Happiness seems to be one of those words that can only be de-fined in general terms, like love. It is easy to know when people are not happy, but determining happiness is a little harder. People often say that they feel happy or that something makes them happy. Greet-ing cards are filled with one-liners defining happiness saying things like," Happiness is..." and then going on to compare it to a kiss from a child or a puppy dog. If achieving happiness was really that trite then no one would have much trouble achieving happiness. Happiness at work is really a more completed recipe where many personal ingredi-ents are needed to make it turn out as people hoped.
             The ingredients or factors that determine happiness on the job are universal in that all workers need a combination of these to be happy. The determinants of happiness could be money, a feeling of se-curity, and feelings of making a contribution or being involved. Work-ers may need validation or appreciation, a sense of belonging, feelings of accomplishment or achievement, or respect or power. Jobs that provide these determinants or values in the quantities that the individ-ual needs are good jobs in that the worker is going to be happy. Jobs that provide most of these determinants may still be unhappy jobs be-cause the job may be missing that one value that a specific individual needs the most. Two different people see the same job differently be-cause the values of the individual are the most important determinants of whether or not the job is a happy one.
             In finding happiness at work, there is a large but limited set of values or factors; the key is determining how much of each value is needed. The individual is the only one who can make the determina-tion of how much of each value is needed. What makes one person happy at work is not the same combination for the next person. One person may value a big salary to be happy while another could be just as happy with a litt...