How to Cultivate Happiness in Companies Five Caselets

The case describes how five organizations (Salesforce.com, Indiegogo, Ferrari, Thumbtack’s Team Philippines, and the U.S. military) developed successful strategies to foster happiness within their organizations and align it with their business objectives and missions. It highlights tools that leaders of those organizations use to cultivate and measure happiness and examines the potential downsides of happiness. The framework of the case focuses on four key drivers of happiness—purpose, autonomy, collaboration, and excellence (PACE). Examples of tools leaders use to foster happiness include: Purpose: Create a culture that emphasizes mission to the extent that potential employees choose to work there even when the salary is lower than at comparable companies. Autonomy: Give employees time to work on projects they are passionate about. Collaboration: Create a distinctive identity that creates pride among employees, and use interactive websites to create connections between employees. Excellence: Provide real-time data on employee and company performance and highlight employees’ individual skills and passions.