ABSTRACT
This chapter argues for a broadening of organizational communication scholarship through the consideration of meanings of work including meaningful work. First, we define meaningful work especially within the frame of a broader examination of meanings of work. Along the way, we consider the concept of meaningful work within a constellation of terms that includes job enrichment, work-life balance, career path, leisure, life satisfaction, and so forth. Second, we consider the historical-cultural contexts for our understanding of meaningful work. Here we treat both synchronic and diachronic perspectives on the meaning of work and bring into view matters of difference, such as race, nationality, gender, and class, particularly to the extent that the extant literature treats these dimensions. Third, we consider contemporary discourses in and around workplaces concerning meaningful work—especially in advanced industrial societies. In particular, we interpret recent trends in work and workplace restructuring and how stakeholders discuss them in various parts of the world. Though this review can in no way be comprehensive, we try to identify prevailing themes in the popular and quasi-popular literatures on the subject. Fourth, we argue for a communication-based perspective on meaningful work as distinct from more familiar sociological and psychological perspectives. Here we draw on extant and projected research in the areas of interpersonal/family communication, health communication, and religious/spiritual communication, in addition to the more usual emphasis on organizational communication. Fifth and finally, we point to three main avenues for communication research into this important area, including relationships between public discourses about work and work-related identities, re-conceptualizations of work beyond paid employment, and ways that organizational cultures can foster meaningful work.
