An activity that produces something of Value for other people

Work is one of the most basic of all human institutions. It not only has a survival value but also other equally important factors like philosophical, moral, religious, political and psychological functions.

If you ask your friend, why do you work?

He/she will say “for the salary”. If that is the reason why does a homemaker works for 8 to 10 hours a day for which he or she is not paid? Why does a rich person work in a voluntary organization? Why does a person resign a job and takes up another job with less pay? So the term work may be defined as “an activity that produces something of value for other people.”

In the modern society, work is an activity that takes a major portion of the time of most adults. Though the type of work and hours per week may change, most people can anticipate spending about 30 to 40 years working. So this is one of the major means of life which calls proper adjustment for a healthy and happy living.

Changing attitude towards work.
Each individual wants to work. But the views of work differ from one person to another, from one society to another, one generation to another etc. The views toward work may change over time in the same person also.

There are certain wrong notion about work. For some, it gives an image of toil, effort, energy sapping activities that one must do. For some others, it is something few people do willingly that everyone would prefer other activities if it weren’t for financial necessity. Of late, our views, of work has changed considerably. People do realize that they can enjoy the work.

When you talk to a person who is retired he/she will say that the work atmosphere has deteriorated, the youngsters do not work, they are lazy etc. If you ask younger person who is working, he/she would disagree with this view. Instead their argument would be that I have spent more time and money to acquire the knowledge and skill and I need a proper return for it. There is some logic in both arguments.

No individual says that he or she does not want to work. It only reveals that the attitude toward work is changing. The older person is more concerned with doing a service to the society when the younger one is more concerned with the personal development.

We have to note one significant change in the attitude toward work. There is a widespread attitude among the youngsters that hard work does not always pay off. This probably may be due to the wide gap between the jobs available and the number of aspirants. Another significant change is that people nowadays seek psychological satisfaction in their work.

What do people look for in job?
A simple answer for this might be that it depends on the person. Though this may be true, majority of people seem to converge on some factors. A study by Daniel Yankelovich (1976) showed that about 70% of people prefer a work that is ‘interesting’ and one with friendly helpful coworkers. ‘Close to this come’ opportunity to use your mind and ‘work results you can see’, Good pay gets only a 5th rank. Blue collar workers place greater emphasis on money while professionals put less emphasis, white collar workers fall in between these two.

Another study with college freshmen gives the following five as top criteria for job satisfaction interesting to do, uses skills and abilities, good chances for advancement secure future and tangible results. From this we understand that money is not the only criterion of work. of course, it is one of the major determinants.

Some psychological functions must be discussed

• Sense of personal fulfillment. In any walk of life, people have a drive to grow and learn new skills and accomplish something worthwhile. People seek such opportunities in their work too. If a job does not provide opportunity for such a need, the person may not be happy with the job.
• Personal identity. Imagine a situation in which someone ask you ‘who are you’ and you respond that ‘I am an executive’ in a company. This is not surprising because a person spends vast amount of time and energy for his/her job. So work is one of the more salient means of identifying one’s self in the complex changing and fragmented society
• Self-esteem. A related aspects of personal identity is self-esteem. The work helps in self-evaluation. work provides opportunities for mastering self and the environment. The person gets a continual feedback regarding one’s ambition to perform well. Work also can provide a sense that one is valued by society that one is doing something which needs to be done which is valued by others. If one takes pride in the quality and significance of one’s work, self-esteem is enhanced.
• Prevention of boredom. A person on the day of retirement feels sad why? One reason could be that he or she has lived a long life with the job. Another important reason is the question “How to spend the time from tomorrow?” He or she is worried that it would be boring without a job though many of us may not admit if we work partly to avoid being bored.
• Status and approval. Sociologists seem to believe that one of the major determinants of status in our society is occupation. The whole family takes pride in the occupation of the head of the family. It is the work that to a large extent regulate our time, interpersonal contact and life experiences.

It should also be noted that unemployment and forced retirement at an arbitrary age can have an impact on one’s identity and work, ultimately affecting one’s mental health.