This post motivated by my reading of the Cubicle Culture column in today's Wall Street Journal, entitled: "A Modern Conundrum: When Work's Invisible, So Are It's Satisfactions" by Jared Sandberg...
The article makes what I believe is a very valid point: much of office work by us white collar schmucks in today's Information Age is "invisible" and; as a result, it is more difficult for us to find satisfaction from this work which we can not see.
Prior to the Information Age, nearly all work had a physical end; something tangible was produced which provided workers something they could see as a result of their labor. People could see, for instance, "a chair made or a ball bearing produced". Contrast that today with much of what is "produced" in today's offices: emails, meetings, etc. It is far more difficult to find satisfaction from producing these sorts of intangible, information-based "products".
Today's work is also much harder to measure because it's so intangible. Us schmucks don't produce widgets that can be seen. Since our work is harder to measure, it is more difficult to define goals and know when we've succeeded. These difficulties also contribute to our struggle to derive satisfaction from the work we do in our white collar office jobs. As a consultant quoted in The Wall Street Journal article states, "The person doing the landscaping has a better sense of accomplishment (than office workers)".
Companies need to find ways of addressing the issues highlighted in this article. Not only will the workers benefit on a personal level; the companies will benefit in the form of improved productivity and decreased turnover, to name a couple.
