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Why People Work

人为什么劳动 (Leonard R. Sayles 莱昂纳多·塞勒斯)

Everyone needs to work but what does work mean to him? In the following essay Leonard R. Sayles explores the relationship between work and human beings' well-being.

每个人都必须劳动，可是劳动意味着什么？在下面这篇文章里，莱昂纳多·塞勒斯研究了 劳动和人类幸福之间的关系。

Jobs and work do much more than most of us realize to provide happiness and contentment. We're all used to thinking that work provides the material things of life － the goods and services that make possible our version of modern civilization. But we are much less conscious of the extent to which work provides the more intangible, but more crucial, psychological well-being that can make the difference between a full and an empty life. 工作和劳动带来的幸福和满足感要比我们意识到的大得多。我们习惯于认为，劳动提供了生活的物质财富——它带来的商品和服务使我们的现代文明成为可能。可是，我们却很少意识到劳动带来的无形的、更关键的心理健康，它关系着我们的生活是充实还是空虚。

Why is it that most of us don't put work and human satisfaction together, except when it comes to the end product of work: automobiles and houses and good food?

为什么大多数人除了劳动转化为其最终产品：汽车、房子和珍馐美味的时候，并不能把劳动和满足感结合起来？

It's always useful to blame someone else and the Greeks of the ancient world deserve some blame here. At that time work was restricted to slaves and to those few free citizens who had not yet accumulated adequate independent resources. The "real" citizens of Greece － whom Plato and others talked about － expected to spend their time in free discussion and contemplation.

责备别人总是有用的，而古老世界的希腊人负有一定责任。那时，劳动只局限于奴隶和少数没有积累到足够独立财富的自由民。柏拉图等人谈到的那些“真正”的希腊公民，只想把时间都花在自由辩论和冥想上。

The Middle Ages didn't help the reputation of work. It became more acceptable to engage in work. In fact, it was asserted that man had a religious duty to fulfill his "calling". To fail to work was immoral － worse, work was thought of as a punishment for the sins of man. 中世纪时期劳动的声誉也没能提高，劳动开始更多地为人们接受。但事实上，当时强调的是人要履行自己“使命”的宗教义务。不劳动是不道德的——更糟糕的是，劳动被看作是对人类罪孽的惩罚。

It's not difficult to understand the tarnished reputation. Historically, work has been associated with slavery and sin, compulsion and punishment. And in our own day we are used to hearing the traditional complaints: "I can't wait for my vacation." "I wish I could stay home today." "My boss treats me poorly." "I've got too much work to do and not enough time to do

it." Against this backdrop, it may well come as a surprise to learn that not only psychologists but other behavioral scientists have come to accept the positive contribution of work to the individual's happiness and sense of personal achievement. Work is more than a necessity for most human beings; it is the focus of their lives, the source of their identity and creativity. 因此，不难理解劳动声名狼藉。历史上，劳动一直同奴役、罪孽、强制和惩罚联系在一起。在我们的时代，我们习惯于听到这些传统的抱怨：“我简直等不及要放假。”“我真想今天能呆在家里。”“老板对我很苛刻。”“我要干的活儿这么多，却没有足够的时间干这些活。”在这种环境中，如果我们了解到，不仅心理学家，其它的行为科学家也都承认劳动对个人幸福和成就感的积极贡献，也许就会很吃惊。对大多数人来说， 劳动不仅仅是一种必须，而是生命的焦点，是自我身份和创造力的源泉。

Rather than a punishment or a burden, work is the opportunity to realize one's potential. Many psychiatrists heading mental health clinics have observed its therapeutic effect. A good many patients who languish in clinics, depressed or obsessed, gain renewed self-confidence when gainfully employed and lose some, if not all, of their most acute symptoms. Increasingly, institutions dealing with mental health problems are establishing worships wherein those too sick to get a job in "outside" industry can work, while every effort is exerted to arrange "real" jobs for those well enough to work outside.

劳动不是惩罚或负担，而是实现个人潜力的机会。很多主持心理健康诊疗所的精神病学家，都观察过劳动的治疗效果。很多病人在医院里郁闷憔悴、心情沮丧或 被思绪困扰，当他们获得有益的工作时，就会找回自信，原来严重的症状也大都——如果不是全部的话——消失。越来越多的心理健康问题研究机构正在建立劳动场所，那些病情太重无法在“外部”产业中找到一份工作的人可以在其中工作，同时，他们也尽一切可能为那些可以在外面工作的人安排“真正的”工作。

And the reverse is true, too. For large numbers of people, the absence of work is debilitating. Retirement often brings many problems surrounding the “What do I do with myself?” question, even though there may be no financial cares. Large numbers of people regularly get headaches and other psychosomatic illnesses on weekends when they don't have their jobs to go to, and must fend for themselves. It has been observed that unemployment, quite aside from exerting financial pressures, brings enormous psychological malaise and that many individuals deteriorate rapidly when jobless.

反过来也是一样。对许多人来说，不劳动会使人虚弱衰退。即使没有经济顾虑，退休也经常带来很多问题，问题的中心是“我该干什么？”很多人一到周末就犯头疼，或其它一些与身心相关的疾病，因为那时他们没有事可做，而不得不自己想办法消遣。我们发现，失业除了带来经济上的压力外，还带来巨大的心理不安，很多人失业后很快消沉下去。

But why? Why should work be such a significant source of human satisfaction? A good share of the answer rests in the kind of pride that is stimulated by the job, by the activity of accomplishing. After all, large numbers of people continue working when there is no financial or other compulsion. They are independently wealthy; no one would be surprised if they spent their time at leisure. But something inside drives them to work: the unique satisfactions they derive from it.

可是为什么呢？为什么劳动会成为人类满足感如此重要的源泉？答案的一部分在于这份工作和完成的活动能引发骄傲感。毕竟，很多人在没有经济或其它压力的情况下仍然劳动。他们能够自立 、富有，就是整日休闲也没有人会奇怪。但某些内在的东西驱使他们去劳动——一种从劳动中获得的独特满足感。

Pride in Accomplishment 成功的骄傲

The human being craves a sense of being accomplished, of being able to do things, with his hand, with his mind, with his will. Each of us wants to feel he or she has the ability to do something that is meaningful and that stands outside of us as a tribute to our inherent abilities. This extension of ourselves － in what our hands and minds can do － fills out our personality and expands our ego.

人们渴求成功的感觉，渴望运用自己的双手、智慧和意志去创造。我们每个人都希望自己有能力做些有意义的事，它是我们内在能力的外在标志。我们的双手和智慧所做的一切成为我们自身的延展——它能充实我们的个性，丰富我们的自我。

It is easiest to see this in the craftsman who lovingly shapes some base material into an object that may be either useful or beautiful or both. You can see the carpenter or bricklayer or die-maker stand aside and admire the product of his personal skill.

这一点在手工艺人身上最容易见到。他充满感情地把原材料变成一件实用、美观或两者兼备的手工艺品。你会看到一个木匠、砖匠或制模工站在一边，欣赏着用自己的技巧完成的作品。

But even where there is no obvious end product that is solely attributable to one person's skill, researchers have found that employees find pride in accomplishment. Our own research in hospitals suggests that even the housekeeping and laundry staffs take pride in the fact that in their own ways they are helping to cure sick people － and thus accomplishing a good deal. 即使没有能够明显地表现个人才能的最终产品，研究者发现劳动者仍然能从完成一件工作中获得自豪感。我们自己在医院的研究表明，即使是负责房间整洁和洗衣的职工，也自豪地感到自己在以自己的方式帮助病人痊愈——从而完成了一件有意义的事。

We've watched programmers and engineers work fifteen and eighteen hours at a stretch, seven days a week, when a job really got tough and they knew that a crucial deadline had to be met, or when a major project would fall unless some tough problem were solved. Certainly some of this is loyalty and identification － giving back to the organization something in return for having provided them with good jobs － but a larger part of it is selfishness, in the good sense of the word. They received a substantial personal payoff from their efforts in the knowledge that they could tackle tough, almost insurmountable problems, yet overcome them. They enjoyed "making it," － winning despite difficult odds; proving their capacities against the outsider: nature, a competitor, a complex problem; mastering something new every day.

我们还观察到，有时，程序设计师和工程师在工作中遇到很大困难，而他们知道工作必须如期完成；而有时，除非他们能解决某个棘手的问题，否则一项大的工程就面临着流产，这时他们就会每天连续工作15到18个小时，每周工作7天。当然，这部分是出于忠诚和与公司息息相关之感，他们要回报为自己提供了好工作的公司。但更大的一部分是利己的，当然是取其积极的意义。通过自己的努力，他们获得了一份丰厚的个人报酬——他们从中了解到自己能够 对付巨大的、几乎是不可逾越的困难，并且克服这些困难。他们喜欢“成功”：克服巨大的困难而胜利；证明自己应付外界（可以是自然、竞争对手、或一个复杂的问题）的能力；每天都掌握新的东西。

Even on simple jobs one can observe pride at work. Cleaning men and janitors will tell you that while the job looks uncomplicated, there are countless subtleties one needs to know, whose desk can be dusted and whose can't; how to get the most out of cleaning compounds; the best sequence to handle a variety of jobs; even how to sweep a great deal without getting tired. Machine operators often make comments like this:

即使是从简单的工作中，也能看到劳动的骄傲感。清洁工和看门人会告诉你，尽管他们的工作看起来很简单，却需要细致入微：谁的办公桌可以清扫而谁的不可以；如何最好地利用清洁剂；干活的最佳顺序；甚至是如何做大量的清扫工作而不会疲惫。我们经常听到机器操作员这样说：

"See this machine? Anyone looking at it thinks you can master it in an hour or two; even the foreman does. But every machine has a personality of its own. I know just how fast I can run it on every different kind of material we get around here; what it will take and what it won't take; how to coax it along; how much oil; what every sound means that it makes. You know it actually takes a year before you know everything about a piece of equipment like this － so you feel it is just part of you, of your arms and legs and head."

“看到这台机器了吗？谁看到它都会觉得一两个小时就能掌握它，就是工头也会这样想。但每台机器都有自己的个性。我知道使用我们这里任何一种材料时我能开多快；它能 做什么不能做什么；怎么能哄着它往前走；用多少油；它发出的每一个声音意味着什么。你知道，你得一年才能彻底搞清楚这东西——于是，你觉得它成了你的一部分，你的手，你的腿，你的头脑。”

We're often misled by the gripes and complaints surrounding difficult work; deep down most people regard their own capacity to conquer the tough job the mark of their own unique personality. Grousing is just part of working. After all, how else do you know who you are, except as you can demonstrate the ability of your mind to control your limbs and hands and words? You are, in significant measure, what you can do.

我们通常被对难活的抱怨所误导；而在内心深处，大多数人认为自己克服困难工作的能力是自己独特性的标志。牢骚埋怨只是劳动过程的一部分。毕竟，你怎么能知道你是谁，除非你能表现出自己用头脑控制肢体、手和语言的能力？在很重要的程度上，你就是你所能做的。

Some are deceived into thinking that people like to store up energy, to rest and save themselves as much as possible. Just the opposite. It is energy expenditure that is satisfying. Expending energy, in a sense, creates its own replacement － there is no reservoir such that the more you use the less you have. The measure of your capability is in being active and being able to control that activity so that it results in a tangible accomplishment you can claim as your own.

有些人错误地认为，人要保存能量、尽量休息并保养自己。事实正好相反。恰恰是体能的消耗带来了满足感。从某种意义上说，体能消耗的同时产生体能的补充，因为人体内部并没有一种体能储存器，使用一点就会少一点。衡量一个人能力的标准在于他的行动和控制行动的能力，并取得可以声称属于自己的、看得见摸得着的成绩。

Just watch an employee who must deal with countless other people because his or her job is at some central point in a communications network: a salesman at a busy counter, a stock broker on the phone, a customer representative. They will tell you how much skill and experience it takes to field countless questions and handle a welter of diverse personalities

every hour of the day. Not everyone can interact with such persistence and over long hours, but those who do, pride themselves in a distinctive ability that contributes mightily to the running of the organization.

看一看这样一位雇员，他或她因为工作处于某个交流网络的核心，必须与数不清的人打交道，比如繁忙的柜台后的售货员，接听电话的证券经纪人或客户代理商。他们会告诉你每日里要圆满地解答数不清的问题、接待难以数计的不同客户，这需要多少技巧和经验。并不是所有的人都可以长期如此有耐心地从事这项工作，但那些做到的人，就会为自己的这一特殊能力而骄傲——这种能力为整个机构的运作作出了巨大贡献。

But work is more than accomplishment and pride in being able to command the job, because except for a few artisans and artists most work takes place "out in the world," with and through other people.

不过，工作不仅仅意味着成就和能驾驭这份工作的自豪感，因为除了少数的工匠和艺术家外，大部分的工作都是与他人合作并通过他人“在外面的世界里”进行的。

Esprit de corps 团队精神

Perhaps an example will make the point:

或许一个例子能说明这一点：

I remember viewing a half dozen men in a chair factory whose job it was to bend several pieces of steel and attach them so that a bridge chair would result. While there were ten or twelve of these "teams" that worked together, one in particular was known for its perfect coordination and lightning-like efforts. The men knew they were good. They would work in spurts for twenty or thirty minutes before taking a break － to show themselves, bystanders and other groups what it was to be superbly skilled and self-controlled, to be the best in the factory.

我记得曾在一家制椅厂看到六个工人，他们的工作是将一些钢片弄弯并装上去，这样一把桥牌椅就完工了。在该工厂里这样一起工作的“团队”有十或十二个，其中有一个特别出名地配合娴熟、迅速敏捷。他们知道自己是优秀的，会一股劲地干上二十或三十分钟然后休息一下，向旁观者和其他组显示一下什么是精湛的技艺和良好的自制力， 什么是厂里的佼佼者。

When I talked with them, each expressed enormous pride in being a part of the fastest, best team. And this sense of belonging to an accomplished work group that both outsiders and insiders recognize can handle itself with extreme virtuosity is one of the distinctive satisfactions of the world of work. It is the same esprit de corps one can see in the military, where men will make enormous sacrifices to help their buddies to whom they have developed strong loyalties and who comprise the best darn outfit in the field.

当我同他们交谈时，每个人在言语之间都为自己是最好最快的一个团队成员而感到极大的自豪。这种属于一个内外都得到承认的成功团队的感觉，是劳动的世界带来的特殊的令人满意之处之一。在军队里我们同样可以找到这种团队精神，战友们之间相互忠诚，组成了“战场上最好的组合”，为了帮助自己的战友他们会作出巨大的牺牲。

There is little satisfaction to be derived from being part of the inept, uncoordinated "team" that is always last in the formal or informal competition.

属于无论在正式或非正式的竞争中都是最后的懒散的、缺乏默契的“团队”，就很少会得到这种满足感。

Just as in athletics, a winning team produces a variety of social supports and satisfactions. It is both exciting and reassuring to be caught up in a network of friendships in which people can congratulate each other (and be admired and even a little envied by outsiders) for their competence, know-how and productivity. In a sense success breeds success; the successful group becomes more unified because people want to be associated with it and value their membership in the group. The bonds that hold the individual to the work group also are responsible for its effectiveness: cohesive groups more easily solve the problems of interdependence and cooperation than do the disunited or those which have little hold on their members.

如同在体育运动中，一个获胜的队伍会带来各种各样的社会支持与满足感。如果能够身处于一个友谊的网络中，在那里成员间互相为对方的能力、技术和效率而高兴（并让外人羡慕甚至嫉妒）；这会令人兴奋、充满信心。从某种意义上说，成功带来了更多的成功；成功的团队会越来越团结一致，因为人们愿意成为其中一员并珍视这种成员资格。连系个人与团队间的纽带也是团队效率的一个制约因素。联系紧密的团队比之一盘散沙的团队更容易解决那些相互依存和合作的问题。

One further word about work group satisfactions. Unlike many other aspects of life, relationships among people at work tend to be simple, less complicated, somewhat less emotional. This is not to say there aren't arguments and jealousies, but, on the whole, behavioral research discloses that human relations at work are just easier, perhaps because they are more regular and predictable and thus simpler to adjust to than the sporadic, the more intense and less regular relationships in the community. And the work group also gently pressures its members to learn how to adjust to one another so that the "rough edges" are worked off because people know they must do certain things with and through one another each day.

关于从团队协作中获得满足感还有另外一点。与生活的众多其它方面不同，工作中的人际关系会更简单、不那么复杂、少一些感情色彩。这并不是说，工作中人际间没有争论与嫉妒，而是说按照行为学研究揭示 的，工作中的人际关系更容易处理，因为较之生活中那些偶然、紧张、没有规律的人际关系，工作中的关系总体而言更显得有规律并可预见，因而也就容易适应。而团队也对每个成员有一些压力，使得他们学会相互适应，磨掉各自的“棱角”，因为他们知道自己每天都必须与他人协作并通过相互的努力来做某些事情。

Beyond the team and the work group, there is the organization, whether it be company or hospital or university. The same pride in being part of a well-coordinated, successful unit is derived from being part of a large collectivity. Working for a company that is thought of as being one of the best in the community (because of its reputation for quality, perhaps, or the technical sophistication of its products, or its working conditions, or its social conscience) can provide employees with both status and self-confidence. They assume, usually with good reason, that others regard them more highly, even envy them, and that they are more astute and competent than the average because of this association with a "winner", a prestigious institution. We in truth bask in the reflected glory of the institution, and we seek ways of asserting our membership so that others will know and can recognize our good fortune. 在团队和工作小组之上还有一个机构，无论它是一个公司、一家医院或一所大学。归属于一个协作良好的成功团队的自豪感，同样可以从一个更大的集体中获得。为一家被认为是界内最好的公司之一（因其良好

的产品质量、高精尖的产品技术、优厚的工作条件或社会责任心）工作会给雇员带来一种地位和自信心。他们一般很有理由地认为，因为自己是一个“胜家”公司、受人尊敬的机构的一员，人们会高看甚至嫉妒他们，而自己也比一般的人更精明更有能力。我们确实是沐浴在由机构反射出来的荣誉中，而我们也会想方设法维护自己的成员关系，使别人知道且能认识到我们的好运气