Social Organization of Corporate Workplace

This paper is a discussion of the ways in which the social organization of the corporate workplace attempts to regulate and control the moods of its workers in order to encourage a productive work environment. According to research gathered by Robert E. Thayer in his book, The Origin of Everyday Moods, the sustained feelings that constitute moods are tied to an individual's relative physical and psychological health, as well as his or her sense of safety. His studies indicate that human beings are most productive when they are calm and energized, but most workplaces encourage workers to feel greater tension. By discouraging behaviors that might make workers less tense and by encouraging actions, including caffeine consumption, that build stress, the typical corporation induces an overall mood that is actually less likely to produce productive activity. Ironically, taking some of the pressure off the business setting is likely to make workers more efficient - and is unlikely to happen in a corporate America fixated on the stress of competition.

Robert E. Thayer (1996) defines mood "as a background feeling that persists over time" (p. 5). He argues that moods can all be plotted along two continuums, one which measures energy and the other which measures tension. At any given time, an individual can be rated along the energy scale somewhere between tiredness and high energy and along the tension scale somewhere between calm and very tense. The first scale indicates the

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orkplace's concept of the ideal mood is not the mood that Thayer argues is most likely to stimulate the best results for the individual or the company. Most employers would argue that the worker should operate in the state Thayer terms tense-energy, a level of high energy but high tension, a state induced in the workplace by tight deadlines and challenging sales quotas. Thayer (1996) notes that, in the tense-energy state, the individual "is slightly distracted . . . This is troubling because in this job [he or she] should be totally focused" (p. 13). The deadline, the quota, or any other imminent, important goal tends to increase the individual's level of tension, actually distracting him or her from giving the work his or her complete attention. Yet the typical corporate employer would probably be uncomfortable with a workforce composed entirely of individuals in calm-energy moods. Such a group would seem to be too laid back to get anything accomplished, although, in Thayer's model, they would actually be in the best state possible to do effective, thoughtful work. In fact, the corporate ideal is modelled on the "fight or flight" concept that has its roots in the caveman's need to remain constantly alert in order to fight

Category: Business - S