Working life

WORKING LIFE
Plan:

1. 
   Working life about
   
2. 
   The Working Life Essay
   
3. 
   Modern Working Life Essay
   

References.

The belief that work is morally good is the definition of work ethic provided by The American Heritage Dictionary. Work can mean different things to different people. Usually, when we first think of a word and its meaning, we look at its definition. When defining what is morally good, one must remain open to past societal meanings of what was considered moral. Work ethic has developed and changed through different cultures over centuries. Historians and philosophers have developed great insights and theories pertaining specifically to the meaning of work ethic and its meaningfulness in today's modern employment, while some have praised it and some have cursed it. Which leads us to the question, do workers today have a calling or…show more content…

Furthermore, people who work for wealth are never satisfied, because the things that they want and the work that they do to get it are never ending.
Work takes on greater importance in a society where people believe that they can master the material world and shape their own destinies, and less where they believe that they can not. An Ancient Greek philosopher said that the only stability in the world was within one's mind or soul, where ideas were secure from the unending changes that took place in the material world. In Ancient Greece, philosophers believed that a person's thoughts and ideas were more important than that person's work and that work in the material world lacked permanence. For the ancient Greeks, the status of particular occupations depended on the degree of freedom a person had, the perceived moral integrity of the occupation, and the amount of mental and physical work it required. Today we tend to feel that working in an office is better than working in a coal mine, regardless of which worker makes more money. Our language suggests that it is a privilege to work sitting down.
Today’s business world requires employees who are ready to share knowledge. This has emerged as an urgent business need and a measure of maintaining high-level role of intelligence. The biggest challenge to the individual is the need brings about the individual obligation to be equipped with the latest technological sophistication.
Most work environments today are technologically oriented. There is however very little indication that majority of the companies or organizations are working to meet employee’s needs to motive them to achieve the organizations’ goals through assessing their behaviours. The firms expect employees to workout any newly implemented systems at their own peril and struggle.
Most managers are result oriented who lack consideration for their achievement. This leaves the employees with the task of figuring out how the new technology should workout.
Effects of Motivation Theories at the work place
The personal view of the workplace determines individuals’ behaviours during the process of undertaking a task. According to McGregor, the human elevation of entrepreneurship indicates that, some people have an inherent dislike of specific jobs or tasks and they literally try to avoid various chores, which seem stressful to them. As a result, this is a major impact on the organization’s social, cultural and economical growth. Another major impact of this notion is the effect of the individuals’ need to overcome or control the situation at hand.
An average human being would prefer guidance to making individual decisions rather that being responsible over bad decisions at the work place. Responsibility comes with the need to be ambitious other than rely on job security. This is not only an effect on the individual who lacks career and economical growth but also the organization. The organization run by low-minded individuals lack chances for economical growth.
The assumptions or arguments based upon this theory indicate the need for a managerial choice between tough administration and control or softness in governance to enhance harmony at the work place.
Today the latter situation merely exists, In line with McGregor (1984); this presumption does not bestow employees with the required high working motivation in the aim of fulfilling goals more than the need to ensure they receive financial remunerations. The employees behave in an unanticipated manner thus depriving the organization its goals.
The organization is capable of maximizing the potential of the employees by first addressing certain workplace conditions especially during the complex modern business world. Today people are not in a position to seek and accept responsibility as a way of achieving job or career satisfaction.
This is due to the huge work requirements and in-turn low returns. The organization can only receive commitment and good results if the employees involved feel satisfied and motivated. These problems at the work place are solvable through creativity, imagination and ingenuity, which in consideration are the drives towards accepting liability for development.
Proper treatment of the employees makes them to act by directing themselves towards commitments of the organizational goals, vision and mission. According to MaGrgor (1984), views over employees’ management, any member of staff is not ready to accept punishment in terms of poor working conditions or forceful control over performance.
The humble treatment by the employer towards the employees would sound ambiguous and unachievable particularly in large organizations. As much as it is effective in administrating managers or professionals due to its nature of conductively supporting participative problem solving procedures, it can work for junior employees as well.
Modern work places are full of commanding managers who want to exercise their authoritative rights thus offending and depressing the junior workers most of whom would be humble in fear of accusations over insubordination. This major effect comes about because today’s employees lack of security in the work force. The job that one does is the only security thus the fear for losing it. The blame would be the low rates of returns. The income has various deductions to a point of denying the earner a chance for personal investment.
People have endless need or urge to control others and this can lead to misery or failure in the workplace. It is very crucial to assign responsibilities in order to control tasks. One person is not supposed to control everything in the organization. The power distribution strategy promotes growth due to proper decision-making procedures. Today, people are fighting to achieve or seek excellence and appreciation over their offers to the organization. The overtime experiences are the determinant forces over human needs. By nature, majority of people are high achievers seeking excellence, frequent recognition and appreciation. Unlike the olden days, today’s employees are not ready to take the significant risks, which have high chances of career gain.
Secondly, human needs require them to search for affiliation to harmonize relationships with others and create compliance with instances that assist them to stand out from the crowd. Some people will shy away from seeking approval and recognition form fellow workmates but will rather try to find relationship that harmonize their association with others.
Today’s work setting has created power seekers who aim at controlling others and seeking higher achievement in the administration ladder without considering professional achievements. The need to achieve higher power control or higher career goals calls for one to hunt for agreement and compliance among fellow employees or management. If people try to understand the need for professional experience, then they appreciate their social, educational and the category, which they belong to and this would enable them curb the excessive personal predispositions at the workplace. (Maslow, 1987)
Than logical facts, personal feeling affects thoughts of people at the work place. If initiated, the personal feelings tend to stick because they are independent of facts and evidences. They are emotional preferences, which tend to stay put even when the original thoughts are invalid of the situation at hand.
The managers ought to initiate some rational or logical sense into the employee to get them emotionally involved or engaged in a task. The establishment of emotions leads to removal or ignorance of the rational thoughts yet the rationality behind one’s feelings plays an important role in reasoning.
Research indicates that personal attitudes and behaviours at work are the root cause of uncharacteristic behaviours at the work place. It is rare to find someone who has positive attitude towards work. The attitude mainly lowers self-motivation and disfigures key organizational goals or mission.
If constrained to specific circumstances, attitudes deteriorate consistency, social desirability and personal experiences. It is important for managers to monitor such reactions or behaviours other than assuming that the attitude would workout to the desired performance. According to Maslow, (1987), the undesired attitude often causes confusion at the work place.
People at the work place will behave as though the challenges involved do not belong to them. Attributing the cause of events in the workplace creates a big sense of control. Today the workplace is full of the blame game because of the habit of attributing the problems to internal and external factors.
A person will blame the internal personality factors or the external factors when the errors seem to incline to their side. This is a personal trait, which if not curbed, can cause the organization to suffer from economically stunted growth. For instance if a team wins in a competition, the supporters will state, “we won” while when the team loose they say “they lost” and not “we lost” or they say “the other team won”. Naturally, no one wants to say we lost. Emotional and motivational factors drive the personal attributions.
People often face with the challenge of having internal over external attributes. Making internal attributions about others within the organization damages the trust among employees. The repetitive problem leads to cognitive dissonance of an organization sticks when the blame persists. People can only take care of these vice if they are in position to eliminate the incorrect attributions. (Maslow, 1987)
In the world of technology, the difference of opinion usually referred to as dissonance, is a powerful motivator which enables us to change conflicting believes or actions. Dissonance creates a feeling of painful tension due to conflicting thoughts.
It solely depends on the importance of the subject matter, amount of tension on the dissonant mind and the inability to rationally control and resolve the conflict. People will have a strong dissonance when the personal believe is strong and they act centrally to that believe. Cognitive dissonance is a strong central mechanism appearing in most situations and it increases with importance or impact of the decision, which in most cases is difficult to reverse.
The feeling of uneasiness in the workplace ought to send aside so that the affected can find persuasive ways to change believes personal values, attitudes and behaviours. (Maslow, 1987) When personal inner feelings are in alignment, then it is easy for one to achieve a comfortable condition. In order to control conflicts in an organization, one would deny, ignore and rationalize excuses over performance.
In most work places today, the consultation of general employees over problem solving occur only when it is the last and only option especially when the required information is technical in nature. Employees feel emotionally important and positively motivated towards their jobs if consulted over issues affecting the organization especially when it concerns their lines of duty.
In the modern life, technology advancement, require quick upgrading of personal skills. This issue make most managers to feel threatened by other junior staff over their job titles. ( Reitman and Schneer, 2008) Research has indicated this as a major source of conflicts and disagreements over desirable results of a task.
This situation mostly affects the organization’s growth because of managers abandoning the most desirable results as irrelevant since they pose as challenges over their careers. According to McGregor (1984), proper management calls for requesting explanations over complex matters or issues at hand for full understanding of purpose of action. This procedure put forth the character-trends and empowerment for improved working methods. (McGregor, 1984)
Improved results in the workforce are achievable if employees are elevated to a view of being in charge and having a respectable and important position along the management hierarchy. His is termed as “participative management of problems solving” which is evidently better compared to the authoritarian system of leadership. According to McGregor (1984), Staff members only contribute towards the organization’s growth if the managerial treatment indicates responsibility and value of the employees.
We all know that Work plays an important role in everyone’s life whether it is paid or unpaid, but it helps us to shape our identity, allows us to structure our time and brings us in contact with each other. In today’s fast paced society, people in the workforce often move from one task to the next, only to find themselves coming up for air on Friday afternoon. Unsatisfied by their weekend and not accomplishing all they hoped, they begin to dread another week of work, and the never-ending cycle it has become. With some simple rearranging and prioritizing, there is a fix to this solution for the majority of people. Work/Life balance is a serious topic of discussion in the workplace, and the ideas are becoming more popular by the week. CEOs and managers all over the world are being faced with this issue, and constantly implementing ways to resolve it. With the vast amount of research and studies to date, majority of evidence shows the importance of work/life balance from both the standpoints of an employer, as well as an employee, as being critical in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. So, that’s why I have taken this topic to learn about the management of our personal and professional life.
Meaning of Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance doesn’t mean an equal balance. It is the power to control and stay competitive at work while maintaining a healthy and happy lifestyle at home as well as work with enough leisure. The main motive of work-life balance is to create balance in each and every area of life, which in turn increases self-fulfillment as well as helps to maintain safe from self-injury like depression and stress. A well-balanced life is when we put equal efforts in both areas. It encourages employees to divide their time on the basis of their own significances and maintain a balance by giving time to their family, health, vacations, and so on along with business travels and career. The field of Human resource management is developing day by day and the innovative techniques are developed for the improvement of the atmosphere at the workplace so that the employees can give their best and come up with a successful life and career. Moreover, it is an important concept which helps in increasing their loyalty towards the company or business.
Importance of Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance is an important aspect of a healthy work environment. Maintaining a work-life balance helps reduce stress and helps to prevent burnout in the workplace. Long-term pressure is one of the workplace’s most common health issues. It can lead to physical symptoms such as diabetes, digestive disorders, chronic pain, and heart problems. Chronic stress can also have a negative impact on mental health as it is associated with an increased risk of depression, anxiety, and insomnia.
Excessive pressure over a long period of time leads to burnout in the workplace. Employees who work a lot of overtime hours are at a high risk of burnout. Burnout can cause fatigue, mood swings, irritability and a decrease in work performance. By creating a work environment that prioritizes work-life balance, employers can save money and maintain a healthier, more productive workforce.
You cannot let your business consume you completely. Focusing on your company 100% of every waking hour will ruin your life, your relationships, and your ability to sleep. This is especially true for married entrepreneurs. While your family is likely to depend on your success, they need to be able to spend quality time with you as well. If your relationship gets to the point that you are in trouble feeling more like roommates and less like a married couple. The worst situation for an entrepreneur to be in is that things at the workplace are rough and there’s a lack of support at home because the wife feels depressed.
Causes of Work-Life Imbalance
There are some moderators that are linked to work-life imbalance, like:
Time: Spending long hours at work due to ‘inflexibility, changing work requirements, overtime or work duties at night’ may lead to inconsistency with work and family duties. It has been shown that ‘time spent at work was positively correlated with work interaction with family and work involvement, but it was not related to cross-domain satisfaction.’
Gender differences: According to the distinct understanding of role identity, gender differences may contribute to a job-life imbalance. It has been shown that men prefer their work duties to provide financial support to their families over their social responsibilities, whereas women prioritize their family life.
Besides these regulators that could contribute to a disparity, most people are exposed to unsolicited stress at work as they enjoy high social recognition. This aspect of life may also be the source of a mismatch. Certain workplace activities. however, it could also contribute to such an imbalance, such as contributing to house and garden duties, preserving and supporting family members or voluntary tasks. The strong pressure of time leads to increased psychological strain, which in turn affects health. Psychological strain is also affected by the complexity of the work, increasing responsibilities, long-term existential protection concerns, and more. The stresses and strains mentioned could lead to irreversible, physical signs of wear and negative effects on the cardiovascular and immune systems in the long term.
Work-life Balance Programs
To maintain the proper balance in life, the Employer should be aware of these responsibilities to balance work-life as well as personal life.

Scheduling their time: It is one of the main components that the employer should take care of. They can schedule their time by following these steps-

Telecommuting: An employee can also work online at home with the help of innovative technology. It is one of the easiest ways for computer-based job employees.
Compressed workweeks: Some companies also offer 10 hours a day, to give an extra day off as well as offer some amenities like onsite meal preparation and concierge services and so on, to make the home life a bit easier.
Health and Wellness: We all know that Health and medical insurance is the most widely offered benefit in most of the companies. In most places, there are onsite gym or discounted gym premiums for the employees as well as some wellness programs like diet and fitness workshops.
Moreover, there is one another benefit that can help employers to keep their personal issues under control is the Employee Assistance Program. The most common benefits that are provided in this program are mental health care, elder care, alcohol or drug treatment, and so on.
Personal Development and Care
In many small businesses, just one person handles the human resources function, and sometimes it is the owner of the company. Empowering employees to take responsibility for their own professional development is, therefore, a priority. Internally the company paid training and formal mentoring programs can help the employees to gain the skills to improve their growth in their current roles or help them to move further to the higher roles or positions. Moreover, some companies also offer tuition reimbursement for the employers who want to obtain a degree, certification or specialized training, so this is very helpful for the employees who never attended college or did not complete their degree requirements.
Vacations
So many companies have different norms of vacations. They provide vacation pay to their employees so that they can live their life to the fullest and enjoy their life and quality time with their family and friends. Moreover, seniors receive more vacations in some places as well as there are some of the vacation trips that are given to the employees as a reward for their good work.
Practices towards Work-Life Balance
An employer should learn to say NO when you are assigned a task that does not fall under your job description and could be easily accomplished by the person who is asking it. It’s important to say no at work because it earns you respect.
An employer should work out to be de-stress because stress is one of the main problems that can create so many issues in life. We know that there is so much workload, which can put so much pressure on us. That’s why a person should give some time every day to do Yoga, Meditation or deep breathing, which will help in de-stressing and make you feel much better and fresh.
An employer should also try to share the load with their co-workers. Each and every person in a company should share their feelings, workload or problems with others so that they can help you if you need it. In this way, you can also feel stress-free.
Each and every person should have a positive approach always, which will help them to be positive and more punctual regarding their work as well as the company.
A person should always focus on whatever they are doing. However, we should always put our best effort even if its not our core competence. We should maximize our productivity at work and make sure that the unfinished work should never come over in our personal time.
Moreover, you can have a second phone with you because if you receive phone calls and emails from clients and colleagues on one phone, then you can use another phone for the family and friends. Whenever you leave work you can off the work phone and use another one. So, in this way you can balance your time with family and work.
An employer should set SMART goals in their life which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.
The last and important step to maintain work-life balance is to be organized always because we should manage our day properly instead of having the day to manage you.