Changing Times in the Workplace

Changing jobs in the 20th century was considered an oddity. Carrying on the tradition of beginning and ending ones career with the same company was the norm. Find a good company to work for, start at the bottom and work your way as high as possible was common place then. These organizations, known as "'womb to tomb' employers" (p. 42) would often times keep personnel in their employ with fifty years or more of faithful service.

Often an employee would have to gain knowledge of all the responsibilities within a certain department in order to gain the expertise needed to earn a promotion. It was not all that uncommon to meet individuals, as clichй as it may sound, who started their career in the mailroom, and worked their way into a position of authority.

In today's ever changing work environment, the notion of beginning and ending a career at one place of employment is considered passй. "Many people entering the work force may work for as many as seven or eight companies during their careers" (p. 42). Within their careers they also learn a vast array of specialized skills, also making the employees more marketable. Within all of these changes is the notion that with all of the skill sets employees are learning "it is not unusual for an employee to work for two or three companies that are competitors of one another, using the knowledge they acquire from one company to enable a different company to compete more effectively" (p. 42).

Also changing in today's labor society, is the role that managers play. No longer are they representatives of all the specialized fields that form a department. In the 20th century, an employee had to have specialized knowledge of each job function from within that department to climb the promotion ladder. It was not until "an employee learned all of the functions of a department, he or she moved into a supervisory position, and eventually into management" (p. 42). Today's managers are trained for their people skills, specializing in motivation, and ability to foresee future trends. Often times, managers are hired with no technical knowledge of the "company's products or services" (p. 42).

References

Carlson, C. (2002, June). The Changing Workplace. Workplace Monthly,