...feeling as they go about their work, why it matters, and how managers can use this information to improve job performance Inner Work Life Understanding the Subtext of Business Performance by Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer I 72 Harvard Business Review | May 2007 | hbr.org Leigh Wells knowledge work from its people, then you undoubtedly appreciate the importance of sheer brainpower. You probably recruit high-intellect people and ensure they have access to good information. You probably also respect the power of incentives and use formal compensation systems to channel that intellectual energy down one path or another. But you might be overlooking another crucial driver of a knowledge worker’s performance – that person’s inner work life. People experience a F YOUR ORGANIZATION DEMANDS hbr.org | May 2007 | Harvard Business Review 73 Inner Work Life: Understanding the Subtext of Business Performance constant stream of emotions, perceptions, and motivations as they react to and make sense of the events of the workday. As people arrive at their workplaces they don’t check their hearts and minds at the door. Unfortunately, because inner work life is seldom openly expressed in modern organizations, it’s all too easy for managers to pretend that private thoughts and feelings don’t matter. As psychologists, we became fascinated a decade ago with day-to-day work life. But our research into inner work life goes well beyond intellectual...
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...------------------------------------------------- Inner Work Life: The Engine of Performance By Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer Workers around the world are becoming increasingly disengaged from their jobs. AON Hewitt found a global drop of four percent in engagement levels in 2010 – the largest single-year drop in 15 years. And Gallup recently reported that the majority of U.S. workers are not engaged in their work. Moreover, Gallup found that highly educated, middle-aged workers were among the least engaged. This is especially troubling, because these are the very workers who should be most productively, creatively involved in their work. The cost of employee disengagement is staggering. Gallup estimates that, in the U.S. alone, disengagement costs businesses over $300 billion annually in lost productivity. Over the past 15 years, we have studied engagement by looking deeply into what makes people happy, motivated, creative, and productive at work. To do this, we asked 238 members of creative teams to keep a work diary; by filling out a confidential electronic questionnaire we sent them each work day over the course of a project their team was doing. We selected participants from 26 teams in 7 companies across 3 industries. The daily questionnaire contained a number of scale-rated questions that asked about the participants’ feelings, thoughts, and drive at work that day. In addition, it asked them to describe one event that happened that day that stood out in their mind as relevant to their work or the project...
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...WHAT IS THE BEST WAY to drive innovative work inside organizations? Important clues hide in the stories of world-renowned creators. ItturnS out that ordinary scientists, marketers, programmers, and other unsung knowledge workers, whose jobs require creative productivity every day, have more in common with famous innovators than most managers realize. The workday events that ignite their emotions, fuel their motivation, and trigger their perceptions are fundamentally the same. The Double Helix, James Watson's 1968 memoir about discovering the structure of DNA, describes the roller coaster of emotions he and Francis Crick experienced through the progress and setbacks of the work that eventually earned them the Nobel Prize. After the excitement of their first attempt to build a DNA model, Watson and Crick noticed some serious flaws. According to Watson, "Our first minutes with the models…were not joyous." Later that evening, "a shape began to emerge which brought back our spirits." But when they showed their "breakthrough" to colleagues, they found that their model would not work. Dark days of doubt and ebbing motivation followed. When the duo finally had their bona fide breakthrough, and their colleagues found no fault with it, Watson wrote, "My morale skyrocketed, for I suspected that we now had the answer to the riddle." Watson and Crick were so driven by this success that they practically lived in the lab, trying to complete the work. Throughout these episodes, Watson and Crick's...
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...Inner Life versus Outer life We all have two lives – outer and inner. Outer life is all about materialism – body, family, friends, country, studies, job, eating, playing, resting, entertainment etc. –this whole universe which we can see or perceive with our five senses of seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling. Outer life is all about my body in relation to other bodies outside and around me. While Inner life is all about spiritualism – self inquiry, who am I, why have I come here, who is God, where is God, why do I feel in a particular manner about one person and differently for another. Inner life is all about inner conversation with self. We are mostly concerned about learning about ways and means to improve our outer life – studies, degrees, position in society, promotion at job, fame, money. All the time we are learning how to be successful in our outer life and if we are successful than we do not want anything more. We are full of pride and say ‘I am happy and content, I have everything I wanted’. Is this true???? We do not want to learn about ways and means to improve our inner life. We wait to get old for ‘such a waste of time’. But by that time it is late because now we are not left with sufficient energy to explore and know thyself. We should invest our time in self inquiry often. If we spend time with ourselves for some time of the day, it will not only refresh us but make us more stable and in control. If we are aware of how our...
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...of Valencia The Power Of Small Wins Want to truly engage your workers? Help them see their own progress. by Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer SPOTLIGHT ON PRODUCTIVITY WHAT IS THE BEST WAY to drive innovative work inside organizations? Important clues hide in the stories of world-renowned creators. It turns out that ordinary scientists, marketers, programmers, and other unsung knowledge workers, whose jobs require creative productivity every day, have more in common with famous innovators than most managers realize. The workday events that ignite their emotions, fuel their motivation, and trigger their perceptions are fundamentally the same. The Double Helix, James Watson’s 1968 memoir about discovering the structure of DNA, describes the roller coaster of emotions he and Francis Crick experienced through the progress and setbacks of the work that eventually earned them the Nobel Prize. After the excitement of their first attempt to build a DNA model, Watson and Crick noticed some serious flaws. According to Watson, “Our first minutes with the models…were not joyous.” Later that evening, “a shape began to emerge which brought back our spirits.” But when they showed their “breakthrough” to colleagues, they found that their model would not work. Dark days of doubt and ebbing motivation followed. When the duo finally had their bona fide breakthrough, and their colleagues found no fault with it, Watson wrote, “My...
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...money they earn or combination of things. Because every type of success is currently different, and every road to success is different too, but there is two type of people has different opinion in the only way of success , some of them said the hard work is the only way to...
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...Motivation Crucial driver of a one’s work performance is that person’s inner work life. When there is facilitation to progress, every aspect of people’s inner work lives are enhanced, which leads to even greater progress. Because every employee’s inner work life system is constantly operating, its effects are inescapable. One’s performance is affected by constant interplay of perceptions, emotions and motivations triggered by everyday events (Kramer, 2007). In our MBA life we all are busy professionals and it’s very important to know that as individuals we bring within ourselves lots of things related to everyday events while performing a MBA related task. This is especially true in the case of group assignments where we set ourselves deadlines to complete different tasks and each other’s tasks are interrelated. There was this case of one of the member’s house getting burgled. Another member had assignments from other MBA programmes to be finished. We all had our profession and family related priorities. Team members understood what going on in other members mind during time of assignment and shared the responsibilities and motivated each other as to have enhanced inner work life which resulted in overall highly motivated performance. People are motivated, by thought-provoking work, challenge, increasing responsibility and more praise or recognition for good work. These intrinsic factors is the “generator” in people and drives their desire and urge for growth and achievement(Herzberg...
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...the newest report, nearly 36 million Americans lost hearing ("Hearing Loss: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment."). My best friend has become a deaf although she had the surgeries fifteen years ago. I have been diagnosed as hearing impaired for my ears. Likely, I feel worry about my disease because I understand that when hearing goes, it affects quality of work life, education and job opportunities, it causes concern for the health, and hearing loss is impacted on relationships with communication. Firstly, loss...
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...Inner torment is never easy to deal with. Inner torment can lead to a slow decline in a person's mental health. When you don't have your mental stamina, it's very difficult to thrive and survive in life. As a result, it's very important to be strategic about overcoming inner torment. There are a few ways a person can rise above the inner turmoil and get to the other side with a more joyous and life-giving experience. 1. Highlight and magnify the positives. When inner torment ensues, there's usually a trigger. The trigger could be any negative experience. It could be a devastating job loss, a financial hit or the loss of an estranged loved one. No matter what the situation is, it can lead to some negative thoughts. It's important to be diligent in the process of self-love. Every person has a number of good qualities going for them. If you're in the midst of torment, use this as a time to sit down and remind yourself of the positives. Recognize the good you possess and emphasize that. It's also the opportune time to begin reciting affirmations on a daily basis. Affirmations will change the mental conversation from a negative one to a positive one. 2. Indulge in healthy habits....
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...me. We do not much conform to rules, guidelines. We like to experiment and apply theories to real life. We thrive in an educational system where our interests are piqued. Topics such as human and social sciences interests us the most. While we learn new theories easily, we also tend to apply and validate these theories in real life....
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...individual is dynamic fulfillment that derives from ones inner sphere signifying outer peace. Peace within one’s self is gained through sacred meaning, and the diminishing of inner turmoil that restricts inner peace in which individuals require in order to achieve external peace within the world .Internal strife and peace will lead the restoration of peace in the outer world. In both Christianity and Islam, sacred texts are vital sources of information on all aspects of peace. They demonstrate principal teachings about peace, and teachings on inner peace as well as supporting the ultimate aim of world peace. Although man is unable to avoid conflict, they can teach themselves to respond in ways that avoid negative outcomes. The scriptural text, the New Testament is used as a sacred text among Christians as it is the key principal and foundational element of teaching. Peace is an underlying value that has been conveyed through the form of a message conveyed to Christian believers. Peace is at the heart of Jesus’ life and ministry. The New Testament expresses peace as virtue as it a key element of the reign of God. Jesus himself is known as the “prince of peace”. Peace being a common notion throughout Christian scriptural literature emphasize’ the importance of peace, combating conflict in which derives away from peace. The New Testament encounters inner peace as it an imperative characteristic in which individuals strive to achieve. Inner peace can be obtained through distinct resorts involving...
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...Religion and Peace 1) 2) 3) The understanding of peace in religious traditions Peace expressed through the sacred texts- principle teachings on peace Contributions to peace (Individual and World) Islam and Christianity The understanding of peace Christianity Concept of peace The New Testament understanding of the word ‘peace’ is living in an idyllic condition and communicating regularly with God, as epitomized by the Garden of Eden. Perfect peace was lost when Adam and Eve sinned (Genesis 3) but the coming of Christ restored the potential for peace. Therefore belief in Jesus enables humans inner peace in their lives and the looking forward to the day when Jesus will reign supreme on Earth. As Jesus states in John 16:33 peace is found in him. This is multifaceted. 1) His death was for human sin and allows humans and God to become one again. 2) His ministry is full of Jesus providing peace to those he came into contact with. Matthew 11:28-30, he offers peace to those that are troubled, in Mark 1:21-2:12 he casts out demons and forgives sins and in Hebrews 12:14 followers are encouraged to copy Jesus by making ‘every effort t live in peace with all men. 3) When Jesus returns will bring everlasting physical and spiritual peace on Earth for those who believe. The central theme of Jesus’ teachings is the Kingdom of Heaven. The kingdom of God is characterized by peace- there will be no hardships or grief or pain (Revelation). The righteous and faithful will be redeemed and will...
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...to Glasser, whether we are aware of it or not, we are all the time acting to meet these needs. While we may struggle to choose our feelings and physiology, we are able to directly choose our thoughts and actions. Sometimes however, we don’t act effectively, and this can have negative repercussions for our health and well-being. Reality therapy is therefore designed to find ways of meeting a person's basic needs, whilst facilitating clients to become aware of, and change negative thoughts and actions. This is to help them take control of their behavior, as well as the world around them. Ultimately, reality therapists take the view that changing what we do is key to changing how we feel and to getting what we want. How does reality therapy work? Reality therapy is a collaborative process between therapist and client, and it is unique in the sense that it is ongoing. This means that if one plan of action fails, new ones will continuously be devised until the therapist and client are both confident that positive results are taking place, or are a near possibility. Essentially, the practice of reality therapy depends on several key components: The counsellor-client connection A reality...
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...Generations * Education, skills and expertise * Show interest in the global preparation issue * Our determination and will power to change the world -> combined: sources of our strength Quote: “No matter what obstacles or difficulties, we can overcome these problems.” 3 Main Commitments In Life * Promotion of human values -> compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment and self-discipline * All human beings are the same * All want happiness and do not want any suffering * Promotion of religious harmony and understanding the worlds major religious traditions * Important for all religious traditions to respect one another and recognize the value of each others respective traditions. * To work to preserve Tibet’s Buddhist culture, a culture of peace and non violence Ethical Decision Making * “In order to lead a meaningful life, you need to cherish others, pay attention to human values and cultivate inner peace.” * “Pour main aim is to promote human values with a view to creating a more peaceful world for its seven million inhabitants. The purpose is not to wield power and influence, but to create inner peace.” * * “By inner values, I mean the qualities that we all appreciate In others, and toward which we all have a natural instinct bequeathed by our biological nature as animals that survive and there only in an environment of concern, affection and warm heartedness or in a single word,...
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...explicitly address the question at hand. When talking about inner peace, the student refers to the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus which has restored the covenantal relationship between God and humanity, sins have been forgiven, and this is what brings inner peace. The student also explicitly explored the idea that the teachings on peace are highly significant in the lives of adherents and she gives sound reasons why. The response shows, for example, that Christians are required to promote non-violence responses to conflict. She goes on to show how this call to peace has a significant impact on the decisions they are asked to make in order to adhere to that directive in their lives. Question: Evaluate the influence of Christianity in the lives of adherents in relation to their understanding and attainment of inner peace and contribution to world peace. The influence of Christianity in the lives of adherents is extensive and profound due to the religion’s emphasis on attaining peace through following the role model of Jesus Christ. Such a mandate permeates the entirety of a Christian adherent’s existence, entailing maintenance of right relationships with God and all people. Christians are required to reconnect with God through prayer and worship in order to attain inner peace, allowing for the regular renewal of Jesus as an example of unconditional and selfless agape love that contributes to both the achievement of inner harmony and the peaceful functioning of a global society...
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