Title: Joyful organisation: a system thinking approach

Authors: Mitra Moubed; Yahia Zare Mehrjerdi

Addresses: Department of Industrial Management, Islamic Azad University, Yazd Science and Research Branch, Yazd, Iran ' Industrial Engineering Department, Yazd University, Safayieh, Yazd, Iran

Abstract: Nowadays that people spend more than one-third of their life at work, this sentence of Maxim Gorky can be really understood: "When work is a pleasure, life is a joy. When work is duty, life is slavery." Management researchers have shown that happier workers are more productive and satisfied with their job. Despite its importance, little works have been done about joy at organisations. The present paper aims to address a joyful organisation; therefore, some of the influencing factors are identified from previous researches and model them using system dynamic technique. Analysing some of the loops, interventions for to increase joy and productivity as a result, were identified. Researchers hope that this paper becomes a starting point for future studies about joyful organisations to create more happy people and societies.

Keywords: happiness; joyful organisations; happy organisations; system thinking.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHD.2014.066131

International Journal of Happiness and Development, 2014 Vol.1 No.4, pp.369 - 383

Received: 09 May 2013
Accepted: 18 Nov 2013
Published online: 13 Dec 2014 *

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