& # 8217 ; s & # 8220 ; The End Of Work & # 8221 ; Essay, Research Paper
Jeremy Rifkin & # 8217 ; s & # 8220 ; The End of Work & # 8221 ;
Assignment # 2
by
Sugumar Sivagnanam 233722 Sec. C
Dominic Lozada 228223 Sec. B
Mike McDonald Sec. C
Presented for
M.N. Kiggundu
Business 42.210
Persons tend to develop a false sense of security refering the
certainty of their occupations. After working for an organisation for 15 or more
old ages, it is hard for them to understand that their employers may no longer
necessitate their service. Jeremy Rifkin wrote The End of Work in order to warn people
about what he foresees may be go oning to the planetary labor force because of a
rapid addition in the usage of mechanization in the workplace. He identifies what he
believes are causes of the jobs which we are presently confronting within the
organisational construction along with some possible solutions. Rifkin & # 8217 ; s thoughts
may be relevant to most peoples lives including ours. The reactions of six
presently employed individuals to Rifkin & # 8217 ; s message will be included in this text.
These professionals include a proficient director, a convenience shop proprietor, a
teller for Marriot nutrient services, a Residence-Life Staff Coordinator, a Part-
Time Credit Card Service Assistant and an Assembler for an Electrical Switch-
Gear Manufacturing Company.
Rifkin observes that the chief job of mass planetary employment in both
the private and public sectors is caused by the go oning progresss in
engineering and it & # 8217 ; s impacts on organisations, it & # 8217 ; s construction and design and it & # 8217 ; s
direct consequence on the planetary labor force. In peculiar, organisations are
utilizing the construct of re-engineering and replacing human labor with labor
salvaging engineerings. Rifkin gives us a better apprehension of the development
of the cause of this job by analyzing the three industrial revolutions. In
the first industrial revolution, Rifkin identifies steam power as the major tool
used by industrial and fabrication sectors. In the 2nd industrial
revolutions the electrical invention effected the fabrication, agricultural
and conveyance industries by farther cut downing the planetary labor force.
Unlike the past, two industrial revolutions where industrial
engineerings replace the physical power of human labor, the 3rd revolution
( The Information Age ) , at present, is lending new computing machine based engineering
which are affecting into believing machines. These believing machines will germinate
to the extent that eventual the human head will be replaced in all economic
activities. In peculiar, promotions in computing machine engineering including
parallel processing and unreal intelligence ( automatons ) are traveling to do a
big figure of white collar workers to be excess in the close hereafter.
Furthermore as a consequence of promotion in the information and telecommunications
engineerings, organisations are utilizing the construct of re-engineering to
reconstitute their organisations to do them more computing machine friendly. As a
direct consequence of this, developing employees in multi-level accomplishments, shortening and
simplifying production and distribution procedures and streamlining
disposal. One illustration of this is the planetary car industry which is
reengineering it & # 8217 ; s operation and puting in new labour displacing information
engineering, related industries are making the same, extinguishing more and more
occupations in the procedure.
It is Rifkin & # 8217 ; s belief that it is engineering that is taking occupations off
from people. He includes many statistics refering occupation loss, unemployment and
how much organisations are profiting from all this, he states that & # 8220 ; more than
75 per centum of the labour force in most industrial states engage in work that is
little more than simple insistent undertakings. Automated machinery, automatons and
progressively sophisticated computing machines can execute many if non most of these
occupations & # 8230 ; in the old ages in front more than 90 million occupations in a labour force of 124
million are potentially vulnerable to replacement by machines. & # 8221 ; ( Rifkin p.5 ) .
He shows us that this planetary unemployment effects those who are in agribusiness
industry, & # 8220 ; about half the human existences on the planet still farm and land. Now,
nevertheless, new discoveries in the information and life scientific disciplines threaten to stop
much of out-of-door agriculture by the in-between decennaries of the coming century. & # 8221 ; ( Rifkin
p.109 ) . Just to demo us how widespread this job is, he includes information
refering the ruin of those who work in the service industry & # 8220 ; computing machines
that can understand address, read book, and execute undertakings antecedently carried
out by human existences foreshadow a new epoch in which service industries come
progressively under the sphere of automation. & # 8221 ; ( Rifkin p. 143 ) .
Rifkin does, nevertheless have a few solutions to this quandary. The first of
which demonstrates a 30-hour work hebdomad because & # 8220 ; the information and
communicating engineering revolutions virtually guarantee more production with
less human labor & # 8230 ; Free clip will come, William Green said, the lone pick
is unemployment or leisure. & # 8221 ; ( Rifkin p.222 ) . There are already organisations
which have implemented this 30-hour hebdomad, with great success. Employees must
take a little wage cut, but they remain employed and merely hold to work 75 per centum
of their old clip. This solution allows for more people to be employed,
while giving those employed a larger sum of free clip. Part of what Rifkin
says is that this free clip should be spent volunteering for different causes
such as kid attention establishments, infirmaries, churches and vicinity group
activities.
Rifkin suggests that the authorities should promote this promotion of
the 3rd sector ( eg. voluntaries, non-profit organisations ) by offering a
& # 8220 ; shadow pay, in the signifier of a tax write-off on personal income revenue enhancements for voluntary
hours given. & # 8221 ; ( Rifkin p.257 ) . It has besides been suggested that the authorities
issue a minimal societal one-year income so that non-profit organisations & # 8217 ; employees
acquire an existent wage, this would extinguish public assistance and because people are
giving so much of their free clip, it would let the authorities to cut
disbursement on public plants undertakings such as constructing low-income lodging and city-
broad clean up undertakings ( New York ) . The saved money would let for the lower limit
income earners to roll up.
Meanwhile, it has been suggested that a revenue enhancement be put on all non-essential
goods and services as a beginning of authorities gross. This shows us that the
authorities would play a smaller function in society as communities would get down to
go self-contained, besides, immense cutbacks on national defense mechanism would add to the
authoritiess budgets as employers. All these solutions would finally be put
forth worldwide as mechanization takes over many places in most organisations.
One of the most of import inquiries we ask our egos while reading this
book is & # 8220 ; how does this consequence our lives? & # 8221 ; Well, there are a few parametric quantities to be
taken in to consideration. First of all, is all of what Rifkin is proposing
true? We have come to the decision that he may be partly right. We see what
he is proposing ( mechanization ) go oning all around us. For illustration, auto washes,
direct payment by the usage of our bank card and different machinery ascents at
work. We feel that our hereafter professions ( lawye
R, applied scientist and fiscal
analyst ) will non be compromised by technological promotions because we are
traveling to be a portion of what Rifkin refers to as the & # 8220 ; knowledge sector. & # 8221 ;
Knowledge sector refers to those businesss which require farther station
secondary instruction in the engineering sector instead than manual type labor. On
the other manus, engineering will help us in our occupation public presentation, which includes
the efficiency and quality of our services. Information is now literally at our
fingertips, in the yesteryear, immense libraries incorporating volumes of books were
required for many different professions, these libraries have non disappeared,
but computing machines the size of a regular binder can keep merely every bit much information.
This would ease research for many of those who will work, like us, in the
& # 8220 ; Knowledge Sector. & # 8221 ;
Current technological promotions may or may non consequence the day-to-day lives
of many persons, six such persons were interviewed for their responses
to Rifkin & # 8217 ; s message. Monique van lair Wildenberg, the abode life coordinator
with the Residence Life staff ( which is portion of Carleton University Housing and
Food services ) , states that her work does involved engineering, but, non a
sophisticated degree compared to other occupations such as the automotive industry. She
feels she is adequately knowing about engineering to do her occupation easier (
Internet Explorer. Making postings and pass oning with co-workers ) but is non afraid that
engineering will do her disused since her occupation is individual to individual occupation and no
computing machine or automaton is able to replace the singularity of human communicating and
contact. On the other manus, Wildenberg believes that engineering has a possible
to make big per centum of unemployed persons in the hereafter, but, it is
up to the person non the authorities excessively continuously learn and retrain so
they do non go outdated by engineering.
Mike Marriot working for Marriot nutrient services does experience frustrated with
new engineering introduced even though it has made his occupation easier and richer. He
knows that his organisation could hold spent half million dollars excessively
implemented a engineering that would hold eliminated his current responsibilities.
Furthermore, Marriot believes that Rifkin has some substance in this ideolology
that engineering will make a higher unemployment rate, but, it is up to the
single and the organisation to re-train, understand and header with engineering
promotion. & # 8220 ; Technology is merely every bit good as the people who are utilizing it & # 8221 ; says
Mike Marriot.
The relevancy of Rifkin & # 8217 ; s chief message and the uttered sentiments of the
following two presently employed workers was found to be inconclusive. The
3rd individual interviewed, presently, works as an assembly program for a electrical
switchgear fabrication company, a bluish collar occupation. About a twelvemonth and a half
ago his old employer laid him off due to company retrenchment. The place
that he held in that company was a direction place. Specifically, he was a
director for the assembly subdivision of the high electromotive force switchgear division. He had
held the place for about seven old ages and he had been with the company for
about 19 old ages in entire. The consequence of his ballad off from the company was
non truly the direct consequence of engineering but other factors. These factors
included the low demand for the merchandise ( high electromotive force switchgears and
transformers ) , the comparatively high cost of bring forthing the merchandise ( in comparing
to there rivals in the US ) due to the comparatively big size of the
organiza tion. The peculiar fabrication works that he had been working in
was one of many subdivision workss. In fact, the company had fabrication workss in
the US and Europe and was be aftering to close down the operations of this
peculiar works in Toronto due to the shriveling market in that part. The
program besides included for the US subdivision works to pick up the & # 8220 ; slack & # 8221 ; of the Toronto
or Ontario market. In general, this interviewee agrees with some of the
relevant points with regard to the unemployment issues that Rifkin points out
but has non experienced any negative facets of engineering. That is, he relates
to the increased competition and company re-engineering that Rifkin references
about in his book.
The 4th individual interviewed is a parttime recognition card service
helper. He has been working for the organisation for about 5 old ages and he
attends university as a full-time pupil. In the company that he has been
working for he has non experienced any negative impacts of engineering or re-
technology in the organisation. As a consequence he does non associate to Rifkin & # 8217 ; s
pessimistic position on engineering. He does on the other manus hold on Rifkin & # 8217 ; s
message on obtaining more cognition in the high tech countries. This is one of the
grounds why he attends university so that he can derive more cognition in
computing machines and maintain up to day of the month with the latest in engineering.
When a telecommunications technician was informed about Rifkin & # 8217 ; s message
refering planetary mechanization and a immense addition in unemployment, the response
given was one of no fright. Tony Deluca of Mitec Telecom. , who is director of the
trial section said that he had no concerns because his work merely can & # 8217 ; t be
done by a machine. It is clear to all those who have seen first manus what
precisely is involved in proving telecommunications equipment that Tony doesn & # 8217 ; T
hold to worry. He assembles a constituent to many different computing machines and makes
the finest accommodations so that all tallies at the proper frequence and can
withstand all power put through it. The alterations that are required can merely be
performed by skilled professionals and hence Mr. Deluca feels that his
employment for Mitec is non at hazard.
The last individual interviewed is a adult male by the name of Robyn Decoste, he is
a little concern proprietor in a suburb of Montreal. It is because he owns the shop
that he has no fright of losing all to mechanization. Although what he takes into
consideration is that the mechanisation of his shop will do work for his
kids ( he plans to give the shop to them ) far more simple. Paperwork, and
trips to the bank will shortly be non-existent. Besides, he foresees mechanization helping
him in a sense that he may necessitate to use less people in the hereafter. Presently,
he employs people to make assorted undertakings, from carrying shelves to banking and
those who work the registry. It is known that shortly plenty he will no longer necessitate
a individual at the hard currency registry, since automated charge and paying processs are
presently being perfected, yet to get the best baking consequences and to maintain
the shelves full, he must use a little figure of people.
Rifkin efforts to throw the universe into a province of daze with his book.
The End of Work is to us enlightening, nevertheless, it should non be read as a bible.
Using many illustrations taken from the past and present, Rifkin demonstrated what he
believes are the chief factors which are hurtling us towards an unemployed planetary
population. We all hold a more optimistic position of what mechanization will
accomplish in our society. From those interviewed, we have come to the
decision that the universe as a whole besides has a rather optimistic position of what
engineering can make for us.
Bibliography
Rifkin J. The End of Work, ( New York, G.P. Putnam & # 8217 ; s Son & # 8217 ; s, 1996 ) .
