Changes in the United Kingdoms Work Ethic in Todays Society - Term Paper Example

Changes in the United Kingdom’s Work Ethic in Today’s Society (Are these changes good for its people or not INTRODUCTION Countries in the international community are presumably aiming for change towards their betterment as a state. The state acting as parens patriae or the guardian of the people is mandated and obligated to seek for changes that will benefit the whole nation and to set aside self serving interests. Hence, countries in the world which are employing different systems of government are carefully considering their political, economic, social and religious needs in adopting measures for their country’s development. The economic aspect being the driving force of a country is always the most extensively studied and well-researched by statesmen and leaders. The study of the economy entails great effort to go beyond the projected law on supply and demand and consider the need to discover new ways to achieve a sustainable source of economic strength in the international sphere. The recognized features of a strong economy such as an increase in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), strong labor force, and increase in employment rate have been modified to the extent corresponding to the new economic trends in the era of globalization and free trade. Along with these emerging ideas in the international market, economists are also uttering out their conflicting claims regarding the best method to cope up with the recent global crisis. These economists have actually considered changing their country’s work ethic to effectively lessen and prevent the ill effects of the economic crisis. WORK ETHIC Work ethic has been referred to as the morality of work or the morality of an employee with regard to his or her job. This kind of morality revolves around the workplace of an individual. It can also be regarded as the moral precepts of work between the employer and the employee. Nevertheless, this term is coined as such to depict the essential characters that an employee should have to effectively and efficiently carry out his or her designated task. Concisely defined by an author and lecturer, “work ethic is the tendency in the western society for individuals to tout the virtues of hard work, be suspicious of idleness, and elevate labor itself over the material rewards it brings” (Weir, 2007).This definition accurately covers the ethical and beneficial aspect of practicing and implementing the principles of work ethic in the workplace. It is emphasizing the positive effects of instilling and reinforcing morality in work. Moreover, to be suspicious of idleness means that an individual is discouraged from daydreaming and from living a life that is solely dependent on destiny and leap of faith. Instead, Weir (2007) elucidated that to work is inevitable for human survival and utilizing humane methods to fully grasp the meaning beyond the term is one way of reflecting the inherent tendency of humans to work till eternity. Further, work ethic is derived from Max Weber’s book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. The Protestant ethic is a theoretical concept formulated to point out the Calvinist idea of hard work to which referred as both a duty and an obligation of an individual belonging to an organized society (Weber 2002). The practice of this idea is apparent in Protestant societies in the western part of the world. According to Weber (2002), Protestants are more work-oriented than non-Protestants and that the spirit of capitalism is a feature of the Protestant group. This is founded on the belief that practicing Protestants are the ones faithfully valuing the idea of work on earth since they are the first ones who laid down the framework of the work principle which states that, “Doing works that are good and beneficial to humanity is an act of grace from God” (Frey, 2001). This idea is widely accepted by Catholics in varying perspectives. Furthermore, Weber also contended that a new morality and its religious framework encouraged hard work and productivity (Arslan, 2001). This view is based on the notion that morality generates a feeling of sympathy and passion to do well to others so as to promote holistic prosperity in a society. WORK ETHIC AND ECONOMY OF UNITED KINGDOM The United Kingdom (UK) is one of the superpowers in the international setting that has been emphatic about the importance of work ethic in the labor sector management whether private or public. This devotion is strongly supported by its current prime minister named Gordon Brown who declared in a school forum in London that British parents must encouraged their children to adopt and learn the work ethic as well as to aim high in life. He likewise stated that the national priority of developing the potential of the British people can be achieved by performing such act (Coates, 2008). Recently, he gave an ambitious statement during a Labour Party Conference tackling about work ethic. He said, ”I want a Britain that is even more open to new ideas, even more creative, even more dynamic and leading the world and let me talk today about how we will do more to support the great British institutions that best define this country” (David, 2009). Historically, United Kingdom was considered as the world’s most influential and powerful state in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. However, United States overpowered Britain after the World War II. Now, UK as a developed country has become the sixth world’s largest economy as depicted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) list in 2008. It has been considered as one of the most globalized economy of the world which comprises the largest financial center in the world, London in the article UK Economy (Anonymous, 2008). The Protestant Work Ethic that has been employed by this country is actually one of the factors why it has grown up into one of the economic giants in history especially during the reign of the British Empire. Majority of its citizens are Christians thus they believe in the presence of a supreme being higher than common mortals. Historians mentioned that religion has a great influence in the perception of work in UK. As a matter of fact, this work ethic was formerly inculcated among skilled workers during the industrial revolution (Daunton, 1995). British workers are labeled as workaholic individuals since most of them are working more than the required number of hours provided in their labor legislations. These workers even prefer missing their lunch rather than to leave their work for just an hour or so. At most, even simple common colds cannot stop their adrenaline to work and being late is considered as a grave sin in the workplace (Hillman, 2008). It can be inferred then that British workers are disciplined in their work and other areas of human development. CHALLENGES AND CONTROVERSIES It is said that the practice of the work ethic by British workers is weakening and is actually declining since the emergence of the welfare state. This premise can be gleaned upon the results of various studies conducted by authoritative economists and scholars. A research conducted by the Center for Economic Performance in London showed that a majority of the supposedly working Britons are solely dependent on the state’s subsidy which in return creates a moral hazard of dependency (Doughty, 2009). An economist cited this as the reason why there was a drastic increase in UK’s unemployment rate in the third quarter of 2008. In connection, UK experienced recession starting September 2009 and up to now which is characterized by a decreased of 5.9 percent in its economy. The country’s economists considered this as the longest recession that UK has ever experienced. The services and financial sectors were pointed out as the two main reasons for this recession (Pym, 2009). However, an author named Jean-Baptiste Michau who is a researcher on macroeconomics program rejected this ground. He explained in his 2009 article in CentrePiece journal that, “A decline in the work ethic, induced by the expansion of the welfare state, is key to understanding European unemployment.” Michau claimed that an individual who has a strong work ethic looks for a job first than accepting immediately any benefits from the government. This served as his basis in stating that countries which have “workers with weak work ethic have a lower ‘replacement ratio’ which is defined as the level of benefits relative to wages.” He further contended that the rise of the unemployment rate in Great Britain is because of the generation long-lag between the introduction of unemployment benefits and the behavioral response of the workers as well as the change in values among the Britons (Michau, 2009). The liberal model of welfare state practiced by UK for over the centuries has garnered several criticisms from the different sectors of the society. This type of welfare system has been characterized by a generous social insurance and health care benefit which became the model for other countries (Schifferes, 2005). It is said that the adoption of this system was driven by the government’s adherence and recognition to work ethic but the result was described as opposite. Worst, this system has been considered by some economists as a contributing factor to its current state of recession worsened by the current global economic crisis. Presently, these issues have been taken into account by the UK government in providing new policies that can provide an ample solution to the economic problem. As provided in its declared 2008 long term goal, UK still aims for a macroeconomic stability. The present administration has been planning for viable reforms to implement regarding the welfare system. THE CHANGES IN THE WORK ETHIC There are varying factors affecting the changes in UK’s work ethic. From the discussion, it can be concluded that the continuing adoption by the UK government of the welfare system is the primary factor. It is clearly explained that the dependency that is inculcated in the workers has changed the principles behind the work ethic implemented by the different sectors. The used to be conception of the duty to work for the society as an essential feature of the Protestant work ethic in the said country has been disregarded by Britons who are just depending on government subsidy. This actually influenced the increase of the unemployment rate in UK. These kind of citizens has caused the change on the belief that it is essential for one to work to contribute something to the society as a whole. They are giving the impression that working is not anymore a duty and an obligation but is just discretionary on the individual. Discretionary in the sense that they have the option whether to work or not while keeping in mind that their country has enough funding for any exigencies that may come in the future. The looseness of the policy regarding the granting of benefits contributed to the change in values among Britons as cited by psychologists. Even though the UK government is the one who is strongly instilling the importance of work ethic to its constituents, it is also the one who is providing the loopholes for its fall and demise. CONCLUSION The current European society is still adopting the economic welfare system although minimal reforms have been introduced. There is no enough data yet to show that these amendments have been proven effective since the country is still facing recession and high rate of unemployment this year. The minor modifications only provided strict rules for compliance in the granting of benefits. The changes have reinforced the idea of work ethic among Britons but are not sufficient to trample the already conceived idea of dependency. Basically, the changes in the work ethic among Britons did not and could not fit in a good way with the present demands of the public. In short, it suited the society negatively. Hence, it cannot be regarded as good for the citizens of the United Kingdom. References Anonymous, 2008. UK economy: UK economic profile, British economy, United Kingdom economy. [Online] Available at: http://www.economywatch.com/world_economy/united-kingdom/ [Accessed 23 November 2009]. Arslan, M., 2001. The work ethic values of Protestant British, Catholic Irish and Muslim Turkish managers. Journal of Business Ethics, [e-journal] 31 (4). Abstract only. Available at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/k61344685481h12p/ [Accessed 23 November 2009]. Coates, S., 2008. Britons need better work ethic to get ahead: Gordon Brown says. Times Online, [internet] 23 June. 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