Publications

Research Summary

Meaningful Work as a Process of Imagination, Narrative, Self-Efficacy and Enactment

I am particularly concerned with the elicitation of images as they represent, in their association and amplification, the fullness of cognition in its affective, rational and behavioral dimensions. Careers may be conceptualized as a reciprocal interaction of... View Details

2022
Article

When Regular Meets Remarkable: Awe as a Link between Routine Work and Meaningful Self-narratives

By: Elizabeth Sheprow and Spencer Harrison

Daily narratives of work can include a mix of ordinary actions and awe-inspiring moments that reveal a vaster, more meaningful reality. When awe is experienced in the context of work, it can prompt self-referential sensemaking about what these experiences mean for the... View Details

Keywords: Narratives; Meaning; Qualitative Method; Emotions; Identity; Employment

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2016
Article

The Dynamic Componential Model of Creativity and Innovation in Organizations: Making Progress, Making Meaning

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Michael G. Pratt

Leveraging insights gained through a burgeoning research literature over the past 28 years, this paper presents a significant revision of the model of creativity and innovation in organizations published in Research in Organizational Behavior in 1988. This... View Details

Keywords: Progress; Meaningful Work; Affect; Creativity; Organizations; Innovation and Invention; Motivation and Incentives

Research Summary

Meaningful Work as the Recognition and Expression of Deeply Embedded Life Interests

A large part of my research efforts over the past twenty years has been focused on the understanding of meaning as the recognition and expression of "deeply embedded life interests", an aspect of the psychology of human personality that has a long tradition... View Details

Article

Stop the Meeting Madness: How to Free Up Time for Meaningful Work

By: Leslie Perlow, Constance Noonan Hadley and Eunice Eun

Many executives feel overwhelmed by meetings, and no wonder: On average, they spend nearly 23 hours a week in them, up from less than 10 hours in the 1960s. What’s more, the meetings are often poorly timed, badly run, or both. We can all joke about how painful they... View Details

Keywords: Time Management; Performance Efficiency; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Improvement

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December 2, 2021
Article

Former Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly: Empowering Workers to Create ‘Magic’

By: Hubert Joly and Adi Ignatius

Hubert Joly was behind an amazing turnaround at Best Buy. While everybody was saying he should lay people off to solve the company’s problems, Joly instead listened to the people working for him and found solutions that didn’t involve people losing their jobs.... View Details

Keywords: Purpose; Meaningful Work; Employee Empowerment; Mission and Purpose; Employees; Organizational Culture; Leadership

24 Apr 2014
News

Employees crave meaningful progress in their work and find joy in making an impact

“Even incremental small wins can contribute to what we call positive inner work life,” says Teresa Amabile, Baker Foundation Professor. Amabile’s current research focuses on the psychology of everyday work... View Details

05 Dec 2019
News

How Artificial Intelligence Can Set Meaningful Sales Goals

15 Jun 2018
News

Skydeck Live: The Science of a Meaningful Life

look for meaningfulness as something that happens to us. We have a great vacation, and we're thankful that we do. We have a great marriage, and we put work into it, but we're thankful that fate brought us... View Details

Overcrowded – Designing Meaningful Products in a World Awash with Ideas

We live in a world awash with ideas. Thanks to the web and to powerful ideation approaches such as open innovation, design thinking, or crowdsourcing, organizations have today easy access to an unprecedented amount of novel concepts. In this context, what... View Details

July 2012
Class Lecture

The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work

By: Teresa M. Amabile

What really makes people happy, motivated, productive, and creative at work? Professor Amabile's research, based on analyzing nearly 12,000 daily diaries of team members working on collaborative projects, reveals some surprising answers. Inner work life—a person's... View Details

Keywords: Employee Motivation; Fostering Performance; Improving Creativity; The Importance Of Progress; Employee Attitude; Enhancing Work Life; Improving Productivity; Inner Work Life; Motivation and Incentives; Working Conditions; Creativity; Performance Productivity; Attitudes; Employees

31 Oct 2023
Research & Ideas

Beyond the 'Business Case' in DEI: 6 Steps Toward Meaningful Change

marginalizing groups of workers.” Six steps toward meaningful change Williams says that corporate leaders who are sincere about recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce must reinforce their DEI programs—with a focus on reimagining... View Details

Keywords: by Katherine Hutt Scott and Barbara DeLollis

12 PM – 1 PM EDT, 21 Apr 2020
Webinars: Career

The Future of Project Work

In light of the COVID-19 crisis, it is clear that the world around us and our work lives are changing dramatically. This fundamental shift is bringing not only challenges but also the opportunity for new ways to work as well -- including meaningful project work. Join... View Details

Research Summary

Managing Multiple Identities at Work

By: Lakshmi Ramarajan

Peoples’ work identities, which are often a deep source of meaning for them, may conflict with or complement cultural, familial, or personal identities they value. A central focus of Professor Ramarajan’s work is understanding, on the individual level, how these... View Details

How Leaders Kill Meaning at Work

In this article, authors Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer seek to help C-suite managers understand the traps that can impair the productivity of their workforce. By identifying the issues that regularly challenge the efficiency and creativity of employees, the... View Details

January 2012
Article

How Leaders Kill Meaning at Work

By: Teresa Amabile and Steven J. Kramer

Senior executives routinely undermine creativity, productivity, and commitment by damaging the inner work lives of their employees in four avoidable ways. This article is based on analysis of hundreds of work diaries from professionals describing everyday events that... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Creativity; Performance Productivity; Motivation and Incentives; Innovation Strategy; Performance; Strategic Planning; Leading Change; Balanced Scorecard; Mission and Purpose