The Meaning of Work in the New Economy (The Future of Work)

With economies and organizations undergoing change, understanding the nature of work and its significance to people presents a critical intellectual challenge with strong implications for policy and practice. Debates surrounding meanings and relevance of work in its contemporary setting have been hampered by a shortage of solid research findings. By drawing on a substantial body of evidence, this book challenges recent assumptions about work and raises the issues of work and employment onto broader policy and management agendas. Towards the end of the century many grandiose assertions were made about changes in the workplace and what these implied for the role of work in our lives. Many of these were incorporated into the idea of the 'knowledge economy' in which working with the new technologies was supposed to be more intrinsically satisfying, knowledge workers displayed higher levels of commitment and work in general was becoming a 'central life interest'. This book critically investigates the evidence for such trends by taking two new and expanding information-intensive employment sectors - call centres and software development. Through observation, survey and interview data from nine case studies, the book records, analyses and tries to understand the multiple levels of meaning which people attach to work today. It records not only the changes to the contemporary workplace but also the continuities with the past. Work today is the same mixture of satisfaction and unpleasantness as it has always been, but the contemporary workplace is perhaps a more unstable environment than we have been used to for some time Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 List of Tables and Figure......Page 9 Foreword......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 12 1 Work Attachment, Work Centrality and the Meaning of Work in Life......Page 14 2 Into the New Century: The Changing Terrain for Work and Employment......Page 40 3 Organizational Life: The Nature of Work......Page 63 4 Organizational Life: The Management of Commitment......Page 98 5 Occupational Life......Page 122 6 Household and Community Life......Page 147 7 Women and Men......Page 178 8 Class and Status......Page 209 9 Back to the Future? Change and Continuity at Work......Page 236 Appendix A: Research methods and data collection......Page 250 Appendix B: Survey respondent characteristics......Page 252 Bibliography......Page 254 B......Page 273 C......Page 274 D......Page 276 E......Page 277 G......Page 278 H......Page 279 J......Page 280 L......Page 281 M......Page 282 O......Page 283 P......Page 284 S......Page 285 T......Page 286 W......Page 287 Z......Page 290 Work Attachment, Work Centrality And The Meaning Of Work In Life -- Into The New Century : The Changing Terrain For Work And Employment -- Organizational Life : The Nature Of Work -- Organizational Life : The Management Of Commitment -- Occupational Life -- Household And Community Life -- Women And Men -- Class And Status -- Back To The Future? : Change And Continuity At Work. Chris Baldry ... [et Al.]. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 241-259) And Index. This book analyzes the multiple levels of meaning which people attach to work today, and the role of work in people's lives. By looking at call centres and software development, the book evaluates some of the claims made for the knowledge economy and argues that defining the work-life boundary is a constant problem for many workers With economies/organisations undergoing change, understanding the nature of work and its significance to people presents a challenge with strong implications for policy and practice. This book raises the issues of work and employment onto broader policy and management agendas