Persons who have been in the workplace for over thirty years have often commented that the workplace is not what it used to be. This is true, and many have difficulty coping with these changes.

The system familiar to these persons was one where a product was made in its entirety in one location, the persons making the decisions about the product were located where the product was being produced and the persons using the product were also located in the same place.

Globalisation, a phenomenon where people around the globe are more connected to each other than ever before, where information and money flow more quickly than ever and where international travel and communication are commonplace has resulted in goods and services produced in one part of the world being increasingly available in all parts of the world.

“The phenomenon of globalisation is one of the most important causes of the current change in the organisation of work. This phenomenon brings about new forms of production where plants are located away from where strategies are decided and far from the markets where the goods are consumed. There are two primary factors driving this phenomenon: the extraordinary speed of communication no longer limited by space or time, and the relative ease with which merchandise and people are transported from one part of the world to another.”

This has resulted in an intensification of worldwide social relations, such that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa. This presents challenges. On the one hand what one person does in one country affects another, however the physical isolation at times actually result in decision makers often not being intimately aware of the consequences or repercussions of their decisions.

 “This entails a fundamental consequence for processes of production, as property is ever further removed and often indifferent to the social effects of the decisions made.” This means that extra care needs to be taken to ensure that the possible challenges that increasing globalisation places on the work place do not outweigh the benefits. 

“Globalisation is neither good nor bad in itself, but depends on how it is used, it must be affirmed that a globalisation of safeguards, minimum essential rights and equity is necessary.”

“One of the most significant characteristics of the new organisation of work is the physical fragmentation of the cycle of production, promoted in order to obtain greater efficiency and greater profits.  In this perspective, the traditional space-time coordinates within which the cycle of production formerly took place undergoes an unprecedented transformation that determines a change in the structure of work itself.  All of this has significant consequences for the life of individuals and communities subjected to radical changes both on the level of material conditions and culture and values.” 

Persons in companies at times can feel they have little or no control over their jobs and their lives.  At the local, community and national level there is the possibility of governments and local labour organizations having decreased effectiveness as regards their control over labour and production issues.

 This highlights that their needs to be concerted efforts to ensure that globalisation does not result in local communities or countries being left out of decision making and so ensuring a more even distribution of the benefits of globalisation.

“On the worldwide and local levels, this phenomenon presently involves millions of people, independently of their profession, social standing or cultural preparation.  The reorganization of time, its standardization and the changes currently underway in the use of space are therefore to be considered a crucial challenge, also at the level of ethics and culture, in the area of defining a renewed system for the defence of work.”
 
“The globalisation of the economy, with the liberalisation of markets, the stiffening of competition, the increase of specialised business in providing goods and services, requires greater flexibility in the labour market and in organising and managing production processes.

In making an evaluation in this delicate area, it seems appropriate to lend greater moral, cultural and planning attention to giving direction to social and political activity concerning issues connected with the identity and content of new work, in a market and an economy that are themselves new.”

Next week we discuss the more specific impacts globalisation has had on the workplace.
Interested in purchasing the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church? Contact the Commission for Social Justice, Archbishop’s House – 622-6680.