The Busyness Paradox

Live from the Southern Management Association conference in St. Pete Beach, FL, Frank and Paul interview Cornel University's Dr. Mike Lynn, arguably the world's foremost researcher on service tipping. We discuss the pros and cons of tipping as a form of compensation, demographic differences in tipping rates and, of course, the sudden proliferation of tipping into seemingly every facet of our lives.
If you're tired of tipping at self-service cash registers, you'll enjoy this one. And if you're a management researcher, listen up! Stunningly, with the exception of Dr. Lynn, this dramatic shift in service work compensation has flown almost completely under our radar so far. Let's get cracking folks.
Links to People and Publications Mentioned in This Episode:

- Dr. Michael Lynn - Michael D. Johnson and Family Professor of Services Marketing, Cornell University
- The moral imperative of tipping
- A Traveler’s Guide to Tipping in a Changed World
- Danny Meyer’s Restaurants Will End Their No-Tipping Policy
- Service sweethearting: An effective way to increase tips?
- Giving vs. Giving In

Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts, blog posts and other content while you’re there!

Bologna Sandwich maker? Barber Shop singer? Nah, not those BS jobs. In this episode we dive into what the late David Graeber defined as jobs that are "so completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious that even the employee cannot justify its existence [but] feels obliged to pretend that this is not the case."

If your job that fits that description, you're not alone. Some say the growth of BS jobs has outpaced non-BS jobs in recent decades, but that's just the tip of the paradoxical iceberg we explore in this week's show. We also dig into Graeber's observation that many BS jobs provide more pay, prestige and security than non-BS jobs, such as those performed by the essential workers who have helped us survive the Covid pandemic.

We also discuss the tendency of BS jobs to inject administrative bloat into non-BS jobs through an "Infinite Loop of Busyness" that causes nurses to split their time between treatment and paperwork, teachers to spend more time documenting than teaching, and members of countless other professions to question the value of their work.
Please rate and subscribe to our podcast. Join the Busybody family and share your ideas or workplace experiences with us. If you have a topic you would like for us to cover, email us at [email protected] or tweet us @busynessparadox.

Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts, blog posts and other content while you’re there!

A while back, we published an episode called "Who You Callin' WUSI?" about the simple assessment we developed to measure employees' propensity to perceive abusive managerial behaviors where others do not. The show got way more interest than we anticipated, so naturally we've been looking for an excuse to revisit our beloved WUSI scale. So you can imagine our excitement when we learned that two researchers from the University of North Carolina - Charlotte were investigating the impact of WUSI in comparison to other factors that can bias employees' perceptions of abusive supervision. In this episode, we interview this unique duo - coming from both academic and corporate backgrounds - to discuss their findings and their implications for any managers out there who'd rather not be falsely accused of bullying their employees.
(Our apologies for some rough spots in the remote audio at several points in this episode!)
Our Guests:
Brooks Durham - Vice President Operations and General Manager, LD Industries
David Woehr - Belk Distinguished Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Management, University of North Carolina - Charlotte
Click here to visit the episode webpage

Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts, blog posts and other content while you’re there!

Back in March 2020, millions of workers around the world abruptly learned that their jobs didn't always require their presence at a specific desk in a specific building at a specific set of times each and every week. After a bumpy start, many began to appreciate the flexibility, autonomy and, to varying degrees, empowerment this new approach to work afforded. Others decided it wasn't for them. A few decided it wasn't for anyone. That a vocal minority is bent on pushing us all back into our offices and cubicles should come as no surprise to longtime listeners. But who are these committed defenders of the pre-pandemic status quo? And what are their motivations? That's where things get a bit interesting.
Mentioned In This Episode:
9:15 - Privilege and Pro-Office Pablum

33:25 - Calling Out Kardashian (Busyness Paradox Episode #38)

37:14 - Much Ado About WUSI (Busyness Paradox Episode #27)

46:40 - Time For Niksen (not that Nixon) (Busyness Paradox Episode #41)
If you find this topic interesting you might enjoy these earlier episodes as well!
- Chasing Productivity & Creativity in Work From Home (WFH)
- Couch or Cubicle?
- Shady Statistics and the Status Quo
- The 15-Hour Workweek
- WFH is Dead! Long Live WFH!
- Expanding the Compressed Workweek
- Charlotte Lockhart and the 4-Day Week

Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts, blog posts and other content while you’re there!

Feeling overworked and dreaming of a new job with lots of downtime? One where marathon solitaire sessions fill the time between naps and happy hours? Careful what you wish for...making 10 hours of work fill a 40-hour week ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. If your employer is infected with the busyness bug, you’re likely to experience the delightfully paradoxical form of burnout that occurs when you’re actually underworked but everyone around you is pretending to be overworked. Tune in as we try to unpeel the paradoxical onion of boring job burnout in this episode of The Busyness Paradox.
Links to stuff mentioned in the show:

• 1:33 - Episode #25: Nixing Busywork with Niksen
• 2:17 - Man gets $45K severance package after declaring job "too boring"
• 13:13 - Episode #3: Are You Too Good at Your Job?
• 22:54 - Free online courses offered by Harvard University:
  • Web Programming with Python and JavaScript
  • Non-Profit Financial Stewardship
  • Jon Snow and the Cholera Epidemic of 1854
  • Case studies in Functional Genomics
  • Improving your Business Through a Culture of Health
  • Becoming a More Resilient Leader in Turbulent Times
• 29:21 - Episode #27: Twice The Work In Half The Hours: The Dual-Career Individual
• 30:45 - Episode #10: The Four-Day Work Week

Click here for transcript and episode webpage

Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts, blog posts and other content while you’re there!