7: Pleasure
The chapter opens with a narrative about the manager of a factory that employed seamstresses who were paid by piece, which experienced a seasonal "slump" in productivity by around 20% along with n increase in "spoiled work" every summer and was losing orders for the inability to produce. The manger attempted various incentive programs, but to no avail. Eventually, he took note of the obvious - that it was hot in summer and the temperature in the factory, while not unhealthy, was uncomfortable. By installing fans to keep the workers comfortable, he was able to restore the level of production that was normal in other seasons.
Success and Productivity
The author observes that exhaustion is far more mental than physical in nature. A man who is successful at a task does not feel the burden of it, whereas one who has struggled may seem exhausted even though he has done less. It is a general observation that men can be seen to maintain a faster pace when they are pleased to be doing something than when they are doing something unpleasant.
The same can be observed of tasks that require very little physical activity. If the work is interesting and engaging, the hours seem to pass quickly and the worker seems fresh an alert even at the end of a long shift. But if the work is tedious in nature, even a few hours engagement can be exhausting and will leave the worker weary.
He extends this observation to collegiate sports activities: the team that has won leaves the field energized, and the team that has lose leaves the field spent. There is also a carry-over effect, in that a team that is having a successful season takes the field of each game with vigor, where one that is having a poor season starts each game with a lack of enthusiasm.
However, the pleasure or displeasure a worker feels is not merely the result of the nature of the task, but the environment in which the task is performed - being in an unpleasant workplace makes the entire experience of work unpleasant.
The Source of Energy
(EN: In this section Scott speaks to the depletion of physical and mental energy in terms of an unfortunate metaphor: that of fuel to an engine. He insists that "muscular activity is dependent upon muscular cells ready for combustion" and that mental activity is likewise depending on "brain cells ready for combustion." However, this is biologically very wrong, in that a fatigued person hasn't burned off cells of any kind - the cells are more like machinery than fuel. I sense he is accurate in his observation that a person who is nourished and rested has a greater store of energy, and that people burn out if worked too long or too hard - but he is entirely wrong-headed in his consideration of the reason, and I do think his attempt to explain it is misleading. While it would be useful to understand the biological mechanisms that give a person strength and stamina of mind and body, a bad metaphor such as this should not form the basis of actual plans and actions of a manager as it can only be harmful.)
The Pleasure of Customers
While employees can be bound, at least for a time, to work in unpleasant conditions for the sake of their wages alone, there is no such pressure upon customers. Particularly in a competitive market, they cannot be threatened or punished to make them purchase at any specific shop.
(EN: This is mostly true, though certain industries such as healthcare do enjoy the benefit of a customer who is compelled to purchase their service, particularly in emergency situations. It is generally in such instances that service is at its very worst.)
It has been observed that the most successful retail establishments are the ones which do the most to please their patrons, and that patrons will not only give their business to firms that are considerate of their needs, but will also pay a premium.
Consider the difference between taking breakfast in a cafe versus taking it in a restaurant of high style. They both serve eggs of roughly the same quality, but the attentiveness of staff, decor of the dining room, and various other non-essential features of the meal are greatly superior in the restaurant, and as such patrons happily pay three, five, or even ten times the price for their breakfast.
It is likewise true that customers who visit an elegant shop and are served by tactfully obliging clerks are willing to buy more and pay more for their goods, and yet have greater satisfaction with their purchase. A hotel that offers splendid rooms and well-groomed and courteous staff likewise attracts more customers and earns greater revenue.
Even on the level of an individual, a salesman with a pleasing personality sells more goods than others who are more surly. A pleasant waiter likewise earns more tips. In all instances, a supplier will be more appealing to its customers by providing not merely the bare functional minimum, but by tending to the pleasure of his customers.
(EN: This is all very good and well, but in the situation of employment, the worker is the supplier of labor and the employer is his customer. This implies that the burden is on the worker to maintain the relationship by being obsequious to his employer rather than the other way around. That likely explains why toadies and sycophants whose work is inferior tend to get more than their fair share of rewards and recognition.)
(EN: That aside, my sense is that there is a relationship of mutual accommodation - a business will refuse some customers, in spite of the fact that they are offering them money, because the customers are costly or unpleasant to serve and the shop owner would rather sell to someone else even if he takes less profit. That would be a more appropriate perspective to the topic of employee management.)
Comfort and Suggestibility
A person is "suggestible" when they will consent to undertaking an action without due deliberation.
An employee who is pleased and satisfied is compliant with the suggestions of his foreman or manager, and a customer who is pleased and satisfied is compliant with the suggestions of a salesman.
Discomfort and dissatisfaction meanwhile causes a person to become slow to act or slow to believe, questioning orders and suggestion, and undertaking great deliberation before giving consent to act.
(EN: The author overlooks the issue of trust. The desire to make others compliant is common to the manager and salesman, but also to the con artist who seeks to take advantage of people in a relaxed and compliant state in which they are more easily duped. This may work in a single instance but over a longer relationship trust is more than physical comfort, but the history: a salesman or manager who has taken advantage, either to exploit the other person for his own benefit or out of careless disregard for the welfare of others, will not earn trust regardless of how physically comfortable the other person is - and their very presence will make others uncomfortable.)
This is where traditional approaches to management are completely counterproductive: the "slave driver" or domineering boss earns compliance out of fear or threat, but reluctantly so. The manager who earns the trust of his employees earns their devotion, gaining greater trust and for a longer period of time. It must be recognized that the best class of worker is motivated to work not for fear of poverty and hunger, but as the means to achieve pleasure from his work.
The traditional approaches to personnel management were based on a "pain economy" in which workers sought employment as a means to escape the hardship of poverty, hence the over-emphasis on the importance of money wages. Hence the focus on providing not merely a wage, but a "pleasant place to work."
The Psychological Effects of Pleasure
(EN: Here, the author returns to philosophizing, and presenting information that is more fiction than fact. He speaks of the physical differences that can be observed in people who are experiencing pleasure and displeasure - fundamentally, that the expression and posture of a person experiencing displeasure suggest being prepared to defend, and those of a person experiencing pleasure suggest being prepared to achieve. He speculates that this is likely true of mental processes as well - which seems plausible, but which is not supported by any evidence presented.)