Terri said: "We must not, though, attempt to create meaning for others.
This has been a failing I've seen with the whole Excellence ethic, where
managers and workers assume an heroic stance and "meaning" is attributed
based on revenue increases. "
Yes this is what Frankl says too. We must all find our own meaning in
what we do. He also says that meaning can be found in three ways; 1)
Creatively - through what we give to the world. 2) Experientially - by
our appreciation of the world, and in a sense what we take from the world.
3) Attitudinally - by the stance we take to situations we face. Our
ultimate freedom as human beings is our freedom to choose our response to
the situations (particularly the suffering) that we face in life.
But another point Frankl makes is that we cannot pursue meaning directly.
Meaning is rather a consequence of how we live our lives. But is meaning
entirely subjective? If so then what is meaningful work? I have a
problem with this because my idea of a meaningful organization is going to
be different to the next person's, and therefore every organization could
be a meaningful organization regardless of how it operates. And if a
person derives meaning from creating a financially successful businesses
who am I to argue with that.
Tom Terez has directed my attention to his site at:
http://www.meaningatwork.com
The comments made by contributors to Tom's page seem to coincide with my
idea of a meaningful organization. Personally I like to do work that in
some small way improves the quality of other people's lives, maybe by
improving communications, or reducing destructive conflicts, or improving
safety, or reducing harmful environmental effects etc. And often a
side-effect of this work is that the business performs better financially
too. But how can I say that this work is any more meaningful than the
work anyone else does? I don't think I can.
Thanks to everyone who has replied so far, I have found all of the replies
useful.
Regards
Peter H. Jones
Peopletronics Limited, PO Box 30 451, Lower Hutt, New Zealand.
peter@peopletronics.co.nz http://www.peopletronics.co.nz
Tel. 64 4 569 8875, Fax. 64 4 569 8881
--"Peter H. Jones" <phj@actrix.gen.nz>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>