Fish!
Uploaded by swandawg11 on Oct 26, 2011
This brief paper discusses the book by Stephen C. Lundin, which deals largely with motivating workers and developing productive attitudes. (3+ pages; 1 source; MLA citation style)
I Introduction
Many studies have revealed that a great many people dislike their jobs. Anyone who’s listened to the grumbling that goes on in most offices won’t find that surprising. But what can be done to help people who are in the trap of having a job they dislike but not being able to change it? Stephen C. Lundin’s book Fish! addresses this problem, and the impact of attitude on job performance and satisfaction.
II Discussion
Fish! takes the form of an imaginary case study of Mary Jane Ramirez, a supervisor, who is transferred from her congenial department to the legendary “Third Floor” of her company, an area Mary Jane describes as a place where “all the oxygen has been sucked right out of the air. I can hardly breathe.” (P. 22). Lundin first describes Mary Jane for us. She’s a good supervisor with a positive work ethic; she is not one of those “first to arrive, last to leave” managers, but she works in such a way that she gets a lot accomplished. She also has a talent for teamwork and is very supportive of her subordinates, who in turn respond to her by working hard and enthusiastically. (Pp. 17-18). She is then offered a promotion if she’ll move to the infamous Third Floor.
She has heard about the Third Floor and finds that its reputation is deserved. The people there are sullen, unhelpful, and bored. They are in what Lundin calls a “backroom” of the company (they don’t interact with clients), so although they perform a necessary function, they feel cut off, left out, and unimportant. Over time, their dislike of their invisibility, but most particularly their boredom—they are there merely to collect their paycheck by doing the least amount of work possible—has created a departmental “culture” that immediately squelches and disheartens anyone who transfers into the place.
Mary Jane recognizes that she must turn the Third Floor around. She observes the employees of Seattle’s Pike Place Fish Market, who have a wonderful time doing a stinky, unpleasant job, and develops four principles based on their activities. She implements these principles on the Third Floor.
The four principles are: “Play”;...