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Questions for Thought and Discussion

• What do members of your group regard as real work, and why?
• There is much talk about an absence of the work ethic in some sectors of society, and generational differences.  Is this a fair observation?  Does it matter?
• Maslow (page 11) makes much of ‘self-actualisation’ at work? How realistic is this?
• A top league footballer and investment banker get paid millions; a nurse or social worker get very little. A fair society?
• Have trade unions outlived their usefulness?
• Careers are supposed to be planned and progressive. What are your group members’ stories about their own careers?
• Should we equip ourselves and our children for boundaryless, portfolio, careers? How can it be done?
• Is the idea of work/life balance something of a myth, especially in recessionary times?
• Gender divisions in work - - still the natural order of things?
• What ever happened to ‘new man’?
• Women wanting to progress often hit glass ceilings and glass walls. What can be done?
• McJobs are now pervasive in the high street and beyond. Is this cause for concern or celebration?
• Is presenteeism at work now the new evil?
• Downshifters tell seductive tales about their new life.  Would you downshift if you could? Why?
• What is your group’s view of the picture on page 77, ‘Putting on the smile that sells’.
• Emotional intelligence – the key ingredient for success at work?
• Why is bullying and harassment at work so difficult to eradicate?
• We are, it is said, all now virtual workers. Where do you stand on this contention?
• ‘NEETs should nag at our collective conscience’.  Why? What has gone wrong?
• Retirement rhetoric is often upbeat: ‘eternal Sundays’.  How would you describe the difference faces of retirement?

Other books by Stephen Fineman

• Organizing Age (Oxford University Press, 2011)
• (with Y. Gabriel, & D. Sims) Organizing and Organizations 4th Edition (Sage, 2010)
• Understanding Emotion at Work (Sage, 2003)
• Emotion in Organizations (Ed.) (Sage, 2000)

Further reading

• R. Hodson, and T. A. Sullivan The Social Organization of Work (Wadsworth, 2012)