Work better, live better : motivation, labor, and management ideology / David Gray.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gray, David (Ph. D. in American Studies), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Management--United States--Psychological aspects--History.

Management.

Employee motivation--United States--History.

Employee motivation.

Labor--United States--Psychological aspects--History.

Labor.

Psychology, Industrial--United States--History.

Psychology, Industrial.

Success in business--United States--History.

Success in business.

Labor--Psychological aspects.

Management--Psychological aspects.

History.

Psychological aspects.

United States.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xvii, 340 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, [2020]

Summary:

"In the United States, a strong work ethic has long been upheld as a necessity, and tributes to motivation abound-from the motivational posters that line the walls of the workplace to the self-help gurus who draw in millions of viewers online. Americans are repeatedly told they can achieve financial success and personal well-being by adopting a motivated attitude toward work. But where did this obsession come from? And whose interests does it serve? Work Better, Live Better traces the rise of motivational rhetoric in the workplace across the expanse of two world wars, the Great Depression, and the Cold War. Beginning in the early twentieth century, managers recognized that force and coercion-the traditional tools of workplace discipline-inflamed industrial tensions, so they sought more subtle means of enlisting workers' cooperation. David Gray demonstrates how this "motivational project" became a highly orchestrated affair as managers and their allies deployed films, posters, and other media, and drew on the ideas of industrial psychologists and advertising specialists to advance their quests for power at the expense of worker and union interests"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: ch. 1 Motivation, Management, and Industrial Modernity

ch. 2 Quests to Shape the Worker's Mind The Rise of Psychological Motivation

ch. 3 Visions of Striving Debating Work's Promises in the Great Depression

ch. 4 The War over Motivation Prosperity Rhetoric and the Remaking of Work's Rewards during World War II

ch. 5 Selling Workers on Their Jobs Consumption-Based Motivation and Management Dominion in the Postwar Era

ch. 6 The New Hucksters of Cooperation Cold War Consensus Campaigns and the American Way of Work.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781625345332

162534533X

9781625345349

1625345348

OCLC:

1154524664