Happiness and work by Cynthia Fisher

Post date: Apr 23, 2013 8:17:06 AM

Article

'Happiness and work' by Cynthia D Fisher (2010)

International Journal of Management Review 12(4), 384-412

available online at http://epublications.bond.edu.au/business_pubs/304

Review

This is a detailed and interesting academic article for those interested in happiness at work, and in what research can tell us about the implications for individual employees and for organisations. It examines the urban myth that happy staff are more productive and concludes that:

'the 'happy-productive work hypothesis' may be more true than we thought.'p49

Important concepts of happiness are hedonic happiness (pleasures and pleasant feelings) and eudaimonic happiness (arising from moral virtue and right action). Positive psychology research has shown that individual happiness levels are not entirely fixed: happiness is 50% genetic (top down), 10% environmental, and 40% modifiable (bottom up).

Happiness in organisations can be at three levels: transient level (the impact of work events), person level (individual mood) and unit level (team, work unit or organisational level). Happiness at work can be measured using subjective and objective measures and, over many years, researchers have looked for a correlation between employee happiness and organisational success. They have discovered that employee happiness has a causal effect on organisational success.

Fisher examines the findings of workplace research and positive psychology, and concludes that there is a clear correlation between the success of organisations and the happiness and well-being of their employees.

“In short, person level [individual] happiness at work is correlated with, and is often predictive of, positive consequences for both employees and organisations.” p.42

Job satisfaction is a vital indicator of happiness at work, and has these key elements: job involvement or 'engagement'; a 'fit' between the job, the organisation and the employee; and positive work relationships. Fisher recommends that, to increase their happiness at work, individuals should:

• set and pursue challenging but achievable short term goals
• seek both person-job and person-organisation fit when choosing a job
• adjust their expectations to match with reality

“Individuals are happier when embedded in a work environment that matches their values and goals, and that meets their needs and preferences.” (p34).

To increase employee happiness, organisations should ensure:

• a respectful and supportive culture
• competent leadership all levels
• fair treatment, security, and recognition
• jobs are designed to be interesting, challenging, autonomous and rich in feedback
• skills development is facilitated, to improve competence and allow individual growth
• when recruiting, they select for person-organisation and person-job fit
• they work to reduce 'hassles' (events causing negative emotions), and increase good events which bring 'uplifts' (positive emotions)
• they adopt high performance work practices (which increase happiness because they satisfy 3 basic needs in self-determination theory: competence, autonomy and relatedness)

Academic interest

A very thorough and well structured analysis of the current (2010) state of knowledge about the impact of happiness (and positive emotions) in the workplace – on individuals and on organisations. This article will be of interest to academics in the fields of management, employment and well-being (positive psychology).

Practitioners

For managers wishing to establish a productive work environment, there is academic evidence for the impact of staff happiness on the bottom line, but not detailed advice on actions to be taken. This is an academic article which would be of interest to those studying for management qualifications.

Self-helpers

This article is not designed for self-helpers.

Best Bits

Fisher examines different measures of happiness and the constructs on which they are based:

'Happiness related constructs are usually defined and measured as transient states that vary at the within person level and include state positive mode, the experience of flow, and discrete emotions such as joy, pleasure, happiness, and contentment.' p.7

Individual happiness is a predictor of individual success in life (rather than the other way around):

“Compared with their less happy peers, happy people earn more money, display superior performance, and perform more helpful acts.” (Boehm & Lyubomirsky, 2008, p101). Happy people are less likely to experience periods of unemployment (Diener et al, 2002) and more likely to succeed in job search. As well as charming interviewers (Burger & Caldwell, 2000), their cheerfulness may attract social support from work colleagues, thus enabling them to perform better, as well as upwardly boosting supervisor's perceptions of their performance.” p.40

Factors contributing to individual happiness are examined:

'A very important question concerns what makes people happy, and why some people are happier than others. Generic answers are 1) something in the environment or circumstances of the person makes them happy, 2) something inside the person predisposes them to be more or less happy, 3) an interaction of person and situation creates happiness, and 4) volitional behaviours impact happiness. There is support for all of these having important implications for happiness.' p.20

Fisher succinctly explains the 'Losada ratio' which predicts an upward spiral resulting from a tipping point of positive versus negative interactions at work:

'Frederickson & Losada (2005) showed that individuals who were 'flourishing' experienced a ratio of 2.9 or more instances of positive affect for every instance of negative affect.” p.23

Quoting from the employee survey site http://www.greatplacetowork.com Fisher reports:

Happy employees 'trust the people they work for, have pride in what they do, and enjoy the people they work with.' with the cornerstone trust in employer built on credibility, respect and fairness.' p27

About the author

Cynthia Fisher is Professor of Management, School of Business, Bond University, Queensland, Australia and this article is available on the University website.