WED 466: Unit 3

1
WED 466 Unit 3

• Sociological Foundations
• of Workforce Education

2
General Objective

• Understands the sociological foundations of
  workforce education.

3
Sociological Perspectives of Work

• Environmental Factors
• Structural Factors
• Network of Roles
• Social Environment
• Social Institution

4
Work is something that happens to people.
5
Sociological Classificationof Labor Markets

• Primary Labor Market
• Secondary Labor Market
• Internal Labor Market

6
Contemporary Work Trends

• Downsizing
• Reorganization
• Just-in-Time Procedures
• Globalization
• Advanced Technology
• Stressful Working Conditions

7
Downsizing

• Elimination of at least 10 of an organizations
  payroll workforce
• Originated in the merger boom of the late 1980s
  and the subsequent recession of the early 1990s
• Method most clearly defensible in a court of law,
  is to lay off 10 percent of employees across all
  departments on a seniority-only basis. Thus, no
  employee can claim dismissal for discriminatory
  reasons.

8
Reorganization

• A few strategies to handle reorganization
• Be prepared for change.
• Watch out for unrealistic expectations.
• Acknowledge any increased pressures, demands, or
  workloads.
• Protect your leisure time and time with family
  (commune with the earth).
• Improve lines of communication.
• Celebrate your accomplishments.
• Rise to the challenge through efficiency and
  learning from others.

9
Just-in-Time Procedures

• 99.9 is not Good Enough!
• 2 million documents would be lost by the IRS (USA
  tax collection agency)
• 12 babies would be given to the wrong parents
• 291 pacemaker operations would be performed
• 20,000 incorrect drug prescriptions would be
  written
• 1,114, 500 mismatched pairs of shoes would be
  shipped

10
Globalization

• increasing integration of economies around the
  world, particularly through trade and financial
  flows
• Four Aspects
• Trade manufactured goods ?
• Capital movements foreign investment ?
• Movement of people ?
• Spread of knowledge and technology ?

11
Advanced Technology

• Situation More work is information-based
• Who has power?
• What is STEM?
• Future focus on STEM?
• Podcast

12
Stressful Working Conditions

• In the United States, over half of the 550
  million working days lost each year due to
  absenteeism are stress-related.
• 300 billion annual price tag as a result of
• Accidents
• Absenteeism
• Employee turnover
• Diminished productivity
• Direct medical, legal, and insurance costs
• Workers' compensation awards as well as tort and
  FELA judgments

13
Attitudes in the American Workplace

• Stress
• More than a third of workers (35) say their jobs
  are harming their physical or emotional health
  and 42 say job pressures are interfering with
  their personal relationships half say they have
  a more demanding workload this year than last.
• Bullying
• It goes hand in hand with anger and stress and
  low job satisfaction and 19 of us say its
  happened in our workplace in the last year.
• The American Dream?
• 73 of American workers say they would NOT want
  their bosss job!

The Seventh Annual Labor Day Survey.
(2001).Telephone Polling for The Marlin Company
by Harris Interactive
14
Family Influences on Work and Status Attainment

• Status Attainment Model
• Socio/Psychological Processes
• Mental Ability
• Acquired Information about Work
• Family Values and Behavior

15
How do sociological and psychological
perspectives of work differ?
16
Work and Social Stratification

• Occupational fields differ in
• social structure
• structural factors
• job structures that comprise them

17
Summary

• Workforce education and job availability,
  stability, and access do not occur in a vacuum.
• Work occurs within a network of roles and social
  relationships.
• Family, socioeconomic status, race, and gender
  influence occupational preferences.
• Different labor markets influence workforce
  education in different ways.
• Workforce education must be a dynamic process.