Thursday, June 6, 2013

Scale to measure Happiness of an individual



Can I get a scale to measure Happiness of an individual working in business organization.

Happiness@work: Don't  label people lazy. Published in Corporate Dossier ET, May 31, 2013, Prof Srikumar Rao, Author of "Happiness at Work"  

Question: I have been promoted to head a new division and have inherited many workers who are downright lazy. They do not carry their load and overall performance suffers. Good workers get dispirited and slacken
their efforts as a result. Any tips? 

Answer: 

Here are two questions to ask yourself: Why is this happening and who is responsible? Our natural tendency is to blame the workers for having a poor work ethic and punish them in some way - perhaps even fire them.

It reminds me of a cartoon I saw many years ago that depicted an overseer using his whip on galley slaves chained to their oars. The caption said: whippings will continue till morale improves. My friend Ben Zander is conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In the orchestra world the conductor is emperor - if not God - and the musicians do not stand up to them. 

If a particular instrumentalist is not playing up to par in the conductor's opinion, that player is history.  Ben has a different approach. When  his  first  violinist  made  mistakes  during  a  rehearsal Ben asked himself, "What am I
doing wrong that my first violinist cannot play her best?" When you ask different questions, you get different answers.  And  in one of these new answers  you may find the solution  you are seeking. Don't be in a hurry to label the workers 'lazy'.

They may be or they may not be but you have not been in your new position long enough to tell. Instead try to discern what are the organizational rules and past practices that promote the behavior you decry. 

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