Phillip Samanov – 11219286
MPO Essay One, 1500 Words
In this essay, I am going to argue that work essentially, is just a means to pay the bills – as so far in the work may exhibit highly routinized and repetitive qualities – however, driven by the need to having meaning in one’s life, thus has an intrinsic worth. In Section One, referencing
Knights and Roberts (1982), Morgan (2006) and Sennet (1998), I will display the conditions in which workers are treated as a commodity, and under these conditions, work is intrinsically worthless and simply just a means of pay. In Section Two I show how external social forces influence the way people feel about their job, as if they have something to prove or a status to withhold and the way in which managerial actions do not facilitate their working performance by drawing upon Ackroyd and Crowdy (1990). Lastly in Section Three
I will show how through the use of managerial practises, organisations are seeking to give employees a sense of recognition, connection and affirmation of their sense of self within the organisation as shown through Rosen (1988), and Brewis (2006). In conclusion, I repeat my argument which is that while work is fundamentally a means to pay the bills, one needs work to make meaning of their lives and therefore work does encompass an intrinsic worth.
Section One - Zombie Labour
Firstly, for most people, especially those in the less developed regions of the world, work is dirty, routine, very physically demanding and extremely monotonous. Such conditions exist in sweatshops located in Asian regions where ridiculously low rates such as 87c an hour is a legitimate wage. Organisations exploit labour, commanding extraordinary levels of output in minimum time. “And the worker, who for twelve hours weaves, spins, drills, turns, builds, shovels, breaks stones, carries loads, etc. - does he consider this twelve hours’ weaving, spinning, drilling, turning, building, shoveling, stone breaking as a manifestation of his life,
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Phillip Samanov – 11219286
MPO Essay One, 1500 Words as life? On the contrary, life begins for him where this activity ceases, at table, in the public house, in bed. The twelve hours’ labour, on the other hand, has no meaning for him as weaving, spinning, drilling, etc., but as earnings, which bring him to the table, to the public house, into bed.”
(Marx, 1849 ) The problem is however, that people would rather be employed in slave labour, than not work at all. “Children of nine or ten were dragged from their squalid beds at two, three, or four o’clock in the morning and forced to work for subsistence wages until ten, eleven, or twelve at night, their frames dwindling, their faces whitening and their humanity sinking into a stone-like torpor, utterly horrible to contemplate.” (Morgan, 2006)
Their slave labour not only impacted them physically, but morally, psychologically and spiritually. The job offered no utility or satisfaction. But if working 16 hour shifts was their only means of generating income, then of course for the individual, even though a rather difficult and unpleasant has no choice but to work to survive. Thus I consolidate my argument that in such cases work is just a means to pay the bills.
Similarly, some individuals may psychologically distance themselves from their work.
Though physically present each day, individuals often seem to be mentally distant from what is happening to them. (Knights and Roberts, 1982) For example, customer service work requires employees to deliver scripted greetings and conversations to customers in so far as the organisation is implementing the employee’s beliefs, values and emotions. Furthermore, extreme cases such as telecommunication in foreign countries such as India which require the individual to consummate a particular identity which the organisation seems to think will make the customer feel more comfortable . Additionally, in the case of a janitor had spent twenty years cleaning toilets and mopping floors. He did so with no complaints, but also without any hype of the American Dream. His work had one single purpose, to service his family. In this case, the janitor literally saw his identity at home as the family man, and his identity at work as the janitor as two separate entities. His work as the janitor basically was
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Phillip Samanov – 11219286
MPO Essay One, 1500 Words just a way to earn money to support his family existentially. Hence I reinforce my argument that for most people, work is indeed just a means to pay the bills.
Section Two - Tough Guys
Individuals have a basic natural need to be recognised by others, to see themselves from another person’s point of view, and therefore the basic conception that workers have of themselves is fabricated by external social factors, separate from the workplace. Drawing upon the case of slaughtermen (Ackroyd and Crowdy, 1990), whereby employees had a positive attachment to their workplace irrespective of its highly repetitive and repulsive qualities. This positive attachment stemmed from their impression of themselves in respect of the view of society. The slaughtermen saw themselves as doing a job that could only be done by those who are physically and mentally strong. Compared to society, these men saw themselves as tough and heroic, characteristics derived from the physicality and brutality associated with their work, which they expected, most normal citizens could not carry out.
“For the younger men in particular, there was a conspicuous tendency to draw attention to their work”. They would wear their blood-stained clothes with pride, portraying their toughness and pride in the job they carry out. By performing such a job they attract a status or gain status enhancement as being rugged and manly in respect to the wider community.
Hence I build up my argument that external social forces influence the way people feel about their job, as if they have something to prove or a status to withhold, and thus working for them does have an intrinsic worth.
Additionally, in the case of these slaughtermen, they were a highly motivated group of workers, not due to the deliberate management, but stemmed from the enormous pride the employees took in their work. The employees became an autonomous work group, motivated by the informal competition between workers, each employee trying to work harder and
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Phillip Samanov – 11219286
MPO Essay One, 1500 Words faster than the next person. They took pride in being able to complete the tasks of their physically demanding workload. “Typically, they would work through without a break until there was no more work to be done.” (Ackroyd and Crowdy, 1990) Managers rarely had to deal with the workgroup and did not utilise any managerial practices to alter work performance, providing the workers with considerable autonomy. Thus my argument that managerial actions did not facilitate the working performance of the cohort is solidified.
Section Three – See Me
Even though, most people do work as a means to pay the bills, individuals do feel the need to make meaning of their life. People must progress, go further, and harvest opportunities in the quest of life. Society is becoming increasingly anxious as to whether their life is filled with meaning. Employees are afraid of being just another tool in the shed, they want to be recognised inside the organisation for what they are worth, as a person. Ergo there has been a rise in organisational practices that bring about the recognition of employees as more than just a machine, through such schemes as ‘employee of the moth, flexitime, gyms and extracurricular activities’. Organisations provide some meaning for workers so that their work makes some kind of sense to them, which can be seen as motivating (Brewis, 2006)
Individuals therefore will generate their own meanings and identities at work to satisfy their social desire to be of worth to the organisation. Therefore I restate my argument, that through the use of managerial practises, organisations are seeking to give employees a sense of recognition, connection and affirmation of their sense of self within the organisation.
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Phillip Samanov – 11219286
MPO Essay One, 1500 Words
Furthermore, there has also been an increase in managerial practises that promote and place emphasis on the importance of relationships between employees and employers. If Bosses are shown to be human, if intimacies are encountered during the drama, if people have fun being together, so may these things also come to be in the day-to-day process of the agency.
(Rosen, 1988) Both employees and employers are instrumental to each other, and thus I consolidate my argument that through the use of managerial practises, organisations are seeking to give employees a sense of recognition, connection and affirmation of their sense of self within the organisation.
Therefore, I have argued in this essay that work essentially, is just a means to pay the bills – as so far in the work may exhibit highly routinized and repetitive qualities – however, driven by the need to having meaning in one’s life, thus has an intrinsic worth. I developed this argument in three different sections. In Section One I displayed the conditions in which workers were treated as a commodity, and under these conditions, work was intrinsically worthless and simply just a means of pay, in reference to Knights and Roberts (1982),
Morgan (2006) and Sennet (1998). In Section Two I displayed how external social forces influenced the way people feel about their job, as if they had something to prove or a status to withhold and the way in which managerial actions did not facilitate their working performance as shown by Ackroyd and Crowdy (1990). In Section Three I revealed how through the use of managerial practises, organisations are sought to give employees a sense of recognition, connection and affirmation of their sense of self within the organisation drawing upon Rosen (1988), and Brewis (2006). I have thus argued that that while work is fundamentally a means to pay the bills, one needs work to make meaning of their lives and therefore work does encompass an intrinsic worth.
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References
Phillip Samanov – 11219286
MPO Essay One, 1500 Words
 Ackroyd, S. and Crowdy, P. (1990) ‘Can culture be managed? Working with “raw” material: the case of the English slaughtermen’ Personnel Review 19(5): 3-12.

Brewis, J. (2007) 'Culture' in Knights, D. and Willmott, H. (Eds.) Introducing
Organizational Behaviour and Management, London: Thompson: pps. 344-374.

Knights, D. and Roberts, J. (1982) ‘The power of organisation or the organisation of power?’ Organisation Studies, 3(1): 47-63.
 Morgan, G. (2006) ‘‘The Ugly Face: Organizations as Instruments of Domination’ excerpt from Images of Organization London: Sage, Ch. 9

Rosen, M. (1988) ‘You asked for it: Christmas at the bosses expense’ Journal of
Management Studies 25(5): 463-480.

Sennet, R. (1998) The Corrosion of Character: the personal consequences of work in the new capitalism. New York, Norton.
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