Alienation in the Workplace
- Why and to what extend should organizations be concerned with alienation in the workplace?
The workplace is where a lot of people, presumably, from different departments in an organization especially if we are talking about the workplace of a large corporation, collaborate to work on areas they are responsible for. Teamwork is an essential part of a highly productive workplace and workplace alienation according to Marx’s Alienation of Labor Theory, is one of the major hindrances to employee and corporate productivity .
- What is meant by the expression “alienation at work”; what are its main causes among employees and what survival strategies do people use when faced by it?
According to Marx (1844), political economy conceals alienation inherent in the nature of labor by not considering the direct relationship between the worker (labor) and production; to be sure, labor produces marvels for the rich but it produces deprivation for the worker; it produces palaces but hovels for the worker; it produces beauty, but deformity for the worker; it replaces labor by machines, but it throws one section of the workers’ back into barbaric labor, and it turns the remainder into machines; it produces intelligence, but imbecility, and cretinism for the worker”. The main causes of alienation are the capitalists’ lack of regards towards the laborers as a person. It can be perceived that they merely look at laborers as commodities and not as a person and on a larger scale, the rapid growth and domination of political economies. The only real solution to this problem on alienation is the recognition of the ethicalities of things when it comes to human resources.
- What are the causes, implications of and responses towards workplace alienation?
As mentioned earlier, main causes of alienation are the capitalists’ lack of regards towards the laborers as a person. It can be perceived that they merely look at laborers as commodities and not as a person and on a larger scale, the rapid growth and domination of political economies. One of the major implications of workforce alienation is low productivity brought about by low employee morale. Alienated employees would start to look down on and perceive themselves as merely tools for profit which would ultimately lower their sense of self-importance and thus, their morale. No one definitely wants to be treated merely as a commodity and that is why many labor unions and other non-government organizations file petitions and conduct activist movements towards the abolishment of this harmful political and capitalist mindset.
- Conclusions and Recommendations
Marx described workplace alienation as something that would always be a part of today’s economic reality wherein workers are required to bear their own chains and have little to no control of the things that they want to do and make. They are forced to see other workers as competitors. Workers who are alienated often think of themselves as someone who is powerless and alone, which collectively would lead to low employee morale, which would of course lead to poor organizational performance and productivity. What is recommended here is to take the first step towards solving this issue by recognizing that the current political and economic system wherein only the capitalists dominate has a lot of loopholes—the alienation of workers being one of such, and work towards the gradual, continuous, safe, and fair both for the business owners and employers, empowerment of the workers.
Stress
- What is meant by the expression “stress at work”; is stress a problem for many organizations today?
Stress at work simply refers to the type of stress that any employee or anyone who serves as a part of an organization experiences. This type of stress is entirely work-related and can be caused by a lot of factors which should always have something to do with activities and problems that are related to work. Stress at work is increasingly becoming a big problem for organizations today because they serve as distractions and hindrances that keep employees from being productive and having a good job performance, which would ultimately lead to company losses and a whole lot of negative things .
- Should Organizations take the issue of stress seriously; explain your answer with reference to the causes and implications of job stress and what an organization can do to alleviate them.
According to an article published in BBC News, stress can be a very serious problem for business owners and corporate leaders. Despite the fact that stress is a hindrance to optimized levels of productivity, it could lead to ill health which costs economies at least 100 billion euros to address . Stress is usually caused by persistent long hours at work, high volume of work-related activities, lack of breaks between activities, and simply being unable to completely sign of from work. Fortunately, identifying solutions that can address stress in the workplace is easy. The only thing that’s hard is the implementation and execution of those solutions. According to ACAS (2013), the best way to address stress is to prevent it. Stress can be prevented by making sure that everything in the workplace goes smoothly; employees have to know what they are going to do and how they can do it efficiently; providing the rest and breaks that they need every week or even every work shift; and providing opportunities for the employees to voice out their concerns about the workplace and other things that may be causing them stress.
- What are the causes, implications, and potential responses to this issue?
The main causes of stress are:
Demands: These refer to work demands. The more the organization demands from the employees, the more stressful a particular employee can be.
Overloading of duties and responsibilities is usually the main problem in this area.
Control: This refers to the level of involvement that the employees have over decisions made in the company. Less employee involvement usually leads to higher levels of stress
Relationships: These refer to the type and quality of social relationships and interactions that employees have in the workplace. The more intact employees are in the group, the less stressful situations can become, even with high volumes of workload.
- Conclusions and recommendations
Stress is a type of organizational problem, that when remain ignored for far too long, could lead to harmful damages. Productivity can practically be treated as any organization’s capital. Without a sufficient level of productivity, organizations would not be able to function, which would ultimately lead to catastrophic effects such as downsizing and even bankruptcy. It is however, an issue that can be easily addressed. Interventions that promote optimized (not to high and not too low) levels of workload demands; sharing of opinions regarding the major decision-making points in the workplace; high quality of social relationships and interactions with colleagues are all recommended because aside from the fact that they are the top cures for stress in the workplace, they can be used prophylactically.
References
ACAS. (2013). Stress at Work. ACAS.
Edis, G. (2000). Alienation in the Workplace. Central Okanagan Club Resource Center.
Smith, A. (2008). Ill Health Costs Economy E100bn . BBC News.
The Red Phoenix. (2013). Alienation: The Pain of All Working People. The Red Phoenix: Newspaper of the American Party of Labor.
Triggle, N. (2009). Tackle Work Stress, Bosses Told. BBC News.
