02:40.78]For large numbers of people,the absence of work is harmful to their health.
[02:45.93]Retirement often brings many problems surrounding the "What do I do with myself?"question,
[02:51.99]even though there may be no financial cares.
[02:52.06]Large numbers of people regularly get headaches and other illnesses on weekends
[02:57.44]when they don't have their jobs to go to,and must fend for themselves.
[03:02.49]It has been observed that unemployment,
[03:05.23]quite aside from exerting financial pressures,
[03:08.28]brings enormous psychological troubles
[03:11.03]and that many individuals deteriorate rapidly when jobless.
[03:15.65]But why?
[03:17.01]Why should work be such a significant source of human satisfaction?
[03:17.59]A good share of the answer rests in the kind of pride
[03:21.53]that is stimulated by the job,by the activity of accomplishing.
[03:26.49]Pride in Accomplishment
[03:28.84]The human being longs for a sense of being accomplished,
[03:33.21]of being able to do things,with his hand,with his mind,with his will.
[03:38.64]Each of us wants to feel he or she has the ability to do something that's meaningful
[03:45.38]and that serves as a tribute to our inherent abilities.
[03:49.56]It is easiest to see this in the craftsman
[03:52.80]who lovingly shapes some cheap material
[03:55.75]into an object that may be either useful or beautiful or both.
[04:00.63]You can see the carpenter or bricklayer stand aside
[04:04.37]and admire the product of his personal skill.
[04:07.53]that is solely attributable to one person's skill,
[04:14.90]researchers have found that employees find pride in accomplishment.
[04:19.57]Our own research in hospitals suggests that even the houskeeping and laundry staffs
[04:25.63]take pride in the fact that in their own ways they are helping to cure sick people--
[04:31.17]and thus accomplishing a good deal.
[04:33.52]We're often misled by the complaints surrounding difficult work;
[04:38.56]deep down most people regard their own capacity to conquer the tough job
[04:43.63]as the mark of their own unique personality.
[04:46.66]Complaining is just part of working.
[04:49.35]After all,how else do you know who you are,
[04:52.72]except as you can demonstrate
[04:54.26]the ability of your mind to control you limbs and hands and words?
[04:58.26]You are,in significant measure,what you can do.
[05:01.81]Some are deceived into thinking that people like to store up energy,
[05:05.68]to rest and save themselves as much as possible.
[05:08.63]Just the opposite.
[05:10.43]It is energy expenditure that is satisfying.
[05:13.36]Just watch an employee who must deal with countless other people
[05:17.36]because his or her job is at some central point in a communicati ons network:
[05:22.84]a salesman at a busy counter,a stock broker on the phone,a customer representative.
[05:29.48]They'll tell you how much skill and experience it takes to answer countless questions
[05:34.44]and handle various kinds of personalities every hour of the day.
[05:38.70]Not everyone can interact with such persistence and over long hours,
[05:43.66]but those who do,pride themselves on a distinctive ability
[05:42.66]that contributes mightily to the running of the organization.
[05:46.63]But work is more than accomplishment and pride in being able to command the job,
[05:51.96]because except for a few craftsmen and artists most work takes place "out in the world,"
[05:57.39]with and through other people.
[05:59.43]Esprit de corps
[06:01.73]Perhaps an example will make the point;
[06:04.87]I remember viewing a half dozen men in a chair factory
[06:04.92]whose job it was to bend several pieces of steel
[06:07.97]and attach them so that a folding chair would result.
[06:11.61]While there were ten or twelve of these "teams" that worked together,
[06:16.65]one in particular was known for its perfect coordination and lightning-like efforts.
[06:22.05]The men knew they were good.
[06:23.94]They would work in spurts for twenty or thirty minutes before taking a break
[06:28.48]--to show themselves,by standers and other groups
[06:32.01]what it was to be superbly skilled and self-controlled,
[06:35.56]to be the best in the factory.
[06:37.70]When I talked with them,each expressed enormous pride
[06:37.78]in being a part of the fastest,best team.
[06:41.46]And this sense of belonging to an accomplished work group
[06:44.62]is one of the distinctive satisfactions of the world of work.
[06:48.78]One further word about work group satisfactions.
[06:52.62]Unlike many other aspects of life,
[06:54.99]relationships among people at work tend to be simpler,
[06:58.55]less complicated,somewhat less emotional.
[07:01.84]This is not to say there aren't arguments and jealousies,
[07:05.47]but on the whole,behavioral research discloses
[07:08.47]that human relations at work are just easier,
[07:11.56]perhaps because they are more regular and predictable and thus simpler to adjust to
[07:17.20]than the sporadic,the more intense and less regular relationships in the community.
[07:22.58]And the work group also gently pressures its members to learn how to adjust to one another
[07:28.22]so that the "rough edges" are worked off
[07:30.50]because people know they must do certain things with
[07:33.45]and through one another each day.
[07:35.90]Beyond the team and the work group,there is the organization,
[07:39.93]whether it be company or hospital or university.
[07:39.93]The same pride in being part of a well-coordinated,successful unit
[07:44.47]is derived from being part of a larger collectivity.
[07:48.23]Working for a company that is thought of as being one of the best in the community
[07:53.38]can provide employees with both status and selfconfidence.
[07:57.61]They assume,usually with good reason,
[08:00.17]that others regard them more highly,even envy them,
[08:03.93]and they're more competent than the average because of this association with a "winner,"
[08:09.50]a prestigious institution.
[08:11.66]We in truth bask in the reflected glory of the institution,
[08:16.16]and we seek ways of asserting our membership
[08:19.16]so that others will know and can recognize our good fortune.
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