首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
In 1930, W. K. Kellogg made what he thought was a sensible decision, grounded in the best economic, social and management theori
In 1930, W. K. Kellogg made what he thought was a sensible decision, grounded in the best economic, social and management theori
admin
2011-01-13
73
问题
In 1930, W. K. Kellogg made what he thought was a sensible decision, grounded in the best economic, social and management theories of the time. Workers at his cereal plant in Battle Greek, Mich. were told to go home two hours earlier, every day for good.
The Depression-era move was hailed in Factory and Industrial Management magazine as the "biggest piece of industrial news since Henry Ford announced his five-dollar-a-day policy." It’s believed that industry and machines would lead to workers’ paradises where all would have less work, more free time, and yet still produce enough to meet their needs.
So what happened? Today, instead of working less, our hours have stayed steady or risen- and today many more women work so that families can afford the trappings of suburbia. In effect, workers chose the path of consumption over leisure.
With unemployment at a nine-year high and many workers worded about losing their jobs- or forced to accept cutbacks in pay and benefits -- work is hardly the paradise economists once envisioned.
The modern environment would seem alien to pre-industrial laborers. For centuries, the household -- from farms to "cottage" craftsmen -- was the unit of production. The whole family was part of the enterprise, be it farming, blacksmithing, or baking. "In pre-industrial society, work and family were practically the same thing," says Gillis.
The Industrial Revolution changed all that. Mills and massive iron smelters required ample labor and constant attendance. For the first time, work and family were split. Instead of selling what they produced, workers sold their time. With more people leaving farms to move to cities and factories, labor became a commodity and placed on the market like any other.
Innovation gave rise to an industrial process based on machinery and mass production. The theories of Frederick Taylor, a Philadelphia factory foreman, led to work being broken down into component parts, with each step timed to coldly quantify jobs that skilled craftsmen had worked a lifetime to learn. Workers resented Taylor and his stopwatch, complaining that his focus on process stripped their jobs of creativity and pride, making them irritable. Long before anyone knew what "stress" was, Taylor brought it to the workplace- and without sympathy.
The division of work into components that could be measured and easily taught reached its apex in Ford’s River Rouge Plant in Dearborn, Mich., where the assembly line came of age. To maximize the production lines, businesses needed long hours from their workers. But it was no easy to sell.
Labor leaders fought back with their own propaganda. For more than a century, a key struggle for the labor movement was reducing the amount of time workers had to spend on the job.
Between 1830 and 1930, work hours were cut nearly in half, with economist John Maynard Keynes famously predicting in 1930 that by 2030 a 15-hour workweek would be standard. While work had once been a means to serve God, two centuries of choices and industrialization had turned work into an end in itself, stripped of the spiritual meaning that sustained the Puritans who came ready to tame the wilderness.
By the end of the 1970s, companies were reaching out to spiritually drained workers by offering more engagement while withdrawing the promise of a job for life, as the American economy faced a stiff challenge from cheaper workers abroad. By the 1990s, technology made working from home possible for a growing number of people. Seen as a boon at first, telecommuting and the rapidly proliferating "electronic leash" of cell phones made work inescapable, as employees found themselves on call 24/7. Today, almost half of American workers use computers, cell phones, E-mail, and faxes for work during what is supposed to be nonwork time. Home is no longer a refuge but a cozier extension of the office.
When the stock market bubble burst and the economy fell into its recent recession, workers were forced to re-evaluate their priorities. They want a better quality of life; they’re asking for more flextime to spend with their families.
But there’s still the question of fulfillment. A recent study shows that work doesn’t satisfy workers’ deeper needs. "We expect more and more out of our jobs," says Hunnicutt. "We expect to find wonderful people and experience all around us."
What’s the workers’ reaction to Taylor’s innovation?
选项
A、Workers complained they could not create because of the innovation.
B、Workers complained that Taylor carried out his policy without sympathy.
C、Workers complained that Taylor should tell them the "stress" resulted from the innovation.
D、Workers complained that Taylor’s focus on process stripped their jobs of creativity and pride.
答案
D
解析
细节题型见第七段第三句:Workers resented Taylor and his stopwatch,complaining that his focus on processs tripped their jobs of creativity and pride,making them irritable. (工人们怨恨 Taylor 泰勒和他的秒表,抱怨他将精力全放在了工作的各个步骤上了,却剥夺了他们工作的创造力和自豪感,这一切令工人们异常气愤);因此D为答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/x55O777K
本试题收录于:
CATTI三级笔译综合能力题库翻译专业资格(CATTI)分类
0
CATTI三级笔译综合能力
翻译专业资格(CATTI)
相关试题推荐
A、Thenumberofpeoplewhovotedwasverylow.B、Thevotewasveryclose.C、CongressmanBakerdidn’trunforoffice.D、Shewasn
A、Shedoesn’tplantocontinuestudyingnextyear.B、Sherecentlyvisitedadifferentuniversity.C、Shealreadytoldthemanabo
A、Hedoesn’tknowwhat’swrongwiththecomputer,B、Thewomanmisunderstoodwhathesaid.C、Theproblemisdifferentfromwhath
A、EarthandtheMoontraveledatdifferentSpeedsB、TheMoonformedbillionsofyearsbeforeEarthC、Earthdidnothaveenoughg
A、Theydidnotusesquarenumbers.B、Theyusedcomplexmeasuringinstruments.C、Theyrecordedmathexercisesontablets.D、They
EconomicsListenagaintopartofthediscussion.Thenanswerthequestion.Whatcanbeinferredaboutgovernmentregulationof
EconomicsWhydothestudentssaythis:
EconomicsWhatwillthenextlectureprobablybeabout?
EconomicsWhatisthelecturemainlyabout?
InfluenzaandVaccinesThereisnospecificcureforinfluenza.Recommendedtreatmentusuallyconsistsofbedrestandincre
随机试题
经颞窗彩色多普勒检查脑动脉,哪一根血管检查成功率最高
液压传动可以实现无级变速。()
用递归法求1+2+3+4+5
不会引起胸腔积液的疾病是
来源于动物成熟雄体香囊中的干燥分泌物的药材是
关于原始凭证的错误更正,《会计法》主要有哪些规定?
某普通合伙企业的合伙人包括有限责任公司甲、乙,自然人丙、丁。根据合伙企业法律制度的规定,下列情形中,属于当然退伙事由的是()。
建立假说的有效工具是()。
根据《中华人民共和国人民警察使用警械和武器条例》的规定,不属于人民警察使用警械和武器的基本原则的是:
猪:猪肝
最新回复
(
0
)