Chapter 1- New Values and Priorities

Chapter 1 says we have been living in a time of changing values. Where past ideals of a admirable career have come to include family and friend relations as well. This change has in turn created less devotion to career and more of a desire for balance between work and our outside life. This is described by Eisenberg as quality of life, which is "overall satisfaction with ... work experience in the context of other life experiences, constraints and aspirations." With this new idea of quality of life employees are also seeking careers that are fullfilling and workplaces that provide a healthy enviroment to harvest interpersonal relationships with co-workers. Work is not seen as a negative thing we have to do, but something that makes us feel good.

This is a nice concept, however with the current economic struggles it seems that we are lucky to even have jobs. The book continues to say that with millions of unemployed or underemployed people in the United States not many can afford to have preference. While some are seeking more meaningful work, Eisenberg notes we should be setting goals to create at least some quality to life for those of even the lowest class.

I know with graduating in the upcoming year I am definitely going to be looking for a job that will provide me with sense of satisfaction and appreciation for what I do. I hope that I can find this quality in my life after college, but I remain realistic about my situation. Even in my past working experiences as a student I have saught jobs that I would enjoy, but I can only do so much with my experience and time availabilities. This is a compromise we all have to make when choosing jobs. The main point is that our main goal is no longer to have a succesful career (and become "workaholics"), but rather, we want to have a balance between a good job and a happy life outside of work. I know I feel that way.

Chapter 2-The real meeting

In chapter two, the concept of the real meeting is most interesting to me. I like the idea of authentic conversation in a work environment and the idea of really coming to an understanding of one another in the process. I think this idea is beneficial for everyone involved and is the most effective way to conduct business. As said in the text, “Dialogue is one of the richest activities that human beings can engage in.” I think that if we all dialogued with those in organizational environments we would have better and more effective relationships in the workplace.

I personally enjoy having valuable relationships in the work environment because I really like being able to talk to my superiors and communicate to them and co workers about issues. I really like having the open communication because I feel like all parties are constantly growing and becoming stronger assets to the organization.