When it comes to happiness in the workplace, it turns out that what we really want is to be treated a bit like a toddler – we need to know the boundaries, but we'd also like a little extra room to move.
Many of us know from experience that little people, who are figuring out the world and their place within it, tend to react to being told what to do with tears and tantrums. And often, the exact opposite to what they're being asked.
As it turns out, under certain circumstances, we're not too dissimilar from our little ones when it comes to rules and regulations within the workplace.
Writing in the New Yorker, Maria Konnikova describes a recent case involving telecommunications company T-Mobile. Within its employee handbook, the company included a provision requiring workers "to maintain a positive work environment in a manner that is conducive to effective working relationships."
The National Labor Relations Board issued a ruling against it – noting that the wording was "ambiguous and vague."
Writes Konnikova of the decision:
"Because the "positive work environment" was never explicitly described, workers would have to err on the side of over-sensitivity—steering clear of "potentially controversial but protected communication in the workplace," as the ruling put it—lest they be punished."
And yet, achieving a positive workplace is an important goal. As Konnikova says:
"Research certainly suggests that people thrive in positive and supportive spaces: they are happy and satisfied; they are motivated and optimistic, setting higher goals and working harder and longer; they are creative; they are less likely to burn out and more likely to stick with a company or project."
Is it possible, however, to create positivity by mandating it? The short answer, it seems, is no.
Penn State psychologist, Alicia Grandey told the New Yorker, "…when anything feels forced or externally controlled, it doesn't tend to be as beneficial as when it's coming from the self."
"The irony is," she added, "when you're trying to get people to do something positive, you can't do it. Once it's required, it's fake and forced. It feels like Big Brother."
A study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology last year, looked at workplace "rules" around management of emotions and their impact on employee performance and customer satisfaction.
The researchers found that if rules were too vague (such as "be positive") or too specific (i.e. explicit guidelines around what you should say, when you should smile etc.) they had a demotivating effect.
Interestingly, the team found that the most effective results were achieved when there was a balance between employees having explicit guidelines as well as some flexibility in how these guidelines were implemented.
In a second study looking at salespeople, the strongest performers were those who had a high degree of autonomy when it came to their work. "People want to feel in control," Konnikova explained of the findings. " They want to be afforded respect and to determine on their own how to act."
It's this autonomy, she says, that ultimately helps to foster emotional positivity.
Grandey notes, says Konnikiova, that we are all still a bit like our two-year-old selves. "Tell a toddler exactly what to do and what not to do, and she balks. Let her figure it out within a certain framework, and she is happy."
So there you have it – you're not so different from your adorable – but headstrong – toddler after all.
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