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Importance of coaching in the workplace
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Recommended: Importance of coaching in the workplace
AP Macroeconomics- Fall Semester 2013
Book: Bait and Switch
Author: Barbara Ehrenreich
NOTE: Each paragraph represents a chapter. (8 chapters)
Ehrenreich opens the book by seeking out a “career coach”, in other words, someone who will help her navigate the sea of job opportunities. From Ehrenreich’s description, the biggest thing the coaches bring to the table is enthusiasm and support. Many results have been positive from someone having a coach to guide them. Barbara was off to a good start in her journey.
In the second chapter of the book, it talks about Ehrenreich attending some “networking” events where she’s meeting people who are in the same situation she is in: seeking better employment opportunities. But from here it’s hard to understand what the benefit of meeting other people who are desperately looking to switch careers really is. This is a good idea, because one meeting another that is in the same predicament can help that person “see themselves”.
Ehrenreich then attends a career “boot camp” in which people are trained in how to become more effective and more employable...
Through this, the reader understands that the author has an advanced amount of knowledge on the subject she will be covering throughout the novel. Feeling as if there will be no need to question her findings or conclusions (due to her vast educational background and the research she put in), the audience is much more susceptible and therefore predisposed to Ehrenreich’s arguments, making it easier for her to make her case.
The juxtaposed contrasts that she often uses are seen explicitly in anecdotes or implicitly in conscious thoughts. Such contrasts first appear in the first paragraph. Even before Ehrenreich makes any substantial effort to join the poor working class, she is hit with this sudden unease of being recognized. At that time, it is clear that she has not relinquished her middle class status since she feels ashamed of being identified as a poor worker. In the world that the author originally belongs to, name and reputation are considered important to one’s standing in society yet in the working class realm, as Ehrenreich later finds out, one is often “unnoticed” and names are “unuttered.” Not only are names forgotten but one’s ability and education are also ignored when looking for jobs. Oblivious to the “rule” for hiring for unskilled jobs, Ehrenreich initially worries about her over-qualification but only to be shocked when she realizes the employers are not even interested. Whereas jobs for the middle class often demand higher education and past accomplishments, jobs for the low-wage workforce are simply depended simply on luck or as Ehrenreich claims “ being in the right place at the right time.” One can convey this as part of a corporate scheme to ensure the
...ative at the same time. You can sympathize with the people Ehrenreich meets while looking for a job and you can feel their desperation about not finding one. It was an easy and quick read and the information you gain from reading this book is useful for everyday life and also with your own personal job searches. I felt that I gained a lot of useful information about how to avoid certain employment scams and that it isn't possible to rely on other people to help you find a job. They are only looking out for themselves. This book exposed what it actually takes as far as time and money before any real progress is made. Ehrenreich may have had a unique experience, maybe even more difficult but the point was to show the reader how difficult it was. Finding a good job today is not an easy task.
Ehrenreich applies at many hotels and supermarkets many paying around 6 dollars and some cents (919). She was called for an interview at the Winn-Dixie where she is sent to take a series of questionnaires and lab test to be considered for the stocking position. She describes the room as,” large room decorated with posters illustrated how to dress professional” (919). Unfortunately, what they offer is not enough to cover for expenses such as rent and groceries. To accommodate with the circumstances, she was forced to limit the amount of money spent on food narrowing her options and preferences,” I lunch at Wendy’s, where $4.99 gets you unlimited refills at the Mexican part of the Super-Bar, a comforting surfeit of refried beans and cheese sauce” (919). She mentions “Chemically Fascist America” (919) to portray how difficult it is to obtain a job. After weeks of applying at many different hotel branches and being told, “nobody lasts more than a couple of weeks” (920) she finally gets employed at The Hearthside where she was interviewed by the manager Phillip who very eagerly instructs her to show up for her first day of training the day after the
The biggest appeal that Ehrenreich makes is after she ends up walking out of the housekeeping job/waitress job because she cannot handle it anymore." I have failed I don't cry, but I am in a position to realize, for the first time in many years, that the tear ducts are still there and still capable of doing their job." (Ehrenreich, 48) This is the biggest appeal because Ehrenreich is quitting on the whole project. She is basically telling the readers that it is impossible for her, a "well-off", woman to live the life of a low wage worker.
I believe Ehrenreich went through several terms in the textbook of Job stress, pay, security, dignity, and bullying. It's not just Barbara's novel, but everywhere which affects people all the time. Having all these traits in a job are what people think about, desire good pay, and want success in their job. Also, job satisfaction is indicating a lot in the book of her job's positive and negative outcomes. Ehrenreich did not find a certain job favorable, but she made the most of them to get paid, pay for rent, and bills.
She details the life that they live, focusing on their jobs and living situation. Ehrenreich looks at two aspects of their low-income lives. The first is management, how they act and treat her and her fellow workers. This is one of the first things she mentions in her short story. “I could drift along like this, in some dreamy proletarian idyll, except for two things. One is management” (Ehrenreich 129). By doing so she immediately establishes that she resents management for whatever
During the various stages of her experiment Ehrenreich strove to maintain equilibrium between her professional integrity and what was physically prudent. Whether she was working as at Walmart or as a waiter she always tried to learn the fundamental obligations her job required of her and the tricks that would make it easier. She could have honed the finesse this approach significantly but it worked well enough when she finally obtained a competent level of experience in her job/s. This approach created the basic pattern: get a cheap place to live, obtain a job, power through the
In pursuit of the education and experience that will lead us to our chosen profession, it is important, if not vital, that we carefully choose a path that will take us where we want to go. As we journey down this path, we will most likely encounter obstacles or opportunities that will take us in different directions, possibly leaving us at the end of the trail in a place quite different from that which we set out for. Like us, both Edward Zigler and Howard Gardner set out on career paths that ended in much different places than those they anticipated, both for very different reasons.
Barbara White, author of Women’s Career Development, gives an opportunity for successful women to give advice to other women wanting to pursue a career in the workforce. First, they explained that women need to be single-minded today. They must make their own choices and know what they want. If a woman hopes to achieve her goal of an ‘American Dream’ and live up to it, then she should be persistent and keep working at achieving her objectives. The best advice given in White’s book is that a woman should not underestimate herself (227-229). A woman today can be whatever she pleases. It takes work, dedication and persistence to achieve goals in general, not just in the career aspect of life. As seen through Joan Crawford and Dawn Steel’s stories, a ‘business woman’ has a bright future now and for years to come. Women’s roles have drastically changed throughout the past century along with the actual number of women now working. It is phenomenal to see such an increase in women’s participation, and hopefully this course will continue even higher into the twenty-first century.
Like most people whom conduct experiments, Ehrenreich must first establish credibility of her knowledge of this subject. She does this in her introduction in numerous ways. Ehrenreich comes out saying that she has a Ph.D in biology but has a fancy for writing. She starts off with her exposure to low wage paying jobs by using her sister and her husband a companion for over a decade. Her sister, who use to work for the phone company as a sales representative, a factory work and receptionist who described it her experiences as “the hopelessness of being a wage slave”. Her husband use to work for $4.50 an hour in a warehouse before he was fortunate enough to land a good paying job with the union workers the Teamsters.
For example, She notes that “ One of the women explains to me that teams do not necessary return to the same houses week after week, nor do you have any guarantee of being on the same team from one day to the next.” What this quote means is it explains the way the company tries to prevent the groups from making social contact. I can relate to Ehrenreich’s argument because while I was working at Jewel as a bagger. I had similar routines and experienced some of the ways that the system tried to work my body more than my mind. For example, while working there I was ordered to do many tasks to keep me busy and from interacting and making friendships with fellow employees. If this was allowed then we would be able to talk about how unfair our job is and how we are treated. The author tries to argue that her job keeps her mind busy and she won't be able to have time to think or react., in other words, this blue collar job is
Ehrenreich creates sympathy by highlighting the disadvantages of not having health care, and what employees have to do to substitute. Ehrenreich learns that employees’ pain is, “managed by Excedrin and Advil” (89). When a health problem arises, employees turn to pain relievers, and not actual help. Employees can’t afford to ask for help, they can barely afford to pay for the Advil or Excedrin they are purchasing. Gail, from Heartside, has an estrogen problem and has to take estrogen pills. Gail tries to file for health insurance, because she cannot afford the pills herself, and they “claim to have love her application form” (27). Jobs such as Heartside don’t want to give healthcare so they claim to lose their employees’ applications. Ehrenreich depicts pathos with health insurance, because she uses Gail who has a serious issue and needs estrogen pills, therefore she won’t get migraines. Marianne’s boyfriend gets injured while he was working, and he “lost his job as a roofer” (28). He cut his foot and couldn’t afford insurance or the antibiotics, therefore he lost his job. Ehrenreich displays how people like Marianne’s boyfriend are working people trying to survive, but gets into accidents, and it affects the rest of his life. Working in jobs that getting injured is more likely than working in an office, don’t cover health insurance. If the jobs did
I did not like a few parts of the book, they seemed to be confusing, but all these attributes in the end showed a human spirit flaws and all. Ehrenreich wants to find ways to improve the quality of life of the working class. While working for Wal-Mart, Ehrenreich discussed unionizing with her co-workers. The purpose of the union is so that the workers can get a higher hourly wage. Her downfall in Minneapolis is when she can’t find affordable lodging.
Four out of the five jobs held by Ehrenreich by chapter three of her book apply the stick approach. Beginning at Hearthside, she recognizes the disconnect between the roles performed by the