Death, Disease, Despair, and
Destruction:
Why Even Try?
May Meaning Meeting
March 30, 2007
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Meaning in Connection:
A Relational Perspective on the Meaning of Work
May Meaning Meeting
March 30, 2007
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Roadmap
• Overview of our journey & process
• Dominant perspectives on the meaning of
work
• From a different view: A relational
perspective
• Questions & discussion (throughout!)
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Our Journey
Impetus: Shared interest in broad review of MOW literature
Goals:
• Review existing literature
• What are the dominant perspectives and assumptions?
• What might history tell us about where MOW research is going?
• Generate fresh perspectives and opportunities
• Speak to a broader OB audience
• How does meaning shape organizational behavior?
Process: Inductive, organic approach
• Organized literature by era and theme
• Summarized each piece using consistent framework
• Held weekly phone calls; took detailed meeting notes
• Held monthly thematic integration meetings
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Goals For Today
• Share our developing ideas
• Gather your feedback:
• Where do links need to be clearer?
• What have we missed?
• Other relevant literature we might include
• Bottom line: Are we barking up the right
tree? Can you see the tree?
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Where Are We Now?
We argue that the study of the meaning
of work has primarily located meaning
within the individual, paying less
attention to the connections between the
individual and other important entities.
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How Did We Get Here?
• The world of work has changed over time
• Less reliance on community to share and produce resources
• More time spent at work (Schor, 1992)
• Organizational ties and jobs are less stable and secure
(de Janasz, Sullivan, & Whiting, 2003)
• Functions of work are more individualized and disconnected from
society/craft (Sennett, 1998)
• The targets of the meaning of work
have narrowed accordingly
• Modern scholars focus heavily on
self-connectedness and self-fulfillment
as key sources of meaning in work.
•
e.g., Calling = link to God vs.
Calling = link to “true” self
• Now: Americanized, person-centered
understanding of MOW.
God
Society
Work (General)
Organization
Job
Self
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Focus on Individual
A focus on the individual as locus of meaning yields certain
definitions, assumptions, and research questions.
• Meaning of Work: Work’s perceived function in life, beliefs
about valued outcomes attained from working, actual outcomes
received from working, expected contribution of work toward
satisfying an individual’s needs (Brief & Nord, 1990)
• Assumptions:
• Self draws meaning from various entities
• Self is the ‘project’ of focus (e.g., self-actualization, authenticity)
• Job, work, organization, etc. are vehicles through which to find and
express self
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Focus on Individual (Cont’d)
•
Sample Research Questions:
•
•
•
How does context influence self’s assessment of the
meaning of work?
Which organizational factors contribute to self-fulfillment?
How does an individual’s sense of purpose shape her work
behavior?
Work
Organization
Job
Meaning
?
Community
Coworkers
Higher Power
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A Different Perspective:
The Relational Approach
We propose that when the focus is
moved from the individual to the
connection between the individual and
valued entities (e.g., other people,
communities, work, a higher power,
etc.), new insights emerge about how
individuals make meaning of their work.
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Why a Relational Approach?
• While MOW research has focused on connections, scholars
primarily focus on the connection between the work and the self
(e.g., person-job interaction).
• A self-oriented understanding overlooks other important ways
individuals make meaning of and through their work (see also
Cardador, 2007).
• Work life is full of potentially meaningful connections to a
variety of sources (e.g., work, job, organization, other people,
higher power, self, etc.).
• A relational perspective sheds light on the many meaningful
connections we make in, at, and through work, and on the
differing ways they shape the experience of work.
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Focus on Connections
A focus on connections yields different definitions,
assumptions, and research questions.
• Meaning: The essence of meaning is connection, or what links
two separate entities in their relation to each other; may or may
not be widely shared by individuals (Baumeister, 1991;
Baumeister & Vohs, 2002)
• Assumptions:
• Meaning is drawn from the connections among significant entities
• Self is arbiter of connections between elements
• Meaning can be focused internally, toward the self, or externally,
toward other elements
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Focus on Connections
• Sample Research Questions
• How, and to what degree do different types of meaningful
connections shape the way individuals make meaning of their work?
• How do different connections interact/compete?
• Does a strong sense of meaning in life contribute to or detract from
the meaning of work?
• Are certain types of connections more meaningful for certain
individuals or at different times in life?
Higher Power
Community
Organization
Coworkers
Work
Job
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Prominent Connections
Self
A Higher Power
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Prominent Connections
Self
A Higher Power
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Person-Work Connections:
Work Orientation
• Examples:
• Šverko & Vizek-Vidović, 1995; Wrzesniewski et al.,
1997; Wrzesniewski, 2003; Dobrow, 2004, 2007;
Cardador, Dane, & Pratt, 2007; Elangovan & Pinder,
2007.
• Key contributions:
• One’s relationship to the work matters as much as the
kind of work (Wrzesniewski, 1999)
• Heavy focus on callings in literature, but all work
(including job- and career-oriented) has meaning; must
look at the specific source of the connection to
understand how the person finds meaning through work
(e.g., Wrzesniewski et al., 1997; Dobrow, 2004, 2007;
Cardador, Dane, & Pratt, 2007; Elangovan & Pinder,
2007)
• Mechanisms: Values, framing, entry route
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Work Orientation: Focus on Individual
• Assumptions:
• Individuals act upon job and organizational contexts to
realize orientations (e.g., job crafting).
• Work orientation is fundamentally about individuals’
framing and experience of work.
• Types of questions generated by this approach:
• What different orientations do individuals have to the same kinds
of work?
• What are the implications of work orientations for the self?
• How does context influence self’s assessment of the meaning of
work?
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Work Orientation: Focus on Connection
• Assumptions:
• Broader facets of work and one’s world are sites of
meaning making
• Focus can be on meaning of work to self (of different
types) or meaning of work to others (of different types)
• Types of questions generated by this approach
• How do other life domains affect relationship between individual
and work?
• How is work orientation affected by the connection to the work
group, the organization, the occupation, the wider world?
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Interpersonal Connections:
Communities & Collectives
• Examples:
• Loscocco, 1989; Hardy, 1990; Shamir, 1991; Rawsthorne & Elliot,
1999; Dutton, 2003; Pratt & Ashforth, 2003; Wrzesniewski,
Dutton, & Debebe, 2003; Cardador, 2007; Grant et al., 2007;
Rosso, 2007; Tosti, 2007; Wade-Benzoni, 2007.
• Key contributions:
• People are also motivated for collective concerns (Shamir, 1991).
• Meaning derived from contributing to things larger and longerterm than ourselves (Hardy, 1990; Cardador, 2007; Grant et al.,
2007; Sonenshein, 2007).
• Prosocial behavior  Community connections  Work
meaningfulness (Cardador, 2007; Rosso, 2007).
• Work provides meaningful roles in society and our communities.
• Mechanisms: Social connection, collective resource
building, kin selection, prosocial identity, legacy
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Spiritual Connections
• Examples:
• Luther, 1520; Calvin, 1574; Weber, 1930; Hardy, 1990; LipsWiersma, 2002; Weiss, 2004; Bunderson & Thompson, 2007.
• Key contributions:
• Sense of purpose in work coming from the connectedness to
something greater than oneself (e.g., Luther, 1520; Calvin, 1574;
Hardy, 1990; Weiss, 2004; Bunderson & Thompson, 2007)
• Return to pre-industrialization perspectives; evidence that people
seek meaningful connections through work to more than just their
individual strengths (e.g., Hardy, 1990; Lips-Wiersma, 2002;
Weiss, 2004; Bunderson & Thompson, 2007)
• Mechanisms: Transcendence, harmony, stability, security,
social connection; prosocial orientation
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Self-Connectedness:
Authenticity
• Examples:
• Bellah et al., 1985; Shamir, 1991; Levoy, 1997;
Dobrow, 2004; Pratt, Rockmann, & Kaufmann, 2006;
Barker-Caza, 2007; Blatt & Ashford, 2007; Vough,
2007.
• Key contributions:
• We seek out work and contexts that are aligned with our
self-concept (Shamir, 1991; Seyle & Swann, 2007)
• Individuals are prompted to connect to their “authentic
selves,” finding work which taps unique strengths and
values (Bellah et al., 1985; Levoy, 1997)
• Mechanisms: Stability, security, self-esteem, selfexpression
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Why Take a Relational Approach?
• Adds needed texture and breadth to current
understandings of MOW, while preserving
individual experience and agency.
• Opens up a more social view of the meaning of
work than one rooted in the self.
• Targets growing areas of inquiry (e.g., spirituality,
justice, interpersonal relationships, etc.), pushing
scholarship toward predicting future meaningful
connections rather than explaining the past.
• By examining connections, potential for building a
historical trajectory that illuminates trends in
meaning-making over time grows.
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Conclusions
• Connections matter
• Current scholarship focuses primarily on internal
psychological processes and self-oriented pursuits
• A relational approach:
• Offers a new framework from which to organize,
reinterpret, and broaden existing perspectives
• Reveals under-explored ways that people make
meaning of, at, through work
• Places the study of MOW more squarely in center of
OB
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Where We Need Your Help:
Making the Case
• Does this framework make sense?
• Where do you see the potential gem in this?
• What do you see as other new frontiers in
the field that might be applicable?
• How can we most effectively make the
case?
• How can we build theory from this
framework?
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Questions and
Comments?
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Thank You!
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Why does Meaning Matter to
OB?
• Meaning is everywhere in organizational life
• Meaning shapes the individual and collective
experience of work (cognition, behavior, and
affect)
• Types of meaning (e.g., work as calling vs. job)
• Level of meaningfulness of work (e.g., anomie to deep
meaning)
• Meaning shapes work behaviors that scholars and
organizations care about
• Cooperation, commitment, turnover
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What We’re Not Talking About….
• Micro-processes of meaning-making
• Impact of meaningful work
• Individual differences in the meaning of
work
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To Contrast the Views…
Focus on Individual
What elements of work are meaningful
to the individual?
How does an individual’s sense of
purpose shape her work behavior?
How does context influence self’s
assessment of the meaning of
work?
Which organizational factors
contribute to self-fulfillment?
Focus on Connections
How, and to what degree do different
types of meaningful connections
shape the way individuals make
meaning of their work?
How do different connections
interact/compete?
Does a strong sense of meaningfulness
in life contribute to or detract from
the experience of meaningful
work?
Are certain types of connections more
meaningful for certain individuals
or at different times in life?
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Key Definitions
• Meaning: The essence of what links two separate entities in their
relation to each other; may or may not be widely shared by
individuals.
• Meaningfulness: The extent to which the individual perceives the
work and/or its context as purposeful and significant (Hackman &
Oldham, 1976; Pratt & Ashforth, 2003).
• Connection: A significant relationship to another entity (e.g., self,
job, org, society, God, etc.), which may vary in strength, stability,
and affective tone.
• Relational: Implying kinship, connection, or a living tie between
elements.
• Locus/target of meaning: The physical or psychological entity
through which meaning is found or produced.
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