Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2007 - 66

in work-to the exclusion of most other life activities." (Schwartz 2006)
In addition to the dimensions of workaholism cited above, British psychologist Mark
Griffiths maintains that workaholics are characterized by the following:
Salience: Work is the single most important
activity in the person's life, dominating his/
her thinking, feelings and behavior;
Mood Modification: Subjective experiences
reported as a consequence of working,
such as an arousing "buzz" or a "high";
Tolerance: A process in which increasing
amounts of work are required to achieve
the mood altering effects;
Withdrawal Symptoms: Feelings and/or
physical effects that occur when one is
unable to work;
Conflict: Between workaholics and those
around them (interpersonal), conflicts
with other activities (e.g., social life), or
internal psychological conflicts due to too
much time working;
Relapse: A tendency for repeated reversions
to patterns of excessive work. (Griffiths
2005)

Effects on Others
Workaholics typically have little interest in intimate relationships, and very little time for them.
Robinson's research at the University of North
Carolina at Charlotte reveals that the divorce
rate among workaholics is forty percent higher
than the rest of the population. Those who have
families are often perceived by family members
as being "not there." Due to lack of availability and their obsession with work, workaholics
tend to make poor parents and often aren't actively involved in raising their children. (Robinson 2001) In the authors' recent survey of
workaholic tendencies among theatre students,
faculty, and working artists, respondents were
asked "Have your long hours hurt your family
or other relationships?" Over seventy-one percent answered "sometimes," "usually," or "always." (Ramirez and Ellsworth 2007)
Ill effects of workaholics on others also
plague the workplace. According to Robinson,
workaholics aren't good bosses, often micromanaging subordinates. "Workaholic boses are
overly critical, overly demanding, and unable to
tolerate mistakes." (Robinson 2001) Interpersonal conflicts between workaholics and those
around them may also manifest as irritability at

interruptions. In our survey we asked respondents "Do you get irritated when people ask you
to stop working and do something else?" Seventy-three percent answered positively. (Ramirez
and Ellsworth 2007)
Workaholics don't "play well" with others.
They avoid delegating responsibility to others,
express critical attitudes about co-workers, and
cause destructive competitiveness among colleagues. (Seybold and Salomone 1994) Such
behaviors would be disastrous to the collaborative nature of theatre, yet evidence from our
survey indicates a significant tendency to avoid
delegating responsibility. When asked "Do you
take on extra work because you are concerned
that it won't otherwise get done?," fifty percent
of respondents said they usually or always do;
another thirty-four percent said they sometimes
do. (Ramirez and Ellsworth 2007)

Workaholics or Peak Performers?
Some people who consistently excel at their
work are referred to as "peak performers."
These workers often lose awareness of time
and surroundings while engaged in their work,
achieving a state of activity referred to as flow.
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience,
describes flow as "the state in which people are
so involved in an activity that nothing else seems
to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable
that people will do it even at great cost, for the
sheer sake of doing it." (Estep 2005)
Theatre artists exhibit many of the qualities of peak performers, seven of which have
been identified by workplace training author
Tora Estep: vision, focus, values, passion, emotional intelligence, resiliency and balance. (Estep 2005) Vision, represents the career goals
of the peak performer. Focus, in the context of
work performance, keeps us directed toward
our goals. Values refer to deeply held personal
beliefs. Passion drives us to pursue our personal vision and our art. It is our passion for
theatre that also can lead us to sacrifice material
wealth, our time, and even our health-beyond
reasonable measure-if we become addicted
to our work. Emotional intelligence includes
self-awareness, social awareness and organizational awareness. The importance of our social skills is emphasized in a recent column by
freelance designer Jake Pinholster. "Fully forty
percent of those I interviewed," writes Pinholster, "confessed that they had gotten the job

that they considered their 'break' under social
circumstances." (Pinholster 2006) Resiliency,
our ability to bounce back from difficulties and
professional crises, is to some degree, dependent on balance. For the peak performer who
maintains a healthy balance between work life
and personal life, resiliency will likely be strong.
For the workaholic who has forsaken all else for
career pursuits, the loss of a job or failure on a
project can be devastating.
Balance most distinguishes the workaholic from the peak performer. At this crucial
point the paths of the theatre artist and the peak
performer frequently diverge. Balance is difficult for many theatre artists to achieve, and
designers and technicians have perhaps been
the most prone to work the 24/7 schedules that
make balance impossible. Most respondents to
the authors' recent survey acknowledged long
hours at work, with nearly sixty percent saying
they usually or always work more than forty
hours in a typical week; a total of eighty-five
percent said they work over forty hours at least
sometimes. But balance also hinges on our attitudinal involvement with work. When asked "Do
you get more energized about your work than
about anything else, including your personal
relationships?" sixty-nine percent of respondents replied affirmatively. And over eighty-four
percent of respondents acknowledged that they
are more comfortable talking about work than
anything else. (Ramirez and Ellsworth 2007)
Preoccupation with work to such degrees skews
one's work/life balance in the direction of the
workaholic rather than the peak performer.

Workaholism as a Positive Trait
Some writers have suggested that workaholism
is a positive trait, or at least produces some
positive effects. An early study of workaholics proposed that workaholics derive "psychic
income" from their work-including "responsibility, meaning, opportunity, [and] recognition." (Seybold and Salomone 1994) A recent
study in New Zealand confirmed the association
of enjoyment with workaholism, particularly in
workplaces where there is strong co-worker
cohesion and strong supervisor support for
the employee. (Johnstone and Johnston 2005)
Other writers view workaholism positively from
an organizational perspective, finding that some
workaholics seem to be satisfied and productive
in their workplace. (Burke 2000) Occasional
articles written by workaholics defend their
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2007
