What makes an organization happy???

[Vijay Kumar Shrotryia]

hi friends
I just would like to initiate a discussion on the constituents of making an organisation a happy org. In my view EE is one such effort which could enhance employee satisfaction, so Employee Satisfaction should be considered first constituent. Then comes the satisfaction of the customers/clients which could be achieved by providing better value for money and excellent service quality. Then comes the management which of course would be interested in better profitability as well as better impression about the organization.
Another constituent could be responsibility towards society or as it is termed in management literature CSR. Socially responsible organizations and their effort to sustain such sense of social responsiveness can go a long way in making an organization happy.....
There could be many more such dimensions which we could talk about and explore...

[Terrence Seamon]

Vijay and all,
Regarding happiness...

I just read some news that research says that happiness is contagious. Here are a couple links:

Being happy can make your friends happy:
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2008/12/05/being...

Alexander Kjerulf blogged about it:
http://positivesharing.com/2008/12/research-shows-happines-is-highl...

Terry

[Kelley Eskridge]

Terry, great article, thanks for posting it. It led me to another link (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28058552/) with even more information on the study, and I've just done a blog post about it over at Humans At Work.
http://www.humansatwork.com/get-happy/

Great stuff to think about, thanks again.

Kelley

[Vijay Kumar Shrotryia]

Thanx Terrence
I have been little off the EE site. Hope to contribute in the month of January.....
vijay

[Carol Hama]

First you have to ask what makes people happy. Very interesting work done in this regards. Some countries are starting to measure the happiness quotient. Interesting research indicates the more you talk to strangers the happy you are. Maybe in this world of digitization, people are needing more human contact. Hmm..sounds like Gallup 12, I want to know my boss cares about me as a person, I have a friend at work etc. Deep, meaningful personal connections gives a sense of purpose to one's life, connecting to similar values, and sharing your gifts with the world make people happy. How do we as professionals in HR - enable people to align their life purpose with their career choice?

[Vijay Kumar Shrotryia]

hi Carol
Right, we have to ask what makes people happy. A general derivation of happiness roots from Satisfaction. More so, Life satisfaction, there is huge work on this. And then Job Satisfaction. Satisfied employees make satisfied customers, hence if the organization is able to satisfy the needs of its employees, it would certainly make people (employees) happy. The Work-Life literature is conceptualised on the basic need of balancing work with life, as you put it life purpose and career choice. Though it is highly a subjective domain, however it is not impossible for balancing and prioritising which does not really lead to bring down job satisfaction (work-career) or life satisfaction (life purpose).
I attended an international conference last month at Bhutan on Gross National Happiness, which is an unique development mantra.
The search for middle path is the answer...
vijay

[Vijay Kumar Shrotryia]

the link is good available at EE network itself:

http://employeeengagement.ning.com/profiles/blogs/1986438:BlogPost:...

[Vijay Kumar Shrotryia]

I found this interesting link today:

http://in.news.yahoo.com/32/20090219/1074/tod-malling-in-the-time-o...

read on and share your viees..
vijay

[Keerthi Kalyan]

Dear Vijay,

I am only a student who has worked with one of the most advanced EE philosophies in two very different organizations(one's an FMCG and the other is a very big hotel) but my observations have shown that the EE levels in these organizations came only due to one thing- Open communication channels and a fairly decent boss...these people work for the organization and not just for their wages...in these two cases no special EE engagement exercise was needed but still a lot of money is spent by companies every year and this survey done was ridiculed by all those who took it(well...atleast a majority)...so my point is this- Is EE really worth the importance we give it? How about in-house forums and grievance redressal mechanisms?

[Vijay Kumar Shrotryia]

Dear Keerthi
First, Thanx for your comments.
I would say YES to the importance being given to EE both theoretically (conceptually) and practically. Reason # 1 - We get the ground and our actions get proper direction from this literature.
# 2 - Making people aware about what others are doing, how they are doing and exchange of ideas co-create new methods of dealing and engaging with people.
# 3 - The literature so created gets to the students and practioners for their practice or otherwise.

There might be several such reasons and yes what you mention in your last sentence.......inhouse forums & grievance redressal mechanisms..........these are nothing but EE inititives.

Taking part in responding to EE questionnaire or surveys could be looked from many angles.....

Yes I agree very much about the ways you mention-----------Open Communication Channel and Good Boss....
I have posted elsewhere on EE network that if we listen to our employees it would engage them much better than any other initiative.
Ultimately alll these initiatives and methods make an organization happy. Satisfied and Happy Employees make Happy Organizations....

Good to get you interested in this network...

lets get going.

vijay

[David Oman]

Hello Vijay... first of all I would like to make a distinction between EE satisfaction and EE engagement. I don't see this just semantics, but in fact an evolution in thinking. I spent many years measuring EE satisfaction and finally came to the realization that satisfaction is, well... not quite, but almost irrelevant. If you look at Kano's model of customer delight you will see where "satisfaction" falls on the path to "delight". It is quite possible for EEs to be satisfied without being engaged... is is the base level of expectation and in my view does nothing to stimulate EEs from an emotional perspective.

Paul Herr has done some interesting work in the area of what leads to truly engaged (happy) employees... he defines 5 appetites that need to be met: Cooperation, Safety, Innovation, Competence, and Deployment. The overall resultant of this one's ability to cope, or stress level. For more info see http://primalmanagement.com/Chapter%201/sample%20chapter.htm

David
:)

[Bob Gately]

Hello David:

I agree with you.

Employees can be...
1. satisfied or unsatisfied
2. successful or unsuccessful
3. engaged or unengaged

One of the two states in all three items above may apply to any employee except engaged and unsuccessful. Therefore, satisfaction alone is not a predictor nor a precursor of engagement.

Engaged employees are successful but they may or may not be satisfied.

[Vijay Kumar Shrotryia]

Dear bob
I never said satisfaction is a predictor for engagement. My point is that we cannot isolate Satisfaction from Engagement. Agreed fully well that engaged employees may not satisfied (happy) and very Satisfied (Happy) employees might not be Engaged. However there would be many who would be engaged and satisfied.
We need to study the kind of relationship Engagement has with Satisfaction viz a viz Happiness. Further I still feel EE has a role to play with making an organization a happy organization.
vijay