So, as we think of politics, let's look back at human resources and think a bit of what makes people happy:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/science/16tier.html
In today's Times, John Tierney reviews research that says focused attention increases happiness. Researcher's particularly note that sex makes people most happy (does this mean sex requires attention?), but that at other times, continued focus on the task at hand increases happiness while distraction and inattention decrease happiness. Further, the relation appears to be causal--that is, evidence shows that attention increases happiness and not that unhappiness leads to inattention.
From a human resources perspective, does this research indicate that one task of leaders/managers is to design work environments that support increased attention to task as a means to improve employee happiness? If "beatings will continue until morale improves," then if those beatings make us pay attention, perhaps such methods actually offer some work--although I might suggest other means, such as well-designed tasks, increased engagement and ownership, and blantant appropriate directions to focus on the work.
One other thought, do we in the public service ignore the need to design good work because we feel our colleagues (and us) get enough out of the "goodness" of working for the public?
Russell West Jr.
This article was a bit of a wash... which is better? I honestly had my doubts about the research findings. What I am struggling to understand is how they determined when daydreaming was not a period of concentration. Many times when my mind wanders I end of concentrating, even obsessing over an idea or issues, trying to solve it the puzzle. Is this not a form of concentration? The only reason I think daydreaming got a negative wrap is becasue we do tend replay negative thoughts over in our mind more than positive.
ReplyDeleteAlso, who chooses when they daydream? But, I did like what you got from the article Russell and agree completely with your suggestions of how to utilize this "allegation", lol. I think that keeping people happy with engaging work that promotes ownership and even competition is good, but I think this happiness has more to do with the completion factor and feeling of usefulness as opposed to concentration...that is merely a correlation!
Helga Nyanffor
Speaking of designing work well, I’m curious where Tierney would stand on multitasking. While my own experience of “flow” moments suggests that I am at my happiest and most effective when I am fully engaged in a single task, I also pride myself in my ability to multi-task, particularly in a professional context. And I suppose I’m not alone in deriving satisfaction from accomplishing a number of simple yet unrelated tasks successfully in the span of time normally required to achieve any one of them.
ReplyDeleteTierney’s causal link between attention and happiness seems to apply to single-pointed attention only. If happiness is the product of single-pointed attention and if happy people are more productive, then are multi-tasking people neither happy nor productive? This view may be supported by recent attentional research (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95256794), which suggests that multi-tasking is a myth and that we are actually less productive when we are trying to accomplish more than one task at a time.
With regard to mind-wandering, other current research suggests that dividing our attention is not only possible but that it serves a specific goal. In this TED talk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf4kbi76yGk) Columbia Assistant Professor Malia Mason suggests that when the task at hand requires only a small portion of our attentional capacity, we can “releverage surplus attentional resources” in mind-wandering activities. Mason argues that while mind-wandering does not contribute to the accomplishment of the immediate goal at hand, it facilitates the realization of open-ended goals. Mason defines open-ended goals broadly; the spectrum may include everything picking up toilet paper and becoming a tenured professor. Either way, if fulfillment of these goals enhances our life experience and if mind-wandering facilitates their accomplishment, then mind-wandering may also have a role in securing our happiness. This finding would directly disagree with Tierney’s suggestion that mind-wandering causes unhappiness.
So, can both single-pointed attention and mind-wandering make us happy and, potentially, increase our productivity? And is multi-tasking the enemy of both?