Could work be made more satisfying and participatory?
Length: 1200 to 1400 words
Weight: 25% of your final grade
Instructions: Write an essay on the topic specified above. Your essay must address the following questions.
• What are the goals and motivations for work reform, from the employer and the worker perspective?
• What roles can management, unions and the state play in making work more satisfying and participatory?
• Is it possible to reorganize work so that it becomes more satisfying participatory?
• Can the goals of humanistic work-reform be reconciled with the goals of productivity and profit?
• Which theoretical perspectives provide the most useful insights on the prospects or lack thereof, for work-reform?
Assignment 3 gives you the opportunity to develop your own arguments and draw your own conclusions. Make certain, however, that when you present your own position, you support it with material from the assigned readings and you own additional research.
Make specific reference to the assigned readings in Units 4 & 5, citing material from the textbook and at least two assigned articles from the readings in each of Units 4 and 5. You must include citations for any quotations or direct references to specific course materials— you may use endnotes, which is the method used in the course textbook and reader. You must also include a full bibliography of all materials consulted. For your bibliography, use APA style. Contact your tutor if you have any questions about references and bibliographies. Note, too, that the Athabasca University Library website has helpful information on citation and referencing styles.
Reading Assignment
Commentary for Section 4.1.
Work, Industry, and Canadian Society (2010, 6th ed.), by H. J. Krahn, G. S. Lowe, and K. D. Hughes, pp. 223-246.
Commentary for Section 4.2.
Work, Industry, and Canadian Society (2010, 6th ed.), by H. J. Krahn, G. S. Lowe, and K. D. Hughes, pp. 247-263.
Introduction to the new edition of Labor and Monopoly Capital, by J. B. Foster.
Commentary for Section 4.3.
Work, Industry, and Canadian Society (2010, 6th ed.), by H. J. Krahn, G. S. Lowe, and K. D. Hughes, pp. 264-316.
Transcending Taylorism and Fordism? Three Decades of Work Restructuring, by J. Rinehart.
What If the Rest of the World Looked Like Trucking? by M. H. Belzer.
The “McDonaldization” of Higher Education: Food for Thought? by D. Hartley.
Commentary for Section 4.4.
Loretta: Overwhelmed and Undertrained at the Insurance Company, by A. Eyerman.
Commentary for Section 5.1.
Work, Industry, and Canadian Society (2010, 6th ed.), by H. J. Krahn, G. S. Lowe, and K. D. Hughes, pp. 317-328 and pp. 434-460.
Drift, by R. Sennett.
Commentary for Section 5.2.
Excerpt from Rivethead: Tales from the Assembly Line, by B. Hamper.
True Freedom, by R. Tressell.
Commentary for Section 5.3.
The Tyranny of the Clock, by G. Woodcock.
Commentary for Section 5.4.
Work-Life Conflict in Canada in the New Millennium: A Status Report, by L. Duxbury and C. Higgins.
“They Used to Use a Ball and Chain”: Technology’s Impact upon the Workplace, by J. A. Fraser.