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THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

Ben Wallace

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Welcome Nau mai!

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Karakia (opening)

Tāwhia tō mana, kia mau, kia māia.�Ka huri, taku aro ki te pae kahurangi.

Kei reira, te oranga mōku.�Mā mahi tahi, ka ora, ka puāwai.�Ā mātau mahi katoa, ka pono, ka tika.�TIHEI MAURI ORA

Translation

Hold onto mana, be firm, be brave.

It’s time, my head turns to the direction of the prize.

You’re awesome, the survivor me.

By working together, we will live, we will bloom.

Our clever work always, will be true, will be fair.

SNEEZE THE LIFE FORCE - OUR RIGHT TO SPEAK

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INTROS PEPEHA

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A bit about you - where you’re from, what you do, why you’re here, and your name.

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PURPOSE

TO UNDERSTAND AUTONOMY, IT’S IMPORTANCE TO OUR LIVES AND LIFE IN GENERAL, AND WAYS IN WHICH WE CAN GAIN GREATER AUTONOMY, HAPPINESS, AND MEANING.

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STRUCTURE

what is AUTONOMY
constraints on AUTONOMY
importance of AUTONOMY
being AUTONOMOUS
respecting AUTONOMY
values for AUTONOMY
consequences of no AUTONOMY
meaning and AUTONOMY

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1. What is AUTONOMY - so we’ll look at some definitions, and explore some related concepts, like liberty.

2. IMPORTANCE of autonomy - we’ll discuss why autonomy is important, why it matters (if it does matter), and some of what we know about how important it is.

3. BEING autonomous - we’ll talk about how to be autonomous ourselves

4. RESPECTING autonomy - and we’ll talk about how to respect others autonomy, because obviously if we don’t respect others autonomy, how can we rightly expect ours to be respected.

5. VALUES for autonomy - we’ll talk about what values might we reasonably hold that would work for (I hope) all our lives and for us all living autonomously.

6. LACK of autonomy - we’ll then take a look at the dangers and harm of not having autonomy.

7. Autonomy for MEANING - finally, we’ll take a look at the deeper meaning that autonomy may have for our lives, at work and wider.

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AGENDA - WHOLE DAY

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MORNING

TEA 15m

LUNCH

START 45m

LUNCH

END

AFTERNOON

TEA 15m

CLOSING

KARAKIA

WELCOME

KARAKIA

WHAT IS 55m

IMPORTANCE OF 44m

BEING 39m

RESPECTING 42m

VALUES FOR 48m

CONSEQUENCES OF NO 47m

MEANING AND 29m

CONSTRAINTS ON 55m

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what is AUTONOMY

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EXERCISE - WORDS

WORDS YOU ASSOCIATE WITH AUTONOMY

NOTE DOWN AS MANY WORDS AS YOU CAN THAT YOU WOULD ASSOCIATE WITH AUTONOMY - 3 MINS

COUNTS OF SAME WORDS

EVERYONE SHARES THEIR WORDS AND WE COUNT UP HOW MANY MENTIONS EACH GETS - 3 MINS

WHAT WORDS HAD THE HIGHEST COUNTS? REFLECTION ON ANY THEMES - 3 MINS

THEMES - HIGHEST COUNTS

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ARTICLES

Number of results on Google Scholar for searched terms

ARTICLES SINCE 2024

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GOOGLE SCHOLAR 09 JUNE 2024

KEY METRICS
Terms	Autonomy	Freedom	Liberty	Well-being
Since 2024	48,600	43,900	16,800	50,200
Since 2023	80,000	65,200	31,200	108,000
Since 2020	498,000	655,000	94,200	817,000
Anytime	5,020,000	3,470,000	2,440,000	5,540,000

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PERCENTAGE OF WORDS IN BOOKS THAT ARE “AUTONOMY” “FREEDOM” "LIBERTY” (1800-2019)

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GOOGLE BOOKS NGRAM VIEWER

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PERCENTAGE OF WORDS IN BOOKS THAT ARE "AUTONOMY" (1800-2019)

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GOOGLE BOOKS NGRAM VIEWER

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PERCENTAGE OF WORDS IN BOOKS THAT ARE "FREEDOM" (1800-2019)

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GOOGLE BOOKS NGRAM VIEWER

Of all the single words (unigrams) contained in Google’s sample (corpus) of books written in English what percentage are "freedom".

Freedom has been a popular word from the start of the sample in 1800 (though three times less than ‘liberty’ at the same time), but it dipped from around the 1860s to the early 1900s when it staged a sharp recovery (though not quite to 1860 levels) to a peak in 1918, so at the end of WWI. After falling from that peak it then dawdled for a short period in the 20’s before rising sharply in the 30’s up to a new high in 1942, in the midst of WWII. It levelled off a little in the 1950s, though still at high levels, before rising higher again, even above WWII levels, during the 1960s. From 1969 to 1979 it fell back to levels seen over the 1800s. Since 1980 it has been picking itself up again, and is at high levels.

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PERCENTAGE OF WORDS IN BOOKS THAT ARE "LIBERTY" (1800-2019)

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GOOGLE BOOKS NGRAM VIEWER

Of all the single words (unigrams) contained in Google’s sample (corpus) of books written in English what percentage are "liberty".

Liberty started at very high levels relative to ‘freedom’, at almost three times its usage. However, over all the period from 1800 to 1980 its trend was down, punctuated by small peaks for WWI and the 1960s. Its descent has now levelled off though and it shows some small growth. It’s popularity is now three times less than ‘freedom’ and about the same as ‘autonomy’.

English Civil War 1642-1651.

Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes, was published in 1651.

Two Treatises of Government, by John Locke (‘the father of liberalism’), was published in 1689.

The Social Contract, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau was published 1762

Common Sense, by Thomas Paine, was published in 1776.

The American Declaration of Independence 04 July 1776 - "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

American War for Independence 1775 to 1783

French Revolution 1789-1799

On Liberty, by John Stuart Mill was published 1859

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"WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT, THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL, THAT THEY ARE ENDOWED BY THEIR CREATOR WITH CERTAIN UNALIENABLE RIGHTS, THAT AMONG THESE ARE LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS."

Jefferson, T. (1776). Declaration of independence - the unanimous declaration of the thirteen united states of America.

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PERCENTAGE OF WORDS IN BOOKS THAT ARE “WELLBEING” “WELL-BEING” "WELL BEING”

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GOOGLE BOOKS NGRAM VIEWER

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PERCENTAGE OF WORDS IN BOOKS THAT ARE “HAPPINESS” (1800-2019)

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GOOGLE BOOKS NGRAM VIEWER

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“AUTONOMY CAN BE DEFINED AS THE CONDITION OF SELF-GOVERNANCE - THAT PEOPLE HAVE CHOICES, THAT WHAT THEY ARE DOING IS OF THEIR OWN VOLITION, AND THAT THEY ARE THE SOURCE OF THEIR OWN ACTIONS.”

Majcher, J. (2021). The Importance of Autonomy. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com

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“AUTONOMY MEANS A SENSE OF VOLITION AND INTERNAL LOCUS OF CAUSALITY IN ONE'S UNDERTAKINGS WHERE ONE FEELS OWNERSHIP FOR ONE'S ACTIONS.”

Martella, F. (2021). What makes work meaningful? Longitudinal evidence for the importance of autonomy and beneficence for meaningful work. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 131.

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DISCUSSION

DO THESE DEFINITIONS RESONATE?

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WHAT DOES AUTONOMY MEAN TO YOU?

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CAN WE HAVE COMPLETE AUTONOMY?

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EXERCISE - DRAWING

WITH COMPLETE AUTONOMY

DRAW YOURSELF, AND YOUR SURROUNDINGS, IN A SITUATION OF COMPLETE AUTONOMY - 3 MINS

WITHOUT AUTONOMY

DRAW YOURSELF, AND YOUR SURROUNDINGS, IN A SITUATION OF NO AUTONOMY - 3 MINS

WE EACH SHARE OUR DRAWINGS WITH A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF EACH - 1 MIN EACH.

SHOW & TELL

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constraints on AUTONOMY

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TWO CONCEPTS OF LIBERTY

Reference to Berlin, I. (1958). Two concepts of liberty - an inaugural lecture delivered before the University of Oxford on 31 October 1958. Oxford at the Clarendon Press.

Negative liberty is freedom from all external interference, coercion, or restraint by the state or community.

Positive liberty is the freedom to act reasonably, with what is reasonable being agreed by the state or the community.

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Berlin introduced the concepts of negative and positive liberty in a 1958 inaugural lecture at the University of Oxford, which reintroduced liberty back into philosophical debate. These are my interpretations of the terms, trying as much as possible to use Plain English and state them as simply as possible. I can’t promise they are exactly what he meant - his writing is not clear, and there are many interpretations of what he meant.

Isaiah Berlin. ‘Whenever he was described as an English philosopher, Berlin always insisted that he was not an English philosopher, but would forever be a Russian Jew: "I am a Russian Jew from Riga, and all my years in England [arrived at age 11] cannot change this. I love England, I have been well treated here, and I cherish many things about English life, but I am a Russian Jew; that is how I was born and that is who I will be to the end of my life".’ Wikipedia

‘Berlin is known for his inaugural lecture, "Two Concepts of Liberty," delivered in 1958 as Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at Oxford.’ Wikipedia

Negative liberty. There has been much debate on these concepts. It may be called negative, because it excludes all interference, laws and norms, any restraints. It may also be called this for the impression that it may lead to negative behaviour.

Positive liberty, sounds good. It is the freedom to act reasonably, but, with what is reasonable being agreed by the state or community. The danger here being that what is reasonable, is overtaken by an ideology such as communism or fascism that justifies a concept of reasonable that harms liberty. The point here is to assert the supremacy of autonomy, and ones right to act according to one own wishes in as far as that does not involve telling others what to do (as that would harm autonomy). In other words anything is reasonable if it is what you wish to do and it does not harm others, but telling others what to do is not reasonable. If you want others to do something, to corporate, then you must use persuasion, and if they do not want to do it you must accept that.

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“INDIGENOUS [WENDAT] AMERICANS SAW INDIVIDUAL AUTONOMY AND FREEDOM OF ACTION AS CONSUMMATE VALUES - ORGANISING THEIR OWN LIVES IN SUCH AS WAY AS TO MINIMISE ANY POSSIBILITY OF ONE HUMAN BEING BECOMING SUBORDINATED TO THE WILL OF ANOTHER.”

Graeber, D., & Wengrow, D. (2022). The dawn of everything - a new history of humanity. Penguin Press.

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This is about the idea that some societies, indigenous (or native) American examples in this case, actively organised their societies so that no human being could be subordinated to the will of another. The native Americans were critical of the French colonists, seeing French society as dominated by money, and every person subordinated to those that had it. The native ‘Wendat’ Americans never took orders from anyone. Their chiefs could not order anyone to do anything, they had to ask and use reason to get what they wanted. Only the best and most eloquent reasoners had any power.

When violence took place in this community, the perpetrator was not punished, but the perpetrators entire lineage or clan had to pay reparations.

In their book they also argue that pre-history shows you can have cities without controlling bureaucracies, that you can have co-operation without hierarchies, that ‘complex systems don’t have to be organised top-down’.

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“PETTIT ARGUES THAT THE FUNDAMENTAL TENET OF A FULFILLING, DECENT LIFE IS NON-DOMINANCE.. [LIBERTY] DOESN’T EXIST WHEN CONFLICTS ARE RESOLVED BY UNEQUAL POWER RELATIONS IMPOSED BY ENTRENCHED CUSTOMS. TO FLOURISH, LIBERTY NEEDS THE END OF DOMINANCE, WHATEVER ITS SOURCE.”

Acemoglu, D., & Robinson, J. A. (2019). The narrow corridor: states, societies and the fate of liberty. Penguin. With reference to Pettit, P. (2019). Republicanism: a theory of freedom and government. Oxford University Press.

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Acemoglu, D., & Robinson, J. A. (2019). The narrow corridor: states, societies and the fate of liberty. Penguin.

USA

UK

North Korea

China

Russia

Somalia

Written rules - laws

Unwritten rules - norms

High productivity

NZ

“The cage of norms”

“The unshackled, despotic leviathan/state”

The narrow corridor

Effective

democracy

According to Acemoglu, we need a state to create liberty, but that state needs to be checked by society, “shackled by people who will complain, demonstrate, and even rise up if it oversteps it bounds.” That balance between the power of the state and the power of society is the “narrow corridor”, which is “always a work in progress”.

Graeber and Wengrow would argue, in fact, that we’re not that free in Western modern societies, that we are really slaves to money, and that many indigenous American societies were much freer, without money, and without anyone that could tell them what to do. Co-operation in these societies had to be built on agreement, on reason and persuasion.

“It is a state that creates liberty.” according to Acemoglu, but Graeber would argue that many societies had liberty, and cities, without a state, in fact actively avoided a state, and were not ‘caged by norms’.

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“WHILE THE SHARE OF COUNTRIES ENGAGING IN REPRESSION FELL FROM 30-40 PERCENT IN THE 1950S TO NEAR ZERO BY THE LATE 1990S/EARLY 2000S, IT HAS BEEN ON AN UPWARD TREND SINCE 2006, WITH ALMOST 10 PERCENT OF COUNTRIES CARRYING OUT SOME FORM OF POLITICAL PURGES.”

Besley, T., Marshall, J., Persson, T. (2023). Well-being and state effectiveness. In World Happiness Report 2023 (11th). Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

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Besley, T., Marshall, J., Persson, T. (2023). Well-being and state effectiveness. In World Happiness Report 2023 (11th). Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

civil war

repression

effective taxation, high income

ineffective taxation, low income

‘POLITICAL VIOLENCE’ AND ‘STATE CAPACITY AND INCOME’ COUNTRY CLUSTERS

weak states

elite-interest states

common-interest states

CHE = Switzerland

CIV = Ivory Coast

DZA = Algeria

ISL = Iceland

LKA = Sri Lanka

MUS = Mauritius

NER = Niger

SLV = El Salvador

TTO = Trinidad & Tobago

If it weren’t for the USA, the common-interest states which pretty much fall on the midline for the Political Violence dimension.

“Weak states.. are shaded orange and positioned in the negative area of ‘state capacity and income’ and positive area of.. [political violence]. This rhymes well with the idea that they have relatively high levels of civil war and low levels of state capacity and income.

“[Elite]-interest states are shaded blue and have intermediate levels of ‘state capacity and income’. These countries are situated in the negative [area] of [political violence], which represents high levels of repression. China is a particular outlier in this dimension, with exceptionally high repression.”

“Common-interest states are shaded green and form a particularly tight cluster. Countries in this cluster belong to the positive [area] of ‘state capacity and income’ and they have values on [political violence].. that hover around zero, which represents low levels of repression [and low levels of].. civil war.”

The core variables that are used to construct these clusters are the same as those that go into the Pillars of Prosperity index. Allowing two distinct dimensions of variability across countries does a reasonably good job of describing the data. The first dimension broadly captures differences in ‘state capacity and income’, while the second dimension captures ‘political violence’.

Pillars of Prosperity index: This index was constructed as the simple average of three measures which all range between zero and one. The first component is an index of three components of state capacity: fiscal, legal, and collective [share of total tax revenues raised by income taxes for fiscal capacity, World Bank’s contract enforcement index for legal capacity, and a basic index of the average of educational attainment and life expectancy for collective capacity]; the second component is an index of peacefulness, based on the prevalence of civil war and repression; the third component is a measure of income per capita

There is a strong positive correlation between the Pillars of Prosperity index and the history of ‘executive constraints’ and ‘civic values’:

‘executive constraints’ uses an average of two variables from from the V-Dem project: (i) executive constraints by the judiciary and (ii) executive constraints by the legislature and government agencies.
‘civic values’ uses the index of civic values from the World Values Survey, which aggregates five variables: confidence in government, general trust in people, attitudes to complying on taxes, confidence in the justice system/courts, and attitudes to accepting bribes

ALB - Albania

BRB -

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“THE REALITY IS THAT THE MARKET IS A PRODUCT OF THE STATE. WITHOUT A GOVERNMENT TO DEFINE PROPERTY RIGHTS, AND ESTABLISH AND ENFORCE THE TERMS UNDER WHICH PROPERTY RIGHTS TRANSFER, THERE IS ANARCHY, NOT MARKETS.”

Cullen, M. (2003). Observations on the role of government. https://www.beehive.govt.nz

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DISCUSSION

FREE, BUT NOT FREE TO HARM

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WHAT IS REASONABLE?

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NORMS AND LAWS

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EXERCISE - NORMS

IN TEAMS, IDENTIFY NORMS

DISCUSS AND LIST ALL YOU CAN COME UP WITH IN 5 MINUTES. SHARE BACK TO GROUP.

ARE NORMS NECESSARY

ONE TEAM DISCUSS & LIST THE BENEFITS, AND ONE TEAM THE COSTS, OF NORMS. 5 MINUTES. SHARE RESULTS.

ONE TEAM, DISCUSS-LIST HOW NORMS ARE STARTED, AND ONE TEAM HOW THEY ARE ENDED. 5 MIN. SHARE RESULTS.

HOW NORMS START AND END

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importance of AUTONOMY

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“IMMANUEL KANT HELD THAT AUTONOMY IS THE FOUNDATION OF HUMAN DIGNITY AND THE SOURCE OF ALL MORALITY.”

Hill, T. E. (2012). Autonomy and self-respect. Cambridge University Press.

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Thomas Hill is an American philosopher known for his work interpreting, explaining and extending Kant's moral and political philosophy.

Kant, German philosopher, died 1804. He held that humans need to find what they regard as universal values through their own reasoning. It is only through their own autonomous reasoning that their values can have moral foundation in that they found them themselves, and it is only in that autonomous reasoning toward universal values that they can ever be universal. In other words, we must each find our way, through reason, toward the values that we hold as universal, but we can never force these universal values on others, they must find them themselves.

The categorical imperative: "Act only in accordance with that maxim through which you at the same time can will that it become a universal law." Kant, I. (1785). Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Wikipedia.

‘A good will is one that acts from duty in accordance with the universal moral law that the autonomous human being freely gives itself.’ Wikipedia

"The Doctrine of Virtue" provides "a very different account of ordinary moral reasoning" than the one suggested by the Groundwork:” Wikipedia

“There are two sorts of ends that it is our duty to have: our own perfection and the happiness of others (MS 6:385)” Wikipedia

“there are only two obligatory ends: one’s own (rational) perfection and the happiness of others” https://www.princeton.edu/

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THE CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE

Kant, I. (1785). Groundwork of the metaphysics of morals.

“Act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law.”

first formulation

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Kant, German philosopher, died 1804. He held that humans need to find what they regard as universal values through their own reasoning. It is only through their own autonomous reasoning that their values can have moral foundation in that they found them themselves, and it is only in that autonomous reasoning toward universal values that they can ever be universal. In other words, we must each find our way, through reason, toward the values that we hold as universal, but we can never force these universal values on others, they must find them themselves.

The categorical imperative

first formulation "Act only in accordance with that maxim through which you at the same time can will that it become a universal law." comes from Kant, I. (1785). Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Wikipedia.

[‘The result of these two considerations is that we must will maxims that can be at the same time universal, but which do not infringe on the freedom of ourselves nor of others. A universal maxim, however, could only have this form if it were a maxim that each subject by himself endorsed.’ Wikipedia (Categorical Imperative).]

second formulation “Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end”

third formulation “Thus the third practical principle follows as the ultimate condition of their harmony with practical reason: the idea of the will of every rational being as a universally legislating will.

["The Doctrine of Virtue" provides "a very different account of ordinary moral reasoning" than the one suggested by the Groundwork:” Wikipedia

“There are two sorts of ends that it is our duty to have: our own perfection and the happiness of others (MS 6:385)” Wikipedia

“there are only two obligatory ends: one’s own (rational) perfection and the happiness of others” https://www.princeton.edu/]

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“AUTONOMY HAS BECOME NEARLY SYNONYMOUS WITH HUMAN DIGNITY, AND AN IMMINENT VALUE IN ANY SYSTEM WHICH PURPORTS TO PLACE PROPER EMPHASIS ON THE RESPECT FOR PERSONS”

May, T. (1998). Autonomy, authority and moral responsibility. Springer.

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“A VARIABLE THAT MEASURES FREEDOM OF CHOICE AND LOCUS OF CONTROL IS FOUND TO PREDICT LIFE SATISFACTION BETTER THAN ANY OTHER KNOWN FACTOR SUCH AS HEALTH, EMPLOYMENT, INCOME, MARRIAGE OR RELIGION”

Verme. P. (2009). Happiness, freedom and control. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 71(2), 146-161.

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Paolo Verme is an economist and manager of the research program on forced displacement and head of research and impact evaluations in the fragility, conflict and violence group of the World Bank.

“It is argued that the degree of perceived control that individuals have over choice - a construct known as the locus of control in psychology - regulates how we value freedom of choice. People who believe that the outcome of their actions depends on internal factors such as effort and skills have a greater appreciation of freedom of choice than people who believe that the outcome of their actions depends on external factors such as fate or destiny. We find some evidence in support of this hypothesis using a combination of all rounds/waves of the World and European Values Surveys. A variable that measures freedom of choice and locus of control is found to predict life satisfaction better than any other known factor such as health, employment, income, marriage or religion, across countries and within countries.”

“important to understand how expectations in relation to control over choice are formed.” “psychology offer[s] one interesting concept that could help to explain how people shape expectations about the outcome of their own choices. This concept is known as the locus of control and was initially proposed by Rotter. Rotter remarked that individuals can be ranked according to the locus of control and devised a scale (known as the Rotter scale) to measure how close are personalities to an external type as opposed to an internal type.”

“Both freedom of choice and the locus of control have a direct impact on happiness and the locus of control may regulate the impact of freedom of choice on happiness.”

“there is increasingly more evidence that personality, beliefs and values can be shaped through social policies and are relevant for individuals and nations alike.”

“The ‘perceived fate-control’ variable used by Veenhoven has been taken from a question present in the World Values Survey. The question asked was: “Please use this scale where ‘1’ means “none at all” and ‘10’ means “a great deal” to indicate how much freedom of choice and control you feel you have over the way your life turns out.” More recently, Inglehart et al. (2008) have used this same variable as a measure of freedom of choice. In our view, the question combines information on freedom of choice with information on the locus of control. It is therefore the ideal instrument to start our investigation on the relation between happiness and freedom.”

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Verme. P. (2009). Happiness, freedom and control. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 71(2), 146-161.

HAPPINESS, FREEDOM OF CHOICE AND LOCUS OF CONTROL

“Both freedom of choice and locus of control have a direct impact on happiness and the locus of control may regulate [limit] the impact of freedom of choice on happiness.” Verme (2009).

“..the degree of perceived control that individuals have over choice - a construct known as ‘the locus of control’ in psychology - regulates how we value freedom of choice.” Verme (2009).

“People who believe that the outcome of their actions depends on internal factors such as [their own] effort and skills have a greater appreciation of freedom of choice than people who believe that the outcome of their actions depends on external factors such as fate or destiny [or someone else].” Verme (2009).

IF YOU HAVE LITTLE CONTROL OVER THE OUTCOMES OF YOUR CHOICES, YOU PUT LITTLE VALUE ON MORE CHOICE.

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World Values Survey Question -

“Please use this scale where ‘1’ means “none at all” and ‘10’ means “a great deal” to indicate how much freedom of choice and control you feel you have over the way your life turns out.”

“For a one step increase in the one to ten freedom and control scale, happiness [life satisfaction] is expected to change by about 36% of a step on the one to ten happiness scale.” Verme (2009).

World Values Survey Question -

“All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?” Answers are on a ten-step ladder where ‘1’ is equal to “dissatisfied” and ‘10’ is equal to “satisfied”.

“Across the full sample of 75 countries the freedom and control variable is always significant with one exception (Turkey) and varies in size between 0.080 (Egypt) and 0.712 (New Zealand).” .. “If we had to bet on what variables best predict life satisfaction anywhere in the world our money would certainly go on freedom and control.” Verme (2009).

Independent variable - Freedom and Control

Dependent variable - Happiness

HAPPINESS, FREEDOM OF CHOICE AND LOCUS OF CONTROL

Technical: study uses multiple independent variables in a world pooled ordered logit model (a type of regression model). However, I am only showing results for the ‘freedom and control’ independent variable.

“World Values Survey Question: ‘Please use this scale where ‘1’ means “none at all” and ‘10’ means “a great deal” to indicate how much freedom of choice and control you feel you have over the way your life turns out.’.. “From the formulation of the question we derive that this variable captures two aspects which we said are closely related: Freedom of choice and the locus of control. Personality being equal, two persons who enjoy a different degree of individual freedom should provide different scores to this question. Vice-versa, freedom of choice being equal, two persons with a different locus of control should provide different answers.

“Subjective happiness (H) is measured with a question on life satisfaction. The question asked is: “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?” Answers include a ten steps ladder where ‘1’ is equal to “Dissatisfied” and ‘10’ is equal to “Satisfied”.”

“For a one step increase in the one to ten freedom and control scale, happiness is expected to change by about 36% of a step on the one to ten happiness scale.” p19

‘Our results indicate that country variability (heterogeneity) is remarkable and that reading universal findings into world data or a single country’s data can be very misleading. However, this statement does not apply to the variable freedom and control which is a remarkable stable predictor of life satisfaction in all countries. If we had to bet on what variables best predict life satisfaction anywhere in the world our money would certainly go on freedom and control.’ paraphrased, p23

‘Freedom and control is the only variable that is consistently significant with a positive sign across all ten countries in the table. The coefficient is always very high ranging from 0.548 in Canada to 0.242 in Nigeria. [They use ordered logit ] We can also observe that the coefficient of the freedom and control variable tends to decrease as we move from developed to developing countries which is in line with the hypothesis that the locus of control is likely to become more important as countries develop and improve freedom [as people gain freedom they value freedom more]. Across the full sample of 75 countries the freedom and control variable is always significant with one exception (Turkey) and varies in size between 0.080 (Egypt) and 0.712 (New Zealand), always with a positive sign.’ p

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BETWEEN NATIONS, “GDP PER CAPITA, SOCIAL SUPPORT, HEALTHY LIFE EXPECTANCY, FREEDOM TO MAKE LIFE CHOICES, GENEROSITY, AND FREEDOM FROM CORRUPTION … EXPLAIN MORE THAN THREE-QUARTERS OF THE VARIATION IN [LIFE EVALUATION] SCORES.”

Helliwell, J. F., Huang, H., Norton, M., Goff, L., & Wang, S. (2023). World happiness, trust and social connections in times of crisis. In Helliwell, J. F., Layard, R., Sachs, J. D., Aknin, L. B., De Neve, J.-E., & Wang, S. (Eds.), World Happiness Report 2023 (11th ed.). Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

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1

6

5

4

3

2

= positive emotions

= negative emotions

REGRESSION COEFFICIENTS TO EXPLAIN AVERAGE CANTRIL LADDER SCORES FOR LIFE SATISFACTION

Adjusted R-squared

0.757

0.439

0.334

0.782

Technical: Uses a pooled OLS regression for a tattered panel.

The Cantril Ladder is the 11-point scale from 0-10 on how you would rate your current life, with 0 being your worst possible life and 10 being your best possible life. This regression uses the national annual average Cantril Ladder scores across 156 countries from 2005 to 2022 (giving almost 2,000 scores/observations in total).

Darker blue arrows mean greater impact.

Adjusted-R-squared gives a measure of how predictive the multiple regression is and how much variation is explained by the independent variables used in the regression. This shows that the six independent (aka explanatory or predictor or exogenous) variables explain more than three-quarters of the variation in the Cantril Ladder scores (the dependent variable).

The top line figure of 0.359 is a regression coefficient showing how much the dependent variable (the Cantril Ladder score) changes for a unit increase in the independent variable (in this case, Log GDP per capita). The (0.067) in brackets is the standard error, so +- 0.067 on 0.359. The stars represent the statistical significance (p Value) of the regression coefficient. If it doesn’t have an asterix, it is not regarded as statistically significant. One star means significant at the 90% confidence interval, 2 at the 95% interval, and 3 at the 99% confidence interval. More stars means the estimate is more likely to be a true estimate (or less likely for the true value to be something else).

Positive and negative “affect” are based on answers about yesterday’s emotional experiences. In general, these emotional measures, especially negative ones, are less fully explained by the six independent variables. For instance, ‘GDP per capita’ and ‘Healthy life expectancy at birth’ have significant effects on ‘Cantril Ladder’ scores, but not on ‘Positive’ emotions. ‘Social support’ has similar size effects on ‘Positive’ and [inversely] ‘Negative’ emotions as it does on ‘Cantril Ladder’ scores. ‘Freedom to make life choices’ and ‘Generosity’ have larger effects on ‘Positive’ emotions than on ‘Cantril Ladder’ scores. ‘Negative’ emotions are significantly ameliorated by ‘Social support’ and ‘Freedom to make life choices’.

In the fourth column, the equation is redone but with Positive and Negative emotions as additional independent variables. The results buttress a finding in psychology that the existence of positive emotions matters more than the absence of negative ones for longevity and resistance to colds. Consistent with this, Positive emotions are found to have a large and highly significant impact on Cantril Ladder scores, while Negative emotions impact is small and not significant.

As for the other dependent variables’ coefficients, the changes are substantial only on those variables that have the largest impacts on Positive emotions, especially ‘Freedom to make life choice’ and ‘Generosity’. Thus it can be inferred that Positive emotions play a strong role in supporting Cantril Ladder scores, and that much of the impact of ‘Freedom to make life choices’ and ‘Generosity’ is channelled through their influence, i.e., ‘Freedom to make life choices’ and ‘Generosity’ have large impacts on Positive emotions, which in turn has a major impact on Cantril Ladder scores.

1. The equation uses the natural log of GDP per capita, as this form fits the data better.

2. Social support is the national average of the binary response (0=no, 1=yes) to the Gallup World Poll question, “If you were in trouble, do you have relatives or friends you can count on to help you whenever you need them, or not?”

3. Healthy life expectancy at birth is from the World Health Organization.

4. Freedom to make life choices is the national average of binary responses to the GWP question, “Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your freedom to choose what you do with your life?”

5. Generosity is the residual after regressing the national average of GWP responses to the donation question, “Have you donated money to a charity in the past month?” on log GDP per capita.

6. Perceptions of corruption are the average of binary answers to two GWP questions, “Is corruption widespread throughout the government or not?” and, “Is corruption widespread within businesses or not?”

7. Positive affect is defined as the average of previous-day affect measures for laughter, enjoyment, and interest. The general form for the questions is: Did you experience the following feelings during a lot of the day yesterday?

8. Negative affect is defined as the average of previous-day affect measures for worry, sadness, and anger.

R (not given on this slide) is the correlation coefficient. R-squared is the determination coefficient for a regression model. R-squared gives a measure of how predictive the regression is and how much variation is explained by the regression. The lowest R-squared is 0 which means no points are explained by the regression, whereas the highest R-squared is 1 which means all the points are explained by the regression. Adjusted-R-squared is R-squared adjusted for the number of independent variables in a multiple-regression model, but again gives a measure of how predictive the multiple regression is and how much variation is explained by the independent variables used in the regression.

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DISCUSSION

HOW IMPORTANT IS AUTONOMY?

.

WHAT ABOUT MONEY AND POWER?

.

WHAT ABOUT RELIGION?

.

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being AUTONOMOUS

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“AUTONOMY INVOLVES MAKING INDEPENDENT DECISIONS THAT ALIGN WITH PERSONAL VALUES AND GOALS INSTEAD OF BEING COERCED BY EXTERNAL FORCES. IN PSYCHOLOGY, AUTONOMY IS VIEWED AS A FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN NEED. IT IS ESSENTIAL TO INDIVIDUAL WELLBEING, MOTIVATION, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH.”

Cherry, K. (2023). Autonomy in psychology - what it means and how to be more autonomous. Verywell Mind.

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“SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY.. HAS MADE A STRONG EMPIRICAL CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF THREE BASIC PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS ESSENTIAL FOR HUMAN WELLNESS, HEALTHY PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT, AND OPTIMAL FUNCTIONING:

1. AUTONOMY (SENSE OF VOLITION AND SELF-DIRECTION),

2. COMPETENCE [LEARNING & ACCOMPLISHMENT],

3. AND RELATEDNESS [BETWEEN PEOPLE].”

Martela, F., & Ryan, R. M. (2023). Clarifying eudaimonia and psychological functioning to complement evaluative and experiential well-being: Why basic psychological needs should be measured in national accounts of well-being. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 18(5), 1121–1135.

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SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY

O'Hara, D. (2017). The intrinsic motivation of Richard Ryan and Edward Deci. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org

Deci, E.L., & Ryan, R.M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. Springer.

Deci and Ryan developed the Self-Determination Theory of intrinsic motivation, toppling the dominant belief that the best way to get human beings to perform tasks is to reinforce their behavior with rewards.

Their 1985 book, Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior, was their first full statement of the theory. “There are some really basic psychological needs that everybody has that help them thrive and have their highest quality motivation. Those.. needs are autonomy, competence and relatedness,” Ryan (2017).

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In 1985, two American psychologists, Richard Ryan and Edward Deci, published their first full statement of self-determination theory in Deci, E.L., & Ryan, R.M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. Springer New York, NY.

"We're interested in what we would call high-quality motivation, when people can be wholeheartedly engaged in something and really can have both their best experience and their best performance.” Ryan (2017). https://www.apa.org/members/content/intrinsic-motivation SDT "showed that Skinnerian behaviorism had a major limitation in that reward and punishment do not always change one's behavior. It showed there are other motivational factors than external incentives." Oishi, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia.

American psychologist B.F. Skinner. “Skinner argued that entrenched belief in free will and the moral autonomy of the individual (which Skinner referred to as "dignity") hinders the prospect of using scientific methods to modify behavior for the purpose of building a happier and better-organized society.” (Wikipedia). Sounds rather sinister.

Skinner, B. F. (1948). Walden Two. Macmillan.

Skinner, B. F. (1971). Beyond freedom and dignity. Bantam Books.

Skinner, B. F. (1974). About behaviorism. Alfred A. Knopf.

In Walden Two, behavior is mandated by the community's individually self-enforced "Walden Code", a guideline that encourages members to credit all individual and other achievements to the larger community. Community counselors are also available to assist with better understanding and following the Code. A rigorous program of "behavioral engineering" is begun at birth and completed during childhood, yet the adults of Walden Two indeed appear to be legitimately peaceful, productive, happy, well-rounded, and self-directed people. .. Walden Two operates using a flexible design, by continually experimenting with the most successful, evidence-based strategies to organize the community. .. Any labor performed supports the common good and is accompanied by the freedom to select a fresh new place to work each day. .. Certain radically unusual customs of Walden Two include: children raised communally, families being non-nuclear, free love, and personal expressions of thanks regarded as taboo. Skinner was quite explicit about the need for technocratic rule: "We must delegate control of the population as a whole to specialists – to police, priests, teachers, therapies, and so on, with their specialized reinforcers and their codified contingencies. (Wikipedia).

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BEING AUTONOMOUS

WARMTH

HONESTY

EQUALITY

REASON

Take time to know yourself, your beliefs, values, interests, and likes. Grow yourself and your abilities to understand the world and how you want to live in it.

Be honest and true to yourself, this asserts your autonomy and means you make your unique contribution.

Equal respect for yourself and others, for your right to be you and for others to be others. Live as you wish without controlling others or being controlled by others.

Be reasonable with yourself, and use your reason to understand what to do and where and when to do it.

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“OUR MINDS ACTUALLY CHANGE REALITY.

IN OTHER WORDS, THE REALITY WE WILL EXPERIENCE TOMORROW IS IN PART A PRODUCT OF THE MINDSETS WE HOLD TODAY.”

Robson, D., (2022). The expectation effect: How your mindset can change your world. Canongate Books.

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David Robinson wrote The Expectionation Effect.

Our expectations shape reality. If we expect warmth, we experience warmth. If we expect autonomy, we experience autonomy.

For instance, “when people feel shy, sad or nervous, they tend to see photos of neutral faces as looking more hostile”. The “expectation of rejection leads them [people with social anxiety] to linger on the potentially unfriendly faces for longer, while ignoring any friendly smiles”.

This is a really good book. Uses the the placebo effect, as one example, and how we can convince ourselves of the efficacy of things to actually make them more effective. Talks about how powerful our mind can be in terms of what we experience, and how we can change our perceptions of reality to actually change our physical reality - thinking yourself for instance, or thinking yourself as having limitless mental energy. Author is David Robinson. Also wrote The Intelligence Trap (I haven’t read).

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DISCUSSION

HOW AUTONOMOUS ARE YOU?

.

WHAT PREVENTS YOU INTERNALLY?

.

WHAT PREVENTS YOU EXTERNALLY?

.

ON A SCALE OF 0 ‘NO AUTONOMY’ TO 10 ‘COMPLETE AUTONOMY’ RATE YOUR AUTONOMY AT WORK / AT HOME

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EXERCISE - YOUR AUTONOMY

HOW AUTONOMOUS ARE YOU

ON A SCALE OF 0 ‘NO AUTONOMY’ TO 10 ‘COMPLETE AUTONOMY’ RATE YOUR AUTONOMY AT WORK / AT HOME

WHAT PREVENTS YOU - INTERNALLY

IN PAIRS, DISCUSS AND LIST WHAT PREVENTS YOU INTERNALLY FROM BEING MORE AUTONOMOUS - 5 MINS

WHAT PREVENTS YOU - EXTERNALLY

IN PAIRS, DISCUSS AND LIST WHAT PREVENTS YOU EXTERNALLY FROM BEING MORE AUTONOMOUS - 5 MINS

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respecting AUTONOMY

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“IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE TO HIRE SMART PEOPLE AND TELL THEM WHAT TO DO”

Steve Jobs. Referenced in: �Lipman, V. (2018). The best sentence I ever read about managing talent. Forbes.

Schwates, M. (2017). Steve Jobs once gave some brilliant management advice on hiring top people - here it is in 2 sentences. Inc Australia.

And many other places.

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“WE HIRE SMART PEOPLE SO THEY CAN TELL US WHAT TO DO.”

Steve Jobs. Referenced in: �Lipman, V. (2018). The best sentence I ever read about managing talent. Forbes.

Schwates, M. (2017). Steve Jobs once gave some brilliant management advice on hiring top people - here it is in 2 sentences. Inc Australia.

And many other places.

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“..THE COLLEAGUES WHO SERVE CUSTOMERS AND PUT MONEY IN THE TILL, ON THE FRONTLINE, ARE THE KINGS AND QUEENS OF THE BUSINESS. EVERYONE ELSE’S JOB IS TO HELP THEM, NOT TO TELL THEM WHAT TO DO, NOT TO GET IN THE WAY.”

On ‘upside-down management’, Timpson, J. (2024). James Timpson: The secrets to running a successful business and making money. Full Disclosure with James O’Brien, 12 April 2024.

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“ONE OF ANY ORGANISATION’S PROBLEMS IS, THAT WHEN PEOPLE GET PAID MORE AND TAKE ON MORE RESPONSIBILITY, THEY SORT OF WANT TO TELL PEOPLE WHAT TO DO .. THEY WANT TO PUT RULES AND PROCESSES IN PLACE SO PEOPLE COMPLY.”

Timpson, J. (2024). James Timpson: The secrets to running a successful business and making money. Full Disclosure with James O’Brien, 12 April 2024.

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“YOU FIND THE RIGHT PEOPLE, TRAIN THEM IN WHAT TO DO, AND LET THEM GET ON WITH IT. SO THEN THEY ARE COMPLETELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF THEIR SHOP, WHEREAS IF YOU ARE RELIANT ON LOTS OF OTHER PEOPLE AT HEAD OFFICE OR PEOPLE TELLING YOU WHAT TO DO, YOU ARE NOT COMPLETELY RESPONSIBLE.”

In response to, ‘You’ve said you could improve the take by 50% if you were just allowed to do whatever you wanted to do’, Timpson, J. (2024). James Timpson: The secrets to running a successful business and making money. Full Disclosure with James O’Brien, 12 April 2024.

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“WHEN YOU BUY ANOTHER BUSINESS .. YOU INHERIT A CULTURE WHICH IS DIFFERENT. IT TAKES 7 YEARS, 5 YEARS, FOR THAT CULTURE TO FEEL THE SAME AS OUR .. CULTURE .. FOR PEOPLE TO REALLY TRUST THIS CULTURE.”

Timpson, J. (2024). James Timpson: The secrets to running a successful business and making money. Full Disclosure with James O’Brien, 12 April 2024.

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“EMPLOYEES WHO FEEL THEY CAN ACT WITH AUTONOMY IN THEIR DAY-TO-DAY WORK ENVIRONMENT TEND TO HAVE STRONGER JOB PERFORMANCE, HIGHER JOB SATISFACTION AND GREATER COMMITMENT TO THE ORGANISATION.”

PWC. (2019). Secure your future people experience - five imperatives for action. https://www.pwc.com

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“Employees who feel they can act with autonomy in their day-to-day work environment tend to have stronger job performance, higher job satisfaction and greater commitment to the organisation.”

“Nearly half of employees would give up a 20% raise for greater control over how they work.”

“Interviewed 1,246 executives in more than 10 industry sectors across 79 countries. Fifty-nine percent of the respondents were HR professionals and 41% were business executives, of which 13% were C-suite-level leaders. asked respondents to rate how important 45 specific capabilities are to the future of their business. We also asked them

to identify where they are taking action today to develop these capabilities.

https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/services/workforce/publications/provide-autonomy.html#intro

Secure your future people experience: Five imperatives for action

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“WHILE A NEW HYBRID WORKING SURVEY SHOWS THAT EMPLOYEES DO INDEED WANT FLEXIBILITY, IT ALSO SHOWS THAT THIS FLEXIBILITY IS CONDITIONAL UPON THEIR AUTONOMY TO EXERCISE IT IN WHICHEVER WAY IS BEST FOR THEM.”

Reisinger, H., & Fetterer, J. (2021). Forget flexibility - your employees want autonomy. Harvard Business Review.

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AUTONOMY-FLEXIBILITY HIERARCHY

I have to work in the office everyday.

I have to work remotely everyday.²

I must work in the office a minimum number of scheduled days each week.

I can work in the office or remotely at any time without pre-scheduling.

I can work in the office or remotely on agreed days.

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LOW AUTONOMY

LOW FLEXIBILITY

LOW AUTONOMY

MEDIUM FLEXIBILITY

MEDIUM AUTONOMY MEDIUM FLEXIBILITY

HIGH AUTONOMY

HIGH FLEXIBILITY

HBR is trying to make distinction between autonomy and flexibility in workplace. However, much of the effect on autonomy or feeling autonomous may be down to feeling more or less observed.

There’s something about being observed that makes you feel different in terms of autonomy. Where there’s a hierarchy, and there’s the potential for observation, our autonomy can feel threatened.

² Remotely = autonomous? The effect of feeling unobserved while working remotely may be very powerful for feeling autonomous. However, working from home may also give you the feeling that you need to be on all the time. You might want to only check calls/emails during office hours, and only be ‘available’ during office hours, even when at home.

Where would people in the room put themselves?

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“MANY PEOPLE HAVE BECOME ACCUSTOMED TO WORKING WITHOUT A BOSS LOOKING OVER THEIR SHOULDER, OR COLLEAGUES NOTICING THEIR EVERY MOVE.”

Morgan, K. (2021). How to cope with less autonomy in the office. BBC. https://www.bbc.com

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Feeling observed, not just by bosses, but also by colleagues, can impact on how autonomous we feel, and we are highly attuned to it. We may feel it, in fact very like do, even when we’re not.

We have to be conscious of the work environment. What can help increase the feeling of autonomy at work? A flexible work environment: sit wherever you want; take no notice of when people come and go. A boss (or better no boss) who makes it absolutely clear that you (and all people) have full autonomy over managing your own work, and how, when, and where you get it done.

How to cope with less autonomy in the office - https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210819-how-to-cope-with-less-autonomy-in-the-office

“A more autonomous environment [home] has given employees more control over large and small aspects of their jobs, from where – or whether – they sit, to how they prioritise tasks, allocate time and take breathers. For many, increased autonomy has been the greatest blessing of remote work.”

“We’ve also “gotten used to being able to intersperse life activities with job activities” – things like taking your dog for a midday walk or using a 10-minute break to unload the dishwasher. “They’re small things, but there’s a cumulative impact of all these autonomies. You’re in control of those moments. When you’re in someone else’s environment, you tend to lose that.””

Why the worst parts of work can’t easily change - https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210812-why-the-worst-parts-of-work-cant-easily-change

“The arrival of the pandemic first seemed to put the work-to-death mentality on hiatus,” says Maryam Meddin, the founder and CEO of a behavioural health clinic in London called The Soke. “But after a while, it emerged that ‘working from home’ had somehow morphed into ‘living at work’, and people were working even longer hours than before.”

“People will only speak up if they feel like they are being listened to and if they are not concerned about potential penalties for sharing their views.”

“Coming up with a way to eradicate the most damaging habits, beliefs and patterns of behaviour is extremely challenging, not least on account of their entrenched nature.”

The case against hybrid work - https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210806-the-case-against-hybrid-work

“A mix of some team members working remotely and others in the office can lead to miscommunication, less collaboration and other problems.”

Presenteeism - https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210604-why-presenteeism-always-wins-out-over-productivity

“why is presenteeism still so emphasised? It’s not simply that bosses are hungering to hover over workers as they toil. Rather, subconscious biases keep the practise intact – and unless we do a better job acknowledging its harm, and set up workplaces to discourage it, we’re likely to be slaves to presenteeism forever.”

Is there an antidote to 'digital intensity'? - https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210423-is-there-an-antidote-to-digital-intensity

“In real life, our brains aren’t wired to look at a flat image of a person on a grid,” says Dr Michael Bohan, the director of Microsoft’s Human Factors Engineering Lab. “Brains are wired in the real world, and designed to use body cues, and all this other subtle stuff in order to process and communicate.”

“Ending presenteeism means creating a culture where workers know they can – and should – be logging off.”

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RESPECTING AUTONOMY

WARMTH

HONESTY

EQUALITY

REASON

Seeking to understand others, their beliefs, values, interests, and likes. Nurturing their ability to grow in and understand the world.

Being honest about what you think, but not demanding others think the same, or for your way to be their way.

Equality means equal respect and making it clear that we all have autonomy over what we do and how, when, and where we do it. It means asking, with reasons why.

Being reasonable. Using reason, not authority, to debate what needs doing, to understand others reasoning, and to come to agreement.

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BUSINESS BENEFITS

ENGAGEMENT

PERFORMANCE

SAVINGS

RELATIONSHIPS

Autonomous people have full engagement in their work, taking ownership to achieve great results.

Autonomous people generate more ideas and perform better because they are choosing what, when and how they do things.

Autonomous people stay where they are autonomous, so replacement costs are less and knowledge stays in the organisation.

Autonomous people are happier and have better relationships with colleagues, customers and clients.

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CASE STUDY: SPOTIFY

PWC. (2019). Secure your future people experience - five imperatives for action. https://www.pwc.com

Streaming service Spotify has more than 2,000 employees, all grouped into agile teams called squads that are self-organising, cross-functional, and co-located. There is no single appointed leader, any such leadership role is emergent and informal. The key mantra is that ‘alignment enables autonomy’. That’s why the company spends so much time aligning on objectives and goals before launching into work.

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SIGNS OF AUTONOMY

FLEXIBILITY

People live and work their way, where, when and how they live and work best.

People have the tools to live and work where, when and how they live and work best.

People have time to come up with ideas and explore them.

There are no universal rules arbitrarily applied.

TRUST

People are trusted in life and at work.

People are supported, not monitored.

People are clear on society’s, and their organisation’s, objectives, and contribute how they see fit.

OWNERSHIP

People lead their own projects.

Interested people discuss what is needed and come up with solutions - leaders emerge informally.

Life and work is meaningful and people like participating and contributing as active members of the society and organisations they live and work in.

VARIETY

People do not feel the need to conform to stereotypes of dress or behaviour, and are not made to.

People feel loved and respected as themselves.

People are able to fully express themselves.

Difference is accepted.

WELLNESS

People are mentally and physically well.

People have time to rest, relax, and recuperate.

When debate is had, reason, not authority, prevails.

People are safe from unreasonable demands and controlling behaviour.

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DISCUSSION

DO WE NEED MANAGERS?

WHAT ABOUT SHARING MANAGEMENT?

APPOINTED OR EMERGENT LEADERS?

LEADERS ACCORDING TO AREAS OF EXPERTISE?

CAN YOU HAVE TOO MUCH AUTONOMY?

OR TOO MUCH FLEXIBILITY?

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EXERCISE - ENABLE AUTONOMY

IDEAS ON POST-ITS

WRITE YOUR IDEAS FOR HOW TO ENABLE AUTONOMY ON POST-IT NOTES. 5 MINS.

PLACE AND GROUP IDEAS

PLACE YOUR POST-IDEAS ON THE WALL AND GROUP RELATED ONES. 5 MINS.

VOTE

YOU HAVE THREE VOTE STICKERS. PLACE ON THOSE IDEAS YOU THINK BEST. 5 MINS.

DISCUSS RESULTS

LOOK AT THE RESULTS AND DISCUSS. 5 MINS.

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values for AUTONOMY

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CORE VALUES nouns

1

2

3

4

HONESTY

REASON

WARMTH

EQUALITY

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CORE VALUES adjectives

1

2

3

4

HONEST

REASONABLE

WARM

EQUAL

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CORE VALUES adjectives

1

2

3

4

HONEST

REASONABLE

WARM

EQUAL

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to self - to others

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CORE VALUES adjectives

1

2

3

4

HONEST

REASONABLE

WARM

EQUAL

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to all

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how we get here

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“WE SHALL FIND THE BEST GOOD IF WE FIRST FIND THE FUNCTION OF A HUMAN BEING” … “THE HUMAN FUNCTION IS THE .. ACTIVITY THAT EXPRESSES REASON OR REQUIRES REASON”

Aristotle. (c348 BCE). The Nicomachean Ethics (1:7).

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MORAL VIRTUES

Aristotle. (c348 BCE). The Nicomachean Ethics.

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fear and confidence

courageous

rash

cowardly

pleasure and pain

temperate

licentious

insensible

getting and spending

liberal

prodigal

illiberal

honour and dishonour

proper ambition

ambitious

unambitious

honour and dishonour

magnan-

imous

vain

pusillanimous

getting and spending

magnifi-

cent

vulgar

petty

anger

patient

irascible

spiritless

self-expression

truthful

boastful

understated

conversation

witty

buffoon

boor

social conduct

friendly

obsequious

cantankerous

shame

modest

shy

shameless

indignation

righteous

envious

malicious

Spheres of action or feeling with the excess (left-side) or deficit (right-side) and the mean (center) for which you are aiming. If you are left-side you should aim right-side to hit the center.

ADAPTIVE

MALADAPTIVE

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CONTINUUM OF THE 16 INTERPERSONAL VARIABLES 1

Leary, T. (1955). The theory and measurement methodology of interpersonal communication. Psychiatry: Journal for the Study of Interpersonal Processes, 18, 147–161

Leary, T. (1957). Interpersonal diagnosis of personality - a functional theory and methodology for personality evaluation. Ronald Press.

ADAPTIVE

MALADAPTIVE

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Leary, T. (1955). The theory and measurement methodology of interpersonal communication. Psychiatry: Journal for the Study of Interpersonal Processes, 18, 147–161

Leary, T. (1957). Interpersonal diagnosis of personality - a functional theory and methodology for personality evaluation. Ronald Press.

CONTINUUM OF THE 16 INTERPERSONAL VARIABLES 2

ADAPTIVE

MALADAPTIVE

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Circumplex Model. Adapted from Timothy Leary's 1957 Interpersonal Behavior Circle and modified with Donald Kiesler's 1982 Interpersonal Circle behavior labels along the perimeter. Leary's IBC reproduced with permission of the Leary Estate (Futique Trust). Adaptation of 1982 Interpersonal Circle labels, courtesy of Donald Kiesler.

CONTINUUM OF THE 16 INTERPERSONAL VARIABLES 3

ADAPTIVE

MALADAPTIVE

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INTERPERSONAL BEHAVIOUR CIRCLES

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

78

Kim, S., Alison, L., & Christiansen, P. (2020). Observing rapport-based interpersonal techniques to gather information from victims. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 26(2), 166–175.

Adaptive-positive patterns of interaction

Maladaptive-negative patterns of interaction

These new interpersonal behaviour break the adaptive-positive behaviours and the maladaptive-negative behaviours into separate circles.

“Interpersonal Behavior Circle - It deals with the interactions between interviewer and interviewee. There are a variety of IBCs that have been examined in different domains, but most IBC visual models rely on a two-dimensional structure with intimacy (“love and hate”) on the horizontal axis, and power (“dominance and submission”) on the vertical axis (Leary, 1955). .. Birtchnell stressed that we should seek to employ adaptive rather than maladaptive interactions at all times irrespective of whatever interpersonal “mode” we find ourselves in. Thus, being in charge, supportive and conversational should be a preferred style when in power/control mode rather than the maladaptive variants of this mode—demanding, dogmatic, and pedantic.”

“The study showed that MI-consistent skills and the adoption of prosocial aspects of the IBC on the part of the interviewer were positively associated with adaptive suspect responding and interview yield. On the other hand, maladaptive interviewing resulted in increasing maladaptive suspect responding, which, in turn, reduced interview yield.”

So basically, operating in the left-hand circle gets better results.

“Motivational Interviewing - MI skills such as active listening, open questions and summaries are effective means by which to produce an atmosphere of personal choice and to enable the expression of the client’s thoughts and beliefs underlying the issue. In doing so, it has been established that there is a concomitant decrease in interviewees’ resistance to behavioral change and greater openness and receptivity to taking responsibility for making changes”

Observing rapport-based interpersonal techniques to gather information from victims.

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RAPPORT - HONESTY, EMPATHY, AUTONOMY, RESPECT (HEAR) 1

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

79

Alison. E., & Alison. L. (2020). Rapport - the four ways to read people. Vermilion.

The two Alison’s have adapted the Interpersonal Behaviour Circles (IBC), into these ‘animal circles’: Lion on top, mouse on bottom, and T-Rex on the left, monkey on the right.

They also have an acronym call HEAR - H-E-A-R - for honesty, empathy, autonomy, and respect, which they also suggest should guides interactions when trying to attain rapport.

Essentially I’ve simplified their circles into the 4 values I mentioned before. So I’ve put Reason at the top where the Lion or Controller is, because that’s what we want in a rule - reason, or enlightenment, like the ‘enlightened rule or King’ is quite a common trope. Then I’ve put Respect at the other end, because that’s what you have when you are humble in an unfrightened way. Then, on the horizontal plane, I’ve put Honest at the left where the T-Rex or Confronter is, because that’s what frank and critical can be, an area we should be careful employing. On the other side, the right side, where the Monkey or Cooperate is, I’ve put Love as that obviously fits with warmth and is what this area is known as anyway in versions of the IBC.

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RAPPORT - HONESTY, EMPATHY, AUTONOMY, RESPECT (HEAR) 2

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

80

Alison. E., & Alison. L. (2020). Rapport - the four ways to read people. Vermilion.

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CORE VALUES 1:11

REASON

HONESTY

EQUALITY

WARMTH

SAFE

UNDERSTAND

81

BEN WALLACE

=

“all men are created equal”

Jefferson, T. (1776). Declaration of independence.

82 of 203

CORE VALUES 2:11

REASONABLE

HONEST

EQUAL

WARM

SAFE

UNDERSTAND

82

BEN WALLACE

=

“all men are created equal”

Jefferson, T. (1776). Declaration of independence.

83 of 203

CORE VALUES 3:11

REASONABLE

HONEST

EQUAL

WARM

SAFE

UNDERSTAND

83

BEN WALLACE

=

to self - to others

“all men are created equal”

Jefferson, T. (1776). Declaration of independence.

84 of 203

CORE VALUES 4:11

REASONABLE

HONEST

EQUAL

SAFE

UNDERSTAND

WARM

84

BEN WALLACE

=

to all

EXPECT

to self - to others

“all men are created equal”

Jefferson, T. (1776). Declaration of independence.

85 of 203

CORE VALUES 5:11

REASONABLE

HONEST

EQUAL

SAFE

UNDERSTAND

WARM

85

BEN WALLACE

=

safeguard

EXPECT accept

to all

to self - to others

“all men are created equal”

Jefferson, T. (1776). Declaration of independence.

86 of 203

CORE VALUES 6:11

REASONABLE

SAFE

EQUAL

UNDERSTAND

86

BEN WALLACE

=

to all

“all men are created equal”

Jefferson, T. (1776). Declaration of independence.

HONEST

WARM

critical

curious

kind

genuine

fair

supportive

rational

respectful

humble

accurate

true

patient

considerate

thoughtful

sincere

direct

just

reliable

authentic

logical

wise

credible

acceptable

believable

friendly

tolerant

realistic

compassionate

sympathetic

trustworthy

prosocial

democratic

inclusive

interested

appreciative

to all

clinical

radical

safeguard

EXPECT accept

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CORE VALUES 7:11

REASONABLE

SAFE

EQUAL

UNDERSTAND

87

BEN WALLACE

=

to all

“all men are created equal”

Jefferson, T. (1776). Declaration of independence.

HONEST

WARM

critical

curious

kind

genuine

fair

supportive

rational

respectful

humble

accurate

true

patient

considerate

thoughtful

sincere

direct

just

reliable

authentic

logical

wise

credible

acceptable

believable

friendly

tolerant

realistic

compassionate

sympathetic

trustworthy

prosocial

democratic

inclusive

interested

appreciative

to all

clinical

radical

safeguard

EXPECT accept

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CORE VALUES 8:11

REASONABLE

SAFE

EQUAL

UNDERSTAND

88

BEN WALLACE

=

to all

“all men are created equal”

Jefferson, T. (1776). Declaration of independence.

HONEST

WARM

critical

curious

kind

genuine

fair

supportive

rational

respectful

humble

accurate

true

patient

considerate

thoughtful

sincere

direct

just

reliable

authentic

logical

wise

credible

acceptable

believable

friendly

tolerant

realistic

compassionate

sympathetic

trustworthy

prosocial

democratic

inclusive

interested

appreciative

to all

clinical

radical

safeguard

EXPECT accept

A good leader leads not by command or by position in a hierarchy, but by their proposals being freely accepted because their proposals are reasonable, equal, honest, and warm.

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CORE VALUES 9:11

REASONABLE

SAFE

EQUAL

UNDERSTAND

Mandela, N. (2010). Conversations with myself. Picador.

89

BEN WALLACE

=

to all

“all men are created equal”

Jefferson, T. (1776). Declaration of independence.

HONEST

WARM

critical

curious

kind

genuine

fair

supportive

rational

respectful

humble

accurate

true

patient

considerate

thoughtful

sincere

direct

just

reliable

authentic

logical

wise

credible

acceptable

believable

friendly

tolerant

realistic

compassionate

sympathetic

trustworthy

prosocial

democratic

inclusive

interested

appreciative

to all

clinical

radical

safeguard

EXPECT accept

A good leader leads not by command or by position in a hierarchy, but by their proposals being freely accepted because their proposals are reasonable, equal, honest, and warm.

“to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

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CORE VALUES 10:11

Neffinger, J & Kohut, M., (2014) Compelling people - The hidden qualities that makes us influential.

REASONABLE

SAFE

EQUAL

UNDERSTAND

Mandela, N. (2010). Conversations with myself. Picador.

90

BEN WALLACE

=

to all

“all men are created equal”

Jefferson, T. (1776). Declaration of independence.

HONEST

WARM

critical

curious

kind

genuine

fair

supportive

rational

respectful

humble

accurate

true

patient

considerate

thoughtful

sincere

direct

just

reliable

authentic

logical

wise

credible

acceptable

believable

friendly

tolerant

realistic

compassionate

sympathetic

trustworthy

prosocial

democratic

inclusive

interested

appreciative

to all

clinical

radical

safeguard

EXPECT accept

A good leader leads not by command or by position in a hierarchy, but by their proposals being freely accepted because their proposals are reasonable, equal, honest, and warm.

“to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

‘LEADING DEMANDS STRENGTH AND WARMTH’

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CORE VALUES 11:11

Neffinger, J & Kohut, M., (2014) Compelling people - The hidden qualities that makes us influential.

REASONABLE

SAFE

EQUAL

UNDERSTAND

Mandela, N. (2010). Conversations with myself. Picador.

91

BEN WALLACE

=

to all

“all men are created equal”

Jefferson, T. (1776). Declaration of independence.

HONEST

WARM

critical

curious

kind

genuine

fair

supportive

rational

respectful

humble

accurate

true

patient

considerate

thoughtful

sincere

direct

just

reliable

authentic

logical

wise

credible

acceptable

believable

friendly

tolerant

realistic

compassionate

sympathetic

trustworthy

prosocial

democratic

inclusive

interested

appreciative

to all

clinical

radical

safeguard

EXPECT accept

A good leader leads not by command or by position in a hierarchy, but by their proposals being freely accepted because their proposals are reasonable, equal, honest, and warm.

“to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

‘LEADING DEMANDS STRENGTH AND WARMTH’

Communicate non-verbally

Dr. Mehrabian studied how the mind determines meaning in the communication of feelings and attitudes: he concluded that their interpretation is 7 percent from the words said, 38 percent from how the words are said, and 55 percent from visual cues in facial expression. We may conclude that the communication of feelings and attitudes does not need words. So, be aware of non-verbal communication.

Mehrabian, A., & Ferris, S. R. (1967). Inference of attitudes from nonverbal communication in two channels. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 31(3), 248–252.

92 of 203

CORE VALUES REVERSAL 1:3

UNREASONABLE

UNEQUAL

COLD

UNSAFE

DISHONEST

MISUNDERSTAND

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

92

BEN WALLACE

=

obsequious

incurious

cruel

fake

unfair

unsupportive

irrational

disrespectful

arrogant

inaccurate

false

impatient

inconsiderate

thoughtless

insincere

indirect

unjust

unreliable

inauthentic

illogical

unwise

unacceptable

unbelievable

unfriendly

intolerant

unrealistic

dispassionate

unsympathetic

trustworthy

anti-social

autocratic

exclusive

disinterested

unappreciative

manipulative

93 of 203

CORE VALUES REVERSAL 2:3

UNREASONABLE

UNEQUAL

COLD

UNSAFE

DISHONEST

MISUNDERSTAND

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

93

BEN WALLACE

=

obsequious

incurious

cruel

fake

unfair

unsupportive

irrational

disrespectful

arrogant

inaccurate

false

impatient

inconsiderate

thoughtless

insincere

indirect

unjust

unreliable

inauthentic

illogical

unwise

unacceptable

unbelievable

unfriendly

intolerant

unrealistic

dispassionate

unsympathetic

trustworthy

anti-social

autocratic

exclusive

disinterested

unappreciative

manipulative

A poor leader is not a leader, but a controller, their commands obeyed because people do not know how to protect their autonomy or because the controllers have greater wealth or a higher position in a hierarchy.

94 of 203

CORE VALUES REVERSAL 3:3

UNREASONABLE

UNEQUAL

COLD

UNSAFE

DISHONEST

MISUNDERSTAND

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

Hitler, A. (1925). Mein Kampf.

94

BEN WALLACE

=

obsequious

incurious

cruel

fake

unfair

unsupportive

irrational

disrespectful

arrogant

inaccurate

false

impatient

inconsiderate

thoughtless

insincere

indirect

unjust

unreliable

inauthentic

illogical

unwise

unacceptable

unbelievable

unfriendly

intolerant

unrealistic

dispassionate

unsympathetic

trustworthy

anti-social

autocratic

exclusive

disinterested

unappreciative

manipulative

A poor leader is not a leader, but a controller, their commands obeyed because people do not know how to protect their autonomy or because the controllers have greater wealth or a higher position in a hierarchy.

“He who would live must fight. He who doesn’t wish to fight in this world, where permanent struggle is the law of life, has not the right to exist.”

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at the group level

96 of 203

COMMUNITY - SOCIETY - ORGANISATION - SYSTEMS 1:3

ENABLING

RESTRICTIVE

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

96

BEN WALLACE

free

hierarchical

agreeable

dictatorial

authoritarian

autocratic

democratic

despotic

totalitarian

egalitarian

liberal

tolerant

permissive

classless

inclusive

diverse

conformist

creative

austere

hard

stereotypical

norm-bound

safe

dutiful

submissive

strict

draconian

assistive

caste-bound

class-bound

fair

slavish

deferential

formal

non-binary

ADAPTIVE

MALADAPTIVE

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COMMUNITY - SOCIETY - ORGANISATION - SYSTEMS 2:3

ENABLING

RESTRICTIVE

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

97

BEN WALLACE

ENABLING GROWING NURTURING TOLERATING LIBERATING ENCOURAGING	DISABLING STAGNATING NEGLECTING BANNING SUBJUGATING DISCOURAGING

free

hierarchical

agreeable

dictatorial

authoritarian

autocratic

democratic

despotic

totalitarian

egalitarian

liberal

tolerant

permissive

classless

inclusive

diverse

conformist

creative

austere

hard

stereotypical

norm-bound

safe

dutiful

submissive

strict

draconian

assistive

caste-bound

class-bound

fair

slavish

deferential

formal

non-binary

n

e

g

a

t

i

v

e

ADAPTIVE

MALADAPTIVE

p

o

s

i

t

i

v

e

98 of 203

COMMUNITY - SOCIETY - ORGANISATION - SYSTEMS 3:3

ENABLING

RESTRICTIVE

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

98

BEN WALLACE

TOOLS TO REINFORCE THIS SIDE AND BREAK THE OTHER UNIVERSAL INCOMES JUSTICE SELF-EXPRESSION UNIVERSAL RIGHTS VOICE DISSENT DEFENCE DEMOCRACY EQUALITY	TOOLS TO REINFORCE THIS SIDE AND BREAK THE OTHER WAGES LAWS NORMS DISCRIMINATION SILENCE CONSENT OFFENCE DICTATORSHIP HIERARCHY

free

hierarchical

agreeable

dictatorial

authoritarian

autocratic

democratic

despotic

totalitarian

egalitarian

liberal

tolerant

permissive

classless

inclusive

diverse

conformist

creative

austere

hard

stereotypical

norm-bound

safe

dutiful

submissive

strict

draconian

assistive

caste-bound

class-bound

fair

slavish

deferential

formal

non-binary

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at the individual

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“..OUR MINDS ARE SO ENTHRALLED TO THE ‘DICTATOR WITHIN’ AND ITS POWERFUL IMPULSE TO PROBLEM SOLVE OUR PAIN AWAY. .. WHEN YOU SEE HOW THE ‘DICTATOR’ DOES WHAT IT DOES, YOU ARE CLOSER TO ADOPTING A NEW MODE OF MIND - A LIBERATED MIND.”

Hayes, S. C. (2019). A liberated mind - how to pivot toward what matters. Penguin Random House.

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

100

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“..PIVOTING FROM SOCIALLY COMPLIANT GOALS TO CHOSEN VALUES REDIRECTS THE YEARNING FOR SELF-DIRECTION AND PURPOSE. .. LIVING IN ACCORDANCE WITH OUR VALUES IS NEVER FINISHED; IT IS A LIFE-LONG JOURNEY, AND IT PROVIDES A WAY TO CREATE ENDURING SOURCES OF MOTIVATION BASED ON MEANING.”

Hayes, S. C. (2019). A liberated mind - how to pivot toward what matters. Penguin Random House.

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

101

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JUNG

Gemini. (2025). Tell me about Jung's thought and the concept of the Self. Paraphrased response.

Carl Jung's concept of the Self is a cornerstone of his analytical psychology. The Self is the archetype of wholeness and the core of a person's psychological system. It is the organising principle of the psyche, encompassing both conscious and unconscious. While the ego is the center of consciousness, the Self is a larger, more comprehensive entity. The Self is our guide, perpetually seeking balance and greater wholeness.

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

102

Evolving the MBTI Legacy

“The spirit and intellectual legacy of Myers & Briggs Foundation is grounded in Jung's theory of psychological types, grew exponentially with Isabel Briggs Myers's achievements with the MBTI® assessment, and became established through the Center for Applications of Psychological Type—the nonprofit started by Myers in 1975 that existed until 2023, when it merged with Myers & Briggs Foundation.”

“The most widely influential development of Jung's theory was done by Myers when she created the original MBTI assessment and theory in the 1950s and 60s. Isabel was influenced by her mother, Katharine Cook Briggs, who had already begun developing her own personality system when Jung's book, Psychological Types, was translated into English in 1923. Recognizing its value, Briggs studied and applied the theory, fostering in Myers the interest and drive to develop the MBTI assessment.”

“Like Jung, Myers's work grew from personal experience and the avid observation of human nature. She built on Jung's work by systematically mapping how we can improve ourselves and grow into our potential using self-knowledge of our personality type.”

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INDIVIDUATION

Gemini. (2025). Tell me about Jung's thought and the concept of the Self. Paraphrased response.

The Persona

The public face you adopt to fit into society's expectations and norms. The goal is to develop a persona that serves your true self.

Conscious and Unconscious

The conscious mind or ego contains what you are aware of. The unconscious mind has two layers - personal and collective.

Personal and Collective

The personal contains forgotten memories, feelings, and experiences.

The collective contains universal archetypes shared across cultures.

Anima and Animus

The masculine and the feminine. Males and females have both female and male within them and these should be integrated.

The Shadow

The suppressed parts of our self that needs to be recognised and integrated for us to become whole and individuated.

The Self

The whole of our psyche. We are driven to seek balance in all aspects of our self.

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

103

‘The journey to realise and integrate the Self is called individuation. This is a lifelong process of psychological development and self-realisation. It involves integrating the conflicting aspects of one’s personality. The goal is to become more fully oneself.’

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“PERHAPS JUNG’S MOST COMPELLING CONTRIBUTION IS THE IDEA OF INDIVIDUATION, THAT IS, THE LIFELONG PROJECT OF BECOMING MORE NEARLY THE WHOLE PERSON WE WERE MEANT TO BE.”

Hollis, J. (2005). Finding meaning in the second half of life - How to finally, really group up. Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

104

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DISCUSSION

DO THESE VALUES RESONATE?

ANYTHING MISSING?

IT’S NOT JUST WHAT YOU DO,

BUT HOW YOU DO IT

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

105

BEN WALLACE

106 of 203

DISCUSSION

DO THESE VALUES RESONATE

IS THERE SOMETHING MISSING

IT’S NOT JUST WHAT YOU DO,

BUT HOW YOU DO IT

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

106

BEN WALLACE

IN PAIRS 5 MINS

SHARE BACK 5 MINS

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consequences of no AUTONOMY

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“FEELING DISEMPOWERED CAN RESULT IN A LACK OF WELL-BEING, THWART MOTIVATION AND EVEN DAMAGE COGNITION.”

PWC. (2019). Secure your future people experience - five imperatives for action. https://www.pwc.com

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

108

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“IF THE WORKPLACE IS NOT SUPPORTIVE, IT CAN TRIGGER OR EXACERBATE MENTAL ILL HEALTH, WITH ANXIETY, DEPRESSION AND STRESS-RELATED DISORDERS BEING THE MOST COMMON. POOR WORK ENVIRONMENTS [ARE] TYPICALLY CHARACTERISED BY HIGH DEMANDS, LOW LEVELS OF INDIVIDUAL AUTONOMY AND POOR SUPPORT.. IN SOME CASES THE EFFECT IS TOXIC.”

MHFA (2016). Line managers’ resource. Fourth edition. Mental Health First Aid, England.

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

109

“Toxic” meaning that the effect will literally kill you.

“the old adage that people join companies but leave their managers still holds true.”

“Line management refers to the management of employees who are directly involved in the production or delivery of products, goods and/or services. As the interface between an organisation and its front-line workforce, line management represents the lowest level of management within an organisational hierarchy.” Wikipedia

“First published in 2007. Since then it has been regarded as an increasingly valuable tool for line managers across the spectrum of private, public and third–sector organisations. Exceptionally practical, the resource offers a step-by-step framework for creating healthier workplaces, and has traditionally focused on key areas such as how to spot an employee experiencing mental ill health, and how to manage and support them at work, while they are off sick, and when they return after sickness absence.” .. “This new edition still does this, but the focus has shifted towards prevention.”

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England developed this fourth edition (2016). https://www.mentalhealthatwork.org.uk/

“MHFA England is a community interest company and our social objective is to increase the mental health literacy of the whole population”

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THE JOB STRAIN MODEL

Lovelock, K. (2019). Psychosocial hazards in work environments and effective approaches for managing them. WorkSafe.

“The job strain ‘demand-control’ model.. models job stress (or strain) as an interaction between workload demands and decision-making authority (or latitude).

The job strain demand hypothesis argues that high decision latitude (i.e. freedom to make decisions) and low-to-moderate job demands are good for workers’ health.. [but that] high job demands and low decision latitude results in high psychological strain and physical illness.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

110

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“AMONG MEN.. EXPOSURE TO EITHER JOB STRAIN OR TO EFFORT-REWARD IMBALANCE (ERI) WAS ASSOCIATED WITH AN ADJUSTED 49% CORONARY HEART DISEASE (CHD) RISK INCREASE. COMBINED EXPOSURE TO JOB STRAIN AND ERI WAS ASSOCIATED WITH AN ADJUSTED 103% CHD RISK INCREASE. AMONG WOMEN FINDINGS WERE INCONCLUSIVE.”

Lavigne-Robichaud, M., Trudel, X., Talbot, D., Milot, A., Gilbert-Ouimet, M., Vézina, M., Laurin, D., Dionne, C. E., Pearce, N., Dagenais, G. R., & Brisson, C. (2023). Psychosocial stressors at work and coronary heart disease risk in men and women: 18-year prospective cohort study of combined exposures. Circulation: Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes, 16(10).

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

111

“Background: Psychosocial stressors at work, like job strain and effort-reward imbalance (ERI), can increase coronary heart disease (CHD) risk. ERI indicates an imbalance between the effort and received rewards. Evidence about the adverse effect of combined exposure to these work stressors on CHD risk is scarce. This study examines the separate and combined effect of job strain and ERI exposure on CHD incidence in a prospective cohort of white-collar workers in Quebec, Canada.”

“Methods: Six thousand four hundred sixty-five white-collar workers without cardiovascular disease (mean age, 45.3±6.7) were followed for 18 years (from 2000 to 2018). Job strain and ERI were measured with validated questionnaires. CHD events were retrieved from medico-administrative databases using validated algorithms. Marginal Cox models were used to calculate hazard ratios stratified by sex. Multiple imputation and inverse probability weights were applied to minimize potential threats to internal validity.”

“Results: Among 3118 men, 571 had a first CHD event. Exposure to either job strain or ERI was associated with an adjusted 49% CHD risk increase. Combined exposure to job strain and ERI was associated with an adjusted 103% CHD risk increase. .. Among 3347 women, 265 had a first CHD event. Findings were inconclusive.

“Conclusions: In this prospective cohort study, men exposed to job strain or ERI, separately and in combination, were at increased risk of CHD. Early interventions on these psychosocial stressors at work in men may be effective prevention strategies to reduce CHD burden. Among women, further investigation is required.”

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37724474/

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SUPPORT

Cox, J. (2021). Why the worst parts of work can’t easily change. BBC UK. https://www.bbc.com

YOUR MANAGER

If they are not your problem

HUMAN RESOURCES

A management resource

WELLBEING, HEALTH AND SAFETY

Organisations may have an event notification process that is (somewhat) separate from management and HR

WORKSAFE

COLLEAGUES

Your organisation may say your manager

Another avenue for notifying of harm. Usually efforts must have been made to resolve the issue at the workplace first.

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

112

BEN WALLACE

“People will only speak up if they feel like they are being listened to and if they are not concerned about potential penalties for sharing their views.” Abraham, M (2021).

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114 of 203

DISCUSSION

HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED THIS?

CAN WE PREVENT IT?

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

114

BEN WALLACE

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EXERCISE - TASKING

HOW DO YOU TASK & RESPECT AUTONOMY

IN 3’S. ONE IS THE TASKER. ONE IS THE TASKED. ONE IS THE OBSERVER. 2 ROUNDS. SWAP ROLES FOR EACH ROUND. IN ROUND 1 TASKER IS UNREASONABLE & DISRESPECTFUL. IN ROUND 2 TASKER IS REASONABLE & RESPECTFUL. 5 MIN

AFTER EACH ROUND - HOW DID IT GO

IN 3’S. WHAT DID THE OBSERVER OBSERVE? HOW DID THE TASKER FEEL? HOW DID THE TASKED FEEL? 5 MIN

SHARE HOW IT WENT

TO THE GROUP. WHAT DID YOU FIND? WHAT WERE THE DIFFERENCES? 5 MIN

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

115

BEN WALLACE

Decide on a task - something reasonably complex that you might do in your role - before you start.

Note: the tasked wants to do a good job.

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meaning and AUTONOMY

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FRAMEWORK

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMY

117

BEN WALLACE

PURPOSE :

FULFILMENT

thru CONTRIBUTING BENEFICIALLY OUR WAY

SURVIVAL

PRINCIPLE :

WITHOUT HARM

VALUES :

with AUTONOMY

REASON

WARMTH

HONESTY

EQUALITY

and SOCIAL SUPPORT

UNDERSTANDING

SAFE

=

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“EXPERIENCING MEANING AND PURPOSE IN LIFE IS SEEN AS FUNDAMENTALLY IMPORTANT TO HUMAN EXISTENCE AND QUALITY OF LIFE.”

Martella, F. (2021). What makes work meaningful? Longitudinal evidence for the importance of autonomy and beneficence for meaningful work. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 131.

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“WORK HAS BECOME A KEY DOMAIN FROM WHICH PEOPLE SEEK MEANING. MEANINGFUL WORK [IS] THE SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE OF HOW EXISTENTIALLY SIGNIFICANT AND VALUABLE PEOPLE FIND THEIR WORK TO BE”

Martella, F. (2021). What makes work meaningful? Longitudinal evidence for the importance of autonomy and beneficence for meaningful work. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 131.

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“MEANINGFULNESS IS AN ESSENTIAL HUMAN NEED AND THE SEARCH FOR MEANING IS A UNIVERSAL HUMAN MOTIVE. ACCORDING TO A 2019 SURVEY OF MORE THAN 3500 EMPLOYEES, MEANINGFUL WORK OUTRANKS COMPENSATION, PERKS, AND OTHER FACTORS IN CAREER IMPORTANCE ACROSS ALL AGE GROUPS.”

Shafaei, A., & Nejati, M. (2023). Creating meaningful work for employees: The role of inclusive leadership. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 1(23).

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“PEOPLE WITH MEANINGFUL WORK FEEL BETTER AND WORK BETTER”

Allan, B. A., Cassondra, B., Sterling, H. M., & Tay, L. (2019). Outcomes of meaningful work: a meta-analysis. Journal of Management Studies, 56 (3).

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Meta-analysis. “From 44 articles (N = 23,144), we found that meaningful work had large correlations (r = 0.70+) with work engagement, commitment, and job satisfaction; moderate to large correlations (r = 0.44 to −0.49) with life satisfaction, life meaning, general health, and withdrawal intentions; and small to moderate correlations (r = −0.19 to 0.33) with organizational citizenship behaviours, self-rated job performance, and negative affect.”

Meaningful Work - Scholars have defined and operationalized meaningful work in various ways and sometimes used different terms interchangeably.

Therefore, similar to other scholars (e.g., Martela and Pessi, 2018; May et al., 2004; Pratt and Ashforth, 2003), we define meaningful work as the global judgement that one’s work accomplishes significant, valuable, or worthwhile goals that are congruent work with one’s existential values.

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“THE THREE NEEDS RECOGNISED BY SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY – AUTONOMY, COMPETENCE, AND RELATEDNESS – HAVE BEEN INCREASINGLY EXAMINED IN THE WORK CONTEXT. MORE RECENTLY, SEVERAL STUDIES HAVE EXAMINED BENEFICENCE AS A FOURTH PSYCHOLOGICAL PREDICTOR OF WELLNESS AND FLOURISHING.”

Martella, F. (2021). What makes work meaningful? Longitudinal evidence for the importance of autonomy and beneficence for meaningful work. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 131.

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“WE FOUND THAT BOTH AUTONOMY AND BENEFICENCE PROSPECTIVELY PREDICT SUBSEQUENT MEANINGFUL WORK..” “FOSTER MEANINGFULNESS IN THE WORKPLACE THROUGH CULTIVATING AUTONOMY AND BENEFICENCE.”

Martella, F. (2021). What makes work meaningful? Longitudinal evidence for the importance of autonomy and beneficence for meaningful work. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 131.

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Martella, F. (2021). What makes work meaningful?

How to cultivate autonomy (paraphrased): ‘provide reasons and justifications for rules and targets, treat people as responsible agents, avoid controlling language, allow people to make choices about how they pursue their goals, provide informative and constructive feedback’.

How to cultivate beneficence (paraphrased): ‘allow employees a chance to directly interact with those benefiting from their work, and share stories within the organization about how customers have been helped’.

“Viktor Frankl (1963, p. 166) notes that “what man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him”.” .. “Autonomy and beneficence are thus arguably what makes striving at work valuable and worthy.”

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“THAT’S THE MISSION OF OUR LIFE AS A HUMAN, TO CONTRIBUTE MORE TO OTHER PEOPLE.”

Sjarief, R. (2024). Home - Indonesia: Guha. Apple TV.

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“OUR GREATEST FREEDOM IS FOUND, PARADOXICALLY, IN SURRENDER TO THAT WHICH SEEKS FULLER EXPRESSION THROUGH US. ENLARGED BEING IS WHAT WE ARE CALLED TO BRING INTO THIS WORLD, CONTRIBUTE TO OUR SOCIETY AND OUR FAMILIES, AND SHARE WITH OTHERS.”

Hollis, J. (2005). Finding meaning in the second half of life - How to finally, really group up. Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

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CONTRIBUTING OUR WAY IS MEANINGFUL.

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BEN WALLACE

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DISCUSSION

DOING OUR WAY REALISES OURSELVES

Having autonomy in how we contribute, contributing our way, means our contribution has meaning to us, that we own it. Do you agree? Can you relate to this?.

DOING GOOD MAKES US FEEL GOOD

Making a beneficial contribution, or at least making a contribution we feel is beneficial, benefits us, if it is made by us, our way. Do you agree? Can you relate to this?

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BEN WALLACE

IN PAIRS 5 MINS

SHARE BACK 5 MINS

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some tools for thought

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CONSIDER

Born Wellington, New Zealand

Born Wellington Hospital. Little memory of these first two years.

1970

New Ash Green, Kent, England

Formative years, first memories, first years of primary school.

1972

Kelburn Normal School, WN, NZ