Student’s Name
Instructor’s Name
Course
Date
Job Satisfaction and Alienation
Question 1
The job in question is customer service representative at Party City. The company was founded in 1986 by Steve Mandell. Since its inception in 1989, the company has grown and currently has stores in different parts of the country. The job is quite satisfying as it meets most of my needs and demands for a job opportunity. First, the position is temporary, and I only have to work for a specified time (August to November). Therefore, I do not have to be tied to the job for the rest of my life. The employment opportunity at Mandell helps me keep myself busy for the duration I will be with the company. Secondly, work is near my home, so access is easy and convenient as I can work on foot. Lastly, the job opportunity provides me with an avenue to relate with customers at a firsthand level.
The job as a customer service representative is diverse and incorporates a series of responsibilities. Some of the duties performed include setting up the shop, receiving customer payments, issuing receipts, and giving change. Other than that, the job entailed sorting the products each in their right sizes and groups, for instance, separating children and adult clothing. The other part of setting up the shop entailed price stickers’ generation and indicating product prices on every item. As a customer service representative and cashier, I was closely associated with the customers, so I played a crucial role in influencing their purchasing decisions. Mandell was an exciting place to work as it had a diverse population of employees.
Question 2
The current method of measuring unemployment is obtained by dividing the number of unemployed people by the number of people in the labor force then multiplying it by 100. This method is useful, although several shortcomings accompany it. The first shortcoming is that the government omits several forms of work when carrying out this calculation. The labor force description is parallel to the gross national product. This is defined as the value of all goods and services produced within a specific market in a particular period. The individuals who take in the production process of the said goods and services are also included in the labor force. Therefore, from this description, the labor force omits many people who participate in the provision of various useful services like housekeeping and volunteers.
Another shortcoming of measuring unemployment is that The Bureau of Labor Statistics assumes that 26 million individuals are marginally attached to the workforce. Therefore, they assume that these people needed jobs or were present for job openings within the survey’s prior year, but they never actively looked for employment. This circumstance results in the exclusion of these people from the list of the unemployed. This assumption is not right since, in the list of unemployed people, there are those (12 million) who do not go looking for work since they have been discouraged; hence, the name “discouraged workers.” Therefore, excluding the marginally attached individuals from the unemployment bracket results in calculations with low measures of unemployment rates, which are contrary to the reality (“Studying the world,” 44-45).
Question 3
Marx’s argument meant that society has shifted so that people are separated from the services and products they participate in making. In his statement, he gave four aspects to prove that modern society does not allow people to employ creativity and innovation in their jobs. The first justification for his argument was that people are alienated from the products they produce. This means that workers no longer have a direct relationship with the products they make, as was the case back in industrial societies. The second form of alienation is that workers are alienated from the process of their work. This means that someone else is in charge of the processes and methods employed in the production process. Thirdly, alienation eliminates creativity from work. Humans are characterized as creative, and limiting their capability prevents them from exploiting their full potential. The fourth argument is that labor that works is an isolation strategy and not a collective effort. The modern work environment concentrates on isolating people rather than uniting them (“Satisfaction and alienation,” 58).
I have ever felt alienated at work since the work protocol expected us to follow a particular way of handling situations and things. As a customer service representative, I have the upper hand in knowing what the clients want and what would meet their needs. However, my job requires me to sell the client the ideas and products already presented by the company despite this knowledge. The company executives have the final say on company branding and products. However, if the employees are allowed to exploit their creativity and insights from the ground, they would be in a better place. Despite being alienated, I have experienced job satisfaction at the same time. The company limits our input as employees in the production process and decision-making. However, my workplace is near my home, and the pay is good, and it incorporates bonuses and compensations that are equivalent to the work done. Hence, I believe one can be alienated and receive job satisfaction at the same time; it all depends on your priorities and perception.