Change and People
Outline for “The Psychological Impact of Dejobbing”
• “You are what you do” – most Americans are defined in terms of their jobs, connected to a wider community through their jobs, and provided with structure and purpose by their jobs.
• What you must learn, for today’s job environment – learn to live with work situations that are not framed by job descriptions and clear reporting relationships. We will have to learn to live with multiple roles, where the role mix changes frequently. And we will have to find the income we need in such unstable and unpredictable conditions
• The most difficult aspect of being laid off or otherwise “dejobbed” – The hardest part of being laid off is the mental aspect.” In the long run it will probably be the psychological aspect of dejobbing that people find most difficult. Incomes are modular and portable; they can be replaced. Replacing the psychological rewards that jobs have provided is far more difficult.
• What work gives each of us, cognitively and emotionally – A job gives people parts to play and tells them what they need to do to feel good about their contribution. It gives them a way of knowing when they have done enough, and it tells them when their results are satisfactory. Jobs provide people with a place where they need to show up regularly, a list of things they’ve got to do; a role to play in some larger undertaking; a set of expectations to be measured against. It gives them an everyday sense of purpose, and fulfilling such purpose is a source of self-esteem. For people whose personal lives are not going very well, the job may be the only source of self-esteem.
• Relationship between order and change in the world of work today – The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.” It is important to recognize this reciprocal relationship and to understand that change and stability are not in an either-or relationship to
• “You are what you do” – most Americans are defined in terms of their jobs, connected to a wider community through their jobs, and provided with structure and purpose by their jobs.
• What you must learn, for today’s job environment – learn to live with work situations that are not framed by job descriptions and clear reporting relationships. We will have to learn to live with multiple roles, where the role mix changes frequently. And we will have to find the income we need in such unstable and unpredictable conditions
• The most difficult aspect of being laid off or otherwise “dejobbed” – The hardest part of being laid off is the mental aspect.” In the long run it will probably be the psychological aspect of dejobbing that people find most difficult. Incomes are modular and portable; they can be replaced. Replacing the psychological rewards that jobs have provided is far more difficult.
• What work gives each of us, cognitively and emotionally – A job gives people parts to play and tells them what they need to do to feel good about their contribution. It gives them a way of knowing when they have done enough, and it tells them when their results are satisfactory. Jobs provide people with a place where they need to show up regularly, a list of things they’ve got to do; a role to play in some larger undertaking; a set of expectations to be measured against. It gives them an everyday sense of purpose, and fulfilling such purpose is a source of self-esteem. For people whose personal lives are not going very well, the job may be the only source of self-esteem.
• Relationship between order and change in the world of work today – The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.” It is important to recognize this reciprocal relationship and to understand that change and stability are not in an either-or relationship to