When I send down the thinking probe in my brain for the meaning of the word "Happiness" no surge of brilliance came up to greet me. I felt it, but couldn't find words to express it. After some more thought I was able to give some words to this abstract feeling.
I define happiness as, "The state when a person is smiling and feeling good about himself and the world around him"
Why is happiness so important? That is again a question which puzzles a brain like mine which has always been used for solving complex mathematical equations rather than dealing with the abstract.
The whole concept of why happiness and why sorrow is somewhat alien to this brain of mine, which has been conditioned to understand data not emotions from times immortal.
When I read about the concept on various online resources I discovered a new field of science which is used to define happiness called positive psychology. In a March 2009 edition of The Journal of Positive Psychology, Sara Algoe and Jonathan Haidt say that "happiness" may be the label for a family of related emotional states, such as joy, amusement, satisfaction, gratification, euphoria, and triumph.
Another popular American psychologist Mr. Abraham Harold Maslow created the hierarchy of needs (A pyramid depicting the levels of human needs (psychological and physical)) Maslow envisioned moments of extraordinary experience, known as peak experiences, profound moments of love, understanding, happiness, or rapture, during which a person feels more whole, alive, self-sufficient, and yet a part of the world.
It is the same thing that Mr. V.S. Mahesh discussed in detail in our class on Service Marketing.
Mr. Mahesh talked about how this theory was basically a small version of what was done by Mr. Rajashekhra in Kanauj centuries ago. Their Rajashekhra (The teacher of princes of Kanauj) published that though human needs follow this particular pyramid of hierarchy of needs where satisfaction of every consecutive need leads to more happiness in person’s life and the final state of human needs is Self Actualization where he the person is lost in the flux of happiness.
But Rajashekhra not only discovered this theory century before but also gave a very rare and important connect between Karma and need satisfaction. It said that the quality of karma is best when it is done by an individual who is in a state of Self actualization. This theory has huge implications as it means that for getting the best quality of work delivery from an individual/employee he needs to be in a state of Self Actualization or as some say it Perfect Happiness.
This theory if true can have huge implications on the way organizations see and use their employees. This theory basically tells the employers that if the best work needs to be extracted from their workforce then the employees need to be satisfied at each level of needs. For this extrinsic motivation (Rewards) can only inspire employees to be maximum of state of esteem needs. For reaching further the person need to be perfectly happy.
I believe this relation between happiness and efficiency is something that needs to be explored in research as it has the potential of altering the way in which organizations operate and treat their employees today.
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