SOC 227 University of Waterloo Work and Occupations Reflection Essay Read and analyze one (1) of the news items below about work and employment. Using conc

SOC 227 University of Waterloo Work and Occupations Reflection Essay Read and analyze one (1) of the news items below about work and employment. Using concepts we have discussed in class, explain the situation sociologically and make an argument in response to the provided prompt. SOC 227: Work and Occupations
Reflection essay guidelines
Summer 2020
Due: July 22 at 1 p.m.
Value: 20% of final grade
Aim and Substance
Reflection essays are opportunities to demonstrate critical thinking and your understanding of
course materials as they apply to real life situations. Read and analyze one (1) of the news
items below about work and employment. Using concepts we have discussed in class, explain
the situation sociologically and make an argument in response to the provided prompt.
This assignment supports the following learning objectives (from the syllabus):
•
•
•
Identify and explain major processes (ie: technology change, globalization, demographic and
social changes) that have transformed work and employment in Canada.
Apply key concepts and theories of work to analyze contemporary issues in work from a
sociological perspective.
Write a persuasive essay which presents an argument and defends it with evidence.
Deadline and Submission
Your essay is due by 1:00 pm on July 22. You are to submit an electronic copy on Quercus.
Assignments submitted after the deadline will be subject to a 3% penalty per day. Late
assignments will not be accepted more than 7 days after the deadline.
In most cases, I can be flexible with extensions but they must be arranged in advance. Contact
me with an explanation of why the deadline can’t be met and a proposed timetable for
submitting the assignment. Please note that assignments or tests for other classes are not
acceptable reasons for an extension.
Documentation of reasons for late submission is still required; we will discuss on a case-by-case
basis what that might entail.
Assessment
Your essay will be graded primarily on your accuracy and insight in applying course materials to
understanding the situation described in the article, and your ability to draw on assigned
materials as evidence to support your argument. Organization, structure and writing
mechanics, as well as the overall creativity and demonstrated effort also matter.
Please see the rubric on Quercus for detailed breakdowns of criteria and point values.
Length and Format
Reflection essays should be between 2 and 3 double-spaced pages in length. They should
follow the structure of an essay. Provide a concise introduction which summarizes your
argument. Support your argument using course materials and the article as evidence of your
point. Sum up your argument and explain its importance in a concluding paragraph.
Use Times New Roman size 12 font with 1 inch margins on all sides. Please draft your review as
a Word or PDF file and be sure to insert page numbers into your document.
*** If you submit a file that is NOT .doc, .docx, or .pdf, you will receive a 0.
Lecture 2: Control and efficiency in the workplace
This opinion article makes a case for remote working as the future of flexible work and offers
advice to employers on how to implement and manage remote working employees.
Where do Windley’s observations and advice reflect what you’ve learned about labour process
theory and flexible control? Where does his advice call labour process theory into question?
Based on this article, do you think remote working intensifies or relaxes employer control over
the labour process? Support your argument with evidence from the article, the textbook and
lecture materials.
How To Create A Successful Flexible Work Culture
David Windley, Forbes Councils Member
Forbes Human Resources Council
Jun 29, 2020,08:20am EDT
Prior to the onset of a global pandemic, the U.S. workforce was moving toward more flexible
work arrangements. The coronavirus simply accelerated the progress. According to Global
Workplace Analytics, 5 million Americans were already working from home at least half the
time prior to quarantine, an increase of 173% over the last decade. The challenge presented by
the pandemic was that nearly every workplace had to adapt to this trend overnight. Ideally, a
well-thought-out plan would have been crafted, a timeline would have been mapped out and
the change to flexible work would be implemented step by step. We did not have that luxury
when we pivoted from in-office culture to remote work environments almost instantly.
But it’s not too late. We can implement a plan for success and create a culture where flexible
work arrangements offer increased productivity, better collaboration and more engaged
employees.
What is flexible work?
Flexible work is a blanket term for the ways in which employees have more control over when
and where they work. Workplace flexibility can be broken down into several categories:
• Telecommuting: Telecommuting in this sense refers to a full-time job performed from the
office only part of the time. Telecommuters often live locally and split their time between
working in the office and from home.
• Remote work: An employee who works remotely performs their job entirely away from the
office. These employees can typically live anywhere in the world as long as they perform and
are available when a client or a colleague needs them.
• Condensed workweek or flexible work hours: These plans offer employees flexibility regarding
their office hours. For example, they can come in and leave early, or work four long days and
take a three-day weekend.
Who Will Thrive In Flexible Work Cultures?
Not every role can enjoy flexible work arrangements. We’ve learned through social distancing
how to have school at home, see a doctor from home and order groceries from home, but in
reality, positions like educators, most medical professionals, and retail or factory workers are
not ideal for flexible work arrangements.
Professionals who will thrive with flexible work arrangements are those doing “knowledge”
work. Software engineers, website developers, data scientists and graphic designers are
examples of those who can be successful working from the comfort of a home office.
As technology advances, particularly around remote workplace collaboration, more roles will
have the ability to be performed remotely, allowing for more employees to enjoy flexible work
cultures.
What Conditions Are Needed For Successful Flexible Work Culture?
Creating a thriving flexible work culture will pay future dividends with increased employee
morale and empowerment. Building a successful flexible work culture requires consideration of
the following:
• Manage outcomes and results, not inputs and processes. Having a performance-driven
culture will result in successful outcomes. Flex-work employees must know the level of
performance expected and what metrics will be used to measure their work. The more
information an employee has about expectations and key performance indicators (KPIs), the
more they will flourish in a flexible environment.
• Be specific about outcome expectations. When are deadlines? When are check-in dates? How
will the group collaborate? What does success look like? Praise successful performances, and
focus on the end result, not how they arrived there.
• Create a culture of accountability and personal responsibility. Knowing they will be held
accountable for the results of their work will motivate employees to apply themselves fully to
their tasks, regardless of where their workstations are located. Each employee must accept
responsibility for their specific job and know that others on the team will expect they
accomplish their part productively.
• Hire the right people. Before you can create a successful flexible work culture, you must have
the right fit for the position. Employees who will thrive are self-starters and self-motivated.
They have a desire to excel that comes from inner drive, not just the need for a paycheck.
Having a specific interview process with questions directed at these soft skills will aid in
selecting the right candidates for flexible work arrangements.
Beware The Downside
While it seems that flexible work arrangements offer only positive outcomes, working from
home can have its downsides.
Some employees enjoy a social work setting. Most appreciate flexibility, but it’s important to
have colleagues you enjoy socially. Workplace collaboration software and videoconferencing
can help people feel more connected, but nothing replaces joining your co-workers for dinner
and a drink after work.
People may think those with flexible work arrangements are not actually working. From
neighbors to a child’s teacher to a co-worker, those around you may question your work ethic
or get offended if you turn down a personal request in the middle of the day. Along those same
lines, the line between professional and personal responsibilities can get blurred. If you are
working from home, do you stop to pick up the kids from school or put a load of laundry in the
dryer? Conversely, when does the workday end?
Flexible work arrangements can create workaholics; employees may feel like they are always on
the clock. Encourage employees who work remotely to create schedules and enforce
boundaries between personal time and work hours.
In a post-quarantine era, it’s evident that flexible work is the way forward. It is the culture
embraced by the future workforce, and it is the direction technology is progressing. By
embracing the remote work trend and investing in the tools and people who will make it
effective, you can be ahead of the curve and achieve a thriving flexible work culture that will
attract the best people, promote growth and ensure the long-term success of your business.
Lecture 3: Technological Change, Conflict and Control
The news item below describes a patent filed by Amazon for a new technology to further
automate their warehouse work.
Do Amazon statements about this patent reflect an upgrading or a de-skilling theory of
technological change on the work process? Provide an example from the news story which
supports your position.
Then briefly explain how the opposite theory would understand this wristband technology.
Which theory do you believe better predicts how this technology would be used? Explain your
position.
Amazon wins a pair of patents for wireless wristbands
that track warehouse workers
by Alan Boyle (Geekwire.com) on January 30, 2018 at 10:50 am
Amazon has been issued a pair of patents for a wristband system that monitors whether
warehouse workers are putting their hands in the right places.
The patents, published today, cover bracelets that could emit ultrasonic sound pulses or radio
transmissions to let a receiver system get a fix on where the workers’ hands are, in relation to
an array of inventory bins.
Amazon doesn’t typically comment on its patents, but if the technology makes economic sense,
it could conceivably be picked up for use in the Seattle-based online retailer’s hundreds of
fulfillment centers.
This isn’t the first time the concept has come to light: When the applications for the patents
were published last fall, there was a spate of stories about “buzzing wristbands that bosses can
use to track workers and order them around.”
It’s true that the idea of wearing a monitoring bracelet evokes a modicum of creepiness, akin to
the idea of wearing an ankle bracelet during house arrest. But you won’t find a hint of that in
the patent documents. The concept is laid out instead as a labor-saving measure:
“Existing approaches for keeping track of where inventory items are stored … may require the
inventory system worker to perform time consuming acts beyond placing the inventory item
into an inventory bin and retrieving the inventory item from the inventory bid, such as pushing
a button associated with the inventory bin or scanning a barcode associated with the inventory
bin. … Accordingly, improved approaches for keeping track of where an inventory item is stored
are of interest.”
The patents, filed in 2016, suggest that the wristbands provide a no-muss, no-fuss method for
verifying that the correct items are being processed. The inventors say the system circumvents
the need for “computationally intensive and expensive” monitoring by means of computer
vision, a la Amazon Go.
And the inventors know their way around computer vision: The patent for the ultrasonic
wristband was filed by Jonathan Cohn, senior technical program manager for Amazon Go. The
radio-frequency wristband system was proposed by Tye Brady, chief technologist for Amazon
Robotics.
The system’s sensors triangulate on the wristband’s signals to determine where a worker’s
hand is positioned, and software matches that position with the inventory item that’s supposed
to be processed.
In addition to picking up signals, the system could send signals back, setting the band abuzz
with a burst of “haptic feedback” to let workers know their hands are heading for the right bin.
It’s not clear if or when Amazon might actually turn the wristband concept into a reality. But
since Amazon employs tens of thousands of workers at its fulfillment centers, it doesn’t take
much to guess where the system could be put into effect. So if boxes of wristbands start turning
up at a warehouse near you, be sure to let us know.
Update for 9:30 a.m. PT Feb. 5: Amazon released the following statement about its patents for
a wristband tracking system, saying that such a device is aimed at making it easier for
warehouse workers to do their jobs.
“The speculation about this patent is misguided. Every day at companies around the world,
employees use handheld scanners to check inventory and fulfill orders. This idea, if
implemented in the future, would improve the process for our fulfillment associates. By moving
equipment to associates’ wrists, we could free up their hands from scanners and their eyes
from computer screens.”
Amazon, like many companies, routinely files high-tech patents exploring the frontiers of
technology. As we’ve pointed out previously, many of those patents undergo significant
refinement before a product is brought to market, and many more never come to fruition. For
example, there are no smartphone airbag systems or drone-dispensing airship warehouses on
the horizon. So breathe easy: Amazon won’t be using wristbands to track employees’ bathroom
breaks anytime soon..
Lecture 4: The State and the regulation of work
In your own words, briefly describe the Marxist theory of the state and explain how the
Ministry of Labour’s regulation of unsafe work (the rules and the ways they are/aren’t being
enforced in this story) reflect that theory. How does this story complicate or contradict that
theory? Provide 1-2 examples of each.
Given the Marxist theory of the state, how should workers respond to or resist unsafe work
conditions during the covid-19 pandemic?
Many Ontario workers are trying to refuse work due to COVID-19
fears — but the government isn’t letting them
By Sara Mojtehedzadeh Toronto Star Work and Wealth Reporter
Mon., April 27, 2020
Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, workers who fear contracting the virus have filed
more than 200 work refusals. But the Ontario Ministry of Labour has not upheld a single one,
after quietly establishing an internal committee to oversee inspectors’ enforcement efforts
during the pandemic, the Star has learned.
Work refusals in Ontario spiked to a high point in mid-March, when there were 83 in a single
week. It’s a significant increase from January and February, when the province averaged less
than four work refusals a week according to ministry data.
In total, there have been 213 COVID-19 related work stoppages from workers who believed
their jobs presented a danger to their health. None met the ministry’s criteria for a work
refusal, spokesperson Janet Deline said.
“For workers to refuse work, the danger must be based on current conditions they’re exposed
to. For example, a machine they’re asked to use lacks the proper guarding,” she said.
“If a work refusal does not meet the criteria, then the issue will be dealt with as a complaint.
Complaints can still result in orders and requirements being issued. Our ministry has issued
1,386 orders related to COVID-19 which have made workplaces safer.”
Employers have a legal obligation to take every reasonable precaution to protect workers from
injury and illness — including from infectious disease. Typically inspectors will issue orders
requiring employers to comply with health and safety laws within a certain time frame, either
through proactive inspections or in response to reported issues. Often inspectors will issue
multiple orders on a variety of issues at a single workplace.
Work refusals are more serious because they involve a work stoppage and are usually dealt
with more quickly. Based on the ministry’s investigation, the worker may not return to the job
until the hazard has been resolved.
Ryan White, a labour lawyer and partner at Toronto-based firm Cavalluzzo, said he has spoken
to around a dozen workers since the start of the pandemic about unsafe work — but none felt
comfortable filing work refusals. Given fears of reprisal in a highly unstable job market, White
described the recorded number of COVID-19 work refusals as “incredibly high.”
“Work refusals are really serious things. When you think about it from the perspective of a
worker, it’s a worker essentially going on a ministrike,” he said.
“It’s kind of hard to believe that not a single one out of all of those was upheld.”
Robust and independent enforcement by the Ministry of Labour plays a significant part in
containing outbreaks, according to the SARS Commission that investigated the government’s
response to the 2003 epidemic.
Looking at health care employers in particular, the commission found numerous failures to
comply with legal obligations to protect workers, as well as “widespread, persistent and
ingrained failures” by the Ministry of Labour to enforce workplace safety laws.
Now, there are fears that history is repeating itself.
Last week, the Ontario Federation of Labour wrote to the Ministry of Labour raising concerns
that “work refusals related to COVID-19 are not being taken seriously” and that inspectors are
being “handcuffed by red tape and bureaucracy.”
“We need to ensure that their workplaces are safe,” said OFL president Patty Coates in an
interview with the Star.
“Sidelining the ministry just as they were sidelined during the SARS crisis does not support our
workers.”
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted the ministry to set up an internal body initially called the
Work Refusal Advisory Committee — now the COVID-19 Advisory Team, the Star has learned.
Reports and orders issued by health and safety inspectors must be sent to the “lawyers and
managers” who make up the team, leading to concerns about a chilling effect on investigations.
“Inspectors are being told to send their reports and orders to lawyers and managers within the
Ministry, said Smokey Thomas, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union that
represents ministry inspectors. “This is not normal.”
“Inspectors are telling us that they can’t do their jobs,” he added.
“They are on the front lines. They hear and see the situation first hand. No one in a downtown
office can make the decisions that our members can.”
A ministry statement to the Star did not address questions about whether the advisory
committee vets inspectors’ orders and investigations. Spokesperson Janet Deline said the
committee was made up of “program experts,” including Infection Control Specialists.
But a recent report from a Ministry of Labour-funded disease prevention body warns provincial
guidelines on COVID-19 protections, especially on wearing masks, do not embody the
precautionary principle advised by the SARS commission. The precautionary principle says
safety must come first and that “reasonable efforts to reduce risk need not await scientific
proof.”
The number of work refusals on the books is part…
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