Negative Contemporary Work Role Issues - Essay Example

Negative Contemporary Work Role Issues Over the years, the workforce has seen numerous revolutions especially in the developed nations like the United States. The dynamic nature of work place roles has an impact in the way in which employees view their duties within given organizations and the employee performance at large (Lauer and Lauer 301). The changing economy and the gradual revolution of the work force may either have appositive or negative impact on the employees depending on how organizations and managements handle the affairs of the employees. In the traditional society, work place roles did not experience much revolution as witnessed today and therefore the workers in the 20th century were more satisfied with their jobs and the company’s strategies in general. Due to the rapid trends in embracing globalization by many states especially the first world countries, many workers across the world have decried foul by major organizations like the World Bank. These renowned organizations, in their quest to incorporate globalization in their entire structure, forget to address the plight of their workers, some of which may not be able to adapt adequately to the dynamic nature of globalization (Lauer and Lauer 298). According to Lauer and Lauer, contemporary work roles have played a significant role in increasing the emerging trends in job dissatisfaction and alienation that is on an upward course more so in the developed and rapidly rising economies (297). Most workers around the world have voiced their concerns over myriad issues affecting their level of satisfaction at their respective workplaces with most of their issues revolving around the globalization issue. As the world moves towards becoming a global village, several aspects of employment keep on changing for example the composition of the workforce and the descriptions of various jobs at different levels. This has led to worker apathy as more employees around the world approach these issues as potential threats to their job security or as bureaucracies meant to keep them under constant supervision and monitoring (Lauer and Lauer 296). SuA?rez-Mendoza, and Zoghbi-Manrique-de-Lara state that modern work roles in general, has contributed to the diminishing employee satisfaction in the sense that the workers have developed a perception that work roles present more problems to the society than initially envisaged (60). Globalization has and modern roles in the work place have seen many people declared redundant, an issue that continues to spark controversies as to whether globalization works for the benefit of the citizens or a few multinational corporates (Bloom and Hobby 73). When compared to other nations, unemployment rates in industrialized nations are the highest globally and workers in these nations have alienated themselves from their jobs for lack of job security due to the changing nature of the market trends and the adoption of globalization. Ceylan and Sulu note that large corporate such as the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund through such globalization techniques as downsizing, have laid off a number of workers over the years (68). In addition, work related stresses and strained interpersonal relationships, which are a function of contemporary work roles, have seen many employees develop a negative attitude towards their respective workplaces and job descriptions (Top Documentary Films “The Globalization Tapes”). Many workers across the world especially in such upcoming countries like Malaysia and Indonesia have associated their indifference to their current duties at their work places to prevailing trends that define the modern work roles. This is more prevalent in large corporations that keep on adjusting their structure depending on their goals and objectives. Perhaps one of the contentious traditional work roles was the delineation of the male and female roles at the work place. However, contemporary workplaces do not draw clear distinctions between roles that are in the male domain from those that befit the female gender (SuA?rez-Mendoza, and Zoghbi-Manrique-de-Lara 61). This sensitive issue has elicited mixed reactions with those manifesting discontent being the loudest. Since contemporary work roles do not provide clear demarcations for job descriptions in terms of gender, workers in such conservative countries Indonesia and others in the East Asian region find it difficult to cope with the emerging trends and requirements at the workplace (Ceylan and Sulu 68). This factor has led to significant disinterest by a vast majority of workers from various backgrounds and alienated them from their once satisfying jobs. Additionally, the revolution has led to decreased motivation and esteem among workers (Bloom and Hobby 73). Although employees ought to enjoy their respective works considering the benefits that come along, modern workplace environments are full of factors and issues that lead to stress. Work related stress is perhaps one of the factors that tend to reduce the overall performance of the employees over time. Most workers especially those working in manufacturing industries cite such dynamics as the meeting of deadlines and targets as responsible for various stress levels of employees in different organizations (Bloom and Hobby 73). When employees are under constant monitoring and supervision as modern work policies require, they lose their confidence in those particular organizations due to lack of job satisfaction. This further aggravates the problem in that the concerned workers may go to such extents as alienating themselves from such companies. Although previous studies pointed out to the harmful effects the performance of emotional labor brought about to the workers, examinations that are more recent have only complicated the matter (Hughe and Nikos 147). In fact, emotional labor as a modern concept has both benefits and shortcomings as far as the performance of the worker within given workplace conditions is concerned. The repercussions of emotional labor may vary because of the involvement of dissimilar emotion management methods. Other work conditions are pivotal as far as the conception of emotional labor is concerned. On the impact of emotional labor, such adverse effects as job dissatisfaction, psychological distress, and job related stresses have been common features associated with emotional labor (Hughe and Nikos 150). Since emotional labor has increased in prevalence since the inception of globalization, many workers have opted to disregard their jobs due to unbearable stress instead of satisfaction. This is one key factor that has contributed to alienation of employees from their jobs (SuA?rez-Mendoza, and Zoghbi-Manrique-de-Lara 62). When it comes to alienation of employees from their work, modern trends in labor have a hand especially if the workers in question facilitate value addition and profit making without the reward of their efforts. Through globalization, many states and organizations have fully adopted the capitalistic approach of doing business and in the process, neglecting the value of their esteemed customers. According to Top Documentary Films “The Globalization Tapes”, the capitalist class is responsible for the determination of design and process of various products due to their influential status. The workers come into the equation only when the capitalist group wants to appropriate their manual and intellectual labor and skills. Such workers may include carpenters or engineers who despite enormous effort in terms of labor and intellect that they inject to the product their only compensations are their respective wages and salaries, as the profits accrued go the capitalists. According to SuA?rez-Mendoza, and Zoghbi-Manrique-de-Lara, the contemporary trend whereby many corporates and organizations do not accord their employees their deserved credit but instead use them as mere profit making conduits has heightened job dissatisfaction especially in the 21st century (59). Last but equally important is the issue or role conflict that is prevalent in organizations with modern management structures where the roles of employees especially the managerial staff are not clearly defined (Bloom and Hobby 36). This leads to a situation whereby the roles of different management personnel overlap thus creating a sense of confusion. Globalization and the adoption of modern systems of governance have created many roles that would otherwise be redundant. When this kind or role conflict occurs especially when management decisions concerning weighty organization issues overlap, a management crisis may occur thus dissuading some staff from working to their full potential. This situation also leads to job dissatisfaction and probably alienation of the concerned employees from their jobs (Top Documentary Films “The Globalization Tapes”). I strongly agree that various contemporary work roles have escalated the rate of job dissatisfaction and alienation as experienced in countries such as Indonesia. By neglecting the workers who are the driving force behind the profitability that the company makes, the organization is bound to face worker apathy issues, as no employee would wish to work for a company that does not value them. Another area I think most modern corporates are not taking seriously is the promotion of healthy relationship among the employees and harmonizing the roles such that the there is no overlap of roles. This, the organization can achieve through the involvement of the public relations department so that all employee concerned are heard and acted upon. Although globalization has a number of benefits to corporates and states to a wider extent, I think that organizations ought to approach their goal of building a global economy with meticulous care to avoid interfering with the workers interest and confidence in the company and their respective job descriptions. Since modern employment trends are based on contracts, many employees are skeptical about their future employment prospects and may not participate fully in the company, as they are always on a search mode. The best suggestion I would give to employers and organizations in curbing this challenge is to put strategies in place that would ensure that workers are assured of their employment future. In conclusion, employees just like the organization, deserve equal treatment and attention because they are the core producers within the organization. Job dissatisfaction may arise due to such factors as inappropriate remuneration, stressful working conditions occasioned by information overload of the modern society, and lack of job security among others. When the organizations fail to acknowledge the concerns and preferences of their employees in the pursuit of a global economy, they may never achieve their long-term objective, as unmotivated employees are generally unproductive and inefficient. Therefore, as organizations use the militarism and oppression approaches in achieving their goals, they should consider the value of labor and intellect that their workers pump in in order to prevent indifference and lack of interest both in the job and in the company. Works Cited Lauer, Robert and Lauer, Jeanette. “Social Problems and the Quality of Life” (12th Ed), New York: McGraw-Hill. Bloom, Harold, and Blake Hobby. Alienation. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 2009. Print. SuA?rez-Mendoza, MarA­a JesAos, and Pablo Zoghbi-Manrique-de-Lara. "The Impact of Work Alienation on Organizational Citizenship Behavior in the Canary Islands." International Journal of Organizational Analysis 15.1 (2007): 56-76.ProQuest. Web. 12 July 2013. Hughes, Joanna, and Nikos Bozionelos. "Work-Life Balance as Source of Job Dissatisfaction and Withdrawal Attitudes.” Personnel Review 36.1 (2007): 145-54. ProQuest. Web. 12 July 2013. Ceylan, Adnan, and Seyfettin Sulu. "Work Alienation as a Mediator of the Relationship of Procedural Injustice to Job Stress." South East European Journal of Economics and Business 5.2 (2010): 65-74. ProQuest. Web. 12 July 2013. Top Documentary Films. “The Globalization Tapes.” Web. 12 July 2013. Read More