Exploring the Realities of Work: An Introduction

Abstract

Here is a modern myth about work. Contemporary workplaces are peopled by high performing, highly committed individuals, bound together into a common cause by a corporate mission enshrined within a strong organisational culture. Workplaces themselves have been `transformed' by new technologies, new forms of organisation and a new generation of management thinking that stresses flexibility, quality, teamwork and empowerment. The workers in these establishments are motivated by ambition and a sense of purpose, and by the individually-designed financial rewards they receive --- part of those rewards taking the form of a financial stake in their organisation, either as shares or as profit-related bonuses. Employees are guided by self-interested individualism, and no longer see a role for collective organisation and representation, hence the demise of trade unions.