WORK REFORM

Could Work be made more Satisfying and Participatory?

Could Work be made more Satisfying and Participatory?

Introduction

This discussion will provide a comprehensive elaboration of the manner in which can be made more satisfying and participatory. In order to do so adequately, the discussion will highlight the goals and motivations for work reform, from the employer and the worker perspective; in addition to the roles that can be played by the management, unions, and the state play in shaping workplaces. The discussion will also explore if it is possible to reorganize work so that it becomes more satisfying participatory; if the goals of humanistic work-reform can be reconciled with the goals of productivity and profit. In the process of detailing on these subject areas, the discussion will give relevance to the theoretical perspectives that can be expected to provide the most useful insights on the prospects or lack thereof, for work-reform.

Discussion & Analyses

Making work more satisfying and participatory has always remained a challenge for employers across the ages (Xu & Lin, 2011; Gonge & Buus, 2010). As globalization causes boundaries to fade away and the maintenance of a competitive advantage becomes increasingly important for organizations, ensuring that work remains satisfying and participatory for employees becomes an increasingly complicated challenge. The modern day workplace demands employees to contribute their best to the workplace, but this may often culminate in the excessive pressurization of employees - in which case employees tend to suffer from stress and find their work no longer satisfying and worth participating (Adman, 2008; Moriarty, 2010). Eventually, employee contributions diminish and come down to the bare minimum for a while before they go away completely. Eventually, the employees willingly allow the organizational system to evolve into a dictatorial setup - partly because they do not find the organization worth investing their energy in; and mainly because they are no longer attached to the organization beyond the basic fulfillment of their job descriptions (Ball, 2011; Jian & Jeffres, 2008).

This is often the time when the management begins to panic and fails to accept its responsibility of making the workplace environment rewarding enough for individuals to contribute and participate in (Nilsson, Andersson, Ejlertsson & Blomqvist, 2011; McBride, 2011). Instead, the management tends to take desperate measures that only tighten the noose all the more; thereby further discouraging employees from pitching in

In essence, the only manner in which employees can be motivated to get involved in the organization is if they feel that their losses and gains are connected with the organization's losses and gains (Baines, Cunningham & Fraser, 2011; Dornan, Boshuizen, King & Scherpbier, 2007). While it would be naive to expect the disbursement of rewards on every project, there are many other methods that can be utilized to connect the success of employees in the organization with the success of the organization. This does not necessarily have to be involved with monetary rewards since an adequate rewards policy is one that maintains a balance between intrinsic and extrinsic ...