RE: Jobs and motivation: Help is needed

From: Andy Blunden (ablunden@mira.net)
Date: Sun Dec 14 2003 - 21:22:27 PST


Eugene was kind enough to send me a PDF of the British "survey" about why
people work, and my fears were confirmed. Only people who were in
employment were questioned. They were asked for multiple-choice answers to
questions about their feelings and their situation, and compared with a
period of recession 10 years earlier. Altogether, the kind of information
useful only for selling soap powder.

The original proposition was
"95% working people in US do not like their jobs, i.e., do their job ONLY
out of necessity to earn money."
It is obvious to me that if you want to get an answer to the question of
whether people really only work in order to earn money, you have to talk to
people who do have a choice about whether to do a paying-job, half of whom
presumably would be people who had decided not to work, and the rest would
be only a small proportion of the workforce. Secondly, it seems to me that
the data you would be looking for would be actual choices people make in
their lives. Such constraints would make it very difficult if not
impossible to get good statistical samples, but at least you would get
relevant information. :-)

Andy

At 12:10 AM 13/12/2003 +1100, you wrote:
>Well, my experience makes me think that a survey will have to be very
>clever to get to the truth here. The answer that people give to things
>like "Why do you work?" more often than not are code for "I don't know".
>Also it is entirely tied up with the alternatives people have to "work".
>
>Andy
>At 06:52 AM 12/12/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>>Geoff kindly sent me Taylor's report on 2000 survey in UK about quality of
>>jobs (of 2466 diverse employees participated in the survey). On the question
>>of "Why to work?" only 16% of higher professionals and 2% of semi-skilled
>>workers (the other in-between) referred to "enjoyment". Other responses were
>>"for money", "career", "being with others" and so on. However, when asked "A
>>job is just means for a living?" only 21% of higher professionals and 54% of
>>semi-skilled workers said "yes". The picture is complex but "enjoyment" of
>>jobs does not seem very high.
>>
>>What do you think?
>>
>>Eugene
>>PS Thanks Geoff for the report!
>>PSS I wish similar survey existed in US! Does anybody know about such study?
>>
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: Andy Blunden [mailto:ablunden@mira.net]
>> > Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2003 8:22 PM
>> > To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>> > Subject: RE: Jobs and motivation: Help is needed
>> >
>> > When I retired last year I had a lot of discussions with colleagues about
>> > whether they could do the same. The response I got was very very uniform,
>> > from the lowest maintenance worker up to professors running big research
>> > programs: "OK I'm over 55 and my superannuation entitlements are already
>> > much bigger than yours and yes my kids have left home but ...." where
>> > followed all sorts of excuses, like the need to buy a holiday house or
>> > something. I found that people are very very reluctant to separate
>> > themselves from their job even if they hate their job and even if they
>> > don't need the money, but the need for money was invariably 'used' as the
>> > reason for going on working.
>> >
>> > (doesn't count as scientific research I know, but the message was very
>>clear)
>> >
>> > Andy
>> >
>> >
>> > At 03:17 PM 11/12/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>> > >Dear Mark-
>> > >
>> > >Sorry for the delay - I was busy hosting my friend and colleague from
>>South
>> > >Africa...
>> > >
>> > >Thanks a lot for the reference that seems to contradict to the statement
>>in
>> > >the Russian immigrant newspaper "Despite our occasional temptation to
>>call
>> > >it quits, most Americans (70%) are saying that even if they won a large
>> > >enough amount of money in the lottery, they would still continue to work.
>> > >
>> > >These are the findings of a recent study conducted by Opinion Research
>> > >Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCI). According to the study, only 28% of Americans
>> > >would quit their jobs if they won the lottery."
>> > >http://www.orcinternational.com/caravan-053102.htm
>> > >
>> > >However, everything depends how the questions were asked which I could
>>not
>> > >find. Also, it is not clear that whether these cited 70% of respondents
>>want
>> > >to work in general or they want to stay at the work that they are
>>currently
>> > >employed. I wish I could find their full report...
>> > >
>> > >Interesting...
>> > >
>> > >Eugene
>> > >
>> > > > -----Original Message-----
>> > > > From: Mark P Smith [mailto:mpsmith@UDel.Edu]
>> > > > Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2003 11:11 PM
>> > > > To: Eugene Matusov
>> > > > Subject: Re: Jobs and motivation: Help is needed
>> > > >
>> > > > Hi Eugene,
>> > > >
>> > > > I doubt this is the resarch you're looking for. It's conducted by a
>> > > > telephone sampling company. But it contradicts what you wrote, I
>>think.
>> > > >
>> > > > My question: who do "consumer sampling companies" ask questions to?
>> > > >
>> > > > Mark
>> > > >
>> > > > http://www.orcinternational.com/caravan-053102.htm
>> > > >
>> > > > On Wed, 3 Dec 2003, Eugene Matusov wrote:
>> > > >
>> > > > > Dear everybody-
>> > > > >
>> > > > >
>> > > > >
>> > > > > When I was in California, I read in a Russian immigrant newspaper
>>about
>> > >an
>> > > > > US study, according to which 95% working people in US do not like
>>their
>> > >jobs
>> > > > > ("zanimayutsya ne lyubimym delom" in Russian). The choice of words
>>in
>> > > > > Russian indicates that these people do their job ONLY out of
>>necessity
>> > >to
>> > > > > earn money but if they have enough money (e.g., won lottery) they
>>would
>> > >stop
>> > > > > doing their jobs.
>> > > > >
>> > > > >
>> > > > >
>> > > > > Have anybody heard about such study? If so, can you provide
>>reference,
>> > > > > please?
>> > > > >
>> > > > >
>> > > > >
>> > > > > Thanks,
>> > > > >
>> > > > >
>> > > > >
>> > > > > Eugene
>> > > > >
>> > > > >



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