Cultivating Meaning at Work, in Four Movements

This paper explores ways to enhance meaning at work for professional orchestra musicians, whose psychological needs include both the collective symphonic whole as well as individual mastery needs. An introduction to meaning and meaning in work is followed by a discussion of four pathways to enhance meaning at work for professional orchestra musicians. Finally, for each of the four pathways, initial interventions are proposed. In support of the research on meaning pathways and related psychological experiences of this population, a series of appendices review theoretical constructs from social science at the individual and group levels. Concluding the appendices is a discussion of social cognitive theory’s view of agency, which bolsters individual and collective pathways for orchestra musicians to find or create meaning at work.