Justin Woods
5/29/04
Mr. Witte
Concepts Play Role in Career Goal
There are a few different job opportunities that I have considered for possible careers, and over the course of this semester I have narrowed these possibilities down to one. My career goal is to hold a management position in the motor vehicle parts and accessories manufacturing industry, preferably at Borg Warner in Seneca. My position of choice is Operations Manager, but it will take a considerable amount of time to get to that position. There will be a number of steps and promotions that will have to take place before achieving a position of that stature. Consequently, there are many concepts that were discussed in class that will come into play. Some of these concepts would include rationalization, networking, and competition among workers. These three concepts will play a huge role in my ability to achieve the desired position, and will also have an effect on the amount of time it takes to reach my goal.
The fact that the majority of the workforce has been rationalized is going to affect the amount of steps that it takes me to reach my goal. Rationalization is a method of dealing with problems and processes in an established sequence of steps (Quigley p.178). Like every major corporation, there are a vast number of policies that are in place to keep every branch of Borg Warner operating under the same requirements. This means that there will be many preliminary steps through training and promotions that have to be completed before being able to achieve my desired position. There are also mandated plans of action to deal with nearly anything that could occur while on the job. While this is in an attempt to reduce the risk and uncertainty involved with hiring, organizing, and initializing productive and progressive employees, there are some negative aspects associated with these practices. This is because rationalization misapplies scientific thinking to increase product produced at the cost of "dehumanization" (Quigley p.178). In essence these practices are turning human beings into automations or machine like entities that have lost the ability to think for themselves, or at least have lost the freedom to think for themselves. This type of dehumanization could be considered to be unethical and anti-human rights. However, with the unending legal and productivity constraints involved with operating an organization, this system of rationalization has seemed to be the best way to prevent and protect organizations from negative situations that could occur during operations.
There are still some occupations that have not been as affected by rationalization as the auto parts industry, but a lot of these jobs are not as affected because they depend heavily on individual creativity. An example of this would be in the case of an artist. It is difficult to rationalize this type of occupation because of the wide open possibilities and individual preferences associated with it. Someone like Willie, from Working Knowledge by Douglas Harper, can be considered to be a type of artist, seen through the use of bricolage, where his working style would be widely considered irrational or anti-rationalism. This is shown through the fact that most of what is said about Willie is pointing out his “uniqueness” in the way he goes about doing things. Although he is a repairman, a profession that has become rationalized to a large extent, Willie is different because he works with a deeper understanding of the parts and machines that he deals with, and he does not have a manual or required system to follow for each situation.
Networking is a concept that plays a very important role in the workplace and should never be underestimated. This is because who you know, or who you don’t know, can have a great deal of importance when it comes to trying to keep a position or getting promoted to a higher position. This is shown through the fact that at least 70% of all jobs are obtained through networking and this percentage is increasing every year (Dolak, 2000). Considering the magnitude of this statistic, it can be easily seen why this concept is crucial to the success of one’s career. If done correctly it can be one of the best marketing tools available to try to enhance a current career position or to be able to move up to a better position.
Networking is a working system of meeting new people as well as keeping in touch with people that you already know. It is important not to loose contact with people that you currently have relationships with because that would be like cutting your network in half. Networking involves developing bonds, demonstrating reliability and expertise, and investing time and effort to help others, but there is no guarantee that any favors will be returned (Langford, 2001). Keeping the bond between individuals is a crucial key to networking. This bond will foster trust and assurance among the people involved, and trust and assurance are two very important aspects of maintaining good workable relationships.
Although sustaining relationships over time is very important, there is a difference in the degree of the bond when it comes to past relationships versus more recent and newly formed relationships. Contact between individuals in a recently formed and more active relationship should be more regular and intensive in nature. On the other hand, if the relationship is one that was established in the distant past the regularity and intensiveness of the contact will not be as strong. This may not hold true in some cases however because of the importance of the relationship that has been established. Therefore, some networks will be structured differently for some people compared to others.
Competition among workers is another concept that will play a role in the direction of my career path. This concept is a very good thing for the most part because of the more efficient and productive labor that can result. Fair competition in the workplace can help to make a company reach and exceed their goals. This is because of the added motivation and incentive that this type of competition gives the employees. Not only are the employees competing with the environment to meet organizational objectives, but they are also competing against each other to make a better impression upon upper level managers for personal acknowledgement. It could also put more pressure on individual employees to perform better. In turn causing a more productive workplace, but only if the employees can handle it and thrive in a high pressure environment. Although, if some employees do not thrive in this type of environment it will “weed out” the more competitive employees from the sedentary ones.
There is another side of competition among workers which is potentially negative. This concept can turn negative if the competition among the workers is not fair. This is because the competition between workers can go from improving the overall productivity of the organization to a type of cannibalization where workers are pitted against each other for individual gratification. The competition may still produce temporary increases in productivity and efficiency, but the long run problems that can occur will offset these short term improvements. This is because the quality trust worthy employees that the organization will lose from this type of environment will play a negative role in the success of the company in the long run. However, the motivation that “healthy” competition among workers produces is a great factor of the workplace that will help the success of the organization.
These three concepts are definitely going to come into play throughout my career. To try to further understand the amount of affect that they will have on my career path I have conducted an interview. This interview will allow me to get more information on how these concepts have played a role in the career path of someone who has been in the industry that I am prospecting for employment. The real life feedback I will receive could be invaluable to my personal preparation for working in my field of choice.
This very successful interview went as follows:
Q: What company are you currently employed at?
A: Borg Warner of Seneca, SC is my current employer.
Q: What is your current position at this company?
A: I am the Senior Supply Assistant Engineer at this time.
Q: How many years have you worked at this position?
A: I have been in my current position for three years.
Q: How many years did it take you to achieve this position?
A: I was first employed at Borg Warner as a Quality Engineer. I stayed at that position for seven years. I was then able to achieve a promotion into my current position.
Q: Do you think that Rationalization plays a role in the operations of the company, and if
so why?
A: I think rationalization plays a role in a very large portion of operations. This is not unlike the majority of companies operating today, and you can see an attempt to rationalize even more facets of the organization as time goes on. This is due to the danger of someone making a bad decision that costs the company a lot of money, and also due to the systems of efficiency that have been put into place to try to conserve as much as possible. This being said, there are many parts of my job duties and responsibilities that are not rationalized. This is because many decisions that I have to make are not systematic and routine in nature and take some intuition and forward thinking to make.
Q: How important has Networking been in regards to your career path?
A: Networking has been very important during my journey to my current position. Individuals that I have met and began relationships with have helped me tremendously. Not that a position has been handed to me because of who I knew, but that knowing people has helped me to become aware of openings that I would not have known about any other way. That helped to cut down on the amount of steps it would take to find out about and achieve certain positions that I have held.
Q: Do you think that competition among workers has affected your ability to achieve this position? If so how?
A: Competition among workers has affected my career path. This has not been so much of a factor after I achieved a certain position, but during the acquisition periods it was a huge factor. Competition from applicants that were trying to achieve the same position that I was were the main competition that I had to deal with throughout my career. I have been fortunate to have worked with cooperative people with the same goal once I actually achieved a position.
Q: How do you think that these concepts have affected the amount of time that it has taken to achieve your current position?
A: Rationalization has affected the time it has taken to achieve my position. This has been mainly through the amount of required education and training that it takes to get into this position. However, networking has been a huge factor in offsetting the Rationalization portion of my career path. It would have taken me much longer achieve certain positions if it had not been for Networking along the way. Competition among workers really only affected my career path during the interviewing and acquisition stages of getting a position.
As an employee at Borg Warner, this individual, who will remain anonymous, has given me great insight to the different aspects of the workplace. The three concepts of interest all have played a part in the career path of this individual, and some are still playing a role now. There were some issues that were only really noticeable at certain times during the journey. Then there were others that have had an ongoing affect throughout.
Rationalization has been a constant factor in the career path of this individual. This was through required steps of attaining education and training in order to have the competence to properly handle the job functions. There is also rationalization evident in the everyday operations of the position. There are required plans of action in place to deal with many possible scenarios that could arise while on the job. This does not always hold true in this instance because there are many new scenarios that arise that have to be handle through individual thought and intuition. This was very surprising to me because a lot of the workplace today is rationalized almost to the point of no individual thought.
Networking is a concept that is evident in the career path of many people, and it was no different here. In this case, as in many cases, this concept really helped in the acquisition of new and better jobs. Not so much in “gift” jobs but more in becoming aware of available positions that one would not have known about any other way. The biggest area where this concept played a role was in offsetting the Rationalization factor of the career path. This pays huge dividends when one can bypass certain steps and go on to a higher a better level in their career. It can unbelievable reduce the amount of time it takes for someone like me to get to my desired position.
Competition among workers has been a bigger factor at certain point of the career path than at others. It seems that the main competition that has occurred is at the hiring stages of the journey. This is given fact because of the number of applicants that are trying to get a position in the beginning. This is also a positive fact concerning employment at Borg Warner. If employees are cooperative and want to work together to achieve the same goals, then this can be a very good environment to thrive in as an employee. This will also contribute to the development of life long careers at the company.
There are a lot of factors that can come into play throughout my journey to achieving the Operations Manager position. The concepts that I have chosen to focus on are rationalization, networking, and competition between workers. These concepts can go on independent of each other, but they usually overlap and interact together in different facets of the workplace. Whether independent or together, rationalization, networking, and competition among workers will play a huge role in the time, effort, and enjoyment of my career. Hopefully, I will be able o use these concepts to my advantage and achieve my career goals.
Bibliography
Quigley, Carroll, The World Since 1939: A History, Collier Books, New York, Collier
Macmillan Ltd., London, Originally published as Part II Tragedy and
Hope, pg 178
Langford, Peter 2001; HR Monthly: Stay In Touch
Dolak, Dave 1998; The 10 Best Strategies to Find a Job: Career Magazine
Harper, Douglas 1987; Working Knowledge: Skills and Community in a Small Shop;
Chicago: University of Chicago
Fisher-Thompson, Jim 2001; Networking; USIA Staff Writer