Well, what can I say? I just hope they enjoy their work and they're well
paid for it,
Andy
At 08:29 AM 15/12/2003 +0000, you wrote:
>Oh dear - several of my colleagues who have made very successful academic
>careers out of investigating the changing nature of work through the
>analysis of such cross sectional surveys (which are of course primarily
>qualitative because they ask for peoples opinions and self reports about
>their current status) linked to theorising about the intensification of
>work processes will be dismayed to find that they have been asking
>completely the wrong sorts of questions in the wrong sort of way. I dont
>think they would see themselves as purveyors of soap powder but as serious
>sociologists and economists struggling to understand a phenomenon that
>deeply affects peoples lives. Andy is of course right in at least one
>respect such questions could be answered better through longitudinal data
>sets that examine the choices people actually make. Some problems though
>extremely expensive, drop out of the panels is non-random and they all
>rely on self report to the sorts of questions Andy does not like. An
>interesting set of methodological problems arise when we try to get at the
>actual reasons for the choices people make you cant do that even with the
>best constructed interview. More experimental approaches could be useful,
>either in the long social psychology tradition or as in the emerging field
>of experimental economics.
>
>
>
>A little background might help in interpreting the results of Taylors
>report. Robert Taylor is a journalist who was attached to an ESRC project
>on the Future of Work. The project collected data using surveys from those
>in employment (that was the target population) in order to understand more
>about the notions of a flexible labour force. The bulk of Taylors report
>is concerned with examining that issue and the continuing importance of
>social class an explanatory variable. A minor part is concerned with
>notions of enjoyment. For those interested the report, entitled Britains
>World of Work Myths and Realities can be accessed at
>
><http://www.esrc.ac.uk/esrccontent/connect/indexpub.asp>http://www.esrc.ac.uk/esrccontent/connect/indexpub.asp.
>There are other reports there to under the Future of Work heading for
>anyone interested in this area.
>
>
>
>Geoff
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Dr Geoff Hayward
>
>Associate Director SKOPE
>
>OUDES
>
>15 Norham Gardens
>
>Oxford
>
>OX2 6PY UK
>
>
>
>Phone: +44 (0)1865 274007
>
>Fax: + 44 (0)1865 274027
>
>e-mail: geoff.hayward@edstud.ox.ac.uk
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Andy Blunden [mailto:ablunden@mira.net]
>Sent: 15 December 2003 05:22
>To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>Subject: RE: Jobs and motivation: Help is needed
>
>
>
>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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