How work can be Made Meaningful- Katie Bailey

Kakatiya University Warangal

III Year Sem 6 -   Unit-5 Prose

 How work can be Made Meaningful

                                        Katie Bailey

For complete lesson, click the below link.

https://www.vunela.com/how-work-can-be-made-meaningful/

 

Question:- what does Kaite Bailey say about how work can be made meaningful in her essay? (KU June 2023) 

About the author

Kate is a professor of work and employment. Her current research focuses on what makes work meaningful and the experience of work, on employee engagement, and on strategic human resource management

About the text

The author gives an insight into the meaningfulness of work. She and Adrian Madden interviewed 135 people belonging to various fields to know what they perceived as meaningful work and how it could be made meaningful.

        Humans have an innate desire to find meaning in their work. The writer states, though meaningfulness is linked to other positive attitudes such as feeling of satisfied or engaged, it is distinctive. According to Kate, meaningfulness is distinct in several ways, and she cites it's five distinctive features. 

Firstly, it is connected to other people because people find their work meaningful when they see its positive impact on others. Not only  big professionals consider their work meaningful, even low-profile workers like bin men consider their work meaningful because they think that their recycling work makes the planet cleaner and greener for the future generation. 

Second, sometimes meaningful moments may also be filled with sadness. Some priests considered their work most fruitful when they could care for those who were grieving.

Third, meaningfulness is not a continuous state and is associated with some moments in time. The author cites an example of an actress performing with prisoners.

Fourth, we do not find the meaning of work immediately; it needs time. 

Finally, the meaningfulness of work can be described by the individuals’ jobs' impact on their personal lives.

Most of us assume that only doctors and nurses find meaning in their work, but bin men, priests, stonemasons, and entrepreneurs also find their work meaningful. The workers' sense of meaningful work is destroyed by the managers, who do not involve workers in decisions, do not thank or acknowledge their contributions, and use bullying tactics. 

If employers want their staff to find their work meaningful, they have to provide positive work climate.  Kate finally states that our job becomes worthwhile, when our work improves other's life even little bit.