By Eduardo Ahumada-Tello & Rafael Ravina-Ripoll
Technology and engineering managers have become increasingly involved in making organizational decisions that have an impact on economic development, mainly in those productive aspects that are related to the knowledge economy. In the same way, people with highly technical and pragmatic knowledge are increasingly required to manage personnel to meet organizational objectives. Also, in an increasingly automated and impersonal work environment, strategies are being sought that establish a direct relationship between the goals of companies and those that their employees have for their own lives (Joo & Lee, 2017; Wesarat et al., 2015).
The key to success revolves not only around satisfied customers, but also happy employees. When employees feel a sense of accomplishment from their work, they are much more likely to be happy employees taking pride in their work. This creates a cycle of positive re-enforcement which helps with stress reduction and potentially leads to increased productivity. So, happy employees like what they are doing and are less fearful and anxious. Their positive attitude gives them strength, focus and ultimately helps them make smarter decisions. Therefore, in leadership roles engineers must instill respect, admiration, and trust in the work of their teams to keep them happy and inspired to perform in the best possible way (Schwartz et al., 2002).
The idea of creating a workplace that aligns individual and organizational expectations is not new. Elton Mayo stated that “human part is the most important drive for accomplishing its mission and vision of an organization” (Stetz, 2021), but his approach remained on a theoretical level (Muldoon et al., 2021). French scholar Henri Savall reinforced this position of putting people’s interests on the same level as economic ones (Savall et al., 2018). Modern leadership approaches go beyond this by not only considering task achievement, but also stress reduction and work-life balance as important factors for employee satisfaction and happiness. They include happiness management into a holistic organizational strategy that determines and categorizes the primary skills, knowledge, and abilities, as well as the need for tangible requirements, to implement this management approach for the benefit of employees (Ravina-Ripoll et al., 2021). The International University Network of Happiness (RIUF), an international multidisciplinary network of professionals from industry, government and academia, proposes several best practices to achieve employee happiness: prioritizing work-life balance, allowing for flexible working schedules, building a positive work environment, implementing a system of recognition to employees for their hard work, offering comprehensive benefits, increasing innovation recognition, and improving office spaces.
As leaders in technology organizations, engineers and management professionals must be open to innovative ways of leadership. This involves cultural and social aspects to broaden acceptance of more human-centric leadership styles to promote personal happiness, commitment, and loyalty in organizations. Now more than ever, it is necessary to implement leadership strategies that align the firm’s vision and organizational goals with those of its employees and acknowledging them as a fundamental driver for the organization’s survival and growth.
Digging deeper
Joo, B.-K., & Lee, I. (2017). Workplace happiness: work engagement, career satisfaction, and subjective well-being. Evidence-Based HRM, 5(2), 206–221. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBHRM-04-2015-0011
Muldoon, J., Liguori, E. W., Lovett, S., & Stone, C. (2021). For whom does the bell toll: a political analysis of criticisms of the Hawthorne studies. Management Research Review, 44(10), 1390–1408. https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-06-2020-0333
Ravina-Ripoll, R., Foncubierta-Rodríguez, M.-J., & López-Sánchez, J. A. (2021). Certification happiness management: An integral instrument for human resources management in post-COVID-19 era. International Journal of Business Environment, 12(3), 287–299. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJBE.2021.116606
Savall, H., Zardet, V., & Savall, A. (2018). New Trends in Organizational Challenges and Need for Change: The ISEOR Research Programs. Organization Development Journal, 36(4), 41–54.
Stetz, T. A. (2021). Schools of management thought: a text analysis of management books published in the first half of the twentieth century. Management and Organizational History, 16(2), 156–182. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449359.2021.1964087
Schwartz, B., Ward, A., Lyubomirsky, S., Monterosso, J., White, K., & Lehman, D. R. (2002). Maximizing versus satisficing: Happiness is a matter of choice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(5), 1178–1197. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.5.1178
Wesarat, P. O., Sharif, M. Y., & Majid, A. H. A. (2015). A conceptual framework of happiness at the workplace. Asian Social Science, 11(2). https://doi.org/10.5539/ass.v11n2p78
About the authors
Eduardo Ahumada-Tello, Ph.D. is a professor at the Autonomous University of Baja California. He has been a consultant for technology-based, energy, service, and retail firms. His research focuses on Knowledge and Happiness Management, Complex Systems, and Collective Intelligence. He is on the Board of Government in TEMS. You can contact him on LinkedIn, via Email or his Website.
Rafael Ravina-Ripoll, Ph.D. is a professor at the University of Cadiz. He has been a consultant for government agencies in Spain. His research focuses on Happiness Management. He is a founding member and leader of the International University Network of Happiness (RIUF), with more than twenty countries involved. You can contact him on LinkedIn, via Email or his Website.
