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The Working Life: The Promise and Betrayal of Modern Work

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For those of us who truly enjoy our jobs, despite difficulties and challenges, this book is truly enlightening in helping us to understanding the factors that influence our approach to life and its components in general. Whether we work because we must (which indeed is the case for most of us), or because it is stimulating, rewarding or fulfills our inner yearning for depth and meaning is rooted not only in our own psyches, but also in our cultures, traditions, upbringing, etc.

In The Working Life, Joanne Ciulla explores the nature of work, examining the concept the holistic (my word) nature of work from the practical to the philosophical factors that play into our approach to "earning our daily bread."

The author asserts that ours is a society in which we are defined by what we do as much as who we are. We have progressed beyond the traditional Protestant Work Ethic to a point where our jobs often become our primary identity. Whereas some "work to live," more and more of us "live to work" where work is not just a means to an end, but an ultimate end in itself.

Ms. Ciulla, a teacher on leadership, critical thinking and ethics at the University of Richmond, has analyzed the concept of work from the perspective of both management and the managed. Given her diversified work experience, the book is expectedly balanced and even, providing a comprehensive view toward the nuances of the work experience. I particularly enjoyed the wealth of supporting references ranging from philosophers, storytellers, management experts, so-called efficiency experts, modern day management theorists and even cartoon characters to flesh out her concepts, yet she presents these as part of her own creative synthesis.

"The Working Life" is written with and engaging and thoughtful prose, flowing quickly and ending all too soon. It is time well spent and may give the reader additional insight into what makes them "tick" with respect to both the working life and to their whole being.

This is a rare find among books about work. I feel that I cannot recommend it too highly. She looks at work from the perspective of the worker, an individual with the right to consider his/her own interests, not of the manager who tries to convince his subordinates that the company is in right next to God and Country as an institution deserving blind, unselfish loyalty and sacrifice. Ciulla makes assertions that are far too daring for the average management "guru": people are different, managers are not all well-meaning, competent and fair. She reviews the history of attitudes toward work and scathingly points out that many experiments in enlightened management worked very well--right up until the company double-crossed the workers.

Joanne Ciulla presents a very well organized, philosophically grounded overview of work -- its varying meanings, its historical evolution, and its paradoxes as found in modern institutions. She is very up front with the reader in her introduction, admitting that this book is not a scientific investigation, but rather a broad interpretation of the meaning of work and how it has come to both bless and curse us in present times. Accordingly, there are succint summaries of some of the major interpretations of work -- from the early Greek philosophers to contemporary management schools.

But this is more than just an overview, too. Ciulla has a way of getting her readers to look at work with unexpected insights every step of the way. She peels away the common sense and taken-for-granted interpretations of work (which are often based on promising the worker some sort of fulfillment, but at the price of surrenduring autonomy). She does a nice job of deflating recent management theories that tout "new" approaches (management theory is woefully a-historical, she asserts, and is always looking at recycled approaches as though they are breakthroughs). There is a tone of leariness here, rooted in a skepticism over those who apply new management theories in order to exert greater control over individuals, and encourage them to shift their focus more and more away from families, community, and individually expressed forms of self-worth.

Overall, if you're skeptical of the latest management promises of creating "fulfilling work" (or if you really think the "Dilbert" cartoon series is right on the mark), you'll like this book. If you are looking for something that offers a new twist to management technique, you will likely find this book impractical and overly alarmist.

Sciulla's book avoids policy conclusions, and other theoretical certainties as other books like Fogels' 4th Awakening. She notes the interesting point that "Today, clock time measures events" in the past events measured time. For example, in Magadascar a half hour was measured by the time it took to cook rice. She became interested in the nature of work when she subsidised one job teaching philosophy with another as a waitress in a restaurant. Ms. Ciulla is particularly struck by the fact thatt wealth has not brought happiness. People continue to want to earn a living. Even when people have enough to live on, many of them continue to want to work, remaining perplexed at the fact that while life is supposed to be easier, many continue to seek meaning through employment. However, she notes, employment provides a schedule and a rythm for daily life and serves as an outlet ofr greater forms of community participation.

Ciulla places great importance on personal autonomy. She is suspicious of any connection outside of thepersonal that infringrs on that autonomy. She finds difficulty in the fact that people draw at least some of their identity from the world around them and in particular for this book from their occupation or job. Ciulla constantly stresses the implicit danger of betrayal and exploitation in this trust in others for life meaning. She repeatedly draws comparison between this fidning of identity in one's job with that of slavery in which the slaves identity is submerged to the personal interests of teh master.

Ciulla's book is a strong advocacy of her point of view written with an evident extensive background in the subject. It is well worth reading but one must keep in mind that this book is a brief to support one point of view.

As a side note. Ciulla deplores the needs of some people to find their identity in their relationships with others. She calls these people 'other-directed.' This is just the standard extroversion that is highly prized in current culture. It is nice to read a book in which introversion is praised as an ideal rather than being regarded as an ailment to be treated.

Never at any time in our past have work and workplaces been such an integral part of our lives - often forming our very identities. Because of the centrality of work in our lives, the author conducts a wide-ranging examination of work including basic definitions and a brief historical look even to ancient times, its potential for providing meaning to our lives, and the control that employers have over the nature of work and the organization of workplaces.

As the author points out, work was once under the control of craftsmen, who worked to produce a complete product irrespective of the specific time needed. With the industrial revolution that manner of working was completely undermined as factory owners gained control by breaking manufacturing into a sequence of simplistic, timed steps to be performed by workers with minimal training, in essence bypassing skilled craftsmen. But the high-speed, dead-end nature of that work was problematical, resulting in massive turnover and no commitment on the part of employees, not to mention the formation of unions. Employers in the 1920s began a counter offensive by adopting a human relations approach geared to inducing willing compliance to perform deadening jobs. As part of that approach, businesses provided increased benefits for employees. Consumerism was promoted as the means to produce the meaning in lives lacking in the workplace. Employers have in more recent times pushed such initiatives as creating a family-like corporate culture (IBM), work teams for purposes of employee participation and empowerment, and promoting total quality management (TQM) to closely bind workers to companies and their agendas, especially white-collar workers. Many social critics, including C. Wright Mills, view these programs as mere manipulation of employees, creating conforming, compliant organization men.

There was the assumption that corporate and employee interests were one and the same and that loyalty and trust best described the new employment relationship. The superficiality of this new social compact was brought home in a devastating manner beginning in the early 1990s as corporations supposedly under the dictates of global markets unceremoniously shed thousands of loyal employees. These newly downsized companies were said to be re-engineered - more management speak for unilateral actions. Employee empowerment turned out to be a cynical ploy to be discarded at the first convenient opportunity.

Given the utter lack of concern on the part of employers to providing long-term employment, the author chides those who continue to look to places of employment to provide the fulfillment normally provided by family, friends, and communities. She notes that unions are the only the workplace organizations that have ever provided a basis for fairness and justice in contrast to the informality of implied agreements easily withdrawn by management.

The book is disappointing because having clearly assessed the state of employment in the US, the author does virtually nothing in recommending change, other than to state the obvious that employers are unreliable in terms of providing security and meaning. At the least, she could have outlined the European approach of works councils and active employment policies. European workers long ago realized that employers cannot be allowed to act with impunity when their economic well-being is at stake. The American system of employers arbitrarily turning workers' lives upside down with no avenue for effective worker input is unconscionable.

The book is a well-written, lively overview of the state of working in America. She notes others have described the internals of workplaces, most notably the Dilbert cartoons. She also notes the lack of community among workers, who prefer to adopt cynical self-coping approaches to modern work instead of collaborating to change it. In the face of the obvious employer disregard for employee well-being, the passivity of American workers is baffling.

I read this book when it first came out in hardcover (2001/02). I was at a stage in my life where I was looking for "meaningful work" and all the working life books out there were more in line with "what color is your parachute?"

Ciulla takes a thoughtful, historical look at work, and how we came to where we are now -- examining and dissecting the working life. Any book makes its meaning in the context in which it's read. I read this when I was seeking -- and the one line that shifted my thinking for the better was (paraphrased) "Is the question how do we find meaningful work, or what role does work play in a *meaningful life*?" The latter of course, is something only we can define for ourselves.

This book is well-written, albeit not in the style of Gladwell or Pink. It has more weight to it. It requires more work. Although it is not a self-help book, it changed my thinking, I hope it does the same for you. A good read.

Ciulla covers a broad range of topics dealing with work -- its meaning throughout history, workplace ideologies/culture (i.e., how to get workers to want to do what they'd ordinarily rather not), the end of workplace loyalty, how we determine what is meaningful work, etc. -- and she does so in a very readable way. This book will likely make you think about the work choices you have made and have yet to make, and although it's not a practical, how-to-get-the-job-you-love type of book (nor is it meant to be), it will give you a broader perspective that will arm you to make wiser decisions. Regardless of whether or you use the information to ruminate about your work life or make decisions (or neither), it's an enjoyable, informative, and sometimes eye-opening read.

This book explores the over-worked state of Americans today and why people work at all. The author helps readers discover the values and attitudes expressed in their jobs using history, literature, popular culture, and personal anecdotes. Many good insights.

Prof. Ciulla tackles this central component of Life from different directions. The book will make you think and maybe even change your preferences in life.