June 23, 2008
Antonio Marchesi
Only a cursory critique of American culture is necessary to illuminate the existence of an alarming problem. Though deeply embedded within the fabric of the collective American psyche, a complex pattern can be discerned. The rise in popularity of self-help resources, facial treatments promising eternal youth, and the alarming increases in professional burnout suggest that Americans are dissatisfied. Interestingly, the very fabric of this country’s foundation suggests that its inhabitants refuse to remain docile during times of trouble or dissatisfaction. The entrepreneurial spirit pervading virtually every nook and cranny of the cultural landscape invites all people, regardless of age, race, or gender, to invest in solutions that proclaim the power and potential of American ingenuity to alter circumstances to conform to a new, more desirable reality.
The 21st century is characterized by sweeping technological advances, a cultural landscape that is in a state of change, and a prevailing makeover mentality that encourages an attitude of extreme personal dissatisfaction. Americans are thrust into an incessant quest to redefine the self to correspond to the latest trends of societal acceptability. There is an extreme preoccupation as of late with human deficiencies. Television shows such as MTV’s Made and WB’s Nip Tuck cultivate a gnawing and consuming sense of incompleteness that can only be alleviated by making serious modifications to one’s appearance and lifestyle. People are essentially problems to be solved. Interestingly, the solution to the problem is elusive and defies any and every attempt to bring a lasting state of existential wholeness and completeness as societal expectations change as frequently as the climate. Consequently, the law of diminishing returns is invoked as greater attempts to makeover the self are made while the demand for even more considerable modifications to being loom on the horizon. Interestingly, most of our attempts to construct the “proper self” inevitably deconstruct our abilities to effectively gauge our true selves. The external or outward nature of our focus stifles our aptitude for and interest in allowing our individuality to rise to the forefront of our daily activities thus causing us to live and lead critically disengaged from our soul. The 40 plus hours per week invested in professional activities carry the potential to suffocate rather than sustain, suppress instead of stimulate, as they are spent dealing with matters that are far from vocatio, or calling. An analysis of our work week more closely resembles that of a horse trained to fulfill specific tasks on the farm rather than humans infused with a divine calling or vocation. Sadly, the kinetic American lifestyle acts as a bulwark to self-realization. Consequently, Americans drift from one career to the next, one new experience to another, each promising to provide a greater return in the hope of finding something to satiate a thirsty soul.
The transient nature of the American professional lifestyle describe above might compel one to consider what motivates individuals to continue to strive for something more. In his excellent work entitled, “Treat People Right”, Edward Lawler indicates that expectancy theory is very useful in understanding that motivation is inexorably linked to rewards.
“Expectancy theory argues that people are mostly rational decision makers who think about their actions and act in ways that satisfy their needs and help them to reach their goals..The core of the theory states that people generally try to deal rationally with the world as they see it and to direct their behavior in productive ways. The theory views people as proactive, future-oriented, and motivated to behave in ways that they believe will lead to valued rewards.”
For the purposes of this post, rewards can be differentiated by their intrinsic and extrinsic values. In many for-profit organizations, employees may struggle to find intrinsic worth in their work as it only seems connected to bottom-line outcomes (extrinsic value). In less prestigious contexts, how is an assembly line worker or a sanitary engineer, (i.e. garbage man) to find intrinsic value in their efforts? Activities like teaching, ministry, and environmental protection seem much easier to assign intrinsic value to as they are focused upon improving the quality of life for others. Perhaps one explanation for the professsional restlessness shared by so many Americans is the difficulty in finding a balance between their expectations for intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. When imbalance is present, their is a compulsion to readjust the expectations or to remove oneself from the current context in favor of something that seems more likely to meet one’s established goals. Questions to Consider: As you think about your own situation, what types of rewards motivate you to perform well? What about extrinsic rewards like benefits, salary, etc? Are your espoused needs being met in this area? On another note, do you find intrinsic value in what you are doing? Is making a difference important? If your expectations are not being met, how are you channeling your frustrations? Are you eagerly anticipating the next best thing? Do you think you need to recreate yourslf in order to better correspond to your current professional landscape ? Are you denying your destiny? Do you feel nomadic? To what extent does your work match your calling?
We live in a culture that is committed to productivity. People voraciously search for new strategies that can increase personal efficiency in work and daily activities. Only a peripheral inventory of the newest books in the self-help or business aisles of the local bookstore is enough to elucidate a contemporary obsession with maximizing our output. The ambitious climate of the Industrial Revolution has not yet waned as an incessant drive to accomplish and produce more and more dominates our worldview. In essence, people are what they do. When one meets a new person and learns their name, it is generally only a split second before the question is posed, “What do you do?” The person may respond by saying, “I am a dentist” or “I am a teacher.” While a person may spend in excess of 40 hours per week fulfilling a particular occupational role, it is often customary to formulate our self-identity almost exclusively within the context of our work. In other words, our doing informs our being. While the notion of productivity is as ancient as the Garden, it is imperative that self-worth and identity are not to be found solely within the realm of the job. Humans are much more complex. Any attempt to encapsulate the totality of one’s being within the context of job insults the human race. An animal can be trained to fulfill a particular work task. Machines can be engineered to produce a product. However, humans are recipients of the imago dei, uniquely created as a rare piece of art to fulfill a greater destiny. However, though America celebrates the over-involved individual and is ranked as the most workaholic nation of the planet, Americans are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with their lives. Evidently, the latest fads to maximize personal efficiency are not working.
Bellah, Madsen, Sullivan, Swidler, and Tipton (1985) have explored the ramifications of employment within American society. They have identified three dominant orientations toward work that are reflective of most people. Generally people experience work as job, career, or calling. Bellah et al. explained that within the first orientation, people view work as job. They spend their time:
Focusing on the material benefits of work to the relative exclusion of other kinds of meaning and fulfillment. The work is simply a means to a financial end that allows people to enjoy their time away from work. Usually, the interests and ambitions of those with jobs are expressed outside of the domain of work involve hobbies and other interests. For those who view work as a career:
Work for the rewards that come from the advancement through an organizational or occupational structure. For those with careers, the increased pay, prestige, and status that come with promotion and advancement are a dominant focus in their work. Advancement brings higher self-esteem, increased power, and high social standing. (Wrzesniewski, 2003, p. 190)
In contrast to the aforementioned orientations toward work, those who embrace work as a calling, “work not for financial rewards or for advancement but for the fulfillment that doing the work brings. In callings, the work is an end in itself and is associated with the belief that the work makes the world a better place.”
Wrzeniewski noted that inherent within engagement is the presence of passion. He defined passion as an extreme interest in something that promotes intense meaningfulness. To what degree are passions present at work? To what extent do we allow our passions to reveal our calling? Pascal presented a somber account of the life experienced by those who do not cultivate passion. He said:
“Nothing is so insufferable to man as to be completely at rest, without passions, without business, without diversion, without effort. Then he feels his nothingness, his forlornness, his insufficiency, his weakness, his emptiness.”
In his text entitled, The Spirit of the Disciplines, Dallas Willard describes a state that many individuals find themselves in as they are unable to enjoy the consequences of intentional living. He writes:
“Some persons indeed try to abdicate their life, disown their spontaneity, seek security by ‘conforming’ to what is outside of them. But they don’t actually escape life or their responsibility for it. They only succeed in appearing ‘wooden,’ unlively. We may know what to expect from them, but we have as little delight in them as they do in themselves.”
Questions to ponder: Does your soul feel wooden? If your expectations are not being met and you feel disengaged in the workplace, how is this affecting those with whom you interact with regularly: your friends, family members, and colleagues? Do they sense your restlessness? What would it take for you dismiss the notion of yet another temporary fix or makeover and instead, clarify your calling and the right balance of rewards to increase your engagement with your work?
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