Sunday, April 14, 2013

A reason why soldiers are so dedicated



So I ended a recent post on the IKEA Effect that was developed by Dan Ariely at Duke University, Michael Norton at Harvard Business School and Daniel Mochon of Tulane University.  You may be concerned about the correlation between Swedish furniture and military social work.  This idea compliments that personal valuation of items by adding the factor of successful completion.  It is prized for your own efforts to assemble the furniture but also the fact that once you use it the furniture doesn’t crumble like Homer Simpson’s spice rack.  Oh mastery and competence! Hooray! Not only is that futon actually functional but it is an entertaining conversation piece essentially about mastery and competence.  

The IKEA Effect references a physical product but this can apply to service also.  A couple weeks ago I changed my own headlight. It was super simple. I felt like the car was more than just a mode of transportation. Now my car was something that I had bond with. An article in the Harvard Business Journal mentions that it can be applied to the corporate environment where ideas are a commodity.  Consider the situation where old ideas are held on to.  In this case it is not exactly shoddy work as much as unproductive.  This article mentions how managers may reject better ideas over their own ideas.

That sound like something social workers work with.  That could be policy, procedures and practices that are not productive.  I am sure that we all have our pet projects that we put a lot of effort into.  Sometimes the situations that we are working with are as complicated and frustrating as those furniture assembly instructions. Successfully passing a bill or policy getting a seeing a homeless person into a shelter can be exhilarating. 
   
I related the IKEA Effect to the Warrior Ethos. 

I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.

I think that it is important to consider the IKEA Effect of military service when working with veterans.  The amount of effort put into a service member’s military career can be enormous for exceeding the standard is the norm. I remember the hours of starching uniforms and spit shinning boots. It was a running joke that if the military wanted you to have (whatever was suffering in your life) the military would have issued it to you.  Typically that thing suffering in your life was a social life and or family life.  Additionally, the military sets it up so that a service member can initially successful.  For example unless paperwork is submitted for adverse situations an enlisted soldier automatically advances up the rank of Specialist (E-4) on a time schedule. Mastery and competence confirmation on a time schedule!

The Warrior Ethos is about being a soldier.  It is not so much about being an airman or a seaman.  I caution social workers to not assume this for all service members.  Airmen and seamen are not typically going to pick up a weapon and on the grounds of a combat zone.  In combat operations they are just as important.  However they have a different frame of mind for which I cannot speak to.  It can be an insult to assume that they are the same.  

Follow up article: Author's personal copy of Bolstering and restoring feelings of competence via the IKEA effect.  Don’t want to read… here is a recently posted TED talk Dan Ariely: What makes us feel good about our work?  Notice the last few moments when there is a list of what makes employees happy in addition to money.  Think about how the military satisfies all of those ideas except maybe creativity.

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