In the corporate world, companies put in a lot of effort towards keeping their customers happy so that they can retain them. Employees want to please their boss so that they get a good rating in their performance appraisals. Organizations work to keep their employees happy so that the company fairs well in the employee satisfaction surveys or be called the best place to work. We can go on citing many more examples like these.
In personal lives, we go that one step beyond and throw more surprises to the people around us. Husband gifts his wife diamonds on her birthday to keep her delighted. Parents buy the child anything that it would ask for so that the child is happy. Similarly, many more.
By now, you would have guessed where I am inching towards. On one hand is nice to know that people are being valued for, as to what their likes are while the on other hand it makes me wonder if we are using some tactics to attain something easier than the normal route.
By now, you would have guessed where I am inching towards. On one hand is nice to know that people are being valued for, as to what their likes are while the on other hand it makes me wonder if we are using some tactics to attain something easier than the normal route.
If we rewind back a few years, there was no such effort made. We all had certain discipline and certain system in place and that's about it. No special effort was taken to please or delight people. Things were taken at face value and people were objective about their dealings. Companies did not budget huge sums of money on customer retention or acquisition. People did not go out of the way to delight their spouses or surprise their children. It is a paradigm shift in the way we think and the way we work.
Is it a healthy sign that we are evolving a culture of keeping others happy? Or, is this a shortcut to glory by keeping others pleased?
6 comments:
true :) !
Well one could say that ppl in the past used to take relationships for granted
its good to be told or made to feel that u are valued
one could ask may be because there was no such expectation?
well expectations are framed from what u see happening around
u wont expect to get a sumptuous 5 course meal in somalia
"By now, you would have guessed where I am inching towards."
Yes. You are indicating to your husband/dream boy/would be - that you would like to have diamonds on your birthday. ;)
"If we rewind back a few years..... No special effort was taken to please or delight people..... People did not go out of the way to delight their spouses or surprise their children."
Disagree. If you analyze - the culture of giving gifts to people has been handed down to us by our ancestors. The current generation did not "Invent" this culture.
In olden days, gifts were given - the choice of gifts that people appreciated then was different than what people appreciate today and the frequency at which they were given was also less.
Perhaps, as the world goes materialistic, these days people have great appreciation of material gifts. And the paradigm shift lies here.
"Keeping others happy" is not an evolving culture, but the "Shortcut to glory is".
True happiness does not lie in material gifts. It lies within and beyond the price we can pay to afford them. :)
@Jegan, May be you are right in saying that people used to take relationships for granted in the past but I found that the very same relationships stronger and much more bonded in the past than today. Why are they superficial and weak in spite of expressing the value for the same?
May be we are formalizing too much, today?
@Smiz Aolly, I am not referring to just exchange gifts here. It is a small part of the big-picture. I am referring to the mind-set change. Whether you look at the business world or even an household, things we do has taken a drastic shift.
May be because we did not have so many choices early. Or may be because we did not live in an era of information overload and access to many other things like today. Or may be because we did not have the cut-throat competition as today. Or may be because we did not talk of value add or anything of that sort.
However, the question remains still unanswered - what it "the" underlying reason behind?
I thought personal relationship doesn’t need an extra mile. People always have done something or the other to keep others happy in a relationship. It remains the same for ages. It's just the options to do things have increased nowadays, so is the awareness about everything… (Diamonds have replaced flowers nowadays because guys have come to a realisation that girl's know their husband can buy jewellery for her in the shop on way back home.) You can't say that one does something to please others/ make people think good about oneself. It's done just to bring some joy. Be it gifts, be it household chores, be it holiday outing, it’s all to bring joy in a relation. It is an illusion that such things didn’t happen in the past. May be it was done in a different way.
What was said about the companies is true. They do everything to retain business, to retain talent. Otherwise they will be one of the option rather than the preference. This is bound to happen in the intense competitive platform, which is why you see 'Dunning–Kruger effect' everywhere.
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