Work Ethics Environment of the 1950's
In the movie, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Tom Rath (Gregory Peck) did not exhibit the attributes of William Whyte's organization man. Whyte argued that American business life had abandoned the old virtues of self-reliance in favor of loyalty to the postwar corporation. Corporate life was unfulfilling because its routine and organizational structure robbed men of their identities and the self-fulfillment they previously gained from manual work or jobs in smaller businesses. As the title suggests, men donned suits, becoming indistinguishable from one another, and conformed to this lifestyle. As the protagonist, Tom, said in the movie, "All I could see was a lot of bright young men in grey flannel suits rushing around New York in a frantic parade to nowhere." This paper will prove that Tom's reliance on his own thinking style created tension for his organizational life at UBC.
The movie opened with Tom complaining that he was having trouble making ends meet. His suburbanite friend suggested he apply for a position at UBC. On two occasions at UBC, Tom revealed his lack of conformity. At his interview, the human resources director asked him to write an autobiography and an explanation of his value to UBC. Tom declined to write any revealing information in the in his application. After UBC hired Tom, middle management asked Tom to write a speech for Ralph Hopkins (Frederic March). Middle management wouldn't give Tom's real speech to the president. In turn, Tom bypassed the middle managers and gave his speech to Hopkins. If Tom was the staunch organization man, he wouldn't question the authority of his superiors at UBC.
that was critical of corporate life and the public organizational world men experienced during the post World War II era. The message of The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit was that there was dissatisfaction inherent in corporate America, but that increasing participation in the family alleviated the tension of war memories and corporate conformity. For example, when Tom went to see Bill Odgen (Henry Daniell) at UBC, his autobiography assignment of turned into a flashback where he knifed a German soldier. This provided an example of Tom Rath, the UBC organization man struggling with his identity. The organization man dealt with dilemmas of identity. Tom had to split his personal identity and his social identity or his expressive values from his instrumental values. On the one hand, he enthusiastically threw himself into his socially prescribed identities of employee, citizen, and neighbor.
...t through, the director wanted to show that they were also bad times for his doting mother and his concerned brother. In particular, Tom led to very emotional times after he was shot by the rival gang, burns and was hospitalized (Wellman, “The Public Enemy”). One particular scene that the director of the movie included is that of Tom beating his wife with grapes. The director indicated over media interviews that he added the scene from what he faces at home especially when dealing with his wife.
Finally becoming convinced that life is unfair for his people, Tom decides to leave the family, find the union men, and work with them.
In the story, “Contents of the Dead Man’s Pocket,” the main character is Tom Benecke. As the story progresses, he is faced with many decisions. He is forced to act quickly and because of this, many things about him change. In the story, Tom is ambitious, self-centered, and impatient. These three traits change significantly throughout the story.
Rivethead is an account of the entire life of Author Ben Hamper, from his long family lineage of “shoprats” and his catholic school upbringing to his numerous different positions on the General Motors assembly line and his equally numerous lay-offs from the GM Truck & Bus Division. Unfortunately the many years of back breaking labor combined with Hampers own personal demons led him to check into an outpatient mental facility (at the time of the completion of this book) where he learns daily to cope with his many years of mental anguish. Rivethead is a social commentary on industrial America, assembly line work , and the auto industry. This essay, however, will focus on the more specific aspects Hamper considers, such as the monotony required on a (then) modern assembly line, the relationship and hierarchy among workers and their interaction with management as well as both collective and individual responses to work and job satisfaction (or lack there of).
...was the hardness of his terms. He accumulated bonds and mortgages; gradually squeezed his customers closer and closer; and sent them at length, dry as a sponge from his door"( ).The local problem is a stepping stone to present the universal; one, which is the subject of greed, science everyone is tempted by greed. Moreover, the narrator remains in omniscient point of view to make readers know what others think about Tom: "Her voice was often heard in wordy warfare with her husband; and his face sometimes showed signs that their conflicts were not confined to words. No one ventured, however, to interfere between them; the lonely wayfarer shrunk within himself at the horrid clamor and clapper clawing; eyed the den of discord askance, and hurried on his way, rejoicing, if a bachelor, in his celibacy. After reading this passage, readers gain a bad impression of Tom.
During WWII, women took over the work force, and had such inspirations as Rosie the Riveter. This created a generation of women who wanted more out of life than birthing children, and keeping a nice home for their husband. The end of the war, however, brought with it a decrease of working women. In the 1950’s the rate of working women had slightly rebounded to 29% following the post-war decrease in 1945. These women were well rounded, working outside the home, and still having dinner on the table by 5PM.
Tom and Dennard were able to express what it’s like to be a Euro American and African American males. The attitude that was showed by Tom in the film was eagerness, because all he knew was white identity and never really focused on how people of color felt about the society that we live in. After having conversations with Dennard, Tom came to believe that he didn’t know being a black man was very complex, because he wasn’t in the shoes of Dennard. Tom begin to look at his inner self and hoping to change his world view of what he have
Embedded within the syntax of “The Company Man”, Ellen Goodman uses syntax to create a nostalgic tone. Between her combination of tactical dashes and specific details, the columnist manages to fabricate a tone that signals remembrance and passive aggression towards Phil. The manner that Ellen describes Phil in, with phrases including how he “worked himself to death” and putting quotes around “dearly beloved” as if he didn’t actually love his children is very passive aggressive. Ellen recalls Phil in such a descriptive tone, writing how he’s, “overweight by 20 or 25 pounds” and knowing about his “golf outings” as work for him is proving her negative nostalgia.
After Tom is done explaining the list to Mr. Jenkins, he goes down to the “little Chinese restaurant” to have his dinner and potentially look for possible candidates to take home to his parents. While Tom is sitting down to enjoying his ice-cream soda, a big muscular man comes up to him requesting about the job that is available on his farm. Tom politely declines to say, "My father… doesn’t want a couple of men. He just wants one” (Ross 226). Tom shows his new earning maturity here because most young children his age would be frightened if not terrified of the huge man standing in front of them, but Tom just declines as if he is a famous lawyer from a big city.
In Gail Bederman’s Manliness and Civilization, she aims to describe the concepts of manliness and masculinity at the turn of the century. Bederman explains that the concept of what it means to be a man is ever changing as a result of the ideology of the time as well as the material actions of the men. During the Progressive Era, many forces were at work that put pressure on the supremacy of white, middle class men. Some of these forces included the growing move toward empowered women, the unionization of the working class, and the move from self-employment to big, corporate business. She delves into the way that both racism and sexism were used to build up the concept of masculinity and the turn of the century discourse on civilization.
First off, Cappy Ricks and Mr. Skinner are set on a Mr. Andrews taking the job in Shanghai. But in walks this gimpy one-armed man into Mr. Ricks’ office and wow’s him with his powerful ability to sell himself, Bill Peck. Bill had met with several other people in the company and they did not give him a chance. But he wouldn’t quit and went straight to the top and achieved what he was looking for, and got his chance.
Tom is represented as a “supercilious”, “arrogant”, and “fractious” character, who thinks that he is superior to everyone else. Right from the get-go, Tom was characterized as the man at New Haven who everyone hated, which further enhances the idea that this man was haughty since the beginning.
During the post WWII period in America, the face of the nation changed greatly under the presidency of Truman and Eisenhower. America underwent another era of good feelings as they thought themselves undefeatable and superior over the rest of the world. Communism was the American enemy and American sought to rid the world of it. Because of the extreme paranoia caused by Communism, conformity became an ideal way to distinguish American Culture from the rest. Conformity became a part of every American Life to a large extent. It became evident through the medium of culture, society and politics throughout the era of the 50s.
I feel that this situation is extremely unethical because if you were to keep quiet it is not only morally wrong, but extremely dangerous. There could be a variety of issues that could arise from this choice, ranging from health defects to the public or your company suffering legal litigation due to failing to report the issue in the first place. This doesn’t even include the amount danger to your own career and future with the company.
Ethics in the workplace is a very important thing to have. Without a sense of ethicality in the workplace there are many things that could go wrong. You could even end up losing a job because of a lack of ethics, or other consequences could be felt due to a lack of caring or morality. The workplace is a place that you should show respect and dignity, and a deeper sense of ethics is very important in order to uphold these senses of morality. Workplace ethics, which include such things as behavior, integrity, commitment, teamwork, and other things, are important, if not required, in most workplaces and can help to improve performance and morale for workers and employers.