Beyond the Bottom Line: The Search for Dignity at Work [Hardcover]

Paula M. Rayman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2001

Why do so many Americans-working harder and longer and with less security than ever before-question the price of success demanded by today's hot-wired economy? Can you work and still have a life? Paula Rayman says, is yes. In this timely book, she offers a powerful blueprint for transforming the world of work, family, and community that is the downside of our relentlessly competitive culture. In this much-needed wake-up call to corporate America, Rayman shows why companies must go beyond the bottom line to survive and thrive. Drawing on her experience as a leading advocate for a more responsive workplace, she demonstrates how companies can organize for profit, productivity, and the desire of workers for a more rewarding quality of life. In a win-win agenda for changing outmoded organizations, she demonstrates convincingly that all successful transformations create workplaces that respect the need for dignity: security, self-respect, and the time and freedom to care for family and community.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Despite the recent economic boom and record-high employment, there has also been a strong undercurrent of worker discontent. Rayman's thoughtful argument suggests why. The "bottom line" for Rayman, director of Harvard University's Radcliffe Public Policy Institute, an organization devoted to researching work restructuring and the relationships between work and family and community, cannot be found on a balance sheet. Instead, it is the achievement of dignity and self-respect at work--a way to earn a decent livelihood, a chance to balance work and family, and an opportunity to contribute to the larger society. She argues that two factors undermine the quest for dignity: the American "overemphasis on [personal] autonomy" and the global economy, which, she says, creates a never-ending cycle of overwork and pressured consumption. Rayman chronicles personal stories and historical trends to document her case, and she profiles the banking and biotechnology industries to chart emblematic changes in the workplace. Rayman's goal is to sound a "wake-up call to explore the costs of doing business as usual--for ourselves, for our families, for our society." David Rouse
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"...a carefully reasoned yet impassioned plea to move beyond the constraint of bottom-line thinking..."-Tikkun
“Paula Rayman has issued a passionate plea to restore the full meaning of 'good work,' in all of its psychological, spiritual, and economic aspects. While she is ever-mindful of the plight of working families struggling to make ends meet, her appealing stories demonstrate that there is much more to a job than the paycheck.” —Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School, author of Evolve!: Succeeding in the Digital Cultural of Tomorrow
“Paula Rayman wisely counsels that we rise above the bottom line and fight for our families and our lives. This is a thoughful book and it's exactly right for the time.” —Robert B. Reich, University Professor of Social and Economic Policy, Brandeis University, and former U.S. Secretary of Labor
“In this wide-ranging analysis, Paula Rayman...situates these questions in relation to a simple truth: work should provide people with dignity.... Rayman has written an important contributation to the ongoing debate about workplace and labor market reform.” —Juliet Schor, Senior Lecturer on Women's Studies, Harvard University and author of The Overworked American
“American corporate culture is creating a nation of families who are overworked, stressed out, and in desperate need of time together. Paula Rayman gets to the heart of this dilemma in this valuable book, and delivers a challenge for change.” —John Sweeny, President, AFL-CIO
“Enlightened CEO's understand the enormous importance to the bottom of creating a context for work and the work place that accommondates the human needs of every employee. Paula Rayman provides valuable insights for those seeking to better understand those needs, and their significance.” —Randall L. Tobias, Chairman Emeritus, Eli Lilly

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (March 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312222823
• ISBN-13: 978-0312222826
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,581,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ellen Ostrow,, November 24, 2002

By 

Ellen Ostrow "Lawyers' Coach" (LawyersLifeCoach.com) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beyond the Bottom Line: The Search for Dignity at Work (Hardcover)

I wish this book was required reading for every attorney I coach - and the managing partners of every law firm. Paula Rayman presents an compelling argument for law firms to examine
the consequences of their bottom line approach to doing business.
The billable hours culture, which places greatest value on overwork and heroic individualism, hurts families, diminishes the care of children and elders, reduces the possibilities for the success of women attorneys, limits the dignity of lawyers, makes lawyers abandon their civic responsibilities - and ultimately erodes the fabric of our society.
Rayman provides a sophisticated social, economic and moral analysis of the problem and offers both conceptual solutions and specific examples of their success. Rayman offers wise
counsel to the counselors.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Paula Rayman is an idiot, January 5, 2007

By 

moosilauke (Tuscon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond the Bottom Line: The Search for Dignity at Work (Hardcover)

Paula is a name-dropping, pretentious, self-serving author who pretends to be an economist but is really neither a capable quantitative nor a particularly insightful ethnographic scholar.