When facing the emotional subordinates, you will feel a sense of familiarity that thinking of when you first joined the job. When I was young, I had reflected something that I couldn't accept to my boss with my passionate. I will always hear that "You can't solve things with Impulsion. You have to be rational." Time flies and today, I have certain determination in the face of work, and I rarely move to infuriating. Meanwhile, I more or less understood the mood of my boss at that time.

The office is like a temple of rationality, and any use of emotion as a weapon would be seen as immature. I personally agree with the function of emotion and think that maintain heathy emotion is very important for work. Of course, behavior-driven purely by emotion is indeed irrational, but rationality can actually include emotion and personal value.

Rationality can be Impersonal

Our general cognitive rationality should actually be called Instrument Rationality which is an emotionless judgment. It simply means "do whatever means to pursue an end". When completing a task, first identify multiple variables such as purpose, limitations, advantages, etc. Then do it in the most efficient way. If you can take advantage of this rationality in the office, you should be highly productive and easily find your place in the company. 

However, your development in the company will also be hindered if you are an absolutely instrumental rational person. It is because not everyone is rational as a starting point in the real society. When your task includes a "human" element, your instrumental rationality must take human emotions into account. This is not something "robots" can handle. However, when you over-calculate, it's easy to become an expert in " The Thick and Black Philosophy", which is not necessarily a good thing. Balance can only be slowly taken in interpersonal relationship. 

Rationality can be Contradictory and Reasonable

To deal with complex interpersonal relationships, we had better learn more about the second kind of rationality — Value Rationality. This can explain what most others see as "irrational" behavior. Value rationality is rational thinking based on individual values. Values ​​can be illogical, but their actions due to value rationality are in line with their logic. 

For example, we often hear the older generation say that the younger generation is unwilling to suffer, even to work overtime. In their experience, those who are not afraid of losing the bottom are the final winners. Thus, it is an irrational choice not to work overtime. 

However, the younger generation is watching the older generation grow up from another perspective. They have witnessed the situation of the previous generation and the changes in the actual social environment have formed the values ​​of the new generation. They believe that work and life need to be balanced, that working hard is for a better life. Isn't it putting the cart before the horse if you lose your life just to work? Therefore, Work Life Balance is a rational choice for young people. 

We often hear "live in the moment". However, when young people are really "living in their moment", they will be seen as "not motivated enough". This seems quite contradictory. The question is whether you are looking at the "future" or "now". Both are in line with the logic of value rationality, which is very wonderful. 

Different values ​​and atmospheres will be produced with different eras and different environment. You can check the past newspaper if you don’t believe it. "Elder generation” said "young generation" is not as good as the previous generation. However, the society is still moving on and making progress. 

Talking rationally, but unknowingly talking about the generation gap. It is off topic but interesting. Let’s go back to talk about the right and wrong place of "people" and "things" in the office. In order to survive well, we must fully understand these two rationalities. It is necessary to maximize the rationality of tools for "things", and to fully understand the motivations (values) behind "people", so that you can find your own position in the company even if you lack experience. 

P.S. There are other rationales, and I will share them with you in the next issue.

Simon So

Head of Digital Marketing