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The New Work Ethic

BUS 309: Business Ethics

The New Work Ethic It is becoming harder to find good work ethics in this day and time. A lot of employees view their job as one the worst jobs to be in. In the article that Sheehy wrote, “A new work ethic”, he describes his employees as having a carefree attitude. He writes about how many employees just want to go to their place of work, but actually do no work. Employers have said that it is becoming such a big issue in finding reliable employees with a drive and willingness to actually perform their job duties. Companies are trying to reintegrate that they need greatly devoted and dedicated people that love the job that they are doing and are willing to help with the continuing growth and profit of making the business a success. Sheehy talks about his employees having a do what you want and get away with what you can kind of attitude (Shaw, 2010). Sometime you could even see them slow down the pace of their tasks or even put it on hold so that someone other than them would have to finish the job at hand. Most of the employees were either upper or middle class college student that just saw the job as a way to make some extra cash. Their customer relations skills were getting rid of the customer as fast as possible and with hardly any effort. This made the integrity, reliability, quality and service of the business very poor. Many researchers fear that college students have no realistic concept of the term “a day’s work for a day’s pay” (National Center, 1998). As a teenager I myself had some of the same attitude towards the work environment. However, unlike Sheehy employees, I never really tried causing any problems with my employer. I tried to have a good attitude towards my job, it’s just sometimes I would lack the energy or efforts and drag through the day. Even the best employees have off days. But most of the time I would try to achieve my goals in and out of the workplace. I also believe that the attitude towards the work really depends on the person and how truly dedicated and satisfied they are of the work they are doing. It’s fairly reasonable to say that it is better to have workers with less qualifications that can get the job done versus having a qualified employee that will just try and skate by with doing very little as described by Sheehy. He said that employees tend view restaurants as any other fast food restaurant. This means that they see it as being boring, unsatisfying, and also managed by people that are difficult and miserable. The employees felt that it was an easy task to find an office job that would have a desk with a computer and a secretary that they could just cruise through life with little to no problems. However, they like all of society, dreamed of an action packed business world, where, they believed that a trample over anybody, get what you want approach is the road to success (Shaw, 2010). If so then there may not be a future for American business. Managers and executives perceive an erosion of the work ethic, a decline in the value and importance of work as evidenced by the behaviors and attitudes of this young generation (Siegel, 1983; Yankelovich, 1981). A lot of companies have said that they need hard devoted dedicated workers who love the job they do and be devoted to help with the continued success growth and profit making of the business. The teenagers of today have been accused by the older generation, called the “Baby Boomers”, of having no work ethic (Filipczak, 1994). If these accusations are true then a downturn in productivity could have serious and damaging effects in every facet of industry, education, and society as a whole. Employers have ranked work ethic as one of the attributes they want most in new hires. However, they say that it is often hard to find this type of attribute. Employers value dependability, initiative, and interpersonal skills in the people they hire, but say that locating workers that are reliable, drug-free, motivated, and possessing strong work ethic is difficult (Hill & Petty, 1995). I believe that it is very important to a company and employers to expect their workers to be devoted to their jobs; they need to have the skills required. They must perform to the best of their ability, especially in the area of customer service. I believe it to be in the workers best interest to be dedicated, flexible, quick and reliable. I say this because my past supervisors always taught me that if the company does not quickly and consistently please their customers they will lose business very rapidly and make no money and in turn one would be out of a job. In this capitalist society the globe is in search of profit more rapid than before and expects to have the best workers possible to help with the profit and continue growth of their companies.
I believe that opportunity and peer pressure are the main reasons for employee theft. NEW YORK, Aug. 11, 1999: Michael G. Kessler & Associates, Ltd. the leading international investigative and forensic accounting firm specializing in corporate issues affecting today’s workplace, completed an exhaustive study surveying over 500 employees nationwide on the issue of employee theft in the work place. For some employees questioned the reason for their theft was pure greed. For others it was vindictiveness, or a need to get even with their boss, or firm, for injustices thrust upon them. And for a small percentage it was need.
If an employer makes theft too easy then they are setting themselves up for the crime. If an employer treats their employees with little respect an employee may go the extra step to perform the crime as a payback for the humiliation he may be forced to endure. If an employee has a serious problem (i.e. financial, gambling, death or illness) within his family and he has nowhere to turn for help or guidance, he may be forced to take matters into his own hands to solve his existing problem, by stealing from the firm. The main basic reasons why employees steal are low morale at the work place. The employees feel that the business or company has mistreated them in some way. The employees feel that they are under paid and underappreciated for the hard work they do, Lack of inventory and employee peer pressure. It is easy to steal because the employer does not have preventive measures to stop the employees. That is why preventive measures are crucial to reducing the risk of employee theft because then the employees have no opportunity to steal.
An optimist would say that a job well done is reward enough for the effort. In reality however, it is never good to complete the tasks merely for the personal economic gain and/or recognition. This since there will never be anything left but disappointment if the task fails to bring the rewards a person expects. Despite all, society today revolves largely around the promise of wealth and fame, partially due to the capitalist system it is governed by. People today are not motivated by a sense of personal achievement instead they are motivated by selfish reasons. This day and age society revolves around the promise of material rewards for accomplishments, making it easy for the people to be motivated by greed. Money and fame has always remained part of the American dream, and in its steps follows the promise of being able to pursue a goal for more than a sense of accomplishment. This goes hand in hand in the way Sheehy describe the attitudes his workers had. In part it’s the way society sees those jobs as demeanor that gave them the concept they had in their head that the job they did wasn’t a real job it was just a hassle and where just waiting to make the big score “with an office job” to buy time and pay for groceries. The employees all believed in what societies depict the American dream to be. Society has always had a role in how people live, think, and how they value their surroundings.

References
W. Shaw 2010 CENGAGE Learning. Business Ethics 7th Edition http://journals.naspa.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1318&context=jcc http://elibrary.bigchalk.com.libdatab.strayer.edu/elibweb/elib/do/document?set=search&dictionaryClick=&secondaryNav=&groupid=1&requestid=lib_standard&resultid=17&edition=&ts=6A8552C13125363C4B67AD9A5F4CFAF7_1320774964751&start=1&publicationId=&urn=urn%3Abigchalk%3AUS%3BBCLib%3Bdocument%3B153099285
National Center, 1998
Siegel, 1983; Yankelovich, 1981
Filipczak, 1994
Hill & Petty, 1995
http://www.investigation.com/press/press4.htm

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