DEDICATION
Whatever became of the quality we once called “dedication” which used to be thought of a being an integral part of employment?
Do you remember when many people were really proud of the firm for which they worked? For men, or members of his family, to brag a bit, now and then, concerning the close ties they genuinely felt with his employer was not a rarity. It is an attitude which is no longer to be found in day's market place.
It seems to me to that a firm sense of loyalty and trust would be essential for both parties. I was a good sound when we heard a man or, or a woman, praise the actions of the firm for which they worked. It was an assurance that he or she worked at that particular place because they had deliberately chosen to do so.
Now, when I talk with employees, I find far too many individuals who actually deride to firm which employs them. There seems to be a strange element of suspicion, mistrust and doubt. At times,I feel some have revived the ancient relationship of master to slave.
There has been a point of confusion somewhere along the work line - most likely at several points - when ownership of the firm has become flawed by mixing too closely with mis-management. If management was transitory by nature it intervened between the firm and those people who actually run the mechanism which keeps the money flowing. A management portion of any firm which is constantly in a state of internal ferment and change, is hardly the one to build confidence and loyalty among workers who they think of as being beneath them in their in their self-created industrial or commercial hierarchy If middle management resembles a bouncing ball it is always seeking a lower level in which to re-assure itself or seek to find another path. Some seem eager as a stream of water to reach the the lowest possible level.
Part of the dissatisfaction some workers feel concerning their employers, no doubt, evolved from the rather tense times when unionization swept the country under the guise of being a magic cure-all for any and every condition which might seem to be repugnant to any individual. The work place was split into harshly-edged factions, as a result, and an obvious gulf was worsened and deepened between the two factions. Ignoble practices were exploited by both sides,I feel to the ultimate benefit of none. “Evil” and “greed” became commonly accepted terms, and were included, unfortunately, in future evaluations.
There was a time, too, when there was a wider choice to be had by workers seeking employment, but many of those jobs no longer exist. Manufacturing, in the wide sense of the word, has long since departed these shores. Many jobs are no longer on the employment lists. Entrance level employment is at a minimum and service area placement, often unstable, has become the alternative.
Furthermore, the nature of placement has moved more and more into two fundamental groups all are “executives” or “workers”.
To the worker the executive becomes “the firm.” For whatever reason it seems to be true today that men and women have lost respect they once had for competent management. It it high time we stop educating all youth to be “executives,” if they make it, or to be content to be “workers” if not.
.A.L.M. January 26, 2003 [c576wds]
