www.wairaka.net/ubinz/IR/FutureIncome/DyerHumphries.html

Suzette Dyer and Maria Humphries
Department of Strategic Management and Leadership
Waikato University
P.O. Box 3105
HAMILTON
sdyer@waikato.ac.nz (07) 856 2889 ext. 8096
mariah@waikato.ac.nz (07) 856 2889 ext. 4432

Many jobs have disappeared over the last fifteen years through government and private sector restructuring. Much of the replacement work offer fewer benefits in terms of remuneration, work conditions and hours of work. Gaps between the highest and lowest paid members of our society are growing, with more people falling below the poverty line or earning enough to meet their week-by-week needs. Over-riding the employment changes has been a consistent eroding of social safety nets within our society that have had implications for our health and well-being, level of benefit income, personal cost to education, and so on. Increasingly, we as citizens are told to take responsibility for our own current and future well being. Yet for many, we earn insufficient income (either through wages and salaries or from benefits) to take care of ourselves now, or insufficient income to save for our future care. It is in this environment that we as citizens, workers and potential workers are told to plan, manage and create our own careers.

Modern career theory is packaged in such a way that it explicitly tells us how to manage ourselves to remain employable (Fournier, 1996; Grey, 1994). However employment security is no longer offered by organisations, therefore we must ensure that we have the right skills, attitudes, beliefs and values that are valued by employing organisations. Packages of how to assess ones strengths and weaknesses, assess the employment environment, and match ourselves to the opportunities within in it are readily available through career guidance counsellors or through self-help books on managing career (Carson & Carson-Philips, 1997; Gartsen & Grey, 1997). Yet much of the advice given does not take into account the erosion of wages and conditions, employment options and welfare safety nets. In this sense, advice on staying employable might be considered propaganda on how to change oneself to meet the needs of global capital and to accept unemployment or low wage work as the outcome of individuals not correcting themselves to meet the criteria set to get more lucrative jobs. We believe that career cannot be studied in isolation of the wider contextual considerations that have a direct impact on the type of employment available and the type of safety nets society has to look after those who are not in paid employment. We also believe that management education can provide a place to discuss and analyse the wider context of careers and how students might respond to the changes that are taking place in our society and what their role might be in the future direction of our country.

Global competition, technological changes and changing consumer preferences have had an impact on the type, quality and quantity of employment available to citizens world wide. Downsizing and restructuring have led to an increase in part-time work, contracting out, short-term contracts, longer working days, and a decrease in managerial level jobs. As larger firms downsize, smaller, often contractual firms, are replacing them as sites of employment for many. Dent suggests that the pressures to change jobs and work structures (such as globalisation, technology and economic climates) means that hierarchical structures are no longer affordable, but the resulting downsizing and restructuring will create better more humanising jobs and a stronger economy. As such the standard of living and quality of life will improve for all (Dent, 1995).

While Dent argues the changes to work will bring benefits to all, many writers are not so optimistic about the impact of restructuring on individuals, society and the economy in general. The boom of the American economy has been celebrated in terms of the number of jobs created, however, during the period 1979 through to 1995, it has been found as few as 35 percent of laid-off full-time workers gain jobs with equal or better pay (Uchitelle & Kleinfield, 1996). Some laid-off managers are reported as taking on work paying as little as $5US an hour (Ehrensal, 1995). Many of the new jobs have been created in small companies offering fewer benefits, less pay, and are often part-time and temporary positions (Uchitelle & Kleinfield, 1996). The change in the nature of employment has direct implications for the distribution of wealth. Average household income in the United States increased by 10 percent between 1979 and 1994. However, 97 percent of the gain went to the richest 20 percent of the population, at the same time, the inflation adjusted median wage is nearly 3 percent below what it was in 1979 (Uchitelle & Kleinfield, 1996). New Zealand shows similar trends, with growing public and political concern over the growing gap between the richest sector of our society and the poor and those trapped in poverty.

In this way, current restructuring has created three groups of workers: core, periphery, and the unemployed, affecting each of these groups differently (Humphries & Grice, 1995; Atkinson, 1984). Atkinson's (1984) Flexible Firm model characterises core workers as gaining job security in exchange for becoming multi-skilled (or functionally flexible) so that they can be redeployed as demand arises. However, findings consistently show that the secure work force is increasingly affected by job insecurity with each restructure, and are faced with continual upward movement of the number of hours they must do to keep their jobs (Ehrensal, 1995. For example, Ehrensal illustrates the increase of hours worked by managers rising from an average of 48 hours per week in 1991 to 70 hours per week by the mid 1990s. Such increases in hours worked effectively places downward pressure on hourly pay rates as workloads increase and salaries stagnant (Ehrensal, 1995). Increased hours of work directly impacts upon family and leisure time (Ehrensal, 1995; Kanter-Moss, 1989); typically men have less time for family and for women with children this can affect their ability to participate in the new work structures due to work family time conflicts (Kanter-Moss, 1989). Workers who do keep their jobs during restructuring report job insecurity and are increasingly accepting that the organisation will not guarantee them a job(Story, 1997; Henderson, 1997; Ehrensal, 1995). Protective behaviour, such as working longer to appear needed, increased meetings, and reduced spending have been associated with increased job insecurity (Uchtielle & Kleinfeld, 1996). Work place changes have also eroded the wages and conditions of many full time workers creating a new class of working poor. That is their wages are so low that they and their families are living in poverty or below the poverty line (Kossek et al, 1997). Jobs that pay poverty wages are often not linked to organisational career ladders therefore there are few opportunities to move into better-paid positions, and length of service does not equate to substantially increased pay over time (Kossek et al., 1997).

Atkinson (1984) characterizes the periphery workforce as being composed of contracting firms, part time work, telework, casual work and short-term contracts. The periphery work force can be used to match the number of staff employed with the number required by the organization (Von Hippel et al., 1997; Ehrensal, 1995), and to cut costs as they typically have fewer benefits such as sick leave and holiday entitlements (Watts, 1997; Von Hippel et al, 1997; Humphries & Grice, 1995). Outsourcing and Temp Agencies are among the fastest growing industries illustrating the increased use of insecure employment options by employers (Henderson, 1997; Uchitelle & Kleinfield, 1996). Under such work structures, those who are low skilled are more easily exploited by employers as labour needs are matched by hiring at will strategies. Watts (1997) argues that people who are on the fringe of employment pose serious social considerations as the "combination of flexible labour markets, high unemployment and poverty traps induced by current social-security arrangements means that unemployment is increasingly concentrated in particular households and communities" (1997, p. 3). Additionally Humphries and Grice maintain the unemployed can place pressure on the employed to accept decreased pay and conditions.

Embedded in downsizing and restructuring is the notion that access to permanent life-long work is no longer a career option for many. Consistent with this view is a multitude of popular books and writings (Hall & Associates, 1996; Greenhaus and Callanan, 1994) on the changing nature of career and how individuals can best achieve satisfying work within the current environment. Within the framework of new career theory individuals are told to accept responsibility for their own career, scan the work environment, and match their own skills with those of possible opportunities. Within this framework, life-long careers with one organisation characterised by improvement in position and pay over time are not to be expected (Kanter-Moss, 1989, Greenhaus, 1994, Watts, 1995). Rather, Greenhaus and Callanan (1994) suggest individuals need to take responsibility for their own employability and that career ought to be conceived of as a life long experience that can include movement within an organisation, between organisations and in and out of paid employment.

Fournier (1996) suggests that there are three significant differences of current career theory over the traditional bureaucratic career model. First; new careers may involve employment in different types of work and with different employers, and career advancement is characterised by job enrichment instead of promotions. Second; individuals as opposed to organisations are responsible for their own careers. As part of this responsibility, individuals are advised to assess their own strengths and weaknesses; and to identify employment trends in relation to what jobs are available and what jobs are likely to disappear. From this, individuals need to prepare themselves with skills and knowledge for current and future career moves, which are primarily set by organisations. Third; embedded in the new career model is the assumption that there are no boundaries between work and non-work activities, or between types of jobs or organisations. As such, Fournier argues that there are no boundaries with the new career model as work begins to consume leisure, family, and social relationships. Movement can include sideways, and away from organisations and occupations as well as in and out of employment.

Fournier (1996) suggests the new career model is presented as being the inevitable outcome of restructuring and delayering associated with increased global competition. According to Fournier, (1996) the new career is presented as a way that we might manage ourselves to fulfil our dreams and at the same time improve organisational productivity. Grey (1994) suggests that the concept of career does this by providing a well defined set of actions that people can take to change and develop themselves. In this way career plays a particular role in aiding individuals to manage themselves to meet the needs of capitalism.

Individuals learn what is expected of them through human resource management techniques for example recruitment, selection, performance appraisals and promotion criteria explicitly state what is required by potential and current employees (Fournier, 1997, Grey, 1994). The criteria set means that individuals can learn what skills, values, and attitudes will be rewarded (or punished) within the organisation. Performance appraisals enable colleagues, supervisors, and managers to assess how well each individual matches the type of personality and work skills valued by the organisation. In this way, to have a career requires a person to change their very identity, including their sets of values. Having a career is increasingly placing pressure on home life as well. For example Grey (1994) argues that all aspects of a persons life become caught up in having a career: friends become contacts, social events become sights for networking, networks present selling opportunities, and wives become assets for future advancement. For Grey (1994) and others, the construct of career provides employees with a structure that enabled them to align their non-work lives to support their work activities. That is people do things to themselves, and their families to keep employed. The type of person to stay employed is increasingly described as being autonomous and be able (and willing) to make choices and take responsibility for their own behaviour and life. Fournier (1996) found that those who were unwilling to make changes to their identity to fit organisational needs were punished by not getting promotions, pay rises and so on. However, these people help illustrate what can happen by not taking responsibility for ones' self. That is unless employees change all aspects of their lives to fit around career, including their own identity, their family, and their attitudes and values, they were deemed as not being suitable for the organisation.

In this sense, the notion of having a career helps people to do things to themselves to stay employable or suffer the consequences. In this way, the notion of telling people to take responsibility for their own employment may be considered to have worked. However, these changes to oneself are often done in isolation of the realties of the new work environment. That is, there are no guarantees of work, thus one has to argue that the extent that a person can take control is limited by factors out of their control.

While current employees may learn how to change their behaviour, attitudes, values, and skills, through job criteria and performance appraisals, increasingly, new recruits come to organisations already prepared with the right set of values, behaviours and beliefs. That is, new recruits are already likely to know that permanent employment will not be offered, and to stay employable they need to keep their skills updated, and change their beliefs, values and attitudes to fit employing organisations. New recruits are thought to learn these within the education system and within management education in particular (Deetz, 1992; Clegg & Dunkerley, 1980).

We teach a variety of undergraduate and graduate level management courses using a critical theoretical teaching approach. Like Boyce (1996), we believe that such an approach to teaching enables students to actively engage in the particular course in relation to the embedded assumptions of each topic under discussion. The assumptions embedded within critical theory include:

• That capitalism in the wider context is inherently exploitative;
• That we can (perhaps) negotiate the degree of exploitation;
• That most people, if they had an option would not choose to oppress others;
• That capitalism requires citizens to accept that the way things are are natural, therefore nothing can, or indeed ought to be done to change the situation;
• Praxis (turning theory into action) requires analysis and action
• That management education can be domesticating or liberating; and
• Management education is mostly domesticating.

We agree with Boyce (1996) in that education can be domesticating or liberating. Domesticating education reinforces dominant ideology, currently we believe that this to be neo-capitalism. Liberating education challenges dominant ideology, teaches people to examine the assumptions within the dominant ideology, and focuses on how to learn. We also agree that typically, management education is domesticating. In our experience, critical teaching practices provide a liberating learning experience for students.

Throughout our courses we attempt to bring attention to the political, social, and economic context that we live within. As part of this process we review the New Zealand context and the impact that globalisation has on it. The particular focus of each course is then taught in relation to this context. For our career course we examine the extent that we as current and potential employees have on taking responsibility for our own career in light of globalisation, organisational dominance in employment relations, and the changing work environment. To help illustrate the degree of 'choice' we have in relation to managing ourselves to stay employable (or to have a career) within the New Zealand and global context we have developed a series of classroom exercises (Dyer & Humphries, forthcoming, A & B; Dyer and Humphries, 1999).

Each exercise is set within a fictitious organisation that is about to make redundancy decisions. All characters within the exercises rely on their employment for family survival. The exercises include class discussions on how the students felt about the role-play and their particular role within it. Background readings with different perspectives of the changing nature of work and the likely impact on individuals and society are provided prior to the exercises and follow up lectures are made. The exercises have been run for the past two years in New Zealand and one of them has been run in Denmark with MBA and undergraduate students.

In all three exercises, students willingly make members of their groups redundant. While students found making someone redundant difficult and stressful, few questioned the need to make the decision and many believed making one person redundant would save the jobs of the others. The redundancy decisions were made even though it was hinted that the organisations were only reducing staff to increase profit, and not as a result of competitive or company failure. Thus, the overall result of the redundancy decisions would be increased work-load for those left behind, financial and family distress for those who were made redundant, and increased profits for the firm.

In the discussions that followed, participants maintained that they felt that they had no choice in their decisions, and that failure to make someone redundant would mean they had not performed their particular role adequately. The people made redundant in the exercises expressed feelings of despair, resignation, anger and sorrow about being made redundant and becoming unemployed. The students who kept their jobs experienced a multitude of emotions consistent with research findings such as guilt, relief, increased anxiety about their own stability with the firm, and anger over the way that the organisation had treated them and their colleagues.

We believe that the students have already accepted that redundancy is to be expected throughout their lives due to increased globalisation and technology changes. Thus they are already equipped to accept such treatment before they are employed. In this sense, our management students have already begun to change themselves towards being workers in an insecure environment and are willing to accept that as part of this, job insecurity is a reality that they cannot change, and as such individuals (preferably not themselves) would be made redundant. This is consistent with Grey (1994) and Fournier's (1996) argument that individuals have already constituted themselves to accept the inevitability of downsizing and restructuring and the impact this has on access to employment and their future careers.

While the students made the 'right' decision for the respective organisations to make someone redundant, they could not justify how these decisions were 'right' for the individuals themselves, or for the impact that reduced employment would have on the communities that were woven into the exercises. This illustrates that while the students had considered the impact of the work environment on their future careers, few had considered the social impact of unemployment on their communities and inevitably their own welfare and standard of living. That is, the students could talk about the notion that lifelong employment was no longer an option for them, but few had considered how periods of unemployment would affect them personally or how their communities would be affected. Many voice the opinion that in this country, unemployment benefits are available and the 'State' will take care of them. In this way, our students illustrate that they have little comprehension of the impact of poverty, or the intergenerational trends of unemployment, or the impact that mass unemployment can have on a region.

We believe that our students have already internalised the message of a market driven economy where capital has the right to exploit resources in order to pursue profit. These students have constituted themselves as human resources, and as such, a resource to be exploited. Students are willing to do things to themselves (get a management degree) to place themselves in the best position to maintain employment within the new environment. These students are also willing to do things to others, make someone else redundant, to keep their own job. However, we believe that the students had not considered the impact of unemployment on themselves or their communities. Rather we believe that the students had internalised and constituted themselves towards the popular messages associated with the new work environment as opposed to the more critical analysis of such changes on individuals and communities.

The exercises illustrate to us that students have already constituted themselves towards accepting with out question the popular view of the changing nature of work and the impact this would have on their own careers - that is that they can choose any career simply by taking responsibility for themselves. However, we also find the exercises help students to challenge their own views and that of dominant ideology. The exercises help students to extend their view of the impact that globalisation and work place changes may have on society and the communities that they live in, and their own future well being. That students are liberated by this experience was highlighted in classes that followed the exercises. That is, in many of the lectures that follow, students refer back to the experience to illustrate points of the topic under discussion. It is our view that management education can be a space for liberating education, and as such, a space to learn and to challenge the practices that dominate our society. For us, and our students the next challenge is how to put our concerns for social justice into practice in our wider communities. That is, how do we voice politically our concerns about the changes made to work. To this end, we as educators attempt to engage in providing our students with the skills to at first analyse dominant ideology and then to illustrate that, as citizens, they have a right to participate in the management of their own future.

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