- Work and society are concepts that, in part, define each other. Society divides work into occupations, each consisting of a recognized body of skills, activities, and knowledge that is seen as providing an identity and often a set of values or attitudes. Work, by its degree of complexity and breadth or variety, identifies the nature of the society as agrarian or industrial and to a large extent determines the world status of the society.
- Society establishes the structural model within which work is organized-private versus public ownership or some combination of the two. The presence in the society of certain groups of workers with recognized, viable skills makes possible, perhaps requires, that those social divisions be made.
- Society legitimizes certain occupations and repudiates others as illegal, immoral, or asocial. It may establish legal controls and regulations for occupations through licensure or certification, and it may establish a favored status through special acts or exemptions.
- Society stratifies itself into loosely identified classes that appear to relate primarily to broad occupational membership, such as white-collar, blue-collar, service, and farm labor, with each group exhibiting some difference in lifestyle.
- Occupations are accorded status or prestige by society on the basis of several work-related factors.
- Individuals make occupational choices that partially reflect their relationship to society, and that choice in turn establishes their relationship to and status in the general society.
An enigma associated with work is its reflection of both constancy and fluidity--while it appears to remain stable and uniform, it also appears to be adjusting and changing. Although both aspects seem always present, cyclical dominance shifts back and forth. The mid-1980s appear to be one of the periods in which change is on the ascendancy, with modification and revision of the world of work proceeding at a breath-taking pace.
Changes in the world of work can often be anticipated in advance of their arrival because these changing trends are caused by factors that are already evident. Other changes may be temporary in nature and are produced by transitory situations. Detailed discussion of causes of these long-term and short-term trends can be found elsewhere (Isaacson, 1977).
Typical causes of long-term trends are changes in the birth rate or death rate; availability of natural resources; technological progress, inventions, or discovery; patterns of capitalizing or financing occupational activities; the average age of workers in a particular field; and, finally, changes in the way of life of large segments of the population.
Short-term changes in work can be created by any of the following: wars or similar calamities; natural disasters such as earthquakes, epidemics, or floods; fads; seasonal variations; and short-range economic factors. The impact of short-term changes can be very severe and intense but, because of the brief time span, conditions soon return to approximately the same status that existed before the sudden change. Long-term trends, on the other hand, produce an influence that extends over several years or decades.
Currently used buzz words such as "automation," "high technology, "robotics," and "computers" elicit both fear of change and the thrill of new opportunities. The words and the concepts have been around for some time. The earliest effective computer, known as Univac, was developed during World War II. In spite of its immense size and ponderous behavior, often plagued by breakdowns and delays, it demonstrated new possibilities for change in the workplace. Early advocates of automation pointed to the chance to relieve men and women of monotonous and abasing tasks and providing them instead with lives of leisure and abundance. Those who viewed the development with concern pointed to the possibility of turning the few workers lucky enough to have jobs into "machines" and robbing most workers of independence and self-esteem.
The application of automation (the automatic, centralized control of an integrated production system) to industry in this country has usually met with resistance from workers and their representative organizations because of the fear of worker displacement. Nobel-prize-winning economist Wassily Leontief suggested in the early 1950s that industrially backward, undeveloped countries could expedite their national development by moving directly into automated manufacturing. Large quantities of manufactured goods, such as ready-to-wear clothing, made in developing countries like South Korea, Singapore, and Thailand are now available in American stores as a result of those countries' following the suggestion to skip directly to automated industry. Other highly industrialized countries like Japan and Germany rebuilt their war-destroyed industries with provisions for automation. Recent decline in American industries such as steel and automobile manufacture has shown the tremendous advantages to Japan and Germany resulting from their decisions.
Major economic and social change rarely occurs because of a single factor. The highest unemployment rates in over forty years cannot simply be assigned to changing technology. Other important contributing causes certainly include attempts to reduce inflation, continuing high interest rates, failure of industry to modernize, resistance by unions to new procedures, increasing competition from other countries, and other factors. Four significant developments that appear to be influencing American work have been described recently by Gillett (1983). We will consider each of his four items briefly.
First, Gillett suggests, an extensive "deindustrialization" of the American economy is occurring. Many large corporations have diverted capital (financial resources, plants, and equipment) from productive investment in national industries into unproductive speculation, mergers, and acquisition of other companies. Some companies have closed down obsolete or noncompetitive plants where productivity low, high labor costs, obsolete equipment, or inefficient management have been unable to meet the pressure of competition. Other companies have relocated plants that were efficient and productive to sites where labor costs are cheaper, sometimes in foreign countries. Still other companies have become affiliated with existing foreign competitors that can produce comparable products at lower costs and higher profit ratios.
The movement of one factory overseas not only displaces the workers who were previously employed in that factory, but also affects the jobs of workers who provided raw materials, subassemblies, and other components for that factory. Further, workers in unrelated fields providing goods and services to the workers in the first factory are also influenced by the loss of those jobs through reduced demand for the goods and services they provide. Frequently, the displaced workers are unable to obtain other jobs with equivalent income, and economic activity throughout the geographic area is depressed and dislocated.
A second change noted by Gillett, closely related to de industrialization, is the product of rapid advancement in transportation and communication technologies. The use of large cargo aircraft simplifies the movement of supplies and equipment to and from widely dispersed factories and permits rapid relocation of entire factories. The use of word processors and computers joined by satellite communications systems brings control and operation of complex manufacturing processes across the world into the home office. As a result, many multinational companies doubled the amount of their overseas investments between 1960 and 1980 as they searched for higher profits, often through lower labor costs.
The greater use of new technology, especially computers and microelectronics, thus leading to greater automation is the third development identified by Gillett. As indicated earlier, the transition to automation started many years ago but progressed slowly until very recently. Technological developments, as well as competition from overseas, increase the pace at which movement to automation now occurs. Gillett quotes Harley Shaiken of MIT as stating that General Motors will computerize 90 percent of its machine tools within a decade, while another company will replace two-thirds of its production painters and half of its production welders with robots. If such changes occur as anticipated, at least a million additional workers will be displaced, further exacerbating heavy unemployment figures.
Finally, Gillett points to the continued "deskilling" of many jobs-the application of technology to simplify the work performed by the worker. Increasing specialization requires fewer skills from the worker and results in dehumanizing and alienating the worker.
Whether jobs are exported through the relocation of capital and factories or eliminated through the use of automation and robots, the impact on the factory worker produces the same devastating result. The loss of a regular job, especially one where the worker felt secure because of lengthy seniority or highly developed skills, often exacts deep and tragic costs. The costs are reflected not only in the financial expense of lost income but also in rising rates of alcoholism, mental illness, suicide, child abuse, wife-beating, and other personal and social problems.
New employment opportunities will develop for many displaced workers. Technological advancement in any field often creates a need f< new products and new services. Abandoned factories and stores are often taken over by another company and reopened or converted to slightly different uses. However, the development of new industries or the conversion of old work-sites to new uses requires considerable time and often fails t coincide with the geographic location of displaced workers. This results in many workers being unable to transfer easily to equivalent work that will use their existing skills productively.
The options available to most workers in these circumstances are quite limited and almost all of them have tremendously disrupting consequence for the worker and his or her family. The simplest option (however, only very rarely possible) is for the worker to shift to a comparable position at another work-site within the same geographic area. If a worker has other salable skills, he or she can look locally for jobs that use those skills. If there is a demand for the given skills elsewhere, the worker can consider relocating. The reality of the situation usually is that, when technological advancement results in large worker redundancy, the worker skills are obsolete and no longer salable. The worker then may opt to acquire new skills that can be sold to existing or anticipated new local employers. The final option is to combine the acquisition of new skills with relocation.
The most frequent result of rapid technological change is the creation of a large number of underemployed workers. This situation occurs as man) workers are replaced by robotics or other mechanized procedures. Possessing obsolete skills, displaced workers search for whatever lower-level jobs are available or else retrain for reentry into the work force, usually at a lower skill level than their previous employment. The presence of this group of job seekers increases the competition for any available jobs, so that new entrants, such as school and college graduates, returning homemakers, and others, are also more inclined to seize any available position even though it may be at a lower skill level than their preparation merits. Thus underemployment is compounded. Over an extended period, some of the underemployed will find an opportunity to move into positions appropriate to their skill level or will acquire new training that permits them to move up; however, most will remain trapped in a state of underemployment.
Resolving major displacements requires planning and coordination beyond the scope of individuals and even local governing units. Effective solutions can probably be managed only at regional, state, or federal levels because of the need for attracting and developing new businesses and industries, arranging capitalization or financing, establishing training programs, identifying potential participants, and so forth. Displaced workers are likely to need an array of social services to help with the many crises produced by unemployment, including counseling to maintain self-esteem and to develop new career plans.
Displaced workers who resolve their dilemma by seeking employment at a lower level of skill (for example, transferring into expanding opportunities in service industries) are likely to face a drastic reduction in income, though the time of unemployment is probably shortened. Other displaced workers may conclude that no option is feasible. They have no transferable skills and are unable to acquire new skills because of age, location, or other reasons, and are unable or unwilling to consider relocating. These will remain unemployed.
Workers, and their families, caught up in the disruption produced by technological change or other long-term factors, inevitably focus on the short-term effect on their lives. Both they and society benefit when effective assistance is provided to control the damage produced by the disruption. This must include assistance in planning, acquisition of retraining or new education, placement assistance, and help with the various personal and family problems resulting from the displacement. The long-range view shows both an increase in overall productivity and an increase in total employment, in spite of many serious short-term crises.
Three Concepts
Yankelovich (1982) reports a recent study in which workers were asked to identify which of three concepts of work most closely reflected their view. The three concepts presented were as follows:
- People work only because they would not otherwise have the resources to sustain themselves.
- Work is a straight economic transaction in which people relate effort to financial return: the more money they get, the harder they work; the less money they receive, the less effort they give.
- Work carries a moral imperative to do one's best apart from practical necessity or financial remuneration,
Viewed from a broad perspective, the worker's mental health is the product of the interaction between worker and job. In this macro-relationship, one must view the worker in terms of personal values, motivations, goals, interests, and general self-concept. Similarly, one must consider the job in its totality, including the nature of the work, the setting, and the people (employer, supervisors, and fellow workers) in it. Different people expect various outcomes from participation in work. As previously indicated, professional, technical, and managerial workers are more likely to seek self satisfaction and self-fulfillment in work, while machine operators, process workers, and factory workers are more likely to give primary emphasis to income.
Different types of jobs are also able to offer differing rewards to their workers. Within certain broad limits there is some flexibility and adaptability that permits adjustment between worker and job. To the extent that sufficient "fit" is seen between worker and job, or is expected to develop in the foreseeable future, job satisfaction exists and the worker's mental health is positive. If the job permits the worker to strive for those things that are most important to him or her, whether they be self-actualization, income, security, or some other valued goal, good mental health is the product of the worker-job relationship. To the extent that the worker-job interaction is unable to accommodate those worker goals, dissatisfaction results.
Mental health is a complex and sometimes elusive concept. It is as difficult to define as it is to identify once a definition has been accepted. Kornhauser (1965) and Srebalus, Marinelli, and Messing (1982) suggest that mental health can be approximated by considering several variables. For example, one might conclude that an individual displays positive mental health if he or she tends to fall to the right of midpoint on most of the following continues:
- Appears tense and anxious-Generally at ease and comfortable.
- Displays hostility toward others-Generally trustful and accepting.
- Tends to withdraw-Usually sociable.
- Shows depression and alienation-Displays high morale.
- Appears goalless-Shows purposive action.
- Expresses low self-esteem-Has high self-esteem.
Overall, the worker will stay with a job that appears likely to offer a letter opportunity to reach important goals, satisfy major values, or en-lance self-esteem than any other job that is available or likely to be available. Even when the "fit" is less than satisfactory, the worker is likely to stay f there is no apparent better opportunity. When the work is satisfying and fulfilling, there are still often aspects of the job that produce stress, a disruptive physiological and psychological reaction to the demands of the job. This is all the more likely to occur when the worker is less certain of commitment to the job. Stress has an influence on both physiological and psychological well-being and persistent stress has been linked to allergies, cancer, heart conditions, and mental health. Considerable attention has been devoted to the study of stress, and seminars and workshops on stress management are widely available.
It would be difficult to identify an exhaustive list of work-related causes of stress. Nevertheless, we can list examples of such factors. It is important to keep in mind that the list is only representative and, further, that not all items will influence every worker in the same way, or even always influence a given worker in the same way. Typical sources of stress include:
Physical causes of stress at work
Continuous demand for heavy exertion or demand for avoidance of activity
Prolonged and intense attention or unvarying monotony
Too fast work speed or too slow work speed.
Demand for exact precision
The presence of certain working conditions such as:
Physical danger or unpredictable hazards
Extreme temperatures
Toxic conditions
Continuous and extreme odors, vibrations, noise
Poor ventilation
Psychological causes of stress at work
Employer's work standards too demanding or too low
Dissatisfaction with personal production rate
Absence of job security
Conflict with employer's ethics
Ambiguity in employer's expectations
Frequent change in job requirements or boredom caused by unchanging requirements
Premature assignment of responsibility
Feeling trapped in the job and unable to move
Social causes of stress at work
Too much or too little supervision
Uncertain relationship with supervisors
Variable standards of supervisors
Isolation from other workers or too much contact with other workers
Personalities, attitudes, behaviors of other workers
As many of the items above suggest, there is a middle ground that produces the optimum situation for the worker. Within that range the worker is most likely to find the work challenging, stimulating, and worthwhile. If either extreme is approached the worker may feel threatened, exhausted, or alienated. Work-related stress may result in the worker al tempting to cope in unsuitable ways, such as alcoholism, addiction, aggression, or physical reactions.
For most adults, the worker-job relationship is one of continuous involvement. The worker expresses the self in numerous ways within this work-site to employer and fellow workers. The job intrudes into the off work life of the worker. Unfortunately, this deep, persistent involvement in the mental health and life of the worker becomes most obvious when the relationship is broken. Gillett (1983) describes this wrenching experience in these words:
The personal cost of these changes is deep and tragic. A rise in alcoholism mental illness, heart disease, suicide, child abuse or wife-beating follows a rise in the unemployment rate. When a plant closed in Chicago, eight out of 2,00C workers committed suicide. In Wayne County, Michigan, where unemployment approaches 20 per cent, a community hotline recently reported that calls about spouse abuse have jumped over 300 per cent in a year's time. Mental health clinics report huge raises in case loads within the past two years.
Intrusion of Work
It is clear that work intrudes into almost every aspect of human life and its saturation is so extensive that it is difficult to identify any part of adult life that is not influenced heavily by the individual's work. Further, those few adults who have no involvement with work are often isolated and estranged from others. Many people know someone who worked a lifetime toward the goal of retirement, when it is possible to leave work forever, only to find life empty or meaningless when that goal was reached.
If work is as important to most people as the evidence overwhelmingly indicates, common sense suggests that helping individuals to develop work relationships that are meaningful and satisfying is psychologically sound, economically efficient, and socially desirable. The vast majority of adults grows up and enter an occupation that generally satisfies their needs and desires. Some could have enhanced their lives and those of their family by making better choices. Some are unable to develop choices or plans, so that they and their families live marginal lives. In both situations the individual loses, but in a larger sense all of society loses whenever lives are less effective than they could be.
The relationship between an individual and work is most complex and dynamic, often requiring adjustment. The adult development specialists suggest that firm commitments to work are not completed until the person is nearly thirty years old. Many people may need help in those early years in exploring various options, making choices, and preparing for a lifetime of work. As that career develops, most people also will need help at various times in maintaining a working relationship, dealing with stress created by work or brought to work from other sources, or capitalizing on opportunities for growth or advancement. Technological or economic change and other factors may produce crises for the work relationship that require major change and realignment of career.
Because the individual and work are so closely interrelated, it is rarely possible to separate one from the other. Thus, whenever one attempts to help an individual with any aspect of career one must deal with the whole person, whether the concern is preparing for work, obtaining or keeping a job, adjusting to the demands of the work-site, or advancing in a particular field.
