Verified Document

Regulation Of Labour Market The Essay

This situation once again proves that the people are not considered valuable additions, but commodities. And the management of these commodities changes based on business needs. In terms of the younger employees, their careers -- or their end thereof -- are extremely intensely subjected to the evolution of technology. As a parenthesis, the advent of technology has imposed new standards for the employees in the meaning that they must progress alongside with the technological developments. And this state of events has also led to the commodification of the staff members. In a context in which technologies evolve, employees are more and more required to themselves evolve in order to be able to operate the new machines and the new technologies. From this standpoint then, alongside with the intensified usage of the technological resource, the human resource is perceived more and more as a commodity.

A specific issue related to technology is its use. In the workplace, employees might make use of the technology in a non-work related manner and this has constituted grounds for firing the respective employees. Nevertheless however, employees have been fired for blogging for work related purposes. A study conducted by Sean Valentine, Gary M. Fleishman, Robert Sprague and Lynn Godkin (2010) has identified that in most cases, the underlying reasons for firing the employees were unethical. In other words, the employers used blogging as an excuse to fire the respective employees. This once again points to the means in which the staff member is reduced to the level of any other commodity. It is used for as long as he is necessary, and he is afterwards let go, with the use of a pretense.

Despite the negative elements in the treatment of the staff members, fact remains that the modern day workforce is one of the strongest and best protected ones. It is safeguarded by legislations and by competition for the best employees. The result of this was the expansion of the benefits offered to employees, and modern day firms even include human resource initiatives in their budgets. With this movement however, came along the need to better manage the expanses with the staff members. And in a context in which organizational expenditures are always seen as in need of reduction, the incentives to the employees are also seen in terms of the need for capping. In other words, through the lenses of financial organization and restructuring, the labor force is understood objectively and financially, just like any other organizational resource which has to be managed in the most efficient manner.

Following this line of thoughts, economic agents need to reduce operational costs in order to reduce their retail price and as such better serve the needs of their customers. The example at Southwest Airlines is extremely relevant. The company decreased its expenditure and paid its employees by trip. The benefits and other incentives were kept to a minimum. This materialized in low flight fares and satisfied customers -- the key to a successful business (Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth -- William F. Achtmeyer Center for Global Leadership). The lesson from this is that the employees are a commodity used in the direction of satisfying customers -- which are not the target of the business -- but which constitute the means to the desired financial ends. And the commodification of the labor force is nowhere more obvious than in the services sector, where the organizational success depends directly...

The high levels of individuals employed in services in Australia once again support the theory of commodification.
Ultimately, the analysis of the evolution and modern day role and state of the Australian labor force has concluded that the employees are not perceived in the orthodox manner of the most valuable organizational resource, but as a simple and replaceable commodity. It would seem that the distinctions made by Marx, Marshall and Polanyi in their distinctive assessment of the labor force as different from other commodities (Peck, 1996) is no longer applicable. And this direction has not been set by a natural process of economic evolution, but more so by the interest and pressures of either significant economic agents, either desires for financial stability in the public sector.

Sources used in this document:
References:

Adya, M.P., 2008, Women at work: differences in IT career experiences and perceptions between South Asian and American women, Human Resources Management, Vol. 47, No. 3

Asher, M.G., Mukhopadhaya, P., 2004, Severance pay in selected Asian countries: a survey

Beder, S., 2000, Work, consumption and status, from Selling the work ethic: from puritan pulpit to corporate PR, Zed

Brezniak, M., Collins, J., 1977, The Australian crisis from boom to bust, The Journal of Australian Political Economy, Vol. 1, No1
2010, The world factbook -- Australia, Central Intelligence Agency, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/as.html last accessed on October 5, 2010
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Labor Markets and Their Many Aspects
Words: 1374 Length: 4 Document Type: Research Paper

Labor Markets and Their Many Aspects The negative aspects of a loosely-regulated labor market: The dangers of under-regulation The labor laws of the state of Pennsylvania are still highly influenced by the unionization movement that began in the steel mills of the state. It is said that "no state in America has a richer labor history than Pennsylvania" (Pennsylvania labor history, 2011, IAP). The AFL and CIO were founded in the state. "The

Role of Labour Market Imperfections in Generating Unemployment
Words: 1660 Length: 6 Document Type: Essay

Similar to product markets, labour markets tend to be characterised by imperfections. The imperfections stem from factors such as monopsony, trade unions, wage discrimination, labour immobility, government interventions, as well as incomplete information on the part of workers (Manning, 2010; Abbritti, Boitami and Damiani, 2012). Indeed, labour markets are persistently imperfectly competitive (Dwivedi, 2010). Imperfections in the labour market often play a significant role in generating unemployment (Baker et al.,

Income Inequality in the Labor Market
Words: 876 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Labor Income The Labor Market and Income Inequality Studies of the labor market have long struggled to explain the relationship between supply and demand in the labor market with the income or wage levels the labor market offers. The volatility in both of these areas -- that is, volatility both in the demand for labor and in wages -- has made it all but impossible for an adequate model to be designed

Relationship Between Unemployment, Labor Market and Microeconomics...
Words: 3017 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

Labor Market, Unemployment Defining and classifying Unemployment There is a level of unemployment in any economy, which is not automatically a bad thing, as most people would think. The presence of a level of unemployment, which usually is presented as a percentage, indicates that at any one given point in that economy, there are people looking for work and managers looking for better employees. In economics, the only important factor to look

Unemployment in the Labour Market Is Primarily
Words: 1567 Length: 6 Document Type: Essay

Unemployment in the Labour Market Is Primarily Voluntary talk about Keynesian theory, classical theory, new classical theory, new Keynesian theory, neo-classical theory also mention the game theory, Marxian theory, natural rate of unemployment, and the rational expectations role. Please use graphs as well to explain Unemployment is a particularly high topic in the news at the moment with the recession seemingly refusing to come to a stop and the number of people losing

Subway: The Labor Market Demand for Labor
Words: 1038 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Subway: The Labor Market Demand for labor The most obvious source of an increase of a demand for labor by an organization is an increase in the demand for the product or service provided by the firm. In the case of Subway, the organization provides both a product (food) and service (food preparation). When demand for sandwiches increases, the need for more workers to take orders, make sandwiches, clean the premises and

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now