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Formula for Meaningful Work

Posted by Nerdus Maximus on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 11:07:15 AM
Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers identifies three elements that are critical to work being meaningful and satisfying.

  • Autonomy
  • Complexity
  • Connection (a perceptible connection between effort and reward)
This resonates with me and describes pretty well the place I work and what I try to make the norm there. What it doesn't describe is most production line manufacturing jobs.

This is likely why production workers seek wages and benefits that exceed the value added by their activity. If there is no satisfaction from doing the job, the satisfaction has to come from the economic incentives, both monetary and non-monetary, resulting from the job. This is where unions gain a foothold. Once that has happened the existence of the union now depends on keeping the job itself from becoming fulfilling and meaningful. Like any other organism, the union does what it needs to do to survive. My observations are that this is done by insuring that the only satisfaction that can come from its members' jobs are economic and dependent on the union. Sowing discontent with the members' jobs and the companies they work for is also a useful survival strategy for unions. The incentives for the union as an organization/organism are diametrically opposed to the best interests of the worker, the company and the consumer. This explains a lot of union behavior and why it will take actions that will eventually kill the companies on which the union members' jobs ultimately depend. It also explains why the same company can run a non-union shop with lower economic incentives to the workers where the workers report higher job satisfaction than in the same company's union shops.

Understanding how to build autonomy (worker involvement), complexity (variety and/or challenge) and connections between effort and reward into every job would simultaneously build and union-proof a business. Figuring out how to do this in your own job will allow you to be satisfied even when those around you are not.
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The New Motto for GM (Government Motors)

Posted by Nerdus Maximus on Sunday, May 10, 2009 7:18:06 PM
We screw cars, and people, together.

Even liberal The Nation magazine is unhappy that the plan to make Government Motors competitive and profitable is to produce more of their cars for sale in the U.S. off shore. The Nation thinks that the UAW members who won't be building those cars are getting the short end of the stick, but what about the taxpayers/consumers? Previous government attempts to make GM competitive created rules that forced foreign car companies to build cars in the U.S. Somehow those companies can build cars profitable in the U.S. The difference? The workers at the captive plants don't belong to the UAW.
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An interesting new word - cybercouth

Posted by Nerdus Maximus on Wednesday, April 08, 2009 3:55:51 PM
It is a synonym for "netiquette". I heard it in a podcast that I follow called ProductiveUPodcast. They have a netiquette columnist they call "The Cybercouth Tiger". I think they may have invented the word since I couldn't find it in the usual places on the Net, but I particularly like the Sabertooth Tiger pun. Imagine that, a nerd who likes puns!
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A pattern of political prosecution?

Posted by Nerdus Maximus on Wednesday, April 01, 2009 2:47:39 PM
NPR reports that Ag Eric Holder is dropping the prosecution of former Senator Ted Stevens after the corruption conviction that was handed down days before the election and undoubtedly cost him his Senate seat was overturned for gross prosecutorial misconduct. I guess there is no point in pursuing the original charge since that seat is now held by a Democrat.

One thing it does prove is that Ted Stevens was harder to knock out of office than Kurt Weldon. There wasn't even so much as an indictment and Weldon was a former Congressman. For that matter there have been five times as many raids on offices related to John Murtha than it took to unseat Weldon.
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How to know when you have overstepped.

Posted by Nerdus Maximus on Saturday, March 28, 2009 10:23:22 PM
If you are Barack Obama and the ACLU agrees with conservative groups that what you have ordered is an unconstitutional limitation to free speech, you can be thoroughly assured that you have overstepped your bounds. In Politico.
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Lipstick on a Special Olympian

Posted by Nerdus Maximus on Friday, March 20, 2009 7:42:44 PM
Not having learned from innocently failing to realize his "put lipstick on this pig" comment would be interpreted by his audience as a slap at Sarah Palin after her Hockey Mom/Pit Bull joke, he gives Sarah the huntress more ammo with his "Special Olympics" comment on Lenno. Fortunately for him the foot-in-mouth position does make you a smaller target. Not only did he tick off Palin, he also got dyed in the wool/dead in the head Democrat Maria Shriver to express mild disapproval. Can you imagine how different Shriver's response would have been if George W. Bush or Rush Limbaugh had made such a comment?
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Rounding error? Scary, but true.

Posted by Nerdus Maximus on Friday, March 20, 2009 10:18:24 AM
Charles Krauthammer has a brilliant take on what our perspective should be on the size of the AIG bonuses. He points out that they are only a rounding error compared to the money the current administration and Congress are recklessly throwing around. Other comparisons are to Bill Gates' fortune and what an MLB team will pay for a middling star pitcher. I suspect how well the people left at AIG defuse the mess will have a lot more impact on most people than will the won/lost record of any MLB pitcher.

What do you do with people like this administration and Congress who need to get a clue that they don't have a clue? When is that next election?
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Rush Limbaugh takes control of the Whitehouse TelePrompter!

Posted by Nerdus Maximus on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 12:51:31 PM
It is the only possible explanation for the Keystone Cops comedy of errors outlined in this article. We know for certain from the performance of this administration that incompetence just isn't a possibility.
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What is the penalty for "overcharging" a foreign leader?

Posted by Nerdus Maximus on Thursday, March 12, 2009 11:52:19 AM
The "journalist" who threw his shoes at President Bush has been sentenced to three years in prison for "assaulting a foreign leader". I wonder what Hillary Clinton will get for overcharging one?

Between Hillary's "overcharge" button and Barack the Bumbler's insulting gift to the British PM it is clearly Amateur Hour in the Executive Branch. The sad thing is that there are people in the Federal government who can do the gift-giving-to-foreign-leaders thing with aplomb. I wish President Bush had paid less attention to them on matters of import, but when it comes to gift giving they are so good I would even offer to let them use my personal credit card. The current Administration needs to find these people and send them on a shopping spree.

Offer of use of my personal credit card formally withdrawn. Sutpid I ain't!
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Another saying of Confusion

Posted by Nerdus Maximus on Saturday, March 07, 2009 11:25:09 AM
Confusion is a lesser known ancient Chinese philosopher.

Those who hang out in bars are more likely to end up behind them.
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How to use the Internet to tell if President Obama is talking.

Posted by Nerdus Maximus on Saturday, March 07, 2009 9:08:55 AM
Look at any stock index. If it is headed down, the President is talking.
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My new name for President Obama - Bad Moon

Posted by Nerdus Maximus on Saturday, March 07, 2009 9:06:06 AM
Just listen to Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising" and you will understand.
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The Nerdus for best use of the opposition's prhase aginst them by an opinion journalist goes to ...

Posted by Nerdus Maximus on Thursday, March 05, 2009 12:57:22 PM
... Tony Blankley for this gem.


Obama Lied; the Economy Died

Great job, Tony. Pick up your statuette on the way out.
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"Driving" GM and Chrysler to health.

Posted by Nerdus Maximus on Monday, February 23, 2009 12:07:38 PM
I think the advice from the team that President Obama has assembled to guide the U.S. auto industry back to health will be to use the Federal bail out money and their union pension funds to buy stock in Honda, Toyota and Nissan.

The Detroit News uncovered some interesting things about the members of the team. Only two of the eighteen people currently slated to be on the committee (eight primaries and their top assistants), own a vehicle from an American manufacturer. One of those is a Harley. Two just happens to be the same number as those who don't own a vehicle at all. Yes, the members of the team that is going to guide Detroit back to prosperity are equally likely to own no vehicle at all as they are to own one from a Detroit manufacturer. The majority have a history of owning vehicles from foreign manufacturers.

At least we know that they have an understanding of why people would not buy from Detroit!
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Those who don't know history are doomed to ...

Posted by Nerdus Maximus on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 11:56:11 AM
... believe President Obama. His overblown comparisons of the current economy to the Great Depression have become so egregious that even his home town paper is crying foul. Perhaps the Guiness records people would be interested in a new record category: most expensive pack of lies. The "stimulus" bill would be a hands down winner.
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