In a discussion case about Great Jobs and Meaningful Jobs, Desjardins (2009, p 92) suggests that despite the common assumption that people work in order to earn money to survive, people have many reasons for pursuing the types of work and specific jobs they choose. Meaningfulness is defined as ‘the value of a work goal or purpose, judged to the individual’s own ideals or standards’ (May et al., 2004).
Based on this position, individuals do not necessarily place the same weighting on different aspects of their employment. In this essay, I will argue that the claim that some work is more meaningful than other work is relative to the fulfilment an individual derives from their work, and therefore also depends on the nature of work that each individual engages in. Employers have the moral responsibility to create just workplace conditions in which workers can realise the meaning in their work within the boundaries of their employment agreements, but employers do not essentially have to give meaning to employees’ work. Because employees do not necessarily place the same significance on the potential benefits in their jobs, it is their responsibility as discerning members of the work force to seek out work that gives them the most meaning.
Desjardins identifies two branches in the conventional views of work. In the classical approach, humans are thought of as free beings, and work, being a ‘difficult, arduous, and laborious’ task, involves a ‘constant diminishing of human nature and human potential’ (p 102).
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Work is therefore considered a chore to be done by those who lack culture and esteem. The hedonistic interpretation of work describes work as a ‘necessary means of obtaining life’s pleasures’ (p102).
So work is seen as a means to some end, the end being getting whatever makes one happy. This conventional approach considers work to be what Clayton (2004) describes as a restriction on individual freedom (p 466) and ‘compelled labour that is done because it has to be done’ (Muirhead, 2004, p 5).
This view of work does not consider the psychic benefits one can gain from work.
The liberal view of work is based on the individual being able to choose their work based on their own requirements and on how the work will affect them. This is more in line with Bowie’s definition of meaningful work in A Kantian Theory of Meaningful Work (1998), where meaningful work is defined as work that is freely entered into, allows the worker to exercise their autonomy and independence, enables workers to develop their rational capacities, provides a wage sufficient for physical welfare, supports the moral development of workers, and does not interfere with the workers’ conception of how they wish to obtain their happiness.
John Stuart Mill (1859) validates work as an opportunity for self-fulfillment, and encouraged individuals to choose their work consciously. ‘The ability to choose one’s work is important not only because one is more likely to choose a work role that fits one’s preferences and competencies, but because choice itself is a good, an activity “in which man perfects himself.”’(Mills, cf Clayton, p. 130).
Work must support the development of rational capacities, and enable workers to balance work and other commitments, given that work is by no means the only or most prominent avenue to meaningful living (Rifkin, 1996).
Clayton highlights that wages allocated by the market might fall below some minimally acceptable level, because the market is driven by economic criteria rather than by considerations of individual welfare. The wage must therefore be determined by how much it will take to maintain physical welfare, as opposed to a wage determined by the market.
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As far as moral development is concerned, activities that incorporate virtues such as honesty, compassion and loyalty create meaning in work. This puts workers in situations where they are consciously aware of their actions and the effects of their actions on others as well as on their working environment. ‘When one experiences their [job] as meaningful, this is a subjective experience of the existential significance or purpose of [work]’ (Lips-Wiersma and Morris, 2009, p 492).
Michaelson (2008) uncovered that meaningful work is discussed in relation to subjective concerns such as self-esteem as well as objective concerns such as the social contribution of one’s work.
This tells that people don’t just work for monetary compensation. Work has the potential to contribute some instrumental value in people’s lives that they might otherwise not have obtained. Thus states Desjardins, ‘what work you did and how you did it will play a significant role in deciding how worthwhile your life has been’ (p 124).
Job satisfaction also contributes towards commitment to an organisation. According to Clayton, internal goods, the intrinsic benefits that derive from a practice, can also be said to include their products, which accrue to the public’s benefit. If these intrinsic benefits are established around such virtues as honesty and loyalty, the meaning in work can provide benefits both to the individual and to society.
Meaningless work, then, might include any activities that hinder the pursuit of the aforementioned attributes. Meaningless work is seen as unrewarding drudgery, and is often associated with often associated with apathy and detachment from one’s work (May et al., 2004).
That a worker must enter into a job willingly gives the employer the responsibility of providing prospective employees with full information about the nature of the job, including any risks and rewards that come with it. With regards to wages and salaries, Velasquez (2002) identifies the disclosure of the going wages in the industry and the worker’s wage in relation to other wages in the firm, and the fairness of the wage negotiations (which should not be based on deceit, ignorance or manipulation).
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Because society’s needs are not adequate motivators for people to take accept jobs, Velasquez highlights the need for employers to create the avenue through which people can be motivated to accept employment. First, a job must challenge a worker’s skills and abilities. Workers should also be able to see the impact that their work has on the workplace or even in the market. This gives the worker a feeling of staying on their toes and being relevant in business operations. Giving workers fully identifiable tasks, as opposed to repetitive production as a part of a whole, also shows them the result of their work, which contributes to job satisfaction. Fragmented jobs can become boring and meaningless. Giving employees the freedom to do their work and make decisions at their own discretion shows trust on the employer’s part, and gives the workers a sense of responsibility and pride in their own work. Also, rotating the most unpleasant jobs at least distributes the burden more equally (Muirhead, 2004).
It is worth noting, however, that acquiring social status and making money are also motivators for people to take jobs.
With jobs that involve some degree of risk, such as mining, the wages need to make provision for the risks involved in undertaking the tasks. More often than not, workers acting as individuals are not aware of the potential dangers associated with certain jobs, either out of ignorance or if the information is costly to obtain.
The freedom to choose any job one chooses is obviously not straightforward. Not every job is open to every person, given that individuals will have different levels of education and experience, and not all people will gave access to information about job opportunities. So the freedom of choice is still present, but not all participants will be on equal footing. It might be argued that in this case employers have a moral duty to “level the playing field” for those workers who do not have access to the same information. This, however, is a political issue, and would be determined by the governing laws and the political system operating in that area. Muirhead argues, work in a democratic society affirms both reciprocity and equality. In cases where workers accept employment that is less than optimal out of desperation, the employer is exploiting the worker by not making a just offer of employment.
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Describe what is meant by diversity and why it should be valued. Diversity means different individuals valuing each other regardless of intellect, age, disability race or religion. Diversity should be respected and valued because everyone is different and can offer an alternative perspective. Everyone should be treated equally because everyone has something to offer and everyone has a strong ...
An example that illustrates the responsibility of the employee to seek out meaningful work is that of childcare. For stay-at-home mothers, looking after their own children can be considered in two ways: they are looking after the baby to make sure he or she is well-fed and clean and healthy because no-one else will take as much initiative as the mother of a child. Clayton argues that many are uncomfortable with the idea of paid childcare because of a sense that money alone cannot motivate people to provide the kind of nurturance and emotional care that are needed. This leads to the other reason why some mothers stay home. They could have made a choice to stay and mind the baby in order to cultivate the special bond between a mother and her child. Hochschild (1983) describes childcare as but one example of an occupation that includes a large portion of emotional labor, so a person who decides to become a nanny or child minder is not necessarily someone who enjoys changing diapers, but one who is fond of little children and gets some pleasure or benefit from tending to a child’s needs (with the exception of those who do it out of desperation, “virtual prisoners” for whom the only alternative is starvation (Clayton, p 474)).
It should be left up to the employee to decide, based on the information disclosed by the employer, and after careful consideration of available alternatives, if the job provides the fulfillment they require in work, and based on their abilities. Employers should only be required to go as far as creating a just working environment, and if possible pursuer equality in employment. Workers should be discerning, and given the information about available employment, are morally responsible for finding fulfilling work or fulfillment in their work.
References
Bowie, N., 1998, ‘A Kantian Theory of Meaningful Work’, The Journal of Business Ethics 17(9/10)
Clayton, S., 2005, ‘Jobs with Justice: A Review of “JustWork”
by Russell Muirhead’. Social Justice Research, Vol. 18, No. 4
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Desjardins, J., 2006, ‘The meaning and value of work’. In An Introduction to Business Ethics, (McGraw-Hill)
Hochschild, A., 1983, ‘The Managed Heart’. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
Lips-Wiersma, M. and L. Morris, 2009, ‘Discriminating Between ‘Meaningful Work’ and the ‘Management of Meaning’. Journal of Business Ethics 88
May, D., R. Gilson and L. M Harter, 2004, ‘The Psychological Conditions of Meaningfulness, Safety and Availability and the Engagement of the Human Spirit at Work’. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 77, 11–37
Michaelson, C., 2008, ‘Work and the Most Terrible Life’, Journal of Business Ethics 77, 335–345
Mills, J., 1859. ‘On Liberty, in On Liberty and Other Essays’. (Oxford University Press, Cambridge, 1998)
Muirhead, R., 2004, ‘Just Work’. (Harvard University Press, Cambridge)
Velasquez, M., 2002, ‘Firms’ duties to the employee’. In Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases, (Prentice Hall)