Business and society: relationships and impacts

Business & Society

As society moves from the paradigm of lifetime employment to one where work is characterized by a series of careers, the degree to which one's sense of self-identity is related to one's job is called into question. Erez (2000) argues that we self-identify with our jobs to such an extent that we will frame our jobs in a manner that enhances the meaningfulness. Her concept is job-crafting, the idea that people seek to define themselves by their jobs, and they alter their jobs to fit the definition that they seek.

Ultimately, one's job does form a part of his or her identity. Upon being introduced to somebody new, we often discuss our careers before other facets of life -- our hobbies, hometowns or even families. What may be different today is that the ways in which workers of older generations defined themselves with their jobs and the ways in which younger workers do so differs. For older workers, employment was often for life and one did not change careers often. One's career defined one's status is society, in part because the former never changed so the latter need not change either. Younger workers take a different approach. For them, the job is not where status comes from, but they do identify with a particular outlook towards careers. Younger workers often see themselves as a business entity. Extending this view, they take the view that their work is a task that they are performing for themselves. Work is still closely tied to one's sense of self, but the loyalties are different.

Corporations have also responded to these changes in the ways that workers relate to their jobs. Erez notes that the predominant 20th century view that emphasized the Taylorist viewpoint gradually fell by the wayside. Companies were forced to acknowledge that they owed their workers a duty of care specifically because of the way that the workers tied their self of self-identity to their jobs. Younger workers, having seen that model collapse in successive rounds of layoffs, demand different job designs, and more specifically they demand a greater degree of control over job design. Younger workers taking more control over their job design has resulted in what Erez describes as customizing one's job in order to suit one's sense of self. The sense of self is stronger, and the job needs to be responsive to it, rather than vice versa.