Good Work: When Excellence And Ethics Meet [Hardcover]

Howard E. Gardner (Author), Mihaly Csikszentmihalhi (Author), William Damon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2001

What does it mean to carry out "good work"? What strategies allow people to maintain moral and ethical standards at a time when market forces have unprecedented power and work life is being radically altered by technological innovation? These questions lie at the heart of this eagerly awaited new book. Focusing on genetics and journalism-two fields that generate and manipulate information and thus affect our lives in myriad ways-the authors show how in their quest to build meaningful careers successful professionals exhibit "humane creativity," high-level performance coupled with social responsibility. Over the last five years the authors have interviewed over 100 people in each field who are engaged in cutting-edge work, probing their goals and visions, their obstacles and fears, and how they pass on their most cherished practices and values. They found sharp contrasts between the two fields. Until now, geneticists' values have not been seriously challenged by the demands of their work world, while journalists are deeply disillusioned by the conflict between commerce and ethics. The dilemmas these professionals face and the strategies they choose in their search for a moral compass offer valuable guidance on how all persons can transform their professions and their lives. Enlivened with stories of real people facing hard decisions, Good Work offers powerful insight into one of the most important issues of our time and, indeed, into the future course of science, technology, and communication.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In their previous highly regarded research, psychologists Gardner (Multiple Intelligences), Csikszentmihalyi (Flow) and Damon (The Moral Child) have found that "if the fundamentals of good work excellence and ethics are in harmony, we lead a personally fulfilling and socially rewarded life." Their latest, somewhat bloated tome posits that today's market forces, industry consolidations and rapid technological change exert unrelenting pressure on every enterprise. The authors investigate two sample professions, genetics and journalism, striving under pressure to do excellent work that still benefits society. From interviews with prominent practitioners, they have assembled an immense, if unwieldy, fund of data on perspectives within each profession. Although certain survey results may seem bland or obvious (82% of geneticists interviewed emphasize their responsibility to society; many journalists feel democracy requires open access to all the news for everyone, and 51% disapprove of changes in the news media), the authors deftly contrast current working conditions in the two professions. They argue that whether a profession is in a self-identified golden age like genetics or a self-critical, transitional stage like journalism, the same "five levers for good work" can apply: creating new institutions, expanding functions of existing institutions, reconfiguring existing institutions' membership and reaffirming their values, and taking personal stands. They advocate continually revisiting "the traditions of the domain" that initially attracted us, to fortify our integrity and commitment to the mission of our profession. Unfortunately, the unsurprising research results, unquestioning reporting and plodding prose don't live up to previous work by these prestigious psychologists.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The authors are university professors and psychologists, and they have written a total of 20 books. "Good work," they posit, is "work that benefits the broader society." They focus on what it means to carry out good work--work that is both excellent in quality and socially responsible. In this first volume in the Good Work Project series, they explore this theme in the fields of journalism and genetics. More than 200 in-depth interviews, which began in the mid-1990s, were tape-recorded. From the time of their initial interviews, the authors believed that what was happening in journalism and genetics was of importance for the future. They concluded that "one can do well by doing good"--good work feels good, good work is innovative, and good work follows traditions. Wise words. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; First Edition edition (October 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465026079
• ISBN-13: 978-0465026074
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #435,756 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good material....dry presentation, November 11, 2001

By 

Terry Mathews (a small town in east Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Good Work: When Excellence And Ethics Meet (Hardcover)

I was intrigued by the title of this book and really wanted to like it, but found myself struggling to stay focused while reading it.

The three contributing authors have impressive academic credentials and I suppose this work will be used in university classrooms throughout the country, but I think the people who really need to hear the message that technology, economics and ethics can (and should) co-exist will not be attracted to this format.

The authors define people who do good work as: "People who do good work, in our sense of the term, are clearly skilled in one or more professional realms. At the same time, rather than merely following money or fame alone, or choosing the path of least resistance when in conflict, they are thoughtful about their responsibilities and the implications of their work."

The authors spend a lot of time discussing Journalism and Genetics and how ethics and good work in these two arenas are under seige from a market-driven economy. They offer up solutions on how to restore good work to the world and they share their methods of studying good work and their interviewing protocols, but the subject matter is just too academic for the average worker who struggles with ethics v. economics.

Maybe the book will reach university professors...and they'll share it with their students...and they'll go out into the world and strive to do 'good work.'

Let's hope so.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The potential to change our attitudes about work forever, August 12, 2005

By 

Daniel J. Klotz (Lancaster, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet (Paperback)

Howard Gardner has forever altered the landscape of American education through his development of the notion of "muliple intelligences," which says that people (including children and adolescents) can be "smart" in various ways. If reading, writing, and 'rithmatic aren't a person's strong spots, he may still be very bright in other areas. When Gardner first began studying and writing about multiple intelligences, it seemed revolutionary. Now it defines the accepted mainstream in how adept teachers conduct their classrooms.

When such a great mind decides that he wants to turn away from multiple intelligences theory and put his energies elsewhere (for the rest of his life if he can find the funding), it is worth noting what that area is. Gardner has explicitly said the subject of "Good Work" (both what it is and how we can foster and encourage it) so interests and engages him that he could study it for decades to come. It seems to me that suggests it's not a bad idea to inquire what "Good Work" is all about.

Gardner and his colleagues wonder what work that is both excellent (of the highest quality, no cut corners) and ethical (of the sort that makes you proud to look yourself in the mirror and announce what you do for a living) looks like and where it thrives. Their approach is simultaneously scientifically rigourous and achievably applicable.

We live in a time when the corporate model of profit through any means (or any means that won't turn away most consumers) dominates the business mindframe. We need a new paradigm and vocabulary for discussing what success is all about and how it can be reached. Gardner and his partners have begun that great work.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Learning for Career & HR Professionals!, July 26, 2003

By 

Kamal Kant (Singapore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet (Paperback)

An excellent read for career and human resource professionals. Written by three very eminently qualified professionals, it provides an in-depth study about professionals and the choices they make. Using illustrations from the medical and journalistic professions, it gives a reader a focused and clear understanding of what good work is all about.