Doing well, doing good, and doing with: Organizational practices for effectively cultivating meaningful work.

Abstract

ork, as Studs Terkel (1995) reminds us, provides a variety of functions and opportunities in our lives including "a search for daily meaning" (p. xiii). Given the large portion of our waking lives devoted to it and its centrality in modern life, it is perhaps not surprising that we look to work as a source of meaning beyond daily bread and cash. But can the places we work for help make work meaningful-something more than a "Monday through Friday sort of dying" (Terkel, 1995, p. xiii)?Historically, the search for meaning in and at work has tended to focus on the individual meaning-maker (Rosso, Dekas, & Wrzesniewski, 2010). This is appealing given that meaning is often in the eye of the beholder. However, we argue that meaning is not simply self-constructed; it is also socially constructed (e.g., Weick, 1995). That is, we draw upon social cues from people, culture, symbols, and the like when making sense of what is meaningful. Because work is often conducted in socially rich contexts, organizations are in a unique position to help members cultivate and enact meaningful work. Unfortunately, there is a paucity

Beginning’s End: How Founders Psychologically Disengage From Their Organizations

“…Using these preliminary steps, I identified key themes around which I would focus more extensive analysis. Bellah, Madsen, Sullivan, Swidler, & Tipton, 2008;Pratt, Pradies, & Lepisto, 2013;Wrzesniewski, McCauley, Rozin, & Schwartz, 1997) and my data. I wrote memos about the codes which were emerging for each founder's venture, concurrently.…”

“…Work orientations describe what individuals want from their work and what motivates an individual to work (Pratt et al, 2013). Bellah et al, 2008;Pratt et al, 2013;Wrzesniewski et al, 1997), the orientations that emerged in my study were grounded in the experience of being a founder. Bellah et al, 2008;Pratt et al, 2013;Wrzesniewski et al, 1997), the orientations that emerged in my study were grounded in the experience of being a founder.…”

Alternative Work Arrangements: Two Images of the New World of Work

“…As workers in alternative work arrangements have weakened organizational identity, meaningful work can be a partial antidote (Pratt et al 2013). Organizations and workers have begun to identify a variety of practices to infuse or activate work meaningfulness.…”

Why do I Spend Forty Hours a Week in an Office? Why Meaningful Work Matters and How to Create It

“…Relatedly, coworkers are also the reason a kinship orientation toward experiencing meaningfulness can exist in Pratt et al's (2013) model. This orientation asserts that individuals can understand their work as meaningful if they experience a close connection with the people they work with, again demonstrating the role of coworkers as others in establishing meaningfulness (Pratt et al, 2013).…”

“…Pratt, Pradies, and Lepisto (2013) categorized the ways that meaningfulness can be experienced by an individual into a craftsman orientation, serving orientation, and kinship orientation. A craftsman organization entails finding work meaningful through fulfillment in the work itself and doing a job well; a serving orientation entails finding a job meaningful through the joy of helping others through work; and a kinship orientation entails fulfillment through family-like connections with coworkers (Pratt et al, 2013). These unique ways an individual can experience meaningfulness demonstrate the importance of "the self" in deriving and fostering meaningfulness.…”