Happiness: Organizational and Social Arrangements - Term Paper Example

Happiness: Organizational and Social Arrangements Introduction: Happiness has been, is and will be one of the most significant driving forces of humanity and every human being craves for happiness in the personal as well as social life. The literature on the philosophical concept of happiness has been tremendous which points to the vitality of the experience or feeling of happiness in human life. Every individual and community desires for happiness is a generally accepted philosophical truth. The factors contributing to the state of happiness are numerous an evaluation of which brings about pertinent philosophical realities of life. Many desire for happiness but most do not achieve it as there are incommodious barriers to achieving happiness. Only an evolutionary psychological perspective, by providing unique insights, can offer to deal with the problem and accordingly lead one into developing conditions to improve the quality of one’s life. “Happiness is a common goal toward which people strive, but for many it remains frustratingly out of reach.” (Buss, 15-23). The insights that contribute to the improvement of happiness are based on a deeper perception of the human mind. It is important to know that “happiness has more beneficial than harmful outcomes. Happiness does not lead to laziness but to industriousness. Happiness does not lead to insensitivity but to greater concern for others. Happiness does not lead to indulgence but rather to health.” (Oishi, and Koo, 295) In this paper, an analysis of the types of organizational and social arrangements that are likely to create the greatest happiness is undertaken. This also details the kind of recommendations that I would make, as a planner who is responsible to make policy recommendations, for the condition of happiness on the basis of happiness research findings. Part 1: Happiness: Organizational and Social Arrangements In the modern world of great tension and stress, policy making that affects people’s happiness has great relevance. As a policy planner, my recommendations to the policy makers will depend on several considerations. Remarkably, the role of organizational and social arrangement in the development of happiness is often highlighted. There have been several studies on the state of being happy and one of the prominent questions addressed has been who is happy. It is evident from studies that awareness about a persons age, sex, race, and income can hardly help us in understanding happiness. “Better clues come from knowing a persons traits, whether the person enjoys a supportive network of close relationships, whether the persons culture offers positive interpretations for most daily events, whether the person is engaged by work and leisure, and whether the person has a faith that entails social support, purpose, and hope.” (Myers, 17) It has been proved by the research evidences that one’s state of happiness is dependent on various aspects and there is significant relation among wealth, economic growth, close relationships, feeling of belonging, friendship, marriage, faith, well being, and happiness. It will be noticed in a close analysis that age, gender, and income do not provide great thrust upon one’s happiness and it is maintained that happiness depends less on exterior things than what is commonly considered. A clearer understanding of the state of happiness is gained from “knowing people’s traits and the quality of their work and leisure experiences, knowing whether they enjoy a supportive network of close relationships, and knowing whether the person has a faith that encompasses social support, purpose, and hope.” (Myers, 56-67) An investigation into who is happy and why leads one to the ultimate realization of the role of organizational and social arrangements for the purpose of happiness. Happiness is a state of mind which every human being desires for and for the attainment of it one needs to live in the present rather than worry over the future or be troubled by the past. It is because, as Epicurus famously remarked, nobody is completely aware of the future and it is neither belongs to one nor abandons one. What everyone needs to do, therefore, is not to expect the future altogether, nor to abandon complete hope for it. It is natural and definite to come and therefore it is recommendable to live in the present. Desires have permanent value for the happiness of life and it depends on the way one organizes or and controls the desires. “We must consider that of desires some are natural, others vain, and of the natural some are necessary others merely natural; and of the necessary some are necessary for happiness, others for the repose of the body, and others for very life.” (Epicurus, p 189). These facts need to be realized clearly in order to make the best selection of desires that are inevitable for life and happiness. Such an organization of various aspects of life in the social and personal sides of a person is necessary for the ultimate enjoyment of happiness. In the background of various aspects of being happy in the world, it is highly relevant to recognize that subjective well being is a by-product as well as a forecaster of the most valued results of human life. The eudaimonic value of activities and goals, as the various theories suggest, determine the subjective well being and a alleviation of any of the concerns contributing to the subjective well being, as the theorists such as Aristotle claims, results in an engagement of extravagant hedonism. It is, therefore, most significant to understand that “the pursuit of happiness focuses not on the attainment of happiness, per se, but in engagement in life, particularly through the pursuit of important personal goals.” (King, 443). Therefore, the efforts to improve one’s happiness should begin from the improvement of personal achievement. Every individual in the world requires happiness and the most arresting awareness of the situation is that sustainable happiness requires also the intermittent unhappiness. It is also important to comprehend that the low subjective well being has pertinent relevance in the sense that it helps one to understand the life changes, to reassess the goals, to reconsider the meaning of life etc. this will help one tremendously in the social and organizational arrangements leading up to happiness in life. Part 2: Kinds of Organizational and Social Arrangements In this assessment of various organizational and social arrangements for the development of happiness, it is relevant to comprehend that it is an objective dimension of every individual and that every individual naturally seek happiness. The best society is that with maximum happiness and for a happier society individuals need to agree upon their needs and requirements. The sources of happiness are various and the following principles help one in the understanding of these sources. Humans are extremely social beings and as social beings they need to trust each other. Humans are intensely attached to the status quo and they are also status conscious and adaptable. It can be seen that extra income has less influence on happiness as the people and nations become richer and in fact, it all depends upon one’s inner life as well as outer circumstances. Public policies have influence over the removal of misery but are not sufficient to augment happiness. (Layard, 224-231) Therefore, it is the organizational as well as social arrangements of a person that determine one’s happiness. In the modern world, especially in the context of America, freedom and autonomy are valued highly the attainment of happiness also depends on several types of arrangements. Here, the extended scope for self-determination has vital function as a sign of the psychological well-being of individuals and the moral well-being of the culture. It is an essential awareness that “freedom, autonomy, and self-determination can become excessive” and that “unduly influenced by the ideology of economics and rational-choice theory, modern American society has created an excess of freedom, with resulting increases in people’s dissatisfaction with their lives and in clinical depression.” (Schwartz, 79). This factor points to the importance of organizational and social arrangements which will help one in the attainment of the ultimate happiness. The role of scientific study of the enjoyment and suffering of human beings is often regarded as central to the attainment of perfect freedom and the idea of objective well-being can be comprehended as one of the essential means of attaining this status. Once the various types of real time measures to improve the well being of a person are comprehended, it is possible to formulate certain methods that help the development of happiness. “A combination of methods will eventually be available to characterize the objective well being of individual and groups, to determine the true nature of adaptation to new circumstances, to assess enjoyment and sufferings in different settings, and to provide a criterion for the evaluation of economic and social policy.” Such theoretical based methods prove to be useful in the development of situations suited for happiness. (Kahneman, p 22). As a policy planner, therefore, I will recommend for the organizational and social arrangements to be established through the various policies of the organization. Such a policy will cover programs of team building, relationship strengthening, friendship networks, trust development etc. These are important factors for the people to enjoy greater happiness in life. As the research findings suggest, there is a significant role of various organizational factors, wealth, economic growth, close relationships, feeling of belonging, friendship, marriage, and faith etc. in the improvement of happiness, every policy by the organization, on my recommendation will focus on the development of these aspects. To illustrate the point, if there is an irresolvable issue between two members of the organization, only a policy of relationship development can contribute to the solving of the issue and rebuilding relationship. Such relationship among the various members of the group, as we can easily comprehend, will bring about happiness in the personal and social aspects of individuals. Therefore, the recommendations I suggest to the policy makers will focus on such efforts. To be specific, a policy of organizational and social arrangements will include such measures such as team building programs and friendship networking programs. Team building has special value in the context modern multidimensional social and professional set up. Therefore, a program of team building policy will incorporate programs such as those dividing the duties of the organization among its members. In such activities such as the common functions in the organization including the anniversary, celebrations, send offs, social programs, etc. the division various activities among different members of the organization can help in the development of team building. These are important in that they contribute heavily towards the development of teams feeling and support among the team members which in turn help the members trust each other and share their personal matters. In the same way, I will also recommend for friendship networking programs among the members of the organization by which I mean to build social networking among the various individuals of the organization. Thus, the group activities, social programs, celebrations, parties, wine and dine together, birthday celebrations, marriage functions, and organizational celebrations, etc are opportunities for them to develop friendship networking. Organizational competitions to find best friends, Christmas and Easter celebration, and Friendship Day, etc will be opportunities for the development of friendship networking. These have great value in the development of close relationship among the members of the organization. Such organizational arrangements have great implications in the development of happiness among the members of the organization and my recommendations to the policy makers will be strongly supported by the evidences from the research articles. Conclusion Happiness is an essential state of being that every individual craves for and the complete attainment of happiness requires some central organizational and social arrangements from the part of an individual. It is mainly because the primary requirement of happiness is the internal as well as external conditions for it. This indicates the need for social living, development of relations, friendship, marital status, economical advancement etc. These essential conditions of life are possible only through the development of critical situation which requires the organizational as well as social arrangements by an individual. As a planner of policy recommendations, the primary recommendations I would suggest will be based on these social and organizational arrangement needs. Happiness research findings that were discussed in detail in the paper augments this view. Works Cited Buss, David M. The Evolution of Happiness. American Psychologist, 55, 15-23. 2000. Epicurus, The Pursuit of Pleasure, from Epicurus to Menoeceus in Epicurus: Extant Remains, trans. C. Bailey (Clrendon Press: Oxford, 1926). Reprinted in Peter Singer (ed.), Ethics, (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1994), pp. 188-190. Kahneman, Daniel. Objective Happiness. From Daniel Kahneman, De Diener, and Norbert Schwartz (eds), Well-being: the Foundations od Hedonic Psychology, Russell Sage Foundation: New York, 1999, pp 3-25. King, Laura A. Interventions for Enhancing Subjective Well-Being: Can We Make People Happier and Should We?: ch.21. The Science of Subjective Well-Being, 443. Layard, Richard E. Happiness: Lessons from a new science: ch.14. 224-231. Myers, David G (Ed) and Diener. Who Is Happy? Psychological Science. 6(1), 10-19. 1995. Myers, David G. The Funds, Friends, and Faith of Happy People. American Psychologist, 55, 56-67. 2000. Oishi, Shieghiro and Koo, Minkyung. Two New Questions about Happiness: “Is Happiness Good?” and “Is Happier Better?”: ch.14. The Science of Subjective Well-Being, 295. Schwartz, Barry. “Self-Determination: The Tyranny of Freedom”. American Psychologist, 55(1), 79-88. 2000. Read More