ABSTRACT
In his monograph on work and job satisfaction from which this chapter is derived, Fraser (1983) notes that there is a widespread belief amongst those concerned with influencing the social consciousness of the more advanced industrial societies that despite the amelioration of physical conditions, achieved over the last half century and more, the ambiance of work is becoming increasingly less tolerable in most levels of working society. The days of exploitation in an inhumane environment may be to a large extent gone, but the dangers and the indignities residing therein have been replaced, at least in part, by other more subtle and intangible threats.The substance of this belief is predicated on recognition of the fact that while the requirements for the work force have changed with both industrialization and the development of technology, and while the character of the work force has also changed as its members have progressively become more educated, more skilled and more productive, the change in demand for work skills has not developed in parallel with the change in character of the workforce. It is argued that a considerable proportion of workers at all levels may be called upon to perform depersonalized or perhaps inherently stressful tasks in an alien, restrictive, and socially pressured environment, with resulting personal dissatisfaction or even sickness, social unrest and economic disruption.If in fact this is so, and there is some justification for that belief, how has it come about? As noted, there would appear to be two elements: a change in the industrial requirements for skills and a change in the attitudes and aspirations of workers. As far as skill requirements are concerned, four factors may be observed. Firstly, with the development of technology and the assumption by machines and semi-automated processes of much of the work that was previously done by man, there is a greatly reduced need for the practice in industry of the creative arts and the manual crafts. These, by their very nature, demanded dedication 118
and personal involvement, but they returned a dividend in the satisfaction of achievement. Secondly, even the requirements for physical strength and manual dexterity, of which a man might be proud, are disappearing from contemporary industry as machine power replaces human power. Thirdly, technology has created a new demand among relatively low-level workers for repetitive skills involving neuromuscular coordination, vigilance, minor decision making under externally paced conditions, along with the need for the emotional resources required to cope with the social pressures encountered. The combination of skills and resources so required is one found in few persons but demanded of many. Fourthly, the hierarchical system which has been developed for management of industry has demanded a new category of supervisory worker with an intellectual and executive capacity beyond the reach of a good proportion of the workforce.These four factors, and no doubt others, have contributed towards a change in attitude about work among the workers, and particularly the younger workers, that has developed over the years. In addition, in developed countries in particular, the prosperity that has resulted from the application of technology and the resulting raised educational and cultural level of the workers, has changed their aspirations with respect to the work they seek, as well as to the conditions in which it is performed and the reward they expect to attain. With a reduced opportunity for personal involvement, there is at the same time, and no doubt in compensation, an increased demand for safe, healthy, and comfortable conditions, increased participation in organization and planning of work, and in decisions affecting their persons, and more human relationships with supervisors and management.Paramount, however, and perhaps a motivating force for demand, is a feeling of increased insecurity induced by the existence of vague threatening factors, social, managerial, and environmental, that may have personal impact but are outside personal control.Technology and industrialization have also brought about another change, significant in this regard, namely a change in the nature of the stress to which the worker is exposed. To primitive man, perhaps right up to the Industrial Revolution, stress was most probably a readily definable, clearly identifiable state, often urgent and life-threatening but, in a sense, tangible. Man responded to stress by the actions that his physiology and behavioural patterns demanded of him, and in so doing purged himself of the stress-induced anxieties. He may have lived at a survival level in recurrent fear, but it is doubtful if he suffered from psychosomatic disease induced by work. Contemporary man is still exposed to stress, and while at times it may be life-threatening and amenable only to ‘fight or flight’, more often it is relatively less intensive, not susceptible to personal corrective action, and leaves him strained and tense, ready for battle but unable to define the enemy.
