Part 1:
Work ethics among Japanese youngsters are on the decline thanks to a long time obsession with entrance exams, insufficient career planning and excessive meddling from their parents resulting in them taking up part time jobs until they find suitable career options. Japanese Corporations are trying to steer clear of the long term obsession with top universities and entrance exams by tweaking their selection procedures to be independent of these factors. Youngsters in Canada and United States too are looking at short term and part time careers before taking up long term job options. Educators are now stressing on the need to impart career related education at higher and primary school levels.
Hidden unemployment is another headache for the Japanese primarily due to layoffs by Japanese firms. But layoffs are hailed as healthy and even necessary for the Japanese economy. For many unemployed, government’s employment centers are their last refuge. The government would want the unemployed to become entrepreneurial but with banks, the primary source of venture capital being debt-ridden, this is not proving to be a viable option. (Schyns, P., 2002)
Part 2:
In the United States, the generation X or those born between 1968 and 1979 are comfortable dealing with authorities and interaction with superiors is natural. On the work ethics front, they work only as hard as needed. The baby boomers generation or those born between 1943 and 1965 are in contrast in work ethics segment workaholics and while dealing with superiors some of them might be uncomfortable in dealing with authorities. Coming to Japan, the generation X represents the first Japanese to show disrespect towards their employers. They work hard if they like the work. (Tawney, R. H., 1926)
Part 3:
Mor Barak deals with the issue of workplace diversity and how to deal with the issue of different groups present in a workplace. The reasons for the differences among groups can be racial, cultural or social and they can be different in different parts of the globe. In United States, it could be based on racial or ethnic categories like African-American, Latino, Asian etc. In India it is mostly based on caste based societal divisions and in Ireland it is based on religion i.e. whether one is Catholic or protestant. These differences get reflected in workplace by way of potential discrimination from their employers which needs to be eliminated. (Samuelson, P., 1948)
Part 4:
One of the trends noted by Henry O’ Lawrence in his study of the future of career technical education is the justification for federal support in the field of career technical education moving from national defense purposes to that of global competency. Till the end of the Cold War, justifying in the name of national defense worked well. But now with the boom in technology and societal changes, federal support has been funneled to schools to better the training programs and education and this met the needs of the industry for technical skills.
References:
Samuelson, P. (1948). ‘Consumption Theory in Terms of Revealed Preference’,
Econometrica, vol. 15(60), pp. 243-253.
Schyns, P. (2002). ‘Wealth Of Nations, Individual Income and Life Satisfaction in 42
Countries: A Multilevel Approach’, Social Indicators Research, vol. 60(1-3), pp. 5-40.
Tawney, R. H. (1926). Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, New York: Harper and Row.
