CHANGING NATURE OF WORK

Changing Nature of Work

Work

The carrying out of tasks which enable people to make a living within the social and economic context in which they are located. There are two main aspects of work that a sociological concept of work needs to recognise. The first is the task-related aspect of work and the second is the part played by work in the way people ‘make a living’.

Changing Nature of Work

In the contemporary Industrial Sociology Knowledge Economy are gradually leading to a new type of society which has no longer based on primarily on industrialism that is the age of beyond industrialism a phase of development which is coined in a number of ways to describe this new social order such as post-industrial society, the information age and the new Economy. Knowledge Economy is however more common.

Knowledge request to an Economy in which ideas information and forms of knowledge led to invasion and economic growth. A knowledge worker is one who is involved mostly in design development, marketing, sale and servicing of material goods. People earn their living by providing service, judgment information and analysis whether in telephone call center, office a government department or a scientific laboratory. This is in sharp contrast to the industrial job which involved physical labour and produced clear tangible result. But a person is a knowledge work his work is a consultant is focused with the application of information. It does not directly produce anything can be observed or measure in a traditional way to KPO (Knowledge processing organization). Knowledge bused industries are understand broadly to include high technology education, training and research, development and the financial investment sector and government is investing in public education spending on software development.

I. Information Technology

Internet e-mail, tele-conferencing and e-commerce are changing the way in which companies do business. But they also affect the way employees work on daily basis. Bluner with his optimistic look argued the information technology will revolutionize the worker of work by allowing new and more flexible ways of working to emerge. Workers will be giving more freedom to control over and input in to the work process. Sociologist emphasizes that power of technology determines, the nature and scope of work itself. On one hand information technology can break rigid hierarchies to engage. More over employees on decision making and to induce worker more closely in day to day affair, of the company. On the other hand, it is believed that its career today affairs the company cut down face interactions look block channels of accountability and transform an office into a network of self-contained and isolated modules.

II. The Transformation of Work

Over the last three decades flexible practices have been introduced in a number of fields including product development, production techniques, management style the working environment, the employee involvement and marketing. This is post-industrial stages or the second industrial stages divide classic in which flexibility and innovation are maximized in order to meet market demand for diverse customize products. The idea of flexible production or flexible specialization is the small farms of highly skilled workers are innovative production technique and new forms of technology. To produce smaller quantities of goods that are more individualized than the mass produced one. Change in design options and feature to be introduced more frequently. This allows companies to diversify their product line in order to meet these needs.

a) Group Production: This is similar to team work like when workers work as a team work members, meet and resolve production problem for example equality cycle group.

b) Multi-skilling: New forms of work allow employers to increase the breadth of their skills by engaging in a variety tasks, rather than performing and specific task and over again. Group Production and team work are seen as promoting a multi-skilled work force capable of carrying out a broader set of responsibilities. Thus, in terms turn leads to higher productivity and better-quality goods and services, employees who are able to contribute to job in multiple ways will be more successful in solving problems and carrying up with feature approaches.

c) Women and Work: Until recently paid work in Western Countries was predominantly the sphere of men. Today more and more women have mould into labour force between 35 - 60% of women aged between 16-60 in most European countries hold paid job outside that home. There are many reasons why the gap in Economic activity has high rates between men and women have been closing in recent decades.

i. There have been changes in the scope and nature of the tasks that have automatically traditionally been associated with women and the domestic sphere, child birth has been declined furthers mechanization of many domestic tasks has also help to cuts down the amount of time that needs to be spent to maintain the home.

ii. Economic Pressure on house hold including arise in make unemployment have led more women to seek paid work.

Finally, it is important to note that many desires women have chosen to entry the labour market out of a desire for personal fulfillment and in response to drive for equality propelled forward by the women movement of 1960‘s and 1970s.

III. Future of Work

In the light of the impact of the global economy and the demand for a flexible labour force, some sociologist and economist have argued that more people in the future will become portfolio workers. They will have skill portfolio a number of different job skill and credentials which they will use to move between several jobs during the course of their working lives. Only a relatively small proportion of workers will have continuous careers in the current sense.

Work is also an occupational or the concept of occupation is different from that work in the sense that occupation always gives something in return. So, an ‘Occupation’ is a job done in exchanges of a regular wage or salary in any industrial organization. In all societies work is the basic of economy. Without work, there is no production.

Changing Scientific and Technological Conditions of Industrial Work

The following are the changing scientific and technological conditions of industrial work altered the skill requirements of the workers:

Changing in Scientific Conditions of Industrial Work

1. Education systems: The skills present in a country’s workforce plus its ability to provide access to continuing education will strongly influence how well it can adapt to increased automation. In countries where women tend to have lower education levels and fewer technical skills than men, their jobs may be at greater risk from automation, and this may lead to women being disproportionately excluded from the workforce. Therefore, policymakers will need to ensure that sufficient retraining and upskilling initiatives are put in place to make the transition as smooth as possible, in particular for low and medium-skilled workers and (in some cases) women.

2. Digital Economy: The digital economy has extended the reach of firms and caused a significant change in their characteristics. Being physically present is no longer necessary for conducting business, as companies offer online services from different locations or benefit from intangible resources like software and intellectual property. Digital platforms earn revenue by leveraging the assets of others. In the digital economy, businesses can rapidly transition from local startups to global giants, often with minimal staff or physical assets.

3. Technological progress: Technological progress allows firms to automate tasks through machinery, while also fostering innovation across sectors. The pace of innovation will influence the emergence of new job opportunities to compensate for the decline in routine-based jobs. Despite advancements improving living standards, concerns about potential unemployment due to automation persist in discussions about the future of work. 

4. Gig Economy: The emergence of platform marketplaces is reshaping the nature of work and its conditions through what is commonly referred to as the 'gig economy'. With just a broadband connection, individuals and businesses can engage in trading goods and services on online platforms. This shift toward 'scale without mass' presents economic opportunities for millions worldwide, including those outside industrialized or urban regions. 

5. Structural Changes in the labour market: The recent times have seen a substantial rise in new forms of employment such as Platform work, gig work, own-account work and other forms of employment outside the scope of the traditional employer-employee arrangement. On the other hand, the incidence of wage and salaried employment has been on a downward trend.

Changing in Technological Conditions of Industrial Work

1. Mechanization to Automation: Workers transitioned from needing basic mechanical skills for operating simple machines to requiring advanced technical skills to manage automated systems and computerized machinery. Now with Al combined with the emergence of big data, the internet of things and ever-increasing computer power has the potential to unleash clever robots to increasingly undertake physical (manual) tasks and some cognitive (mental) tasks hitherto undertaken by humans.

2. Enhancement in job quality: Technological advancements can enhance job quality by freeing workers from arduous and repetitive labor; from dirt, drudgery, danger and deprivation. This can reduce work-related stress and potential injuries and free up time of workers for more interesting and innovative work. Also, platform and gig work and COVID-19 induced push to work from home can provide flexibility in working hours, the ability to work remotely, and the autonomy and control that self-employment enables. This also greatly improves environmental sustainability of work.

3. Advanced Technologies: Exponential growth in new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (Al), machine learning, Internet of things (loT) and big data, as well as technologies such as 3D printing and advanced robotics are reshaping the quantity, nature and organization of work; skill demands; business and production models; consumption patterns; and global value chains.

4. Growing skills instability: Rapid changes in the nature of work have made lifespan of technological skills shorter and skill demands of the labour market unpredictable, leading to skill gaps and skill mismatches. In this regard, the demand for skills associated with “adaptability” and “transferability” such as advanced cognitive skills (critical thinking and problem-solving) and socio behavioral skills (creativity and curiosity) is increasing, whereas the demand for narrow job-specific skills is waning.

Consequences of changing nature of work in Indian scenario

With the consequences of changing nature of work in Indian scenario have its various aspects that are stated below:

1. Demographic changes: Demographic trends such as aging population, rising middle class, millennial dominated workforces, increasing urbanization etc., will determine labour demand and supply, and consumption patterns; and set expectations and aspirations of the workforce.

2. Reverse globalization and rising protectionism: Globalization’s manifestation can be seen in changes in production, finance and trade. Thus, increasing protectionism in countries can impact the nature of work by affecting global supply chains (GSCs), challenging the export-led growth models, and changing geography of production, distribution and value chains.

3. Climate Change: How the world collectively and individually tackles the issues of climate change is set to determine how nature of jobs, especially those related to green or low-carbon economy, ecosystem services etc., will evolve over the time. For instance, implementing the Paris Climate Agenda is estimated to lead to global job losses of around 6 million and job gains of 24 million.

4. Growing inequities: Disruptive changes are likely to further entrench labour market inequities along gender, disability, caste, class, and religious lines. The marginalization of certain communities is likely to become more entrenched due to technological skill-bias and digital divides as digital access and fluency are rapidly becoming essential for finding suitable work opportunities.

5. Changes in employer-employee relationships: With rise in platform and gig economy and unpredictable and variable skill demands, the work that would previously have been done by an employee will be outsourced to an on-demand worker, contractual or part time labour. Thus, the standard and stable employment relationship could disappear in the future.

i. Platform workers, temporary workers, part-time workers are at a particularly high risk of having unclear employment status and lack rights and protections that come with normal employment contracts.

ii. Also, the dispersed nature of the work on digital labour platforms across international jurisdictions makes it difficult to monitor compliance with applicable labour laws.

6. Heightened job polarization: Shift in occupational structures, often leads to polarization in employment and wages. For example-Technological advancements tend to widen the gap between the highly skilled, high-wage and lower skilled, low-wage workers.

7. Job loss and displacement in some sectors: Disruptive changes generally tend to make certain skills obsolete and lead to loss/displacement of jobs in specific sectors like.

i. Automation: Al combined with the emergence of big data, the internet of things and ever-increasing computer power has the potential to unleash clever robots to increasingly undertake physical (manual) tasks and some cognitive (mental) tasks hitherto undertaken by humans.

ii. Primary sector jobs: Jobs which generally rely on the services that ecosystems provide, like fishing, agriculture etc., may be endangered by climate change and other forms of environmental degradation. Also, a move towards cleaner sources of energy can potentially reduce jobs in fossil fuel and carbon-based energy sector.