by Peter Warr and Guy Clapperton, London, Routledge, 2010, ix + 190 pp., (paperback), ISBN 978‐0‐415‐45966‐2
This concise book combines two areas that are usually considered separately. The first and main focus is a self‐help approach to improving one's happiness at work. The second relates to issues within organisations affecting employee well‐being. The latter will likely be of more direct relevance to Prometheus readers interested in issues related to innovation, productivity and management. In this context, the book broadly relates to the changing nature of work and management in the knowledge‐based economy (KBE) era that has seen an increasing importance of knowledge‐based services activities staffed by tertiary educated knowledge workers.
This book helps employees think about their work situation and how that might be improved. It results from a successful collaboration between an academic (Work Psychology) and a journalist. There are questionnaires to facilitate the self‐help process. Chapters 2 and 3 set the scene by talking about work, and happiness/job satisfaction, respectively. Chapter 4 reviews nine main external sources of happiness and unhappiness at work, or indeed, in any situation or role. Thus there are also ideas for how retirees can improve their situation. This is particularly relevant to the vast bulge of baby boomers about to retire across the OECD, who need to start thinking about retirement planning now. Of course, just like work, the nature of retirement is also changing and becoming more flexible in the KBE era.
The ‘Needed Nine’ features of any job or role are: personal influence, using your abilities, demands and goals, variety, clear requirements and outlook, social contacts, money, adequate physical setting, and a valued role. These are supplemented with three more managerial factors – supportive supervision, career outlook, and fair treatment – to arrive at the ‘Top Twelve’ features in any job. Chapter 5 and 6 explore these to see how each plays its part in making workers happy or unhappy.
For managers and management theorists, there are plenty of well researched ideas here to both assess and understand why the labour force isn't as productive as it might be. As well, there are insights into how to enable the work situation to become more productive via increasing morale in the workplace.
Chapters 7 and 8 review the psychology of more personal aspects of happiness. Chapters 9 and 10 wrap up with ideas for strategies for employees to increase their happiness at work. The latter, and last, chapter also sets out straight‐forward steps managers can take to balance the goals of employee well‐being and organisational success.
One of the ways work has changed across the OECD, since the KBE era began in the 1990s, is the increased role of women in the labour force. This does get some discussion, as does aspects of different age groups in the labour force. The work–life balance issue also gets some mention, but a couple of major recent changes/issues in the labour force of advanced economies, are missing in action, so to speak, in the context of this book.
Firstly, a topical issue for many organisations and their managers is struggles with managing Gen Y – people in their 20s. I would have liked to see this issue addressed from the perspective of this book.
Secondly, and more importantly, a large, and rapidly growing section of the labour force in the KBE era are those who work, but actually are not on anyone's payroll. These are the self‐employed, contractors, or franchisees. They appear in some of the examples, but there is not much discussion here on this topic.
Considering mangers and the employee well‐being consequences of their decisions, the authors observe in Chapter 10 that managers sometimes need to take the long‐term, as opposed to the short‐term view. This sits well with the ideas of Joseph Schumpeter and other evolutionary economists who emphasise long‐term dynamic efficiency over short‐term static efficiency. The latter, often obsessed with cost cutting, usually impedes the former, which is more about innovation.
Organisational changes that lead to increased employee happiness in the form of increased morale (Chapter 3) can improve effectiveness and profitability. Thus this reviewer would be inclined to agree with the authors' contention that issues of staff happiness/morale should be shifted up the organisation agenda.
Overall, there are plenty of ideas, based on systematic evidence, in this book for decision‐makers who would like to build innovative/entrepreneurial organisations that actively engage their staff in a meaningful way. In today's difficult times, these are likely to be the main sorts of organisations, public or private, that will survive and thrive.
© 2010, Tom Mandeville