Hi,
You can say that the generation from before seventies had a distinct
different approach to work than the generation which was born after
the seventies. Of course, this wasn?t a radical change: work slowly
began to play a different part in the lives of people.
Until after the Second World War, having a job meant having a sense of
security. Having a good job wasn?t something you could take for
granted. The mobility of people was much lower than it would be a
couple of decades later which meant that it was more difficult to find
a job which suited your specific talents. More important however,
social security was less developed. As were trades unions. This meant
it was more easy to lose your job and the consequences of losing a job
were much bigger.
Emancipation of women had not yet really taken hold which meant that
the husband or father was usually the only person generating an income
in a family. It?s easy to see that if that income stops, nothing else
is left.
All in all people were more dependent upon their jobs and more afraid
of losing it. The logical consequence of this is that employees are
less demanding towards their bosses. They won?t complain as much as
employees nowadays. They were more easily satisfied with a certain
level of income. They were more easily satisfied with the work they
had to do.
Another difference is that certain professions earned more respect
before the seventies than after. Think about teachers and medical
specialists for example. Their education and degrees were seen as a
must have for success. If you wanted to earn a good income and a solid
pension, you were automatically told to get high degrees and study
hard. Education was seen as essential for a bright future.
This has changed two-fold. First of all, people nowadays simply have
less respect for some professions, including the above-mentioned.
Especially in the case of teachers, this has been quite obvious. I
will not go into the reasons for this decline in respect as I think
this is a much broader cultural phenomenon which is beyond the scope
of this essay.
Secondly, having a good education is no longer seen as being essential
for having a bright future. Youth see older people working really hard
in some professions and still having a lot of debt. At the same time
they see other people, sometimes even without much education, who
become really wealthy. This is largely because of the growing
influences of capitalism upon our society. Working for somebody else
is almost never going to make you really wealthy. You need to have
assets which will generate the income for you. Youth see people
investing in real-estate, and making huge profits. They see rap-stars
who release a new album become insanely rich. Of course, the picture
is not as black-and-white as that: people without a fixed job who are
trying to build up assets, are also facing bigger risks. However, this
doesn't stop it from having a huge impact upon the way people see
their jobs: these days employees are less easily satisfied with a
certain level of income. They will almost always think they are
working too hard for too little. This dissatisfaction is pushed up to
a higher level because of increased media coverage: they read about
other people who seem to work less hard but still manage to make a lot
more money. As the saying goes: the grass always looks greener on the
other side.
The result of all this is that the generation which was born after the
seventies is more anxious to move up in the social sphere. They will
more easily switch jobs and they are taking greater risks in doing so.
They are thinking more of becoming wealthy.
In the last few decades, the general prosperity of our society, and
indeed of the entire western world, has increased dramatically. This
has had a big influence on the mindset of our generation. Younger
people are more accustomed to the idea that they should be able to buy
practically all consumer goods available on the market.
At the same time, they are more convinced that they should be able to
do a lot of fun things during a day or a week. In order to fulfill
both these wishes, they need to have a pretty high level of income,
while still being able to enjoy quite a lot of spare time.
This means that people have moved the bar up a few notches with regard
to the demands they have in relation to their work. They will take
grater pains and greater risks to achieve the perfectly balanced job
for them: a good income, with quite a lot of spare time.
Their jobs need to be more flexible than a couple of decades ago. As I
have noted before, greater emancipation has led to more women working.
More women working means an even higher level of demanded flexibility
regarding their jobs. Mum and dad would like two holidays a year, they
would also like to be able to bring their kids to school in the
morning and pick them up at the end of the days, and maybe it?s
possible to bring their laundry and pets to work. This has put a
larger strain on employers. They need to be more flexible.
The greater level of prosperity and the greater expectations of life,
have resulted in another desire: work needs to be fun! The younger
generation is less willing to do work which they find boring. They
want more development opportunities in their careers. Their daily work
needs to be varied. They are more willing to switch jobs at the moment
their work doesn?t satisfy them anymore. Work is less seen as a
necessity for living, it has become a part of life itself. People
expect to get a larger part of their satisfaction from their jobs.
They want to do something which they think is meaningful.
To summarize, the following changes have developed in the last few
decades in regard to the attitude people have regarding their work:
-having a good job used to be very important in order to feel secure.
Nowadays, people are less afraid of losing their jobs and they are
more demanding on their bosses.
-certain professions now earn less respect than they used to. Good
education and degrees is seen less as a sure way to success.
-a greater level of prosperity and emancipation have resulted in a
greater demand for flexibility on the part of the employer.
-greater prosperity and greater expectations of life have resulted in
greater demands regarding the sanctification people get from their
work.
Search strategy:
No search has been necessary.
I hope this answer is to your satisfaction. If you need any more
information and/or views, please ask for a clarification!
Thank you,
paul_b_18 |
Request for Answer Clarification by
drumsticks-ga
on
08 Apr 2004 11:18 PDT
This looks really good at my first glance, however what does it mean by
Search strategy:
No search has been necessary.
Does this mean you have just written this off the cuff.
Wish i could do that....
Would it be possible to include some sources from the interent
drumsticks
|
Clarification of Answer by
paul_b_18-ga
on
08 Apr 2004 15:45 PDT
Hi,
I will give you a list of some very interesting articles which all
deal with the subject (in one way or another) on what roll work playes
in our lives.
"Children reveal views on work/life balance"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2003/03_march/31/big_toe_balance.shtml
"Perspectives on the Study of Work-Life Balance"
http://www.ucm.es/info/Psyap/enop/guest.htm
"Organisations, careers and caring"
http://www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/socialpolicy/n33.asp
A general article about emancipation can be found here:
"Young Women and Men"
http://www.bikupan.se/young/unglong.html
"Global survey captures gender-based views on work/life flexibility"
http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2003/0527/p12s01-wmwo.htm
The following two articles are in PDF file format. They are
interesting but you will need Adobe Reader to view those files. You
can download Adobe Reader for free at:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
"Reflections on the Integration of Paid Work with the rest of life"
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/wfnetwork/loppr/reflections.pdf
"Full and fulfilling employment: Creating the labour market of the future"
http://www.dti.gov.uk/er/emar/fullemp.pdf
If you need anything else, please let me know!
Thank you,
paul_b_18
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
drumsticks-ga
on
09 Apr 2004 13:57 PDT
Is there any chance you could relate your answer and analyise it using
these articles.
Article 1
Jayne Buxton on why Asda is being clever as well as kind in enabling a
cashier to both work her hours and attend her son?s concert.
Family friendly working practices; work-life balance; to hard-driving
business manager, these terms conjure up thoughts of disruption and
cost. But need employers be afraid? Do family-friendly work practices
- more popularly known as work-life balance initiatives - represent a
net cost to business? The evidence is that work-life balance is as
good for business as it is for people. Companies are already having to
adapt: globalisation, which brings customers in disparate time zones,
and advancing technology, responding to and creating new customer
needs, are driving change.
Smart businesses, like Granada?s television service division, use
these forces to create new work options. At Granada, customer demand
for service outside conventional working hours led to engineers being
put on flexible contracts. Working more from home, managing their
schedules and benefiting from new technological support, engineers can
manage their time so as to better meet customer needs while benefiting
themselves from more flexible schedules and less commuting time. In
the process, Granada?s customer service gained on the competition.
Another aspect of the new business reality is that women are half the
work-force, and two-thirds in sectors such as health, hotels and
teaching. A smart company supports women so they can give their
maximum to the organisation. If a shift-swap scheme at Asda, the
supermarket chain, enables a cashier to work her weekly hours and
attend her son?s school concert, then it is clever as well as kind.
The Midland Bank raised its retention rate for women on maternity
leave from 30 to 80 per cent by allowing them to work flexibly on
return.
Retention of people, skills and knowledge is a strategic challenge for
organisations. Companies are waking up to the effect of employee
retention and profitability. A study of Fortune 500 companies in the
United States by Massachusetts Institute of Technology showed a link
between employee loyalty and company productivity. The Gemini
Consulting study found that two out of three workers would leave their
jobs immediately to obtain either a small pay increase, more
opportunity, or greater flexibility. Measures to improve work-life
balance and flexibility are integral to increasing employee loyalty.
Work-life measures can also reduce the corporate health bill. Barclays
Bank discovered that its job-sharing teams in one call centre had 0
per cent sickness absence rates, as compared to 4.5 per cent for
full-time employees. And the Families and Work Institute in New York
found that employees who had more control over their working schedules
were more likely to stay with the company, take initiative, and give
their all toward achieving company objectives.
Human capital plays a growing role in corporate success and wealth:
the US based Brookings Institute says two-thirds of stock market value
now lies in ?soft? attributes such as patents, processes and
customer/employee satisfaction. Of course, the challenges of
life-friendly working practices are not to be ignored. Not least is
the fact that most managers are focused on the short term, while many
of the benefits accrue in the long term. But for those brave enough
the benefits are waiting to be enjoyed.
Pat Nazemetz is a champion of work-life efforts at Xerox. She insists
that ?if you keep doing this stuff, you will get better business
results?. Xerox?s chief executive, Paul Allair, supports her,
asserting that the family-friendly culture is a way of unleashing the
creativity of Xerox employees. Given the firm?s record of productivity
improvements of up to 30 per cent in some areas where it has conducted
work-life experiments, business leaders could do far worse than follow
the Xerox example.
Article 2
You are so driven the hours don?t come into it.
Leslie McGivern is just 23 but already he is swiftly rising to the top
of the marketing and PR world, writes Audrey Gillan. The young
Glaswegian works for the Stakis Hotel and Casino Group and is
responsible for much of its PR. Often working 55 to 60 hours a week,
he says he is ?very? ambitious and wants to make his way quickly up
the executive ladder. Already he has gone far, having started with the
company on a graduate training scheme aged 20. ?I had been working my
way up in corporate affairs to get to the stage where the job entails
the official opening of hotels and involves specialised PR campaigns,?
he says. ?I would like, hopefully, to climb up the ladder and get to
the top of the PR field as quickly as possible. I hope that I?ll be
able to do it within the next 10 years, when I?m still able to cope
with the travelling and the hours.? Mr McGivern says he relishes the
long hours, and puts in the time that the job demands. ?It sounds a
bit corny but you thrive on the pressure. When you?re busy you don?t
notice the hours at all because you are immersed in your work. You are
achieving a goal and so driven that the hours don?t really come into
it.? At the moment , money is not important for him, though his salary
is more than £20,000 a year and he has a company car and a good
benefits package. He admits, though, that it may matter more in the
future. And he hopes soon to be able to move from Glasgow to London,
where he believes ?the PR industry is thriving.? Mr McGivern gave up
the chance to be a professional footballer to pursue his career fully.
He had played semi-professional for Stirling Albion and then for
Norwich United. He now plays for Glasgow Hearts, a team which is in
the Scottish amateur premier division. ?It was a big decision. What if
you don?t go to University and throw all your eggs in one basket and
then you get your legs broken in training?? he wonders. But football
still remains an important part of his life. ?Football is my passion
and my boss knows I would struggle to work on a Saturday afternoon
because that?s my football time.?
Article 3
Only work if you really enjoy it. There are other options
Jane McCallum?s day begins around 10am when she gets out of bed in the
Bermondsey squat she shares with eight other people to go down to the
?caff? for breakfast, writes Audrey Gillan. That?s about her only
routine. The rest of the time she floats about and does what she
wants. And what she doesn?t want to do is work. According to Jane -
which is not her real name - work doesn?t fit in with her lifestyle.
It doesn?t suit the hours she keeps and she doesn?t like it. Instead
of working she ?just socialises?, listens to music and sees her mates.
Like all of her friends, Jane has a dog so she often takes it for
walks in the country. What put 21 year old Jane off work was the long
hours her parents did, and the late eighties and early nineties
culture she grew up in. ?My mum and dad worked really hard when I was
a kid, they were both teachers. They just worked the whole time and
they were always moaning about it. I didn?t see them that much. They
worked really long hours yet never had any money. Why bother? You?ve
got no free time to have any fun with the money and you?re so
knackered. Most of my friends feel like me.? Jane did work once, when
she left school aged 16. For 2 years she was a dresser at a theatre
earning about £150 a week. But when the shows came to an end she
couldn?t be bothered to look for another job. She didn?t want to ?go
back to timetables and have to do things at certain times?. With her
dog, Mutley, yelping in the background, Jane says she can?t see
herself changing her mind about work in the foreseeable future. ?I
know things are getting really hard in Britain to keep signing on.
I?ll probably move out of the country. I want to go to India. A friend
of ours has taken their sound system out there and I?m going in
February to check it out. Theres lots of people from London out there
now?. She adds: ?I?m actually not that unhappy without money. I am
totally skint for a lot of the time, then suddenly I?ll have lots and
lots of money. But it doesn?t bother me one way or the other?. She
believes that people should only work if they enjoy it - and if they
do that?s cool. ?If there?s no pleasure in it, that?s not cool. There
are other options,? she says.
|
Clarification of Answer by
paul_b_18-ga
on
10 Apr 2004 03:13 PDT
Hi,
Comments on article 1:
This article is a beautiful illustration of the trend that people want
and need to have more flexible jobs, as I mentioned.
?Jayne Buxton on why Asda is being clever as well as kind in enabling a
cashier to both work her hours and attend her son?s concert.?
This illustrates the consequences of continued emancipation: more
women and mothers are working which means their bosses have to be more
flexible because the employees do need to spend time with their
family.
?A study of Fortune 500 companies in the
United States by Massachusetts Institute of Technology showed a link
between employee loyalty and company productivity.?
It may be a bit of a long shot, but in my opinion this shows that
people are more critical towards their bosses and their work: if they
are not satisfied with their job, they will work less hard. A couple
of decades ago, they probably would have kept working hard, because
they were more afraid to lose their jobs.
?The Gemini Consulting study found that two out of three workers would
leave their jobs immediately to obtain either a small pay increase,
more
opportunity, or greater flexibility.?
This again is a very clear illustration of more demand for
flexibility. It also shows that employees have a higher demand for the
amount of satisfaction they get from their job: it is no longer seen
as just a necessary evil, it needs to be fun as well. It needs to give
them fulfilment and therefore, it needs to give them opportunities.
Comments on article 2:
The one thing is article shows is that people nowadays want their job
to be part of their lives. They no longer see a job as just a
necessary tool for living. A lot of the satisfaction they expect to
get from life, they expect to get from their jobs.
?It sounds a
bit corny but you thrive on the pressure. When you?re busy you don?t
notice the hours at all because you are immersed in your work. You are
achieving a goal and so driven that the hours don?t really come into
it.?
This illustrates it perfectly: his job has basically become his life.
This is only possible of a person gets a high level of satisfaction
from his work. If they don?t get that level of satisfaction, they will
more easily switch jobs.
Comments on article 3:
?She believes that people should only work if they enjoy it - and if they
do that?s cool. ?If there?s no pleasure in it, that?s not cool. There
are other options,? she says."
This is quite an extreme example that people nowadays demand that
their work is fun. Also, they are much less afraid of not having a
job. The reason for this is the enhanced social security and the
increased mobility of people, which makes it easier to find a new job.
?What put 21 year old Jane off work was the long
hours her parents did, and the late eighties and early nineties
culture she grew up in. ?My mum and dad worked really hard when I was
a kid, they were both teachers. They just worked the whole time and
they were always moaning about it. I didn?t see them that much. They
worked really long hours yet never had any money. Why bother??
This shows that these days, you can?t a see a good job as an absolute
certain way to success.
People are often left with the feeling that they aren?t making enough
money. It often makes them unsatisfied. They have become more willing
to switch their jobs and/or their lifestyles to try to change it.
If you need anything more, please ask for a clarification!
Thank you,
paul_b_18
|
,
0 Comments
)