Assignment Sample on MGNT803 Business Report
Introduction
From the innumerable issues that the business landscape faces every day, labor demands and calls for change in relation to how work is done has long been a priority. Since the Industrial Revolution the discourse and practice have deliberated upon the relationship between a business or its employers, and the workers or employees. Their contribution is regarded as a prominent factor to derive and present contemporary outlooks about the possibility of a four-day work week. Thomson (2021) reports it from the media given the significant implications that they may hold, and there are several reasons behind this that paint the necessary context. Delaney and Casey (2021) identify certain relevant outcomes that are discussed in order to contribute to the overlying report that this document shall highlight. At its heart, the primary topic of a four-day work week has been a thing for decades, and it has related to organizational behavior and human resource management. The central argument is that four-day work week indicates greater productivity and overall employee well-being, which would benefit organization through different frames of perception.
Media Item
This media article by Thomson (2021) had been originally published in The Times, and subsequently in The Australian. Contextually based in Great Britain, the source offers the results of a Cambridge University study that established the workers who were most content with their life and work only did it officially in a single day, which has justified the reduction of a five-day arrangement to a four-day one. There are trends marking it as a step in the right direction with economists and scholars arguing for it in greater numbers, and companies and nations trying them out to receive the results. These have pertinently turned out to highly positive outcomes, and the reason given in the article is that it focuses more upon total productivity instead of time. The primary reason that Thomson (2021) attributes this is the COVID-19 pandemic, and the actual experience that employees and workers had to go through with alternative arrangements. They have evaluated how beneficial it has been to not just work-life balance, and even in total productivity.
Journal Article
Delaney and Casey (2021) highlight the critical appraisal through an actual management-led institution of a four-day work week schedule. They relate it quite specifically with the concept of reduced work hours, which seem to have many consequences amongst which the most important had been the management and employee concerns over autonomy. This was achieved with a financial services firm in New Zealand that had 45 employees, and interviews in their semi-structured form and focus groups were implemented for the sake of presenting a qualitative case study. This case study highlights through the findings that the option attracted favor by employees, and the singularized benefits that the arrangements have promised for. However, as managerial practices are well-entrenched, there tends to be more scrutinizing practices upon measuring performance, monitoring work, and the intensification of the actual work conditions. The end point by Delaney and Casey (2021) highlight the needs for greater determination of the conditions.
Discussion
The critical concept that is derived from the four-day work week has been primarily associated with reduced work hours and its history in terms of what the employers have perceived and implemented. At the beginning era of Industrial Revolution, workers were expected to contribute 100 hours every week, and there was little to no recourse until collectivized actions ultimately contributed to the recognition of labor rights (Anderson and Walker, 2015). These rights were critical for the assertion of the ubiquitous five-day work week that is still continuing to this day. From a historical perspective, there have been power differences between employers and employees, which have regulated their relationship. This has caused further implications across a large scale, such as overall economic output, employment rate etc. With that particular point in mind, it has become critical to address the reduced work hours in terms of what the exact outcomes or implications would be in that particular vein itself. It is an important point to fully consider that there are consequences when the conditions are preferred by employers, meaning higher working hours across more days in a week (Fischer and Argyle, 2018). Overworking can cause stress, anxiety, depression, reduction in productivity, burnout, turnover etc. The understanding of the four-day work week arguments to be implemented are rooted in that particular vein. However, the determination of the exact value of work is often a challenging and highly variable affair.
The proposition of the four-day work week has existed for decades, and their origin is argued with the ineffectiveness in order to delineate the possibilities of workers alleviating their most critical issues and experiences. In that perspective, Thomson’s (2021) reports upon data and information seemingly contributed many possible outcomes or results, which seem to support the contemporary arguments that are most prominently being presented. The main insights have been with employees and workers globally recognizing how beneficial alternative work arrangements have been to their case. This is a relevant outlook that is motivated because almost a vast majority of the workforce have had to be protected because of a global pandemic (Ovais, Bharatan and Shrivastava, 2020). The conditions have still retained widespread wariness from employers, as initial calls at the beginning phases were considered to be too risky. It highlights and delineates the key factors that are entailing the four-day work week arrangements, which many employers are not fully aware of (Thompson et al., 2021). The fact that it shall only benefit employees and workers have led to automatic predisposition that employers will be harmed.
The important factors relating with these possible implications of what reduced work hours actually are have ben critically analyzed by Delaney and Casey (2021). They indicate and point out what the conditions pertaining to the various initiatives being implemented in organizations actually appear as. Such conditions seem to be specifically point to certain critical assertions and possibilities in which employee autonomy would be maintained. Delaney and Casey (2021) found very little evidence to this with case study, as it was a completely management led affair. Despite employees having the power to make the choice, it is critically essential to point out factors based upon intensified monitoring and performance measurement measures alongside increased workload and challenging instances. Behind, this there is also very little changes in the way of making changes to the payment and incentive structures respectively. This indicates the fact that there would be significantly less autonomy for workers (Henderson, 2014), which could affect and not result in the possible conversion of conditions, as well as alleviation of the circumstances.
The business landscape on the whole is a large affair through which uniform conditions across the globe do not result in positive results or outcomes always. They are related to perceiving and attributing conditions based upon which appropriate outcomes would be achieved (Henderson, 2014). In order to highlight these conditions, there would be a variety of conditions and controls, which employers shall implement. The indicative realization along these circumstances are actually associated with abstract concepts of having a notable state of well-being, absence of health issue, and the possibilities of work-life balance. The conditions persisting in the cases of the four-day work week shall effectively signify no change under those circumstances.
Conclusion
The discussion has provided with a lot of insights regarding employment mechanisms, and the relations that are consequential to be obtained in terms of the four-day work week. Thomson (2021) showcased the wider contemporary settings as a form of general reporting, meanwhile Delaney and Casey (2021) signify the deeper issues and problem that may still persist. Everything points to more discourse and practice realization based upon which this arrangement, based upon critical factors shall effectively point at achieving the most relevant and consequential scenarios.
Reflection
The most important part of this Assessment that I came to learn about was how the realities of business issues and topics of concern happen. It revealed also the underlying significance of global communication network, and how it is important to obtain proper specificity and direct analytical circumstances. They seemingly refer to so many different possibilities, which are usually associated for deriving many possible outcomes. This assessment dealt with the significance of communication in the academic context, and their relative importance seemingly drove all the concerns that have been necessary in this context itself. They key factors and considerations all seemed to be directly associated with the revelation and proper treatment of information, and how they aid in associating with the most relevant outcomes and results. It is important to indicate accuracy of information, and the significance of this topic helping to relate and convey actual meanings with concepts and theories have certainly helped me a lot in conveying the results. Reduced work hours, according to me, is part of the necessary force in the labor market to control the oppressive predisposition and inconsideration by employers. It is necessary for implementing all the relevant conditions, which would help in highlighting the outcomes.
Reference List
Anderson, D.M. and Walker, M.B., 2015. Does shortening the school week impact student performance? Evidence from the four-day school week. Education Finance and Policy, 10(3), pp.314-349.
Fischer, S. and Argyle, D., 2018. Juvenile crime and the four-day school week. Economics of education Review, 64, pp.31-39.
Henderson, T., 2014. The four-day workweek as a policy option for Australia. Journal of Australian Political Economy, The, (74), pp.119-142.
Delaney, H. and Casey, C., 2021. The promise of a four-day week? A critical appraisal of a management-led initiative. Employee Relations: The International Journal. Available at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ER-02-2021-0056/full/html (Accessed 16 November 2021).
Ovais, D., Bharatan, S. and Shrivastava, G., 2020. Four Day Workweek A Magic Trick or A False Impression: Sustainability Analysis In The Digital Era. In AU Virtual International Conference Entrepreneurship and Sustainability in the Digital Era (Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 89-103).
Thompson, P.N., Gunter, K., Schuna, Jr, J.M. and Tomayko, E.J., 2021. Are all four-day school weeks created equal? A national assessment of four-day school week policy adoption and implementation. Education Finance and Policy, 16(4), pp.558-583.
Thomson, A., 2021. Four-Day Week could be COVID’s greatest gift. The Australian. Available at: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/four-day-week-could-be-covids-greatest-gift-05q0vt3k9 (Accessed 16 November 2021).
Assignment Services Unique Submission Offers:
