...Discuss Marx’s theory of alienation and assess whether it is still relevant in the contemporary workplace. In a capitalism society of those days, workers worked solely for the profit and rarely any focus will be spared on if the products were of the social need. On top of that, while the social classing was still heavily emphasized, most of the employees were not given sufficient protection and the fundamental benefits as a committed worker. This brought to the rising of Karl Marx with the term ‘Alienation’ in the year of 1844, which reflected that things naturally belong together had been separated or to put another antagonism between things that were properly in harmony. Making this statement, Karl Marx attributed the cause of alienation to the systematic result of capitalism. From the term alienation, Karl Marx had classified it into four types of alienations, namely alienation from the product, alienation from productions, alienation from others and last but not least, alienation from self. Referring back to Karl Marx, alienation from products gives the meaning that the workers have no rights to decide what they are going to produce, instead they are only focusing on the profits while the social needs are entirely ignored. Alienation from productions refers to the condition whereby the workers are not allowed to develop freely physically and mentally, they are forced to cling to the rigid rules and regulations. For the alienation from others, it incurs...
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...outsider. It is the domain where the subjective experiences of individuals are collectively constructed and reconstructed to create shared understandings and develop norms that guide and pattern behavior. Now the analysis begins with a discussion of the extent to which work produces conditions of alienation for employees. This is followed by an examination of the way that employees may counter alienating tendencies through various creative strategies. And there are five survival strategies are explored: making out, fiddling, joking, sabotaging and escaping. Alienation Let’s start with alienation—it is freely used in the media and arises in everybody conversation. Here we have restricted the discussion to outlining two different perspectives on alienation. The first views alienation as an objective state, and builds on concepts originally defined by Karl Marx, while the second introduces elements of subjectivity into the analysis of alienation, and terms from a study by Robert Blauner. Alienation as an objective state Marx argues that alienation is an intrinsic part of the capitalist labour process, and the therefore is an unavoidable objective state in which all workers find themselves. It manifests itself because in selling their labour power, employees are relinquishing the right to control their own labour, thus discretion over how and when work should be undertaken becomes the prerogative of employers. As a result of this relationship, according to Marx, employees...
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...Marx. This reading discusses how under capitalism, society is divided into the wage workers and the capitalists who have misappropriated the means of production from the workers, thereby making them suffer alienation in many different forms. The first form of alienation is where the worker grows to see the object of his work as foreign and hostile to himself. Although the worker invests his entire life into this object, he doesn’t own the means of production and gains nothing out of his work other than a mere paycheck that’s just enough for him to survive and continue working. The more he produces the more alienated he becomes. This alienation is where the worker is estranged from the product. The second alienation is where the worker is alienated from the actual activity of working. This is because this work doesn’t come from his natural desire to express himself creatively but instead he is only working as a means of survival. He is forced to work, not for himself, but for someone else benefit. Which means that typically the working is doing a job that is demeaning to him, or he finds to be lesser than himself, because he’s forced to do this work he loses his sense of self and dignity in the process. The third kind is alienation from his species...
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...Psychological Bulletin 1980, Vol. 88, No. I. 60-77 Work and Nonwork: A Review of Models, Methods, and Findings Boris Kabanoff School of Social Sciences, Flinders University of South Australia, Bedford Park, South Australia This article examines theory and research in the field of work/nonwork relations. Three different theories of work/leisure relations are examined—compensation, generalization, and segmentation. All three theories have received some support; however, the review indicates that much of the available research evidence is constrained by conceptual and methodological problems. A number of paradigms for describing work/leisure patterns are reviewed, and it is concluded that most of these paradigms are more suitable for classifying leisure definitions than for guiding empirical research. Research in this field requires objective definitions of attributes common across life spheres. A task-based description of work and nonwork is discussed, and its research utility is illustrated. It is recommended that future research be concerned with describing different work/leisure patterns, the processes underlying these patterns, and the life consequences associated with different patterns. The meaning and the relationships between labor and leisure, work and contemplation, or in the most general sense, work and nonwork have been a source of intellectual, political, and religious debate for a considerable period in Western history. However, the view that the interplay...
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...Sociology 100 – Key theorists Bauman, Zygmunt (1925– ) A Polish-born sociologist who was expelled by the Communist government of Poland and dismissed from Warsaw University. He left Poland in 1968, working in Israel (and briefly in Australia) and then in Britain, at Leeds University. Bauman is a prolific and highly influential writer whose work extends beyond academic sociology. His study of contemporary ‘liquid’ society and postmodernity, and the ethical and moral consequences of living in such a society, have made him one of the most influential social theorists of modern times. Liquid society – postmodernity, ethics and moral consequences. Bourdieu, Pierre (1930–2002) A French sociologist and anthropologist whose work attempted to deal with how people contribute to their own domination. Developing the concepts of ‘habitus’, ‘cultural capital’, and ‘field’, Bourdieu examined processes of subordination and resistance in a number of areas of social life, including education, art, literature, language, television, and the globalised economy. Bourdieu’s most famous book is Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste (1984). Globalised economy, subordination and resistance in social life. ‘Culture capital’ Burke, Edmund (1729–97) An English politician and writer, often seen as the father of modern conservatism for his hostile reaction to the chaos and violence of the French Revolution. For many, his defence of tradition and individual liberty is...
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...Mid-Term Case Study Analysis Introduction According to Ann Cunliffe, Organization Theory “wasn’t recognized as a discipline until the 1960s” (Cunliffe, 2008, pp. 8). Currently however, Organization Theory is a common concept and has to be practiced every day by managers. For that reason, managers and administrators must be aware of the competitive advantage that derives from the thorough knowledge of organizational theories. Organizational literature offers a broad amount of tools that can help managers in their decision making processes. Even though theories are not rules, they are based on observation and data collection over the years, and are accepted among scholars (Vibert and Hurst, 2003). Consequently, learning the theories that scholars have written in the past (and in the present) help managers to create a portfolio of frameworks to solve the problems they might face in their organizations. Moreover, managers who excel the practice of organizational theories become more critical individuals; improve effectiveness within their organizations and develop the ability to predict organizational behavior. Based on the above, this paper pretends to put into practice the theories and concepts learned so far in the academic course Organization Theory. Accordingly, this script summarizes the practical analysis of the case presented in Jermier’s work “When the Sleeper Wakes”: A Short Story Extending Themes in Radical Organization Theory (Jermier, 1985). This critical analysis...
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...optimizes the congruence or "fit " among them in to produce high performance in terms of the effective response to customer requirements and other environmental demands and opportunities. The best alternative for companies wanting to acquire and integrate the organizational technology to transform themselves may be the "high-performance work system. HPWS may be the one approach that focuses on both work and people, as well as on problem-solving and opportunity development. It is a business formula that meets employers ' needs for ever-increasing performance and productivity from employees, and employees ' needs for an environment that provides effective performance support and facilitates their on-the-job learning and continuous performance improvement. Among the latest developments in the evolution of management principles and practices, the HPWS concept is an all-encompassing approach that integrates numerous important management innovations capable of improving the performance of today’s companies. It incorporates the latest and best knowledge we have pertaining to the productive management of organizations (Pepitone, 1995) A high-performance work system is composed of three sets of managerial practices. The first set includes job design and execution with the inclusion of such elements as functional flexibility, quality circles and suggestion schemes. The second set is aimed at ensuring the presence in employees of adequate knowledge, skills and competencies Training...
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...The main thrust of Durkheim's overall doctrine is his insistence that the study of society must eschew reductionism and consider social phenomena sui generis. Rejecting biologistic or psychologistic interpretations, Durkheim focused attention on the social-structural determinants of mankind's social problems. Durkheim presented a definitive critique of reductionist explanations of social behavior. Social phenomena are "social facts" and these are the subject matter of sociology. They have, according to Durkheim, distinctive social characteristics and determinants, which are not amenable to explanations on the biological or psychological level. They are external to any particular individual considered as a biological entity. They endure over time while particular individuals die and are replaced by others. Moreover, they are not only external to the individual, but they are "endowed with coercive power, by . . . which they impose themselves upon him, independent of his individual will." Constraints, whether in the form of laws or customs, come into play whenever social demands are being violated. These sanctions are imposed on individuals and channel and direct their desires and propensities. A social fact can hence be defined as "every way of acting, fixed or not, capable of exercising on the individual an external constraint." Although in his early work Durkheim defined social facts by their exteriority and constraint, focusing his main concern on the operation of the legal...
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...(p7) 2.1 Individual contribution and assessing alternative approaches to personality and its measurement. (p9) 2.2 Process of perception and any distortions that may arise. (p10) 2.3 The concept of attitudes and the problems of attitude change including solutions like the learning process and its key theories. (p11) Part 2: 3.1 Comparing and contrasting need theories, behavioural models and process approaches. (p12) 3.2 Problems of motivation and the implications for management of the different theories. (p12) 3.3 The main approaches and recent developments in improving job design.(p15) 4.1 The concepts of morale and job satisfaction and their relationship to performance. (p16) 4.2 The sources of and reactions to frustration and alienation at work. (p17) 4.3 Analysing stress, appreciate its links to personality and recognise how best to handle stressful situations. (p18) Part 3: 5.1 Distinguishing formal and informal groups and their effects on behaviour. (p20) 5.2 Key characteristics and functions of effective workgroups and the process of group development.(p21) 5.3 Roles or skills associated with effective teams and explore the nature of team spirit.(p23) 6.1 Distinguishing leadership from management and the exercise of power as distinct from authority. (p24) 6.2 Comparing and contrasting leadership theories based on traits,...
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...TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Comparison of Approaches to Teamwork and Team-Working Comparison of Organizational Structure and Design Comparison of Cultures Conclusion Bibliography Introduction The business organizations in today’s modern world are considered as significant and important sub-groups which are present in our society and they function with their own organizational structure differently, concerning business, healthcare, political, economic and social conditions. (Deal, 1990) They have some specific missions, problems, duties, market, and the services provided in a society, and distinction in their problems and duties makes their unique subgroups. The organizations are constituted with various teams allocated with specific functions to increase productivity in their organization. Thus, it becomes necessary for effective teamwork work to increase and improve all organization. Speaking, “that total of parts is more than whole" is applied to any organization, because if part of team or whole team is collapsed then whole organization suffers. As such it becomes important for an assessment of collective work and organizational structure of the company or the business organization. (Cox, 2000) This article considers estimates and compares organizational structures and characteristics of two given companies. This article will compare and estimate organizational structure, culture and design of the organizations, concerning...
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...STUDYING AND ANALYZING THE EFFECT OF ORGANIZATION CULTURE ON THE EMPLOYEE WORK ATTITUDE. by Fathi Abd El-Fatah El-Hashash Supervised by Prof. Dr. Kamel Ali Omran This paper was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (MBA) at Maastricht School Of Management, MSM Maastricht, The Netherlands Maastricht School Of Management P.O.Box 1203 6201 BE Maastricht The Netherlands October 2007 COPYRIGHT All copyright reserved t the Regional IT Institute and to be owned by the Institute who reserve all rights to this document. Any copy, reproduction in any form or by any means and / or use of this document or any part of it is prohibited and only allowed after taking written permission from the Regional IT Institute. © Fathi El-Hashash, MsM-RITI-Cairo Outreach Program, 2007 i ACKNOWLEDGMENT With GOD wiliness I managed to finish this thesis after days and months of hard working. I would like to dedicate my thesis to the soul of my father who passed away 11 years ago, but still live in my heart and mind. I wish to tell him that I would never reached what I achieved in my life without your effort and raising, and no matter what I did I would never give you back what you deserve. Father I really do miss you so much my best friend. I would like also to dedicate my thesis to my mother, who suffer a sever illness problem, but gave me the best support I can ever have, I would like to thank my brother Ahmed, my sister...
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...1. Many experts argue that people do their best work when they are motivated by a sense of purpose rather than the pursuit of money. Do you agree? Critically evaluate and explain your position. The study of what motivates people has fascinated researchers and academics over the years. Many renowned researchers have come up with their own model explaining the mechanisms of motivation. Though all these theories are unique in their own right, the division of motivations into two forms; extrinsic motivations and intrinsic motivations is a common sight. Both these factors have their place in getting people out of their beds in the morning and trading the better part of their waking hours for work. However, for people to do their best work, a sense of purpose is often more useful than the pursuit of money. The type of job and position are also key factors in determining whether money or a sense of purpose will be the better motivating factor that encourages people to deliver their best work. George Bernard Shaw once said that “Lack of money is the root of all evil.” Money is defined as whether money is shells or rocks or gold or paper, in any economy it has three primary functions: it is a medium of exchange, a unit of account and a store of value. Of these three functions, its function as a medium of exchange is what distinguishes money from other assets such as stocks, bonds or houses (Mishkin, 1992). The pursuit of money is rooted in human behaviour today and the motivations for...
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...Commodity Fetishism vs. Capital Fetishism Marxist Interpretations vis-à-vis Marx’s analyses in Capital Dimitri Dimoulis and John Milios Abstract In Marx’s analysis of the Capitalist Mode of Production and more precisely in his theory of value, the key to decipher the capitalist political and ideological practices and structures is to be found. In this context, many Marxists believed that the analysis of “commodity fetishism” in Section 1 of Volume 1 of Capital renders the basis for understanding ideological domination and political coercion under the capitalist rule. The authors argue, that “commodity fetishism” is only a preliminary notion, which allows Marx to arrive, in subsequent Sections of Capital, at the concept of the “fetishism of capital”. 1. Introduction From the days of his youth Marx was familiar with the statements of ethnographers on the subject of fetishism and used the term in his own writings.1 Equally important was in this context the influence of Hegel.2 In this paper we are not going to deal with the different meanings that the notion of fetishism acquires at different points of Marx’s work, an issue which is related to the various concepts of fetishism in political economy, political philosophy and the social sciences.3 We will focus on the analysis of commodity fetishism, in an effort to contribute to the comprehension of the different dimensions of this concept, especially in Marx’s Capital. For this purpose, we will pursue the following course:...
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...attaining, converse knowledge and improving the consumption of knowledge. However, in the early 1990s, Knowledge Management (KM) started emerging as human beings are unable to utilise their full potential of their brains. This leads to organisation are unable to totally exploit the knowledge that all human beings hold. In today’s global economy, Knowledge has become essential and it creates significant competitive advantage for any organisation (Gunnlaugsdottir, 2003). By using KM, organisations are able to attain or construct valuable knowledge and to make it accessible to those who can utilise it correctly to accomplish utmost efficient procedure in order to completely control organisational performance. Organisational Learning (OL) is corresponding to KM. In the early centuries, OL are referred to as decoding suggestion from learning into practice that direct performance (Levitt and March, 1988). In other words, OL has to execute with embedding what has been taught into the framework of the organisation. 2. Definition of Knowledge Management and Organisational Learning 3.1 Knowledge Management Knowledge management (KM) refers to the process in which organisations acquire or create useful knowledge and make it available for employees to utilize at the proper time and place in order for them to achieve the most effective usage in for optimal organisational performance. It involves planning, organizing, motivating and controlling of workers and arrangements in...
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...“Evaluate the view that religion is an important source of moral values in contemporary societies” The debate as to whether religion is a vital source of moral values in contemporary society is continuous. Sociologists aim to know and understand exactly how and if religion plays any role in current society. This leads us to ask what exactly religion is. According to sociologists, there are three main ways of defining religion: substantive, functional and social constructionist. Max Weber (1905) describes substantive religion as a belief in a superior or supernatural power that is above nature and cannot be explained scientifically. Substantive definitions are exclusive – they draw a clear line between religious and non-religious beliefs. To be a religion, a set of beliefs must include beliefs in God or the supernatural. Functional definitions, however, are inclusive – allowing sociologists to include a wide range of beliefs and practices. Emile Durkheim (1915) defines it in terms of contribution it makes to social integration rather than specific belief in a higher being. Milton Yinger (1970) identifies functions that religion performs for individuals, such as answering ‘ultimate questions’. Whereas, the final definition is social constructionist takes an interpretivist approach focusing how religion is defined by the individual. This definition believes that it is impossible to produce a single universal definition of religion to cover all cases since in reality different individuals...
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