AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Barry schwartz8/3/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() By doing so Smith’s mistaken believes became true, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. The rise of capitalism furthered the use of monetary incentives and along the way ignored majorly all the other satisfactions that might come from work. Smith wrote relatively nuanced on the subject (even though he is clear in his belief that people don’t like working, so they need pay to have them doing things), but people like Taylor and Skinner took his view and shapes it further into extremes. The seeds go back to the father of the Free Market, Adam Smith (“The Wealth Of Nations”, 1976), and his belief in the power of incentives and the division of labour and the positive effects on productivity and efficiency. The first chapter explores the reasons how this happened. ![]() Work is more often a source of frustration than one of fulfillment for most workers. The main theme of the book is how rules and (financial) incentives turn good work into bad. Good thing that something similar finally appears in English language. The book reminds me in many aspects of the Dutch classic “ Intensieve Menshouderij” (by Jaap Peters and Judith Pouw, published by Scriptum in 2004, ISBN 9055943282). It’s a short book of not even 100 pages and my hardcover is roughly the size of a pocket calendar. After having seen some inspiring clips by Schwartz on TED Talks, and upon suggestion from my friend David van Valkenburg, I ordered this small book and I can warmly recommend it to others. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |