The document discusses how students can create meaning in their academic lives. It suggests building resilience to cope with academic setbacks, which can be done by focusing on developing positive emotions and relationships. It also recommends job crafting one's studies through cognitive crafting like changing mindsets, task crafting by taking on new challenges, and relationship crafting by connecting with other students and faculty. This can help students find more meaning and purpose in their academic work.

1. "How can I be useful, of what service can I be? There is
something inside me, what can it be?" - Vincent Van Gogh
How students can create meaning in their academic lives
Evelien Spoler Rico van Leeuwen
&
S0200565
21-11-12 S1237926
Work Meaning: How students can 1
create meaning in their academic

2. BEFORE WE START…
“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”
- F. Nietzsche
Why...
... are you here today?
... are you doing the things you are doing in your life?
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3. CONTENT
 The Meaning of Work
 Overview on Work Meaning
 Students and Work Meaning
 Resilience
 How to get back on track by being more positive
 Job Crafting
 How to create meaning in your CS master study
 Research opportunities
 What can YOU study?
 Implications
 Discussion
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4. WORK MEANING – WHAT IS IT?
 No widely agreed definition in literature
 Meaning is the output of having made sense of something, or what it
signifies, as in an individual interpreting what her work means, or the role
her work plays, in the context of her life (Pratt & Ashforth, 2003)
 The essence of meaning is connection, and is linked to positive
outcomes for both the individual and the organization (Baumeister & Vohs, 2002)
 Meaning is a tool used by individuals for imposing stability on life
(Baumeister & Vohs, 2002)
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5. THE IMPORTANCE OF WORK MEANING
 There has been a shift from a materialistic to a post-materialistic era and a rejection of
individualistic cultural values, as people are seeking a greater sense of meaning and purpose
in their extending working lives. (Guevara & Ord, 1996).
 Employees expect work to fulfill an increasingly larger set of psychological, social, and
economic needs (Casey, 1995)
 Work meaning has benefits such as less depression, more work motivation, less
absenteeism, improvement in work behavior, more engagement, increased job satisfaction,
and increased empowerment (cited in Rosso et al, 2000)
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6. HOW TO CREATE WORK MEANING
 There are different theoretical mechanisms of creating work meaning
(Rosso et al., 2010):
 Authenticity
 Self-efficacy
 Self-esteem
 Purpose
 Belongingness
 Transcendence
 Cultural and interpersonal sensemaking
 This presentation focuses on practical mechanisms, namely:
 Resilience
 Job crafting
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7. GAPS IN WORK MEANING
Two gaps in work meaning literature can be identified and will be
addressed in this research:
Literature is very theoretical, there are not many practical guidelines to be found to give
meaning to your work
There is no literature to be found about study meaning, therefore, we will make assumptions on
study meaning from what is already known about work meaning
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8. STUDENTS & WORK MEANING
How can you, as a student, create meaning in your academic life?
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9. RESILIENCE & STUDY CRAFTING
 Resilience: negative incidents in your study  neutral state of mind
about your study
 Study crafting: neutral state of mind about your study  positive study
meaning
+1
Job crafting
0 Neutral state of mind about your study
Resilience
-1
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10. RESILIENCE
 The process of, capacity for, or outcome of successful adaptation despite challenging or
threatening circumstances (Martin & Andrew, 2002; Howard & Johnson, 2000)
 The heightened likelihood of success in school and other life accomplishments despite
environmental adversities brought about by early traits, conditions, and experiences (Wang,
Haertal, & Walberg, 1994, p. 46)
 Academically resilient students are those “who sustain high levels of achievement motivation
and performance despite the presence of stressful events and conditions that place them at
risk of doing poorly in school and ultimately dropping out of school” (Alva, 1991, p.19).
 Students' ability to deal effectively with academic setbacks, stress, and study pressure (Martin
& Andrew, 2002)
 Academic gains can be lost if students are not resilient to setback, study pressure, and
stress in the school setting (Martin & Andrew, 2002)
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11. PREDICTORS & OUTCOMES OF RESILIENCE
Predictors: Academic resilience predicts three educational
 Self Efficacy and psychological “outcomes”:
 Control  Enjoyment of school
 Planning  Class participation
 General self-esteem
 Low anxiety
Martin & Marsh, 2006
 Persistence
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12. BECOMING MORE RESILIENT (1)
At meta-level you, as a student can enhance motivation and become
more resilient by improving your:
Approach to schoolwork
Belief about yourself
Attitude towards learning, achievement, and school
Study skills
Reasons for learning
Martin & Marsh, 2006
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13. BECOMING MORE RESILIENT (2)
 Having and maintaining good relationships with family and friends;
 Avoid seeing crises or stressful events as unbearable problems;
 Accept circumstances that cannot be changed;
 Develop realistic goals and move towards them (planning);
 Take decisive, conscious actions in adverse situations;
 Look for opportunities of self-discovery after a struggle with loss;
 Develop self-confidence (stepping outside comfort zone);
 Keep a long-term perspective and consider the stressful event in a broader
context;
 Maintain a hopeful outlook, expecting good things and visualizing what is wished;
 Take care of one's mind and body, exercising regularly, paying attention to one's
own needs and feelings.
American Psychology Association, 2008
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14. POSITIVE EMOTIONS
 Build resilience... AND...
 Significantly better performance
 Higher intelligence
 Higher energy
 More creative
 Less burnout
 ... (Ong, Bergeman, Bisconti, & Wallace, 2006;Lyubomirsky, 2005).
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15. BUILDING POSITIVE EMOTIONS
2 minutes per day, for 21 days in a row:
 3 gratitudes per day (Emmons & McCullough, 2003)
 Journaling / writing about what went well that day (Seligman et al, 2005; Slatcher &
Pennebakker, 2006)
 Exercise (Babyak et al, 2000)
 Identifying top five strengths, and use one of these for other purposes
(Seligman et al, 2005)
 Meditation (Dweek, 2007)
 Random acts of kindness (Lyubomirsky, 2005)
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16. JOB CRAFTING
What is job crafting?
Why should you craft your job?
How can you craft your study and make it more meaningful?
Things to consider when crafting your study
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17. WHAT IS JOB CRAFTING?
 Very young research field
 “[…] the physical and cognitive changes individuals make in the task or
relational boundaries of their work. Thus, job crafting is an action, and
those who undertake it are job crafters.” (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001, p. 179)
 Small changes, not completely rebuilding your job, to make your job suit
you better
 Job crafting can be used to make your work more meaningful
 Even in the most restricted and routine jobs, employees can exert some
influence on what is the essence of the work (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001)
 Motivations to craft a job most often will result from situations in which
employees feel that their needs are not being met in their job as it is
currently designed (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001)
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18. WHY SHOULD WE CRAFT OUR JOBS?
 Advantages of job crafting:
 More engagement with your work (Bakker et al., 2012)
 Give you the opportunity to take initiative, take control and express creativity (Chiao et al., 2011)
 Increase efficiency in your work (Chiao et al., 2011)
 Increased commitment to your work (Ghitulescu, 2006)
 Increase the passion within your job (Brickson, 2011)
 Being able to pursue unanswered occupational callings (Berg et al., 2010)
 “Job crafting could be a net positive for the organization.” (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001, p. 195)
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19. HOW CAN YOU CREATE MEANING IN YOUR STUDY?
 Four types of study crafting:
 Cognitive crafting: changing task-related boundaries and mindsets
 Task crafting: changing the content of work
 Relationship crafting: changing the quality and amount of interaction with others at work
(Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001)
 Contextual crafting: actively changing your work place/ environment/time
(Van Vuuren & Dorenbosch, 2011)
 Four techniques of study crafting:
 Add
 Change/adjust
 Repel
 Solve
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20. Cognitive crafting (changing task-related boundaries &
cognitions)
Add
 Perception of your study as a meaningful whole that positively impacts others (Berg et al., 2010)
 Gain more knowledge about the topics you are interested in (Wellman & Spreitzer, 2011)
 Find the connection between your study work and other domains and disciplines (Wellman &
Spreitzer, 2011)
 Apply the things you have learned to things you do in practice (e.g. this presentation!)
(Wellman & Spreitzer, 2011)
 Extend your knowledge by teaching other students (Wellman & Spreitzer, 2011)
 Identify your personal talents and strenghts, so that you can strive for a meaningful study or
career (Wellman & Spreitzel, 2011)
Change/adjust
 More positively interpret the study tasks you do (Van Vuuren & Dorenbosch, 2011)
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21. Repel
 Try to not think about the ugly tasks you have to do (Van Vuuren & Dorenbosch, 2011)
Solve
 Accept the ugly tasks you have to do; change your study expectations (Van Vuuren &
Dorenbosch, 2011)
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22. Task crafting (changing the content of the study work)
Add
 Start new projects (Tims et al., 2012)
 Search for challenges, e.g.: follow extra courses, do a board year, study new and interesting
research topics, follow courses at another faculty etcetera (Wellman & Spreitzer, 2011)
Change/adjust
 Ensure that your study, subjects and research is driven by questions that are meaningful
personally, practically and theoretically (Wellman & Spreitzer, 2011)
 Altering the scope or nature of tasks, take on additional tasks (Berg et al., 2010)
Repel
 Repel “ugly” tasks for nice tasks (Van Vuuren & Dorenbosch, 2011)
Solve
 Improve your task skills and be able to solve ugly tasks by means of training (Van Vuuren &
Dorenbosch, 2011)
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23. Relationship crafting (changing the quality & amount of
interaction with others encountered at work)
Add
 Connect with fellow students, teachers (Wellman & Spreitzer, 2011)
 Search for beneficial connections, such as researchers, teachers, people working in
organizations (Wellman & Spreitzer, 2011)
 Search for a coach (Tims et al., 2012)
Change/adjust
 Change current relationships with fellow students (Wellman & Spreitzer, 2011)
 Ask others for feedback (Tims et al., 2012)
Repel
 Avoid difficult students or teachers (Van Vuuren & Dorenbosch, 2011)
Solve
 Learn how to solve interpersonal conflicts and improve interpersonal skills (Van Vuuren &
Dorenbosch, 2011)
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24. Contextual crafting (changing the study place/environment/time)
Add
 Add nice elements to your study environment
Change/adjust
 Re-furnish your physical study environment
 Change the work environment/place: e.g. study in the middle of other students and academic
books & magazines in the library
 Change the means with which you perform your tasks: e.g. try to search for interesting
academic books instead of on-line articles
 Change the time at which you study
Repel
 Take away disturbing factors in your study environment
Solve
 Relieve discomforts in your study environment: e.g. a broken chair
Based on Van Vuuren & Dorenbosch, 2011
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25. THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN STUDY CRAFTING
 Start small! (Wellman & Spreitzer, 2011). You might have already started the
process of study crafting in the beginning of this presentation…
 Students may have little autonomy to craft their studies, because of
formal study designs (Based on Wellman & Spreitzer, 2011)
 Crafting your study can be like a double-edged sword: universities desire
students to be creative and receptive to changes, however it is unlikely
that they desire that collective changes in studies or tasks can be enacted
without their knowledge (Based on Lyons, 2008). Also: feelings of regret and
stress (Berg et al., 2010)
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26. SUMMARY
-1 0 +1
Dealing with a setback Study crafting through:
through:
- Cognitive crafting
- Focus on ‘yourself’ - Task crafting
- Work on positive - Relational crafting
emotions - Contextual crafting
- Take decisive action
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27. RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES
 The impact that study crafting actually can have on students (assumptions from this
presentation have not been tested yet)
 Job crafting at different career stages (Wellman & Spreitzer, 2011)
 The conditions under which job crafting can be fully positive or negative
(Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001; Petrou et al., 2012)
 Focus on the dynamic process of job crafting as it unfolds over time
(Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001)
 Job crafting as a part of organizational change (Petrou et al., 2012)
 Job crafting in different organizational contexts (Berg et al., 2010)
 Job crafting as a collective undertaking (Berg et al., 2010)
 Researchers and practitioners have focused on the energy and drive of students and not so
much on their ability to deal with pressure and setback.
 Surprisingly, academic resilience has not received a great deal of attention in the research
literature (Martin & Andrew, 2002)
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28. IMPLICATIONS FOR COMMUNICATION PROFESSIONALS
 As a student: being able to adjust your study to fulfill your unique skills, motives and
preferences (Tims et al., 2012) and give more meaning to your study.
 As a manager: the importance of creating a work climate that encourages job crafting to
create more job satisfaction, commitment and performance
 Job crafting could be a net positive for the organization, but is also a double edged sword
that should be considered
 Development of students’ resilience
o Who is responsible? Teacher or student, or both?
o Is an individual always able to deal with setback?
o How resilient can you be? Is there a maximum?
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29. “Work is about a search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for
recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor, in short for a
sort of life rather than a Monday to Friday sort of dying.” (Terkel, 1972)
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
Are there any questions?
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30. DISCUSSION POINTS
 Teachers must give more attention to (improving/creating) the study
meaning of students
 Teachers are responsible for students’ study meaning (by means of
study-crafting and building resilience)
 CS education must focus more on the practice of building positive
emotions
 The double-edged sword of jobcrafting: management should be involved
in job crafting practices
 The organization should create a work climate that facilitates job crafting
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