The Working Life

EXPLORING AND EXPLODING OUR NOTIONS OF WORK

Joanne B. Ciulla, a noted scholar in Leadership and Ethics, examines why so many people today have let their jobs take over their lives. Technology was supposed to free us from work, but instead we work longer hours-often tethered to the office at home by cell phones and e-mail. People still look to work for self-fulfillment, community, and identity, but these things may be increasingly difficult to find in today’s workplace. Gone is the social contract where employees and employers shared a sense of mutual loyalty, yet many of us still sacrifice personal time for jobs that we could lose at the drop of a stock price. Tracing the evolution of the meaning of work from Aesop to Dilbert, and critically examining the past 100 years of management practices, Ciulla asks questions that we often willfully ignore at our own peril.

*When you are on your deathbed, will you wish you had spent more time at the office?

*Why do we define ourselves by our jobs rather than by other activities we do outside of work?

*What can employers and employees promise each other in today’s business environment?

Provocative and entertaining, The Working Life challenges us to think about the meaning of work and its impact on our lives.