Discussion: View Thread

Dear List,

Dutch brought up an interesting thread regarding the human mind
and the need for work. I find this to be a very interesting
topic. Here are some amateur views...forgive me, but I have very
little formal background in the degree of education that most of
this list shares.

We dream at night. Why? I think it is for the same reason. If
the brain is not getting stimulation or a problem to work on, it
assumes that we are dead! This makes sense to me if you look at
us as animals. Our brains may have developed beyond that of the
apes (though some may challenge this) as an advantage in Survival
of the Fittest. This might also be why we complain a lot.
Wouldn't it be to our advantage to (1) constantly anticipate
something going wrong that might harm us, (2) develop a plan to
prevent or circumvent the 'danger' (3) develop the right attitude
to attack or prevent the problem?

I am in the business of Continuous Improvement (Kaizen) with
Empowered Teams. I operate off of the premise that people are
unhappy with the current situation. Improvement is nearly
impossible if people are content with the current situation. If
they are content...I try and either prove to them that they are
unprepared or content because of the lack of information. I then
try and present them with information that will cause them some
level of concern.

This has caused me to define work (Continuously Improved Work) as
this: " The amount of energy expended on a project to take it from
a lower value to a higher value." This definition has helped me
because when I am wanting to sell an improvement project I ask the
team to list for me all of the problems that they are having with
their current process - hopefully creating an awareness of
discontent...and then asking them how they would like it to be
(ideal). I can plug in concepts and techniques in the 'how to get
there from here'. I used to sell projects by listing only the
advantages of going where I was, instead of going to where they
are and showing them that mine is better. Didn't work.

Most, if not all of our projects are based on three questions:
"Where are we now?" - "Where do we want to be?" and "How do we get
there?" I think the How to Get there = work.

I have found that in most cases...if people are disastisfied with
the current situation, but have no support or idea of what a
better situation is...will resort to non-productive blaming and/or
victimizing. This ties in with what Dutch was saying..but in my
own words...it is as if people need problems to work on...if they
cannot fathom a better way (for lack of imagination or experience)
they are stuck on the current situation and try to solve problems
without movement. Kind of goes back to the quote that someone on
the list put at the end of one of their postings - "A problem
cannot be solved by the same consciousness that created it." - A.
Einstein.

Likewise, if people know a better way, but do not have a good
understanding of the key characteristics of what it is that they
are disatisfied with in their current situation, they are driven
to make changes, only to find themselves right back in the same
boat - again, a lot of energy was expended but it did not equate
to work (equates to waste?)

Does this make any sense? - or am I totally ignorant here?

I also, by the way, use this same formula to define leadership. A
manager is one who has a great understanding of the current
situation, but little or no experience or desire to move to a
better situation. A leader, on the other hand, has a clear
understanding of the current situation as well as a vision of a
better place, with a plan to get there.

What do you think?

Thanks,
Rick Corcoran
Continuous Improvement/ Employee Empowerment Mgr.
Mark I
Excel Industries
corcoranre@excelinc.com

Thanks, Rick, for your insight. I did a lot of thinking about this
dissatisfaction. At first I thought that people still move forward when
satisfied and I still think that somewhat.

My company, Computing Solutions, has people who are happy with their jobs, but
are never completely satisfied. They are naturally dissatisfied! You hit it on
the head. We really have no leaders or all leaders, maybe. They know the
objectives and they do what it takes to get there. They also have the power to
change and add things as long as they keep doing what works.

Computing Solutions also offers a Money Market retirement plan that depends on
people's salary and the cash flow. Their salary depends on the sales, thus
built in dissatisfaction. They all know the financials.

This is easier to accomplish in a small company. I admire anyone who can do it
in a large corporation. I'm not sure I'd be up to that task.

Barbara Golden

On Tue, 13 Jan 1998, Rick Kennett wrote RE: The nature of work
>I just want to get my two cents in on the nature of work. I suspect
>that what Dutch was saying is true but I believe there is more. Keeping
>our minds occupied is certainly important but it is the result of our
>work, our creations, our deliverable that allow us to contribute and
>collaborate and *belong* to a larger process. The "objects", our
>creations, be they service or product that afford us membership. More
>then just a busy mind, it is social.

Having dug ditches, loaded tons of alfalfa bales on trucks, taught college
physics lab, managed software engineering organizations and helped CEO's
recognize their blind spots, it seems to me that work is not the thing we
seek. Rather, information is what the mind seeks, at least a healthy mind,
-- all the way from simple stimulii of the five senses to puzzling over
what language some poet is trying to establish. Work is one way of
engaging in information processing and can be beneficial. But sitting on
Coronado Island at sunset or taking a Corvette around Turn 9 in a four
wheel drift is equally rewarding. A sense of accomplishment, perhaps even
competency, is key -- otherwise we could all just learn self hypnosis -- or
get Oprah to do it.

Jack Ring
32712 N. 70th St.
Scottsdale, AZ 85262-7143
602-488-4615

Jack,

Not an altogether different view from that of Henry Mintzberg. You would
probably enjoy is book Mintzberg on Management. It is from 1989, but
still interesting.

Jim Dobbins


Jack Ring wrote:

> On Tue, 13 Jan 1998, Rick Kennett wrote RE: The nature of work
> >I just want to get my two cents in on the nature of work. I suspect
> >that what Dutch was saying is true but I believe there is more. Keeping
> >our minds occupied is certainly important but it is the result of our
> >work, our creations, our deliverable that allow us to contribute and
> >collaborate and *belong* to a larger process. The "objects", our
> >creations, be they service or product that afford us membership. More
> >then just a busy mind, it is social.
>
> Having dug ditches, loaded tons of alfalfa bales on trucks, taught college
> physics lab, managed software engineering organizations and helped CEO's
> recognize their blind spots, it seems to me that work is not the thing we
> seek. Rather, information is what the mind seeks, at least a healthy mind,
> -- all the way from simple stimulii of the five senses to puzzling over
> what language some poet is trying to establish. Work is one way of
> engaging in information processing and can be beneficial. But sitting on
> Coronado Island at sunset or taking a Corvette around Turn 9 in a four
> wheel drift is equally rewarding. A sense of accomplishment, perhaps even
> competency, is key -- otherwise we could all just learn self hypnosis -- or
> get Oprah to do it.
>
> Jack Ring
> 32712 N. 70th St.
> Scottsdale, AZ 85262-7143
> 602-488-4615

On Sat, 17 Jan 1998, Jim Dobbins wrote Re: Work
>
>Not an altogether different view from that of Henry Mintzberg. You would
>probably enjoy is book Mintzberg on Management. It is from 1989, but
>still interesting.

Jim,
I appreciate the reminder. I agree that Mintzberg on Management is equally
pertinent.
I do not want to leave the impression that Herzberg is the only word. Thanks.

Jack Ring
32712 N. 70th St.
Scottsdale, AZ 85262-7143
602-488-4615

This is very interesting book. I agree, it is a well written book.

Felix

Jim Dobbins wrote:

> Jack,
>
> Not an altogether different view from that of Henry Mintzberg. You would
> probably enjoy is book Mintzberg on Management. It is from 1989, but
> still interesting.
>
> Jim Dobbins
>
> Jack Ring wrote:
>
> > On Tue, 13 Jan 1998, Rick Kennett wrote RE: The nature of work
> > >I just want to get my two cents in on the nature of work. I suspect
> > >that what Dutch was saying is true but I believe there is more. Keeping
> > >our minds occupied is certainly important but it is the result of our
> > >work, our creations, our deliverable that allow us to contribute and
> > >collaborate and *belong* to a larger process. The "objects", our
> > >creations, be they service or product that afford us membership. More
> > >then just a busy mind, it is social.
> >
> > Having dug ditches, loaded tons of alfalfa bales on trucks, taught college
> > physics lab, managed software engineering organizations and helped CEO's
> > recognize their blind spots, it seems to me that work is not the thing we
> > seek. Rather, information is what the mind seeks, at least a healthy mind,
> > -- all the way from simple stimulii of the five senses to puzzling over
> > what language some poet is trying to establish. Work is one way of
> > engaging in information processing and can be beneficial. But sitting on
> > Coronado Island at sunset or taking a Corvette around Turn 9 in a four
> > wheel drift is equally rewarding. A sense of accomplishment, perhaps even
> > competency, is key -- otherwise we could all just learn self hypnosis -- or
> > get Oprah to do it.
> >
> > Jack Ring
> > 32712 N. 70th St.
> > Scottsdale, AZ 85262-7143
> > 602-488-4615

I heard this food for thought about work in my Kabbalah class last week:

"The fear of not having money is the fear of not wanting to work" (certainly
something to ponder).

"People benefit from my energy as long as I have it and as long as my heart
beats—that's work."

This says that work is not for the benefit of myself, but for the benefit of
others. Sometimes we accept jobs that are for the sake of giving something we
had not thought of doing for our own fulfillment.

Barbara Golden