ABSTRACT
We have seen that work can have a dramatic impact upon the way people see themselves and that they might use work to enhance their own sense of identity. If everybody had the qualifications, the aptitudes and the experience necessary to do what they want in the way they choose, there could be harmony between their sense of identity and their work. People would be able to choose jobs to suit their abilities and aspirations and the job in turn could reinforce their sense of self. The problem, however, is that work is not always enriching. Work can sometimes undermine confidence and deprive people of satisfaction and fulfilment. When this occurs, we talk about being or feeling alienated. Workers can find themselves caught between two distinct inner states. The internal goods created by work can lift and inspire the worker to work with passion and innovation. Work can also make them feel wretched, exhausted and unfulfilled and perhaps instil within them the belief that the more they work the more foolish they become. Exploited and stripped of his or her finer qualities, the alienated worker lives in dread of work and desperate for diversion. Alienation and fulfilment can be seen as a framework within which many workers operate. The way they locate themselves within this framework can reveal a great deal about their expectations of work and their assumptions about the rewards of work. By taking these two concepts into account, people might be better placed to make informed decisions about their work and the way they conceptualise the development of their careers. Alienation and fulfilment are not merely passive descriptions of the way individuals feel about work, but they are also tools they can use to make important decisions about the work they do and the way they want to develop. In addition to viewing alienation and fulfilment as inner states stemming from the way workers look upon the work they do and how this fits with their own identity, it is important to recognise that individuals are also influenced by the environments within which they live and work. In order to examine this, we will take a closer look at some of the arguments presented for and against open-plan offices.
