Organizational Development A trip to my local Borders bookstore recently leads me to believe that the next great business idea may be “happiness”! A short perusal of the business section shelves turned up the following recent publications:

1. “Happiness at Work – Be resilient, Motivated and Successful No Matter What” by Srikumar S. Rao, PhD
2. “The Happiness Advantage – The seven principles of positive psychology that fuel success and performance at work” by Shawn Achor
3. “The Business of Happiness – Six secrets to extraordinary success in work and life” by Ted Leonsis

Don’t get me wrong, I am not anti-happiness (an anti-happite?), but when did happiness become an acceptable word to use in a business context. Admittedly it was a few years ago, but when I went through business school I can’t remember happiness ever being talked about! Sure, we talked about motivation theory, hierarchy of needs, hygiene factors, expectancy theory, etc. But happiness? Never!

Maybe it is a kinder gentler world now in which the “feelings” of employees can be openly discussed—although it appears to me that in most organizations, feeling still take a second place to getting the bottom line in shape.

I remember as a young consultant doing some attitudinal survey work for a major corporation many years ago. As part of my presentation to management I spoke about the “feelings” of the employees only to met with a comment from a senior manager that “we don’t deal in feelings around here son, we leave “feelings” to Barry Manilow where it belongs” (sorry about the obscure musical reference for you younger readers).

So, is the publication of these books a signal that it is okay (or even required) to discusses worker happiness these days? Or, rather is it a reflection of a deep seated yearning on the part of the authors for organizations to provide a kinder, gentler work environment in which happiness will bloom? I will leave it to you to decide. All I can tell you is that the title of another book on the “happiness shelf” caught my eye and provided the “bottom line” for me – “Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get A Life” by Larry Winget.

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