The American workplace in the global economy: changes, practices, and consequences

Sociology of Work

It has become a generally acknowledged fact nowadays that a new global economy is coming into view. This innovative international economy is distinguished "by the transnational flow of capital, goods, services and labor; by greater national specialization and increased competition across borders; and by the use of new technologies" (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006). Moreover, it has completely disturbed the long-established ways of business responsibilities and operations.

The United States of America has aimed a position for itself at the zenith of the world market in order to seek a competitive advantage. This paper discusses the changes in the American workplace, the practices and policies that are required by the United States to ensure the continuation of being the world's leading economic power. It also discusses how the contemporary adaptations in the American workplace have affected the employees and their families.

Changes in the American Workplace

The American corporations have been transformed by the surfacing of a global economy. This transformational emergence, thus, forced a lot of them to reformulate themselves for meeting the escalating contest from abroad. Therefore, it has become a regular practice of great American businesses to improve their performance on a constant basis. They have also become accustomed of reinventing and changing their products and strategies in a swift manner. In countless cases, the United States companies have launched their operations more or less everywhere in the world (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

The vital changes that are taking place in the American workplace presently are downsizing (as a stable aspect of the business economy), job reengineering (for the enhancement of the performance of work whilst cutting its costs) and teaming (for the elimination of layers of supervision and conservation of the originality and skill synergies of a supportive labor force) (Greenberg & Grunberg).

1. Ownership

Several decades ago, the principal ownership of the corporations was in the hands of individual shareholders. The scenario today is different as the financial institutions are the leading stockholders. This change in the American workplace has led to a theory of corporate capitalism. Wall Street's pointed stress on short-term performance can be said to be the most powerful consequence of this change (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

The implementation of this change has, thus, transformed the fiscal principles in the country's large businesses. Therefore, the job of privately-run businesses to create shareholder wealth currently has taken superiority over their assignments to other stakeholders; to their human resources specifically (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

2. Global Competitor Organizations

The ideal demonstration of the mentioned new worldwide financial order is the materialization of the Global Competitor organization. It is, in fact, the business model that has been fabricated to transform the conventional business model. This innovative approach towards the reformation and management of the organizations has brought huge outcomes for the hired employees. In creating GC organizations, the management in today's businesses is therefore, reconstituting the American workplace to create Global Competitor Organizations. The employees have been observed to work longer and harder as a consequence of this change in the American workplace. In addition to this, expectations regarding their performance have become greater than before (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

3. The Nature of Organizations

The available data and facts substantiates that the national productivity has considerably increased due to the amalgamation of the three peripheral forces of revolution in the American workplace. These three forces of transformation are globalization, technology and the focus on performance. According to the calculations provided by the economists, "U.S. productivity increased 72% between 1973 and 2003" (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006). However, the achievement of this growth was not constant. On the contrary, the current increase of growth rate is the shared impact of IT and a number of other managerial changes. In the manufacturing sector of the country, the human resource has been replaced by machines. Also, the businesses have stopped offering lower-paid jobs. Instead, they are seeking for higher-skilled and competent individuals who are offered higher-paid jobs. In addition to this, the businesses have expanded as the number of recruits on the payrolls has minimized (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

4. Employee Involvement

When the employees are given authority over their work by the manger, a good manager then always reward them for a commendable performance. These managers concentrate on the indispensable human needs for appreciation, power and belonging by doing so. The truth is that the morale, confidence and performance of the workers are not determined by the physical constituents of the workplace but by the mentioned recognition. It is especially observable in companies where the employees work together and create social bonds which eventually results in success for all (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

Most of the manufacturing units in the United States assumed or tried out self-managing work teams during the 1980s and the 1990s. Some did so for cutting payroll costs and/or for job enrichment (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006). In a majority of cases, these efforts involving employees led to "increased employee motivation and to lower levels of turnover, absenteeism and stress-related illness" (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

5. Total Quality Management

Total Quality Management (TQM) is an approach to administration, management and supervision. It has its origins in Japanese industry where it surfaced during the 1950s. Later, it gained popularity in the Western World during the 1980s ("Total Quality Management"). TQM is a set of executive performing operations that is designed for the improvement of quality performance at all levels of a business. It is applied for both meeting and exceeding the requirements of the consumer. It also strongly focuses on the uninterrupted improvement of all business functions and activities. Thus, this system has its total emphasis on the incessant improvement of the processes of the company ("Total Quality Management").

The new American workplace shares operating information with its employees and also teaches them the statistical methods that are required for self-management concerning quality control. The changed American workplace has adopted the TQM system involving several practices to influence the nature of work (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

6. Reengineering and Off-shoring

The American workplace of the contemporary era has been involved in the reengineering movement since the 1990s. It mainly focuses on the reduction of costs by abolishing steps that are not required in work processes. Reengineering specifically helps in the elimination of unnecessary layers of administration. This practice of lessening of pointless layers of management has turned out to be acceptable in almost every organization at the moment (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

Similarly, the large corporations in the United States have been engaged in sending key operations offshore for taking advantage of lower wages that are rewarded to the employees in other countries. Many companies hire workers abroad to perform the tasks that the Americans are not willing to do themselves. A good number of large organizations also hire international human resource for making use of their special skills. Another reason of off-shoring is to have a way in to the local markets (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

Despite the consequences of why large businesses and corporations send work abroad, this practice has been observed to be an effectual one when it comes to the environment of work remaining in America. By amalgamating off-shoring and information technology, the new American workplace has experienced a deep effect on the nature of work and its employees. Most domestic jobs have been reshaped with the combination of total quality management (TQM), employee involvement, information technology and reengineering (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

1. Career and Career Opportunities

To put simply, there has been a considerable change in careers and career opportunities since the 1970s. This change is predominantly affecting the professional and administrative workers who are now offered with many professional choices than several decades back. The significant increase in knowledge of technology and science in recent times has also paved way for a simultaneous propagation of areas of proficiency and skills. This technological and scientific transformation at the workplace has given birth to more opportunities for professional specializations (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

The individuals now also have the decision-making power by using which they can pick to be a part of any organization. The country has seen and is seeing the setting up of new service businesses. There are innumerable foreign companies in the country who are hiring large numbers of Americans. This does not end here. The self-employment opportunities in the present times are greater than ever (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

It can be easily concluded that the autonomy and independence that an individual now have for structuring his/her career path are the most important consequences of change. The worker today is mainly responsible for his/her career planning, guidance and skill development as he/she can change jobs more frequently. The organizations have become less powerful in confining careers for the people. The positive changes in the American workplace have made workers more fulfilling, passionate and independent thus making job an enjoyable experience for them (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

2. Work/Life Balance

According to reports, 38% American citizens are not able to balance their jobs and private lives. In the present times, a multiplicity can be clearly seen in the tremendously exposed work/life balance conflicts. However, the nature of these conflicts varies extensively depending on the kind of work individuals do and also on the circumstances in their family (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

It is not an untold secret that strain between work and life at home, without a doubt, can cause negative repercussions for the welfare of individuals, their spouses and children. There could be implications for society as well. However, as the individual wishes, requirements, inspirations, and financial conditions of the American populace are so dissimilar, it is not possible to find a solution of these tensions. The psychologists and philosophers still are not successful in finding out a universal best practice as far as work/life balance is concerned (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

At the same time, it is desirable of the employers to "have a moral imperative to be honest and clear about the conditions and expectations attached to the jobs they offer" (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006). They are required to identify the restrictions regarding their corporation's policies concerning the private life/families of their employees (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

3. Health and Safety

As far as the health and safety of the American worker is concerned, there has been an improvement with the adaptive measures at the workplace. Facts and figures reveal that there has been a fifty percent decrease in nonlethal injuries in manufacturing and construction. If compared with the past conditions, American workplaces are not as dangerous today. It is also a great achievement that nearly all the worst job-related diseases are now being eradicated (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

Latest findings reveal that the leading factors of absenteeism in the country presently are related to family. Most of the people who fail to reach their offices on time offer anxiety as the reason. Though jobs and working environments have transformed with the passage of time, stress has been there forever and is observed to reach all the layers of the workforce. Studies prove that social support can lessen down the increased blood pressure. That's why it can be easily concluded that a healthy workplace is one where opportunities for social interaction are provided adequately. For the same reason, it has been demonstrated in a number of researches that the healthiest workplaces are those where workers interact with each other regularly and socially support each other (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

4. Employee Stock Ownership

Since the last four decades, the American workplace has experienced a significant increase in employee stock ownership. According to current estimations, more or less twenty-three million American citizens have the ownership of stocks in businesses they are an employee of. This is the reason why a positive behavior is evident in most of the contemporary workplaces as employee-owners are more prone to demonstrate positive behavior on the job. The employees who own stocks stay with a company as a consequence of a concern for evenhandedness interest. Similarly, more attention is given to the financial performance by them. This kind of positive behavior ultimately proves valuable and fruitful for the company thus strengthening the employer-employee relation (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

5. Training and Development

A noticeable junction of trends in the current century has intensified the need for additional and improved training related to job including job training. These contemporary trends include "the increasing speed of technology change; the increasing sophistication of foreign competitors; the export of manufacturing jobs; downsizing due to pressures to increase productivity; shortcomings in the quality of formal education; and the aging of the workforce" (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

When combined, these trends create an ever-increasing need for human resources to bring their skills and knowledge up-to-date or develop new ones. Companies that are completely dedicated to provide long-term opportunities for worker knowledge, growth and development have more chances of generating profits on their investments in terms of better employee initiative, impetus, dependence and lessened turnover (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006). GC companies like Dell, Boeing, Intel, Procter & Gamble, and PepsiCo are wholly committed to employee improvement and are thus observed to "benefit as much as employees from investments in training and education, particularly in terms of having a recruiting edge with the most qualified job candidates" (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

6. The Older Worker

The new changes at workplace have intensified the discrimination against middle-aged and older workers. More or less every member of the middle-aged and older category suffers from the outcomes of an age-biased employment-related action, at some time during their professional life. Although age discrimination in the workplace is barred by the law, "middle-aged and older workers are nevertheless subjected to adverse employment decisions motivated by false, stereotypical notions concerning the physical and mental abilities of older workers" (Gregory, 2001). Thus, it is a common experience for such workers to be steered towards getting forceful retirements. Mostly, they are not given promotions, fired or are otherwise unfavorably influenced by age-based decisions of their employers (Gregory, 2001).

To conclude, it can be easily said that the American workforce of the future will be minor, more female, and culturally-diverse and greatly deficient in the skills that are required to perform competently in a knowledge-based service market. It will be more itinerant and less dependable having more expectations than previous worker generations ("Meeting the Challenges of," 2002).

What can be done for more Employee Satisfaction?

Employers can take a number of steps to make a healthy environment at their workplaces. They must support physical trainings and weight control. All the organizations are required to make adequate attempts for educating their human resources and must guide them about their responsibilities for restricting their own health-risk factors. At most of the workplaces in America today, employees are provided exercise rooms at workplaces for working out. Many employers offer weight reduction programs to the workers whereas some offer health clubs' memberships (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

Secondly, people should be rightly managed. The employers must make sure to address their expectations as workers easily become stresses when they do not know about what is required of them. The employees must also be provided with sufficient resources for carrying out the tasks assigned to them. Managers must make sure to create such conditions where their subjects can accomplish their assigned tasks without any lack of resources (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

The employers must also make sure to create an environment where the supervisors are supportive and understanding. It is almost always the blunders of management due to which the workers do not perform well. Therefore, it is important for the businesses and corporations to train the managers and supervisors (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

Work/family balance must always be encouraged. It is a distinguishing characteristic of the well-designed employers that they offer child and elder care, flexible arrangement of schedules and job sharing for reducing conflict of roles. They make efforts for increasing organizational support of workers for creating healthier and more dynamic places of work (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).

Conclusion

To cut a long story short, if the United States of America wants to be successful as the global leader in skills, knowledge, expertise and high value-added goods and services, the corporations must implement an employee-friendly approach (O'Toole & Lawler III, 2006).