The Issue of Working Hours - Literature review Example

Name Tutor Course Date Working to live or living to work: Should individuals and organization care? By: Ronal J Burke Introduction Ronald J. Burke’s business article seeks to address key issues that affect many organizations such as, work addictions, work hours, emerging social and ethical issues. In his article he addresses factors that contribute to intentional increase of work hours and the motivations that lead to hard work amongst professionals. Burke makes a case as to why organizations, individuals, families and the society at large should care about the work addictions and the long hours spent at work. He acknowledges that organizations and individuals have a choice concerning the raised issues and that most employees many a times prefer working for less hours yet few employees have been able to realize their preference. It is established in this article that work addiction and long hours of work may cause harm to individuals and affect their families. It as well does not lead to an organization becoming more effective. It was discovered that, in some organizations employees work a lot of extra hours without receiving extra pay. For instance, several organizations in China made their young employees to work for longer hours without receiving extra pay being kept as virtual slaves (Ronald 167). Sadly, such scenario’s are still in existence today however enlightened employees who are not willing to work extra hours without pay are profitably taking their employers to court to demand for the unpaid working hours. Nevertheless some professions such as executives, sales personnel and administrators among many others have been historically exempted from working overtime. The issue of working hours has become somewhat controversial as some governments and business leaders especially in developed and industrialized countries claim that the work force should work for more hours in order to for competitiveness to be realized in their countries (Ronald 167). Factors that have generally contributed to longer working hours include, the need to earn a living, fear of layoffs, cost containment and down sizing initiatives have led to an increase of work load, increasing competition for the few present promotions, higher performance expectation, emerging technologies that enable one to work anywhere, pressure from peers and financial rewards. For many work lives have proved to be more fulfilling than life at home. Evidently as result of the longer working hours due to work intensity, work place stress levels have increased and a decrease in job satisfaction has been experience. Long working hours has as well been associated with negative family functioning, psychological and physical disfunctioning due to lesser sleeping hours. As far women in the workforce are concerned, work hours have become problematic due to demographic factors such as home responsibilities and children. Prevalently there exists an increase in multi tasking, which has in turn contributed to a decrease in performance effectiveness.Multi- tasking in the form of driving while using cell phones or receiving emails may cause road accidents. A study done by the Canadian statistics have shown that there exist teenage workaholics as well ranging between ages 15 to 19. Several organizations have taken the initiatives of minimizing work hours. They have managed to attain this through putting in place fewer staff meetings and by reducing work reports. Other organizations have given their employees flexibility when it involves their option of work hours. This has in turn contributed to lesser stress levels and effective work performance. According to Burke materialism is the placing high value on income or material possession and is the main drive for workaholic individuals. Materialism is increasingly experienced in developing countries however most research findings show that materialistic individuals are less happy and fulfilled in life since they fail to address psychological needs. Ethical considerations a far as work hours and work addictions is concerned include, individual risk of long hours, employer responsibility to protect family members from splitting due to the impacts of longer working hours, gender inequalities and government regulation on working hours.”Karoshi” is a Japanese term referring to work to death.Karoshi is as a consequence of working for longer hours. Consequently Japan has developed several criteria for work hours. Spiritual leadership offers values and attitudes necessary to govern work habits and give work motivation through appreciation and inclusion. There are a number of reasons as to why organizations, individuals and the society should be worried about the impact of long work hours and work addictions. Key among these reasons include the fact that employees who work for longer hours are less likely to play their citizen roles or participate in societal development affairs. Work addictions have contributed to health problems that have in turn brought about higher health costs this is borne by the entire community. Organizations should be concerned with the long working hours of individuals since it can lead to the workforce experiencing burn outs hence lower effective work performance. Sadly, some organizations believe that longer working hours will bring about economical benefits. Nevertheless organizations are progressively acknowledging that their employees play a very important role in the long term achievements of their organization. There is therefore need for organizations to develop and maintain employee talent. Healthy employees are likely to realize efficient and high performance. Evaluation of the paper The writer of the article has raised some important issues concerning working hours and work addictions. He has clearly stated the impacts of the two issues to an individual, an organization and the entire society. However there are a number of wrong and debatable presumptions put across by the writer. For instance the writer insinuates that negative family functioning is as a result of parent working for longer hours. It is plainly wrong for the writer to attribute negative family functioning to the number of working hours of the parents since family functioning is mostly dependant on the upholding of certain moral values rather than the constant presence of parents. There are instances whereby parents are present yet there is existence of negative family function. Negative family functioning could be mainly as result of negative influences from the outside world and the media which at times cannot be prevented by constant presence of the parents. The writer suggests that individual can make a choice in the amount of working hours they can work. This is somewhat unrealistic since in most cases the policies of organizations regulate the working hours of the workforce. According to the article working for more hours may reduce effectiveness in work performance. This is necessarily not true since low performance is most of the time as a result of lack of professionalism of skill. Whenever professionalism and adequate skills are employed irregardless of the working hours effective work performance is actualized. In this article the writer tends to incline and emphasis on the negative aspects of working longer hours such as negative family functioning, physical and psychological health problems among many others. He does not project the need for individuals to improve their financial status and way of living by working for longer hours. He tends to assume or even ignore the present economical challenges experienced that require one to be more aggressive in order to earn living. The writer of the article has failed to enlighten us about the amount of working hours considered to be unhealthy. He does not give recommendations on how one can strike a sense of balance between working too much and working less. The writer has assumed several things his article tends to address a particular class of job group based in organizations. He tends to assume present economic challenges that need a lot of radical measures. He assumes the ever growing list of expenditure and the low income earning that spur one to work for more hours or take up more than one job opportunities. Relating the concept to UAE Work Environment Linking the issue of work hours and work addictions to the gulf countries, such as, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait among many others work hours are sternly regulated by the government authorities this is in contrast to the article that discuses the issues of longer working hours and work addictions. For instance in the UAE, the authorities have strict policies against the breach of Worker Authority working hour’s regulations. Friday and Saturday are always regarded as holy days therefore no businesses activities take place in the government sectors and most of the private sectors. Furthermore, during the Ramadan month in the UAE working hours are short since it is viewed as a holy month and most people are fasting thus they do not have the energy to work for longer hours. The authorities in the Gulf countries have as well developed vital policies in the law that prevent working in the afternoons during the summer seasons especially for the workers who work open areas. Organizations or companies that violate these laws are penalized highly whereas the workers receive compensation for any damages caused as a result of working under the rays of the sun which could bring about harm to the body. The article as well addresses the factors that affect women as far as working for long hours is concerned. In the UAE women’s involvement in the corporate work force is limited mainly because there role at home is considered as very vital. In addition, working women are given particular days and months off and are paid as leave days, for instance the “Edah leave: according to the Islam culture, a woman who her husband has died is expected to stay at home for four months and ten days”. Comparing Ronal J Burke article with Spurgeon, Harrington and Cooper “Health and safety problems associated with long working hours” Spurgeon, Harrington and Cooper have as well written an article related to Ronald Burke’s article. In the article Spurgeon, Harrington and Cooper focuses on the health as well as issues of safety associated with the extensive working hours. Similar to the Burke article this article recognizes that there are health risks that could be as a result of long working hours. Health risks mentioned in the article include cardiovascular disorders and mental health. Other stress related illnesses mentioned in the article include, depression and gastrointestinal disorders among many other forms of illnesses. Just like the Burke’s article this article as well mentions the effects of long work hours on performance. The authors cite that long work hours may reduce effectiveness in performing tasks in the workplace. Unlike the Burke’s article, this article specifically mentions the amount of working hours that are considered as unhealthy. The authors claim that more than forty eight hours in a week could be unhealthy (Spurgeon, Harrington & Cooper). Conclusion According to Ronald J. Burke, organizations, individuals and the society as whole should be concerned about long work hours and work addictions. This is mainly because long work hours and work addictions may lead to psychological or physical disorders, they may contribute to negative family functioning and a decrease in effectiveness at work due to high stress levels and burnouts. Works Cited Ronald, Burke J. Working to live or living to work: Should individuals and organization care? Journal of business ethics (2009): 84:167-172 DOI: 10.1007/s10551 -008-9703-6. Spurgeon Charles, Harrington John & Cooper Cary. Health and safety problems associated with long working hours. June 24, 2009 . Read More