Individuals tend to develop a false sense of security concerning the certainty of their
jobs. After working for an organization for fifteen or more years, it is difficult for
them to understand that their employers may no longer need their service. Jeremy Rifkin
wrote The End of Work in order to warn people about what he foresees may be happening to
the global labour force because of a rapid increase in the use of automation in the
workplace. He identifies what he believes are causes of the problems which we are
currently facing within the organizational structure along with some potential solutions.
Rifkin's ideas may be relevant to most peoples lives including ours. The reactions of
six currently employed persons to Rifkin's message will be included in this text. These
professionals include a technical manager, a convenience store owner, a cashier for
Marriot food 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 main problem of mass global employment in both the private and
public sectors is caused by the continuing advances in technology and it's impacts on
organizations, it's structure and design and it's direct effect on the global labour
force. In particular, organizations are using the concept of re-engineering and
replacing human labour with labour saving technologies. Rifkin gives us a better
understanding of the development of the cause of this problem by examining the three
industrial revolutions. In the first industrial revolution, Rifkin identifies steam
power as the major tool used by industrial and manufacturing sectors. In the second
industrial revolutions the electrical innovation effected the manufacturing, agricultural
and transport industries by further reducing the global labour force.
Unlike the past, two industrial revolutions where industrial technologies replace the
physical power of human labour, the third revolution (The Information Age), at present,
is contributing new computer based technology which are involving into thinking machines.
These thinking machines will evolve to the extent that eventual the human mind will be
replaced in all economic activities. In particular, advancements in computer technology
including parallel processing and artificial intelligence (robots) are going to cause a
large number of white collar workers to be redundant in the near future. Furthermore as
a result of advancement in the information and telecommunications technologies,
organizations are using the concept of re-engineering to restructure their organizations
to make them more computer friendly. As a direct result of this, training employees in
multi-level skills, shortening and simplifying production and distribution processes and
streamlining administration. One example of this is the global auto industry which is
reengineering it's operation and investing in new labour displacing information
technology, related industries are doing the same, eliminating more and more jobs in the
process.
It is Rifkin's belief that it is technology that is taking jobs away from people. He
includes many statistics concerning job loss, unemployment and how much organizations are
benefitting from all this, he states that "more than 75 percent of the labour force in
most industrial nations engage in work that is little more than simple repetitive tasks.
Automated machinery, robots and increasingly sophisticated computers can perform many if
not most of these jobs... in the years ahead more than 90 million jobs in a labour force
of 124 million are potentially vulnerable to replacement by machines." (Rifkin p.5). He
shows us that this global unemployment effects those who are in agriculture industry,
"nearly half the human beings on the planet still farm and land. Now, however, new
breakthroughs in the information and life sciences threaten to end much of outdoor
farming by the middle decades of the coming century." (Rifkin p.109). Just to show us
how widespread this problem is, he includes information concerning the downfall of those
who work in the service industry "computers that can understand speech, read script, and
perform tasks previously carried out by human beings foreshadow a new era in which
service industries come increasingly under the domain of automation." (Rifkin p. 143).
Rifkin does, however have a few solutions to this dilemma. The first of which
demonstrates a 30-hour work week because "the information and communication technology
revolutions virtually guarantee more production with less human labour... Free time will
come, William Green said, the only choice is unemployment or leisure." (Rifkin p.222).
There are already organizations which have implemented this 30-hour week, with great
success. Employees must take a small pay cut, but they remain employed and only have to
work 75 percent of their previous time. This solution allows for more people to be
employed, while giving those employed a larger amount of free time. Part of what Rifkin
says is that this free time should be spent volunteering for different causes such as
child care institutions, hospitals, churches and neighbourhood group activities.
Rifkin suggests that the government should encourage this advancement of the third
sector (eg. volunteers, non-profit organizations) by offering a "shadow wage, in the form
of a deduction on personal income taxes for volunteer hours given." (Rifkin p.257). It
has also been suggested that the government issue a minimum social annual income so that
non-profit organizations' employees get an actual salary, this would eliminate welfare
and because people are devoting so much of their free time, it would allow the government
to cut spending on public works projects such as building low-income housing and
city-wide clean up projects (New York). The saved money would allow for the minimum
income earners to collect.
Meanwhile, it has been suggested that a tax be put on all non-essential goods and
services as a source of government revenue. This shows us that the government would play
a smaller role in society as communities would begin to become self-contained, also, huge
cutbacks on national defence would add to the governments budgets as employers. All
these solutions would eventually be put forth worldwide as automation takes over many
positions in most organizations.
One of the most important questions we ask our selves while reading this book is "how
does this effect our lives?" Well, there are a few parameters to be taken in to
consideration. First of all, is all of what Rifkin is suggesting true? We have come to
the conclusion that he may be partially right. We see what he is suggesting (automation)
happening all around us. For example, car washes, direct payment by the use of our bank
card and different machinery upgrades at work. We feel that our future professions
(lawyer, engineer and financial analyst) will not be compromised by technological
advancements because we are going to be a part of what Rifkin refers to as the "knowledge
sector." Knowledge sector refers to those occupations which require further post
secondary education in the technology sector rather than manual type labour. On the other
hand, technology will aid us in our job performance, which includes the efficiency and
quality of our services. Information is now literally at our fingertips, in the past,
huge libraries containing volumes of books were required for many different professions,
these libraries have not disappeared, but computers the size of a regular binder can hold
just as much information. This would facilitate research for many of those who will work,
like us, in the "Knowledge Sector."
Current technological advancements may or may not effect the daily lives of many
individuals, six such individuals were interviewed for their responses to Rifkin's
message. Monique van den Wildenberg, the residence life coordinator with the Residence
Life staff (which is part of Carleton University Housing and Food services), states that
her work does involved technology ,but, not a sophisticated level compared to other jobs
such as the automotive industry. She feels she is adequately knowledgeable about
technology to make her job easier ( ie. Making posters and communicating with colleagues)
but is not afraid that technology will make her obsolete since her job is person to
person job and no computer or robot is able to replace the uniqueness of human
communication and contact. On the other hand, Wildenberg believes that technology has a
potential to create large percentage of unemployed individuals in the future, but, it is
up to the individual not the government too continuously learn and retrain so they do not
become outdated by technology.
Mike Marriot working for Marriot food services does feel frustrated with new technology
introduced even though it has made his job easier and richer. He knows that his
organization could have spent half million dollars too implemented a technology that
would have eliminated his current duties. Furthermore, Marriot believes that Rifkin has
some substance in this ideolology that technology will create a higher unemployment rate,
but, it is up to the individual and the organization to re-train, understand and cope
with technology advancement. "Technology is only as good as the people who are using it"
says Mike Marriot.
The relevance of Rifkin's main message and the expressed opinions of the following two
currently employed workers was found to be inconclusive. The third person interviewed,
currently, works as an assembler for a electrical switchgear manufacturing company, a
blue collar job. About a year and a half ago his previous employer laid him off due to
company downsizing. The position that he held in that company was a management position.
Specifically, he was a manager for the assembly section of the high voltage switchgear
division. He had held the position for about seven years and he had been with the company
for about nineteen years in total. The result of his lay off from the company was not
really the direct result of technology but other factors. These factors included the low
demand for the product ( high voltage switchgears and transformers), the relatively high
cost of producing the product (in comparison to there competitors in the US) due to the
relatively large size of the organization. The particular manufacturing plant that he
had been working in was one of many branch plants. In fact, the company had
manufacturing plants in the US and Europe and was planning to shut down the operations of
this particular plant in Toronto due to the shrinking market in that region. The plan
also included for the US branch plant to pick up the "slack" of the Toronto or Ontario
market. In general, this interviewee agrees with some of the relevant points with
respect to the unemployment issues that Rifkin points out but has not experienced any
negative aspects of technology. That is, he relates to the increased competition and
company re-engineering that Rifkin mentions about in his book .
The fourth person interviewed is a part-time credit card service assistant. He has been
working for the organization for about 5 years and he attends university as a full-time
student. In the company that he has been working for he has not experienced any negative
impacts of technology or re-engineering in the organization. As a result he does not
relate to Rifkin's pessimistic view on technology. He does on the other hand agree on
Rifkin's message on obtaining more knowledge in the high tech areas. This is one of the
reasons why he attends university so that he can gain more knowledge in computers and
keep up to date with the latest in technology.
When a telecommunications technician was informed about Rifkin's message concerning
global automation and a huge increase in unemployment, the response given was one of no
fear. Tony Deluca of Mitec Telecom., who is manager of the test department said that he
had no worries because his work simply can't be done by a machine. It is clear to all
those who have seen first hand what exactly is involved in testing telecommunications
equipment that Tony doesn't have to worry. He assembles a component to many different
computers and makes the finest adjustments so that all runs at the proper frequency and
can withstand all power put through it. The changes that are required can only be
performed by skilled professionals and therefore Mr. Deluca feels that his employment for
Mitec is not at risk.
The last person interviewed is a man by the name of Robyn Decoste, he is a small
business owner in a suburb of Montreal. It is because he owns the store that he has no
fear of losing all to automation. Although what he takes into consideration is that the
mechanization of his store will make work for his children (he plans to give the store to
them) far more simple. Paperwork, and trips to the bank will soon be non-existent. Also,
he foresees automation aiding him in a sense that he may need to employ less people in
the future. Currently, he employs people to do various tasks, from stocking shelves to
banking and those who work the register. It is known that soon enough he will no longer
need a person at the cash register, since automated billing and paying procedures are
currently being perfected, yet to acquire the best baking results and to keep the shelves
full, he must employ a small number of people.
Rifkin attempts to throw the world into a state of shock with his book. The End of Work
is to us informative, however, it should not be read as a bible. Using many examples
taken from the past and present, Rifkin demonstrated what he believes are the main
factors which are hurling us towards an unemployed global population. We all hold a more
optimistic view of what automation will accomplish in our society. From those
interviewed, we have come to the conclusion that the world as a whole also has a quite
optimistic view of what technology can do for us.
Bibliography
Rifkin J. The End of Work, (New York, G.P. Putnam's Son's, 1996).
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