Changing Context of Work
1: Herod, A. and Aguiar, L. 2006. Cleaners and the Dirty Work of Neo-liberalism. Antipode, OX4 (2DQ), pp. 425 - 433.
The work of a cleaner has been featured in many Hollywood movies and the most common one being Maid in Manhattan. While these movies indicate that cleaners and janitors can possibly integrate with the rich, cleaners are actually fifth in ranking of occupations that endure most probabilities of injuries. This has been recorded in Australia and the US. Janitors and cleaners endure harsh conditions and low pay as well. With neo-liberalization, government regulations on workplace have undermined protection of such workers and this has resulted to them relying on industrial citizenship. Despite people’s perceptions that cleaning work requires no skill and is fairly easy, it has received a professionalization boost. Currently, there are many cleaning organizations that operate with the ISO standards. Under this, they offer training and provide the essential working needs while they protect the workers safety from exploitation and health. With such structures still in place, some cleaners have declined to join them and restrict to offering services without being under a given organization. Though the cleaners’ unions seem to offer more good to the cleaners, there is still the need to make cleaners understand the need to join such unions.
2: Banerjee, D. 2006. Information Technology, Productivity Growth, And Reduced Leisure: Revisiting “End Of History”. The Journal of Labor and Society, 9 (1089-7011), pp. 199-213.
Considering the balance of leisure and work, the life of a worker has evolved gradually with capitalist development which supported leisure while promoting growth at the same time. As a result, some people believe that the developments in information and communications technology have remained the same over time while some still believe that there has been a radical transformation with response to capitalism. There is a radical change in computers considering the logic of mechanics where the prices of computers have dropped. Currently, leisure has received some backing where there has been witnessed working hours without a break being reduced strategically. This has been made possible by people acquiring more knowledge on productivity and human rights. Over time, productivity in most sectors has received a boost through the notable developments in information and communication technology. Knowledgeable workers through IT identify the need to have leisure times and take advantage of it but they have not managed to do so due to missing State protection for workers not covered in a union and the fall of the income paid on the basis of the hours worked. Nonunionized workers in the IT departments miss out on representatives of their leisure demands.
3: Burchielli, R., Bartram, T. and Thanacoody, R. 2008. Work-Family Balance or Greedy Organizations? Industrial Relations, 63 (1), pp. 108-133.
Through research on how the ability to ensure control and balance between family and work, it is evident that the higher the rank in an organization, the better the balance. Organizations are ever fully aware that their employees need to ensure balance on the two but underestimate the facts at times. Organizations and employees are equally informed and understand the tension that exists in attempts to uphold this balance. Managers and senior staff interviewed in this research including the hospital managers reported absence of work-family conflict. This was associated to the resources they had at their disposal which developed confidence in them. They have a more flexible timetable that the juniors. For most employees, they had to manage this relationship through supporting their own costs. The greedy organizations paid little concern to this as they put more pressure on employees by demanding a lot from them while they ignored the personal lives of the employees. As a result, most employees complained that their families were on the losing side considering the employees had very little time to respond to them. Organizations ought to be supportive of employees in their daily attempts to establish a balance between family and work.
4: Noon, M. and Blyton, P. 2005. Experiencing work and employment in contemporary society. The Realities of Work.
Political context has changed in two dynamics which is international in that, the trade liberalization measures have been expanded while supranational alliances in Asia, North America and Europe have been created. As a result restrictions on international movement of capital have been removed. Free market has received amazing backing. With this fact and the support of supranational alliances, a wide range of employment rights in addition of better working conditions have come up. National, regional and local political environments in most regions have provided for legal presentation and protection of employees. The increase in economic globalization through expansion of multinational firms and the emphasis on efficient organization in production and improved quality of output have positively changed the nature of employment and work. Temporary work and job insecurity have been on the increase while it has been difficult to compare unemployment over time. Female employment has risen as human rights groups have come up strongly calling for gender balance. Due to increased education levels and broader opportunities there has been an increase in self employment and also workers taking advantage of part time employment opportunities. Developments in boundary openness and Information Technology have decisive in contributing to these advancements.
5: Broek, D. 2002. Monitoring and Surveillance in Call Centres: Some Responses from Australian Workers. Labour & Industry, 12 (3), pp. 43-58.
Australia and oversea nations have witnessed massive changes over the past decade in the organization of work in their call centers. Supervision of employee performance has proved necessary due to intensified occasions of reduced pace and high chances of repetition of work. In attempts to cub this, VDU telephone technology and ACD systems have provided management with more ability to control the employees towards the organizational goals and objectives. Despite the fact that there have been employees who were respectful and followed to the letter directives from the management, some employees would still complain about the working conditions that they were exposed to. Though technology has come in handy in helping to monitor how employees perform, it has not been an easy ride as some employees have been reluctant to follow the ground rules claiming that the supervision has been excessive while some still believe that there have overloaded with work. While technology has been essential in management of employees, the need to establish a face to face relationship between employees and the management still remains.
Final Section
The five articles have demonstrated that working conditions, the environment and majority of dynamics related to work have been transforming over time. One of the reasons for this has been the political changes which have supported free trade and globalization. Another reason has been the benefits that have come with advancements in information technology. This has impacted people with appropriate knowledge that has enabled them to demand or their rights as workers. Workers unions have come in handy in recent decades and have demonstrated the need for workers to be covered by a union as it has been demonstrated by the cleaners. Further still, the management to any organization should in addition to promoting monitoring and supervision ensure that they provide better working conditions for employees. By so doing, employees will be motivated and will eventually deliver more for the organization. Under the good working conditions, the fact that employees need to ensure balance between their work and the families should be considered. One more important thing to note is that the work criteria will keep evolving with time and so the best placed organization is that which will be cautious of the trends.
References
Banerjee, D. 2006. Information Technology, Productivity Growth, And Reduced Leisure: Revisiting “End Of History”. The Journal of Labor and Society, 9 (1089-7011), pp. 199-213.
Broek, D. 2002. Monitoring and Surveillance In Call Centres: Some Responses From Australian Workers. Labour & Industry, 12 (3), pp. 43-58.
Burchielli, R., Bartram, T. and Thanacoody, R. 2008. Work-Family Balance or Greedy Organizations?. Industrial Relations, 63 (1), pp. 108-133.
Herod, A. and Aguiar, L. 2006. Cleaners and the Dirty Work of Neoliberalism. Antipode, OX4 (2DQ), pp. 425 - 433.
Noon, M. and Blyton, P. 2005. Experiencing work and employment in contemporary society. The Realities of Work.
