Contemporary Working Mode in Adelaide and Impact of Network Society on Management Styles in Australia - Literature review Example

Contemporary Working Life – Theories, Management and Systems In the context of Adelaide Table of Contents Introduction: Contemporary Working Life in the light of Sociological Theories Sennett’s Thesis and its relevance with the working life in Adelaide New Individualism illustrated with a contemporary example Impact of Network Society on management styles and the current state and potential future of networked business in Australia Relationship between rationalization and contemporary work and the state of service work in Australia Reflection of the invasion of the Lifeworld by the Systems World (Habermas theory) in contemporary working life Conclusion: Informal economies in Adelaide References Introduction: Contemporary Working Life in the light of Sociological Theories Under current circumstances, work goes much beyond an economic activity. In the light of changing perspectives, it is security, opportunity for higher social status, exploring new avenues, freedom to express and follow one’s ideas are principle incentives for work. Being a vital part of man’s life, work gives definitive meaning to life, helping him to correlate with society. Regardless of the willingness to work, morale of the worker is unrelated to material conditions of the job. Amongst the negative incentives, money is most powerful, predominantly because of it being a reality. Man actually abhors unemployment as it dissociates him from society. The psychology of work according to sociological theories have made way for a pragmatic approach that relates the manner and circumstances available for ‘doing’ work, while constructing ‘work identity’. This has given rise to inevitable contradictions as contemporary issues have evolved as strong determining factors. The nature and dignity of a person is ought to be defined and protected through contemporary working life. There is continuous physical transformation of our environment due to several volatile factors working in tandem. Work being a part of social life, integrity and coherence in modern work aspects in religious and ethnic background, cannot be a criterion according to Durkheim. He explained the different social components by relating them to their contributions and evolved the concept of Functionalism. For him, society was beyond just a summation of its components or ‘methodological individualism’. Through his concept of Division of Labor, Durkheim classified Traditional and Modern societies and added the theories of social evolutionism. Traditional Societies were mechanical. Collective consciousness dominates the individual consciousness and the strength of social norms makes social behavior highly regulated. In Modern Work Society, the division of labor is extremely complex. This results in Organic Solidarity. Social roles are variegated and employment is specialized. This results in a dependency that tie people as they no longer feel to assume all the variegated roles by themselves. This is a state of enhanced division of labor that differs and is often in conflict with collective consciousness. (Emile Durkheim, Durkheim Suicide, 2006) Here is an attempt to present theories and systems in relation to the working life in Adelaide. Sennett’s Thesis and its relevance with the working life in Adelaide Richard Sennett discusses the impact of capitalist economy on workers’ lives. He considers every life as an ongoing story, illustrated by progression of time and characterized by notable events related to career. He actually uses work as a scale to measure success, progression of time and personal worth. During the 20th century, work ensured identity and security in a time-structured world of operation. Sennett presents the contrast with the current working society which he terms as ‘Flexible Capitalism’. The modern corporate world adapt to drastic changes to sustain in the competitive market. It is a ‘win-all-take-all’ mode of operations. A modern worker drifts through his jobs and suffer confusion regarding his identity. (The Corrosion of Character Summary - Richard Sennett, n.d.) Sennett argues, in this era of new economy, personal consequences of work have resulted in disorientation of the individual due to flexibility, decentralization, control, flexitime, changes in work ethics and team-work. These attributes apparently present newer opportunities like, self-fulfillment. But, they also result in new modes of oppression that eventually disorients the individual and undermines his psychological health. Although Sennett does not offer any solution, he encourages community dependence for identity buildup. He is convinced about the failure of New Economy as he observes, “a regime which provides human beings no deep reasons to care about on other cannot long preserve its legitimacy”. With the sole focus lying on flexibility, workers are exposed to swift changes, continual risks and the dependence on regulations or formal procedures are drastically cut-off. This is an effect of the advent and dependence on information technology. This flexibility raises questions on the value and possibility of sustenance in an impatient society. Sennett states that flexibility originally encouraged personal freedom, but the resultant structures of power and control have rendered antagonistic fall-outs. Although flexibility promotes reengineering, resulting in down-sizing; it simultaneously enhances autonomy and responsibility. The current working condition is characterized by effectiveness of corporate strategies essentially designed by top management. Sennett’s argument overlooks implementation of information technology in the New Economy. The informal networks of people get strengthened with enhanced reinforcement in the mode of supervision of organizational processes. It has emerged as an instrument to bypass control or disseminate information. This networking mode provides support to workers as they bond and share opinions that can influence organizational strategies. The modern working atmosphere results in a yearning for belonging to a community. The uncertainties associated with flexibility have resulted in emotional conditions that lack trust and commitment. Comminutes can actually help them to define their existence. The perception of reality must be multidimensional and the society needs to learn to constantly recreate itself. (Stephanehaefliger.com, March 2003) Relation with conditions in Adelaide – Adelaide is characterized by certain attributes like affordable housing, a well-planned city and quality educational facilities. Having less time to spend on roads, there is ample opportunity to enjoy sporting events, sampling great food or checking out the flavors of wine. The “enviable lifestyle” promoted as a defining factor, acts as a prime cause for relocation to this south Australian state. The corporate working culture attracts individuals driven by preconceived perceptions. The business behavior is often apprehended to be ‘strange’, given the obsession with the policy of ‘best-person-for-the-job’. The south Australian business sector has a tendency to underrate itself. But, there is not much difference between say, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or Adelaide. Characterized by smaller business communities, Adelaide has ample opportunities for growth and experiment, despite of some inherent challenges. Being a relatively small business sector, networking, reaching decision-makers and influencing the outcomes are easy in this part of Australia. This offers a lot of life-style advantages to individual workers in comparison to the companies. The life-style factor also positively impacts work and personal life balance. The wages, facilities, educational and transportation aspects coupled with existing sense of community eases up modern work-life. (The Adelaide Review: Archives, 2004) If Sennett’s flexibility factor is discussed in terms of modern work life in Adelaide, well, we find a sustaining and healthy work-life relationship. The prospect of work-overload and its impact on work-life conflict is a universal phenomenon and not restricted to a particular state. New Individualism illustrated with a contemporary example New Individualism in contemporary society refers to the desire to satiate our longings and attain self-fulfillment. It is a culture to succumb to ego-centric designs that stems through personal freedom, willful risk-taking and obsession with flexible regulations. It is an individual strife to enhance efficiency, become inventive and self-actualize in a sporadic manner. New Individualism is shaped and enhanced by culturally cultivated, rich and globally networked society. ‘Individualism’ was coined by Tocqueville as he described the social isolation in American society during early 19th century. (The new individualism, 2006) This contemporary example can be associated with New Individualism. It is the obsession with ‘perfect’ sexuality. This is a certain aspect of human character that has expressed itself in myriad forms through the ages. As the urban women enjoy enhanced access to medical and technological alternatives, she is observed to get allured by available options. Women are extremely sensitive about their breasts. For many, this physical feature defines their confidence, while some are obsessed with their lack of ‘perfection’. They are ready to undergo the surgeon’s knife to obtain a perfect pair. If they are not satisfied, they keep repeating their visit to the operation table regardless of the pain and expense. This is a perfect example of an attempt to egoistically satisfy and attain perceived individualism. Impact of Network Society on management styles and the current state and potential future of networked business in Australia Network society refers to the social structure gifted by Information Age. It has permeated into societies across the world and manifested through various cultures and institutions. It is the contemporary industrial society whose structure is typified capitalism and ‘statism’. This structure builds up along the relationship of production/consumption, experience, power and their spatio-temporal configurations. The network society is essentially defined by its dependence on networks as enhancers of social morphology. Networking has always been a feature of social organization but as they are currently empowered by innovative information/communication technologies, they cater to flexible decentralization through alert decision-making. The resultant transformations in social structures through information-networking in organizations, present certain codification of transformation processes. The symbolic interactions absolve conventional systematic dominance in the evolved matrix of relationships. The management is required to deal with stratified structures that are internally folded, yet separable in analytical terms. Information networking, processing and managing styles determine productivity. (Georgetown.edu, 1999) Enterprise management is slated to become easier with network science in Australia. Operations will be the major gainer in social, technological and business systems. It results in analyzing and managing properties of complex systems that are essentially inter-connected, like social groups, Web, power grids, markets, supply-chains and eco-systems. The business activity will go boom with effective control of resources, interlinked transactions, agents and events. As market signals get monitored, risks of runaway feedback loops can be reduced along with conflicts between global efficiency and local interests. The security of organizational operations can be safeguarded through supply chain, investment, infrastructure, customer systems and productions with the nodes that represent suppliers, assets, consumers, products and customer groups. (Future Enterprise-Network Science, 20 Nov. 2009) Relationship between rationalization and contemporary work and the state of service work in Australia The concept of work culture has undergone several mechanisms of change. The macro-level changes are associated with initiators. Rationalization is a world culture theory concept. It drives change where non-rational actors imbibe identities and associate institutionalized scripts to bring functional differentiation as solutions to social problems. Contemporary society is marked by differentiation level/rationality that is termed as ‘practical’ or ‘instrumental’ by Weber. Contemporary work is best manifested in bureaucracy with complex division of labor in specialized sections. They come across as occupational structure within varied professions, logistics of career planning, expertise, technical evaluation and individuality. Durkheim considered social development as enhanced functional rationality that resulted from material complexity. (archive.sgir.eu, Sep. 2007) The concept of rationalism is akin to contemporary work culture. It is equipped to deal with complex forces of production and related class-conflicts that are essential to functional differentiation required for control. The evolutionary ‘developmentalism’ is functionally adaptive, as it takes into account the scientific and calculative outlook. A couple of decades back, service work in Australia was characterized by confronting inequalities. The workers considered themselves as radicals striving against state and corporate intransigence. There was not much ideological difference as the common objective was promotion of empowerment and transformation. These developmental strife challenged conservatism, through varied consumer and urban social movements, originating from the desire for distinct identity with regard to gender, age, sexuality and disabilities. The change in current service work status has come through active involvement in organization, coordination and delivery. These are performing roles by intellectuals, technicians or administrators who work in alignment with the state through supervising or influencing its programs. (Community Empowerment, n.d.) Reflection of the invasion of the Lifeworld by the Systems world (Habermas theory) in contemporary working life Habermas’ statement regarding the systems world and life world come in relation to Communicative Action. Social interaction occurs through coordination of communicative acts that seeks understanding. The language-communication framework reaffirms the project of modernity. As Habermas accesses the communicative competence of social actors, he differentiates between actions oriented towards success, with those which are oriented towards understanding. The former can be determined through rational choice while the latter through communicative action. The association of the action theory with the rationalization process is expressed through ‘lifeworld’ or Lebenswelt. It is a pre-interpreted set of life-forms materialized through regular conducts. Habermas believes, in order to further evolutionary development of society, culture and individual personality, articulation of Lifeworld is required in correlation with an internal system of language. He contrasts this with systems world. Through constant differentiation of evolving systems, life’s possibilities get enhanced and thus, emancipated. If these possibilities are not realized, counter-emancipation occurs. Lifeworld stands colonized as communicative imperatives are subjugated. This is akin to ‘Iron cage of Modernity’ of Weber. But Habermas is optimistic; because, through resistance towards false rationalization and camouflaged domination, there are chances for alternative aspirations in collective life. They can be achieved through resistance movements like feminism or environmental protests. Lifeworld can be protected from encroachment by bureaucracy and marketplace. And this is the exact reflection of changes experienced in contemporary working life. (Theory & Science, CAAP, 2003) Conclusion: Informal economies in Adelaide Being temporal in nature, informal economies are subject to frequent change and for that matter, any economic activity can easily oscillate between formal and informal categories by incorporating policy changes. Developed nations operate in formal economy and more people are brought into the fold through globalization and rapid industrialization. Informal economy in Adelaide is characterized by certain survivalist activities. Capital and professional qualification requirements are low and it is a small-scale operation. Production methods are labor intensive and the system functions through adapted technology. In Adelaide one can find a lot of self-employed people working as street vendors, home-based workers or taxi-drivers. The accounting system is lax as transactions or liabilities are low. Each produces goods and services with primary objective of generating employment. Labor relations do not exist and even if they do, it is personal instead of contractual agreements. But their impact on the national GDP is least, as the scale is not magnanimous. Informal economies typically exist in developing or underdeveloped economies housing a fair amount of repressed population. This is the changing dynamics of work and contemporary society, where a progressive understanding of the person in relation to his immediate environment, its impact and the actual foundations of his social life is important; in the context of Adelaide. References: Sociology Guide – A students Guide to Sociology, (2006), Emile Durkheim [online] available from (16 Nov.2009) Enotes.com, (n.d.) The Corrosion of Character (Magill Book Reviews), [online] available from (18 Nov.2009) Natarajan S. (March 2003) Richard Sennett: The Corrosion of Character – The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism [online] available from (16 Nov.2009) Dent R (2004) Archives, Opening Ourselves up to Best of New Blood [online] available from (17 Nov.2009) Elliot A., (2006) Lemert Charles C. The New Individualism: The emotional costs of globalization [online] available from (16 Nov. 2009) Castles M. (1999) Materials for an exploratory theory of the network society [online] available from (20 Nov. 2009) Tow D. (20 Nov. 2009) Australia.to-World News Future Enterprise- Network Science – Next Management Pradigm [online] available from (20 Nov. 2009) George M. Thomas (Sep. 2007) Differentiation, Rationalization and Actorhood on World Society [online] available from (18 Nov. 2009) Meekosha H., Mowbray M. n.d. Community empowerment: a reader in participation and development ( Activism, Service Provision and the State’s Intellectuals: Community Work in Australia [online] available from (17 Nov. 2009) Powell L. J., Moody R. H. (2003) The Challenge of Modernity: Habermas and Critical Theory [online] available from (20 Nov. 2009) Read More