The Oxford Handbook of Meaningful Work

by Yeoman, Ruth; Bailey, Catherine; Madden, Adrian; Thompson, Marc

• ISBN13: 9780198788232
• ISBN10: 0198788231
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2019-03-10
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The Oxford Handbook of Meaningful Work examines the concept, practices and effects of meaningful work in organizations and beyond. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this volume reflects diverse scholarly contributions to understanding meaningful work from philosophy, political theory, psychology, sociology, organizational studies, and economics.

In philosophy and political theory, treatments of meaningful work have been influenced by debates concerning the tensions between work as unavoidable and necessary, and work as a source of self-realization and human flourishing. This tension has come into renewed focus as work is reshaped by technology, globalization, and new forms of organization. In management studies, much empirical work has focused on meaningful work from the perspective of positive psychology, but more recent research has considered meaningful work as a complex phenomenon, socially constructed from interactive processes between individuals, and between individuals, organizations, and society. This Handbook examines meaningful work in the context of moral and pragmatic concerns such as human flourishing, dignity, alienation, freedom, and organizational ethics.

The collection illuminates the relationship of meaningful work to organizational constructs of identity, belonging, callings, self-transcendence, culture, and occupations. Representing some of the most up to date academic research, the editors aim to inspire and equip researchers by identifying new directions and methods with which to deepen scholarly inquiry into a topic of growing importance.

Author Biography

Ruth Yeoman, Fellow, University of Oxford,Catherine Bailey, Professor of Work and Employment, King's College London,Adrian Madden, Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour, University of Greenwich,Marc Thompson, Senior Fellow, University of Oxford

Ruth Yeoman is a Fellow at Kellogg College, University of Oxford, where she leads a range of research projects applying meaningfulness and mutuality to work, organizations, and systems. Projects include 'The Meaningful City' and 'Values to Shared Value Creation in Sustainable Supply Chains'. For the Big Innovation Centre in London she led a collaboration including the Bank of England and the Office of National Statistics, investigating intangible assets and national wealth creation. Forthcoming publications include Ethical Organising: Meaningfulness and Mutuality in Organisational Design, to be published by Routledge in their Business Ethics series.


Katie Bailey is Professor of Work and Employment at King's Business School, King's College London. She has a PhD from London Business School and has held appointments there and at the Universities of Sussex, Kent, and Kingston. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. Her research focuses on meaningful work, temporality, employee engagement, and strategic human resource management, and she has published widely on these topics in leading scholarly and practitioner journals. Publications include the second edition of Strategic Human Resource Management, published by Oxford University Press.


Adrian Madden is an Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at the University of Greenwich Business Faculty, where he is also Director of the Leadership & Organisational Behaviour research group. He has worked at the Universities of Sussex and Kent and previously worked in central government policy. Adrian's main research interests are meaningful work, time and organisations, and entrepreneurialism in the informal economy.


Marc Thompson is a Senior Fellow in Strategy and Organisation, Said Business School, University of Oxford, and Official Fellow, Green Templeton College, University of Oxford. His research interests have covered workplace change, high performance work systems, performance pay, meaningful work, and strategic renewal and innovation. He held posts in Sussex University and the London School of Economics before joining Oxford. He teaches in various degree and custom executive programmes, and is academic director of the Executive Masters, Consulting and Coaching for Change programme HEC/ University of Oxford.

Table of Contents

Part I: The Philosophy of Meaningful Work
1. The Moral Conditions of Work, Joanne B Ciulla
2. Dignity and Meaningful Work, Norman E. Bowie
3. Meaningful Work and Freedom: Self-Realization, Autonomy, and Non-Domination in Work, Keith Breen
4. Work, Meaning, and Virtue, Ron Beadle
5. Work and the Meaning of Being, Todd S. Mei
6. To Have Lived Well: Well-Being and Meaningful Work, Neal Chalofsky and Elizabeth Cavallaro
Part II: Processes of Meaningfulness
7. Do We Have to Do Meaningful Work?, Christopher Michaelson
8. Identity and Meaningful/Meaningless Work, Nancy Harding
9. Self-Transcendence and Meaningful Work, Adrian Madden and Catherine Bailey
10. 'Belonging' and Its Relationship to the Experience of Meaningful Work, Tatjana Schnell, Thomas Hoge, and Wolfgang G. Weber
11. Exploring Work Orientations and Cultural Accounts of Work: Towards a Research Agenda for Examining the Role of Culture in Meaningful Work, Laura Boova, Michael G. Pratt, and Douglas A. Lepisto
12. Meaning in Life and In Work, Michael F. Steger
Part III: The Experience of Meaningful Work
13. Meanings and Dirty Work: A Study of Refuse Collectors and Street Cleaners, Ruth Simpson, Natasha Slutskaya, and Jason Hughes
14. Finding Meaning in the Work of Caring, Carol L. Pavlish, Roberta J. Hunt, Hui-wen Sato, and Katherine Brown-Saltzman
15. Exploring Meaningful Work in the Third Sector, Rebecca Taylor and Silke Roth
16. Callings, Ryan D. Duffy, Jessica England, and Bryan J. Dik
17. Does My Engagement Matter?: Exploring the Relationship Between Employee Engagement and Meaningful Work in Theory and Practice, Brad Shuck
18. Work Through a Gender Lens: More Work and More Sources of Meaningfulness, Heather Hofmeister
19. Leadership and Meaningful Work, Dennis Tourish
Part IV: Contexts and Boundaries of Meaningful Work
20. Fostering the Human Spirit: A Positive Ethical Framework for Experiencing Meaningfulness at Work, Douglas R. May, Jiatian (JT) Chen, Catherine E. Schwoerer, and Matthew D. Degg
21. Direct Participation and Meaningful Work: The Implications of Task Discretion and Orgnizational Participation, Duncan Gallie
22. Accounting for Meaningful Work, Matthew Hall
23. Meaningful Work and Family: How Does the Pursuit of Meaningful Work Impact One's Family?, Evgenia I. Lysova
24. Does Corporate Social Responsibility Enhance Meaningful Work? A Multi-Perspective Theoretical Framework, Marjolein Lips-Wiersma
25. Cultural, National and Individual Diversity and their Relationship to the Experience of Meaningful Work, Sebastiaan Rothmann, Laura Anne Weiss, and Johannes Jacobus Redelinghuys
26. Bringing Political Economy Back-in: A Comparative Institutionalist Perspective on Meaningful Work, Marc Thompson
27. The Meaningful City: Towards a Theory of Public Meaningfulness, City Institutions and Civic Work, Ruth Yeoman