Research into the future of work Essay Example

Research into the future of work Essay In order to construct this portfolio on the future of work the researcher will firstly examine the understanding of work as it once was. This will be an academic piece of work based upon authors and their literature that illustrates their thoughts and their visions and their theories about the future of work. Some of the modern workforce will still work all the hours they can, they will combine all their leisure life around their working life and find their vacation time in their job. Many other workers will end up with portfolios of work, a mixture of jobs, marginal work and gift work ethics. These facts are due to changes to the working environment that was affected by the political climate of the mid 80s, that had been dominated by the new right social economical theories of the Thatcherism period one nation Tory one nation. This concept was acknowledged and reported by researchers Bell and Weber and they likened this policy to that of the Victorian concept of values of hard work, though it reality it is not known whether the Victorian workers shared this enthusiasm for labour. We will write a custom essay sample on Research into the future of work specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Research into the future of work specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Research into the future of work specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Since the 2nd World war there has been a time of stability with a financial boom stretching for nearly thirty years. The labour market delivered unprecedented numbers of people from poverty. With few skills or credentials, workers could nevertheless find steady, unionised jobs in growing industries but such jobs are now increasingly rare. Since those heady times the Macro economic retrenchment beginning in the 1970s and successive rounds of industrial restructuring have reshaped the nature of work particularly for those with limited skills. Many traditional lines of unskilled labour have become obsolete or uncompetitive in the face of new technology and the import of cheaper goods due to foreign labour performing manufacture in 3rd World countries; this is due to lower labour costs in these poorer countries. New jobs have been created in abundance in some sectors, for instance Information technology but few of these offers less educated workers a realistic reliable route out of poverty. The world of work has changed dramatically over the past decade, perhaps more than any other decade of this century. Companies are both downsizing and expanding (often at the same time in different divisions or levels of the hierarchy). The researcher has found that the workforce is characterised by increased diversity with highly divergent needs and demands. Ever increasing upgrades as information technology has frequently changed both the manner and location of work activities. New organisational forms (such as those found in e-commerce) are now commonplace; teams are redefining the notion of hierarchy, as well as traditional power distributions; the use of contingent workers is on the rise. Globalisation and the challenges of managing across borders are now the norm instead of the exception. All of these changes can have a profound influence on how companies attempt to motivate their employees. Also the researcher agrees with Handy (1985) who suggested that contrary to popular impression, part time work appear to an increasing in Britain, as does self-employment. In fact Margaret Thatcher the ex prime minister, encouraged the growth of smaller units of self-employed people. Handy also suggests that people are employed more in more part time employment than ever before, whilst those in self-employment tend to work a lot of overtime to earn more money. The researcher suggests that now there is no such thing as a nine to five working day five days a week. Handy also describes part time work as if the country cannot give every one a job for life, would it be preferable to give every one a job for part of their lives rather than not at all. (Handy 1985:3) According to (Gorz 1999, translated by Turner) the labour force in Britain and throughout the world can be classified into two major categories: a major core of permanent and full time employees. The former are occupationally versatile mobile workers and around that core, a sizeable mass of peripheral workers, including a substantial proportional of insecure and temporary workers with variable and unsociable hours and poor wages. He also says that portion of outworkers of which are supposed to be known as self-employed operatives are paid on a seasonal basis or on a piece of work system that normally is unfair to the worker. In 1986, Wolfgang Lecher predicted that the proportion of stable full time jobs would fall 50% within ten years. Today according to Lecher In Britain 95% of new jobs are insecure. In conclusion the researcher believes that people today still have to work long hours to survive and the world of work is getting ever more competitive and unfortunately good jobs are becoming few and far between. The researcher argues that the term a job for life is no longer the case. He also suggests that it could be due to the growth of Information Technology and this argument is backed by Charles Handy who said we do not have hands into todays organisations (Thomson 1998,p1). People can work from home by downloading via telephone points to the head office computer and in return receive new instructions for the following days work load. The researcher also suggests cheaper employment in nations such as Asia has also damaged jobs in Britain. The future of work Part two This session Self and organisation is all about how and why the researcher is able to cope in the organisation, looking at the roles and procedures of the employment. The researcher will try to examine if the job role fits in with his values and how they fit. The researcher will attempt to use theories and models of organisational culture to support these views. For the case study for the second part of the research assignment, I intend to look at my own place of work and what we do as an organisation. [emailprotected] is the Liverpool F.C. study support centre. For the last eighteen months the researcher has worked for organisations as a student mentor at both at Liverpool Football Club (LFC) and Lancashire County Cricket Club (LCCC) aimed at assisting special needs children both as a volunteer and in a paid capacity. The researcher specialises in working with children with physical and learning difficulties (see appendix). The work that the researcher does brings great self-satisfaction, to the researcher as well as the young people whom the researcher mentors. The researcher would cite Burnes who said, Organisational culture is a prime determinant of organisational performance (Burnes 2000). As with any group or collection of people, the children are motivated and influenced by the cultural norms that the mentor and location provide. The researcher would suggest sporting facilitates such as those at LFC and LCCC do provide a culture of which the children are highly motivated to learn in the presents of their sporting heroes. Literacy is one of five major strands of initiative known as Playing for success. David Blunkett, then Secretary of state for education and employment, said in the first PFS yearbook (2000) (see appendix) Playing for success combines two of my passions, education and football. The scheme is designed in helping thousands of young people to improve their literacy, numerically and ICT skills. It shows just how powerful a tool football can be in helping to raise standardsand how far the initiative has come from what was an idea in 1997. There are now centres in the top football clubs in the country helping pupils to improve the key skills by using football as an imaginative way of engaging and motivating young people. The researcher works with the children and helps them both individually and in small groups to focus on improving numerical and ICT skills as well as helping the pupils improve their self-esteem and acquire independent learning skills. Improvements in these areas are taken back into the school environment and help pupils with subjects across the whole of the curriculum. The researcher has found literature and a theory which does support this view with the case study in that Senge (1990) argues that a leaders role in an learning organisation is that of a designer, teacher, and steward who can be build a shared vision and challenge prevailing mental models. In the researchers case it could be said that he has the responsibility for young people by continually helping expanding their capabilities to shape their future that is, leaders are responsible for learning. The researcher has the experience of school children who have been set tasks by a teacher, which could then be met by an initial response by the pupil of cant do it, and this has led children in and around the local area with a lack of self-belief. It is the researcher job as the mentor to try and help the children to be motivated and to belief that they as individuals can do the tasks that they are set and not to adopt this negative attitude. The researcher has the belief that the culture of the Liverpool centre does have a positive culture to bring the best out of the children. A pattern of basic assumptions invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems (Schein, 1985, p9) The researcher suggests that a good mentor is someone who seems interested in what youre saying. Your problems might seem really minor to them because they are older and probably they have experienced bigger problems but they act in a thoughtful manner in order to solve the problems. (Batty et el 1998) Pupil to pupil mentoring can also in the researchers view and experience help overcome bullying. Through personal experience the researcher has used his role as a mentor to encourage pupils in their self-belief, gain more confidence and become socially acceptability. The researcher believes that the positive learning culture such as the one at process is greatly enhanced if the environment is conducive to positive learning. A strong culture such as at LFC has a much greater potential for implicit co-ordination and control of behaviour. A strong culture with well-socialised members improves effectiveness because it facilitates the exchange of information and the co-ordination of behaviour. Schein (1985:60) emphasises that culture usually consists of collective behaviours responses that have proven to be adaptive in the particular social organisations. The relationship between organisational culture and effective can only be placed on interactive characteristics of organisations the system of norms, beliefs and behaviour that forms the core of an organisation. This would be a true contribution to an organisation ultimate effectiveness. An integral part of this process is the demeanours of the study supporters and of course the physical environment of the centre. The motivational power of the club should never be underestimated as asking pupils to do extra work after school is never likely to be a popular concept unless there are suitable incentives and allowing pupils the opportunity to learn at Liverpool Football Club is a powerful attraction. Unlike in schools there is no prescriptive curriculum for study support so the centre is fortunate that it can be flexible in the approach of delivery of learning experiences. The researcher believes in the gaining variable experience in this organisation for one of the nicest professions in working with children with special needs and physical disabilities. The researcher wishes to cite the following. Learning to teach, as well as we all know but often fail to remember, is a complex bewildering and sometimes painful task. It involves developing a practical knowledge base, changes in cognition developing interpersonal skills and also incorporates an affect aspect. (Maynard Furlong (1994, p69) Roles, Relationships and the structure of work In addition to helping children to improve academically, the researchers role of mentor helps pupils improve their self-esteem and acquire independent learning skills. The period of mentoring take place every twelve weeks and during that time a marked improvement was seen in their interpersonal skills. Improvements in these areas are taken back into the school environment and help pupils with subjects across the whole of the curriculum. Senge supports this theory and argues that a leader role in a learning organisation is that of a designer, teacher, and steward who can build a shared vision and challenge prevailing mental models (1990). In [emailprotected]s case it could be argued that it is responsible for young people who will thereafter continually expand their capabilities to shape their future that is to say that the leaders/mentors are responsible for learning. The researcher has had the experience of dealing with school children that have been identified by their teachers as children who under perform and this has left children in and around the local area with a lack of self-belief. This self-belief is not endemic within the culture of the Liverpool centre as the opposite applies in as far as a positive culture reigns in order to bring the best out of the children. The prospect of learning at a football club entices and excites the pupils due to the phenomenal impact of football. It also helps challenge their perceptions of learning, which is usually perceived as, centred on the comparatively reserved confines of school. Therefore attending study sessions at a football club, with the high-tech resources, regardless of Whether or not the pupils are football fans, because it extends their experiences of learning, just by virtue of the location. The benefits to the pupils who attend have been monitored and measured with literacy and numeric test results show that students are really progressing because of the scheme. This is very pleasing for me as however, there are many more inspirational results that are more difficult to measure. These results are the increased confidence, the creativity, the willingness to learn and the hunger to do better, to succeed, that Playing for Success seems to breathe into the pupils. The researcher, suggest this is due to the schemes ethos of empowering the young pupils. Responding to their needs and interests, raising their self-confidence by showing respect and encouraging individuality. The football club attracts the pupils initially and projects a message that learning new skills can be done through many subjects, but they develop best in those subjects that interest and inspire the learner the most. The researcher as a mentor has the duty of been there for the child wether on a one to one or as a group exercise is there for the attention of those person. One way that the researcher introduces and portrays himself is in the way of his say I am here to help you, however he order for me to help you, you in turn have to help me (Mark Bradley 2001) It makes the students we have an understanding and it does start to form a good partnership just like in a place of work or organisation.