Critically Discuss How Global is at Ion Could Affect the Future Work and Leisure Patterns of Societies Across the World, Final

8/6/2019 Critically Discuss How Global is at Ion Could Affect the Future Work and Leisure Patterns of Societies Across the Wo…

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/critically-discuss-how-global-is-at-ion-could-affect-the-future-work-and-leisure 1/15

Ioana Micu,BA (Hons) HTM 4

1

How globalisation could affect the future work and

leisure patterns of societies across the world




2

If we put together the current changes in people, planet, technology, education and global

wealth, everybody on the globe will have a profound impact on how we do business (Smith,

2007). This essay will critically discuss the effects of globalisation; the future work and

leisure patterns of societies across the world affected by globalisation, such as global

economic, work-leisure balance, inequality and world poverty, as well as the technology

innovation in human life. The paper will justify the findings with academic research and

relevant worldwide examples.

People go to work to generate income and have an interest in meaningful and fulfilling

work, nevertheless, in recent years, global changes have reflected the importance of how

people work and also how consumers spend their time outside paid work, both leisure and

unpaid free time (Wilpert, 2009). Leisure time is defined by Martin and Mason (1998, p.20)

as the ³free time that people have at the end of the working day, at the weekends, in paid

holiday periods, and in the years of retirement.´ Taylor (2011) claims that our quality of

home and leisure life is influenced by paid work. Martin and Mason (1998) predict that

consumer spending in free time will double in volume by 2021, due to changes in consumer

priorities in terms of the type of leisure activities and its location.

Since the wave of globalisation which started at the beginning of 1980s, early 1990s has

promoted economic equality and reduced poverty (Wade, 2003). Globalisation came about

due to the increase of world wide investments, production and marketing (Alden et al.,

2006). For example, China in the recent years has become one of the largest urbanisation

countries in human history, with an estimation of 150 million people moved from the




3

countryside to work in factories in bigger cities which have highly decreased poverty in the

Chinese nation (Hessler, 2008). Global Consumption Orientation (GCO) has a major

influence on consumers; another similar example is South Korea which was 28% urban in

1960, whereas now 82% of the population live in urban areas (Alden et al, 2006).

Globalisation opened the barriers and encouraged new flows, linkage and disruption of

people; ideas; culture and politics; and affected the patterns of migration, labour and

relations of inequality (Finn et al., 1999).

The population growth has major implications in the influence of the current global society.

Smith (2007) states that the overall world population will reach 9.1 billion by 2050 with

growth in the work force by 2030 in the USA, UK and Australia. This resulted in new inter-

organisational relations, as well as the opportunity for new individualisation of job

demands, which will impact on social work relations (Wilpert, 2009). With the population

growing, the world economy is growing as well. Smith (2007) states that the global

economy will grow at a pace of 3% a year for the next decade, states such as China, India,

Brazil, Mexico and other small countries will massively contribute to share in world of

GDP (appendix 1). Smith (2007) claims, that the shift of economic growth will also

influence the global consumer spending pattern (appendix 1). The consequences of the

economic growth is that will alter the consuming economies, as a result the consumer

product producers design and attention to details will play an important role in the

workforce. Jeremy (2010) claims that consumerism had occurred as a result of economic

growth and technological innovation, which increased the industrial efficiency. Jeremy

(2010, p.5) claims that ³consumerism is social inefficiency. It is the inefficiency with

which we use goods produced.´




4

Stiglitz (2002, p.9 cited by Wilpert, 2009, p.727) gives a different perspective of

globalisation as ³...closer integration of countries and people of the world´ with the

emergence of new institutions and the importance of internationally active corporations

moving capital, goods, and technology across borders. International trade can upgrade the

income in low income countries while increasing unemployment in other parts of the world

(Wilpert, 2009). Featherstone et al. (1995) claim that borders are easily accessed, the

global-local flow of products and services are distributed across the globe faster than ever,

for instance, America and Europe depend upon oil from Saudi Arabia, credit cards

controlled from banks in Hong Kong, automobiles built in Mexico by Japanese firms.

Wade (2003) claims that over the past 20 years the number of people living on less than $1

a day has decreased dramatically by 200 million. National Geographic Magazine (2011)

states that by 2030 more than one billion people in the world will reach the global middle

class (see appendix 5), resulting in people consuming more meat and buying cars impacting

on world production and consumption of food and energy. Global population is constantly

growing, as a result the consumptions are increasing; the argument raised is how people

consume resources matters. Globalization (`global` media) influenced many parts of the

world by encouraging consumers to become materialistic (Alden et al., 2006). Alden et al.

(2006, p.231) define materialism as ³worldly possessions and beliefs that he/she derives

pleasure and happiness from their ownership.´ Furthermore, global culture advertises the

dreams of material comfort, personal success and self-satisfaction, which are traits relating

with materialism. In other words consumers are motivated to work harder in order to reach

a high standard of living (Taylor, 2011). Arnett (2002 cited by Wilpert, 2009) states that the




5

central psychological consequence of globalisation is that it results in transformations in

identity. The new interconnectedness results in globalism as a one place with four identities:

bicultural identity, identity confusions, self-selected cultures and emerging adulthood

(Wilpert, p.730).

Global human security will challenge today's society in finding ways of satisfying the basic

societal needs such as food, clothing, housing, education, health care, employment, respect

and human rights (Golding and Harris, 1997). What the future brings is change and

uncertainty, affecting everybody, especially people in the work place: people threatened by

insecure jobs and people already without jobs, the underpaid and the unemployed, all these

trends leading to depression and insecurity. Outsourcing in places such as China and India,

where the labour force is low-priced, affects developed countries such as the UK, which by

2012 will need extra 19,000 skilled foreign IT immigrants in order for the gap to be filled

(Smith, 2007).

Smith (2007) claims that the labour resources are changing faster than ever before;

populations are aging rapidly and also with the culture amalgam and nationalities

influencing the workforce, social change is fast. For example, Europe in ten years` time

will have ninety million people over sixty, many of whom would like to work (unofficial

jobs), rather than retire, as a result, opportunities will open for them, such as voluntary

organisations and social and cultural services (Jouen, 2011). Furthermore, Martin et al.

(1998) agree that the voluntary sector will become very important, as consumers will spend

more and more of their free time on community involvement as active citizens. It is






7

graduates from all over the world, for instance, employees from developed countries are

competing with candidates from low income countries such as Dubai, India, China and

Kazakhstan (Smith, 2011).

Glancing back at the human history, it can be seen that the same factor (cost of

communication) has been the concern time after time, in how entire societies were

structured (Malone, 2004). A few hundred years ago, new technology, such as the printing

press, dramatically reduced the cost of communication and this new approach of

technology was able to reach a larger number of people leading them toward greater

centralisation (Malone, 2004). Today, new technology advances have started to change

dramatically the way businesses are managed, for example, new communication is made by

email, instant messaging, the Internet and teleconferencing (Malone, 2004). This part of

globalisation will influence the working pattern, for example, by 2015 more than 100

million people will telecommute to work, the offices will have embedded sensors in chairs

which sense stress and will provide massages or will set the light in preferred way and staff

will also verbally talk with the computer (hr management, 2011). Technology enabled

global communication and what the future brings is moving images, televisions and videos

on every device due to the IP (Internet Protocol) which revolutionised how the information

is communicated (Smith, 2007).

Smart phones will not only improve the efficiency of supply chains but, will also change

working patterns; statistics show that by 2012, 18% of phones will be smart phones and by

2015 the percentage will rise to 45% (Smith, 2007). Generation Y engage with this

capacity of using smart phones and online virtual world, which massively increased the




8

globalisation process and also social networks sites grew in the last five years and made the

world more connected than ever (Smith, 2007). In addition, Smith (2007) states that

companies will recruit and advertise on social networking. Smith (2007) predicts the next

revolution as worlds populated by avatars (graphical representations of people) interacting

with each other, communications, buying and selling to one another. The effects of the

online virtual world is that the cost of labour for employees to engage with customers in

person is much higher compare with the artificial intelligence systems which can be

achieved at a lower cost (Smith, 2011).

The computer has entered into work and private life since the 1980s and the twentieth

century has a history in which machines largely replaced the skills of workers (Wilpert,

2009). The consequences of globalisation might affect many employees (less need for

human work), due to the fact that employers will invest in productivity enhancing, labour

cost saving technologies in order to become more competitive in the global market (Wilpert,

2009). The automation in work followed the rationale of making the production process

more controllable and more independent of human action (Wilpert, 2009). In today¶s

society, many parts of the world are affected by the ³smart machine´, dramatic changes had

occurred in the occupational structure and professions, for example, secretaries in

universities no longer need to type due to the fact that scientists now write their letter and

papers themselves, the role of secretaries now being one of office assistants and office

managers (White, 2007). Middle level managers will be replaced by computers, for

instance, society will seem idle, as figures show that only 10% of people will be working in

the future, and the rest will be paid to be idle (Jeremy, 2010). The World-Wide-Web has

revolutionized the way we work, the time and flexibility that these technologies affect the




9

whole structure of society which is the new flexibility in completing the work (Wilpert,

2009). Technology has made the world smaller and in the same time increased the global

competition (Wilpert, 2009). As a result, the employees are highly motivated to work

harder, as they are threatened by unemployment (Wilpert, 2009).

The above statements will provide humans with increased pressure on their leisure time,

which will lead to a change in people¶s attitude towards work, and demand a more satisfied

leisure time, whether or not they had a successful work life (Benington and White, 1990).

In other words, working patterns will become more varied (see appendix 3 on how the

working time was transformed over the years) (Martin and Mason, 1998). The freedom and

flexibility offered by technology is that more and more people have worked from home in

the last few years, with virtual office environment that goes anywhere because of the

wireless tools that are being used by companies in order to save expenses (hr management,

2011).

Malone (2004) supports the statements mentioned above by saying that due to information

technology, for the first time, society can have the best of both worlds. For instance, the

economic and scale efficiencies of large organisations and human benefits such as freedom,

motivation, creativity and flexibility. In other words, organisations will give employees

more freedom to decide what to do and when to do it; organisations where most of the

workers are not employees at all, but electronically connected freelancers living wherever

they want to. Freedom in business will lead people to get what they really want in life.

They will have money, interesting work and be able to spend time with their families

(Malone, 2004). Taylor (2010) claims that the flexibility in working hours decreases work-




10

family pressures. Looking closely at some of the global organisations it can be seen that all

the above trends are already happening today, and will increase in the future. The increase

in human freedom in business in the long run will be as important for businesses as the

change to democracies was for governments (Malone, 2004). Some companies have started

to have loose hierarchies in which top bosses still exist, but the decision-making is made at

a very low organisational level. For example, AES Corp, the world¶s largest electricity

producer, lets low-level employees make critical multi-million-dollar decisions about

things like acquiring new subsidiaries (Malone, 2004). Another example is Linux (a

computer operating system) which was written by a loosely coordinated hierarchy of

thousands of volunteer programmers from all over the world (Malone, 2004).

It is estimated that full-time employees will decline due to the increase of contract workers,

individuals being assembled into work groups based on talent, experience and expertise (hr

management, 2011). In addition, Smith (2007) claims that in the 21st Century more than 50%

of jobs will be part-time, flexitime, temporary and self-employed (appendix 4). Using

technology does not necessarily mean that we work fewer hours; as Jeremy (2010) has

found, the average American employee works 12% longer than in the 1970s. Employees

have to be more connected to their team, when they are off, work extra hours from home,

even on vacation or in their leisure time (hr management, 2011). People will mix work with

leisure. For instance, when people go on holiday 10% of their time will be working and 90%

on holiday (Winter, 2011). The future will bring big population shifts, people will want to

live and work in places where they can maximise their leisure time, for example, people

will live and work in Hawaii because Hawaii is good for surfing and people like to spend

their leisure time on hobbies they enjoy. Another example is, people who like mountain




11

climbing, will want to work and live in a mountaineering district (Winter, 2011). Change

will be inevitable as organisations are currently supporting flexible hours due to the fact

that flexible hours have 3.5% higher market value compared with organisations that do not

support flexible work arraignments. For example, Hewlett Packard has had a 50%

reduction in overtime and almost doubled their productivity when it implemented the

flexible 4-day workweek (hr management, 2011). Wilpert (2009) describes globalisation

from the sociological point of view. It unifies and separates, creates similarities and

differences, in other words, the core issue in today¶s global interaction is the tension

between cultural homogenization and cultural heterogenization. Malone (2004, p.16)

claims that, in order to be successful in the contemporary world, individuals need a new set

of mental models, to shift their thinking from ³command-and-control´ to ³coordinate-and-

cultivate´. In addition, organisation will have to reconsider their corporate structures

completely for the 21st Century generation Y (Smith, 2007).

Revolutionary thinking is needed in regard to a more sensible distribution of work

nationally and internationally, the redistribution of surplus value created by work

(developing new concepts of work distribution) and the construction of a civilization of

free time (Wilpert, 2009). Globalisation has dramatically changed not only the way we

work, but also all social levels: the individual, the family, the social community, the

institutional and inter-institutional level. The growth of women entering the work force has

created and will challenge the future of work and leisure patterns for individuals, families

and employers (Lewis and Cooper 2005). Women see things in a holistic way. They are

more aware of the need for solutions, to improve quality and management. For instance,

Indian women are becoming more educated and there is a high increase of women in the




12

work force (Jouen, 2011). Women have the power to change the kinds of products and

services which will be produced in the future (Jouen, 2011). Taylor (2011) states that

almost 70% of mothers in two parent household with one child in the UK choose to do paid

work. There have been changes in the way paid work is harmonised with care

responsibilities. In addition, women¶s access to education will continue to change male-

female relationship (appendix 5), (Lewis and Cooper, 2005).

Globalisation has impacted children, and young adults to a greater extent than the older

generation (Alden et al, 2009). Finn et al. (1999), state that children and childhood are at

the centre of globalisation, due to the global media, their symbolic evocation of them,

representing a controversial range of hopes, fears and risks. Leisure time has also had an

impact on childhood. Naisbitt (2011) claims that, children live their lives before screens,

watching television and playing games more than ever before. For example, American

children have their own television and music in their rooms, leading them to isolation

(Naisbitt, 2011). This trend has spread all over the globe including Asia and Latin America

(Naisbitt, 2011). Globalisation has influenced people¶s diet and activities due to the rapid

worldwide shifts in technological innovation which has reduced the expenditure of

exercising during leisure, transportation and work (Popkin, 2006). These trends have led

many parts of the world in particular Western countries, to become overweight (Popkin,

2006). Obesity has become a global phenomenon. Statistics predict that by 2015, 2.3 billion

adults will be officially overweight with 700 million being obese (Smith, 2007). The

consequences of the above trends will have a great impact on businesses worldwide by

reducing the availability and quality of labour (Smith, 2007).




13

The concept of work-life balance has arisen due to the late arrival in the public policy

debate on the future of employment (Taylor, 2011). The future of work-personal life will

over-lap and interact. As a result, humankind will have to invent new strategies and think

collaboratively about optimal harmonization (Lewis and Cooper, 2005). Lewis and Cooper

(2005) claims that work-personal life harmonization raised many question and debates

across the planet, as a result a scenario pathway framework was developed (see appendix 2).

In conclusion, the trends mentioned above will increase the importance of self-reliance

(continuous openness of individuals towards new learning and self-adaptation) and the

increase of more general personal qualifications, such as social competencies and the

ability to learn how to learn during the entire life span (Wilpert, 2009). In addition, Jeremy

(2010) suggests that what the world needs for the future is balance on how we consume the

resources available to human beings. This impact will affect the way people work and

spend their leisure time. This paper has looked at how globalization affects the workforce

on many parts of the planet, and also their leisure time and work -life balance. Technology

had an enormous impact on the work force. This has been discussed in this essay and

illustrated by examples and reference to academic research.




14

References:

Alden, D., L., Steenkamp, J.,E.,M. & Batra, R. (2006) Consumer attitudes toward

marketplace globalization: Structure, antecedents and consequences. Journal of Research in

Marketing. Vol. 23, pp.227-239 [i.p. 2 & 4]

Benington, J. & White, J. (1990) The future of Leisure Services. Longman Group UK

Limited, Essex, England. [i.p. 9]

Featherstone, M., Lash, S., and Robertson, R. (1995) Global Modernities. Sage

Publications, London, UK. [i.p. 4]

Finn, J., L., Hybell, L., M., & Shook, J., J. (2010) The meaning and making of childhood in

the era of globalisation: Challenges for social work, Journal of Children and Youth

Services Review, Vol. 32, pp. 246-254 [i.p. 3 & 12]

Golding, P. & Harris, P. (1997) Beyond Cultural Imperialism, Globalization,

communication & the new international order. Sage Publications, London. UK [i.p. 5]

Hessler, P. (2008) China: Inside the Dragon.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/china/jouney/hessler-text± accessed 12/04/2011 [i.p. 3]

HR Management website (2011) The future of HR ± How to Achieve the 2020 workplace

Today. http://www.hrmreport.com/article/The-Future-of-HR--How-to-Achieve-the-2020-

wokplace-today ± accessed 10/04/2011 [i.p. 7, 9, 10 & 11]

Jeremy, P. (2009 & 2010) A Post-Growth Ecomomy FAQ

http://makewealthhistory.org/2010/09/20/a-post-growth-economy-faq ± accessed

12/04/2011 [i.p. 3, 8, 10 & 13]

Jouen, M. (2011) Visionaries ± Week 5: Work, Leisure and Lifestyle.

Www.bbc.co.uk ± accessed 16/04/2011[i.p. 5, 11 & 12]

Lewis, S. and Cooper, C. (2005) Work-life Integration. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, West

Essex, England. [i.p. 11, 12 & 13]

Malone, T., W. (2010) The new World of work

http://mitleadership.mit.edu/pdf/NewWorldofWork-researchbrief.pdf - accessed

15/04/2011[i.p. 7, 9, 10 & 11]




15

Martin, WH. And Mason, S. (1998) Transforming the Future Rethinking free time and

work. Leisure Consultants, Suffolk. [i.p. 2 & 9]

Naisbitt, J. (2011) Visionaries ± Week 5: Work, Leisure and Lifestyle.

Www.bbc.co.uk ± accessed 16/04/2011 [i.p. 12]

Popkin, B., M. (2006) Technology, transport, globalization and the nutrition transition food

policy. Journal of Food Policy. Vol. 31, pp. 554-569 [i.p. 12]

Smith, D. (2007) The Future of Companies. Global Future and Foresight Ltd.

http://www.thegff.com/Groups/72275/Global_Futures_and/Reports/The_Future_of/The_Fu

ture_of.aspx - accessed 10/04/2011 [i.p. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 & 12]

Taylor, R. (2011) The Future of work-life balance.

http://www.esrc.ac.uk/_images/future_of_work_life_balance_tcm8-13554.pdf - accessed15/04/2011 [i.p. 2, 4, 9, & 13]

Wade, R., H. (2004) Is Globalisation Reducing Poverty and Inequality?. World

Development. Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 567-589 [i.p. 2 & 4]

White, P (2007) The new World of work.

http://video.cloudfront.pcpro.co.uk/pcpro/bi/NewWorldOfWork.pdf - accessed 15/04/2011

[i.p. 8]

Wilpert, B. (2009) Impact of globalization on human work. Safety Science. Vol. 47, pp.727-732 [i.p. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 & 13]

Winter, C. (2011) Visionaries ± Week 5: Work, Leisure and Lifestyle.

Www.bbc.co.uk ± accessed 16/04/2011[i.p. 10]

Documents

Critically Discuss How Global is at Ion Could Affect the Future Work and Leisure Patterns of Societies Across the World, Final