首页
登录
职称英语
In 1930, W. K. Kellogg made what he thought was a sensible decision, grounde
In 1930, W. K. Kellogg made what he thought was a sensible decision, grounde
游客
2025-01-30
33
管理
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 worried 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. " [br] The phrase "came of age" underlined in Paragraph 8 probably means to______.
选项
A、come into being
B、realize its function
C、fall into an out-of-date style
D、fall into an effective pattern
答案
D
解析
词义题型见第8段第一句: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.(工作被分成了不同的部分,变得能被衡量且更易学会了;这种分工在密执安州的迪尔伯恩市的福特汽车制造厂的River Rouge厂达到了顶点;那里的生产流水线——);根据句中说的“已达到了顶点”,came of age应不仅指“出现或发生”。应指“达到最有效的模式”;因此D为答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3935608.html
相关试题推荐
Asajudge,heissupposedtobefairandtriestomake______decisions.A、parti
CriticsoftheWrightbrothersthoughtthattheideaofaflyingmachinewastot
Theincome-taxdeadlineapproachesandsometaxpayers’thoughtsturntoit.
Theincome-taxdeadlineapproachesandsometaxpayers’thoughtsturntoit.
Asearlyasin1647Ohiomadeadecisionthatflee,tax-supportedschoolsmustb
In1930,W.K.Kelloggmadewhathethoughtwasasensibledecision,grounde
In1930,W.K.Kelloggmadewhathethoughtwasasensibledecision,grounde
In1930,W.K.Kelloggmadewhathethoughtwasasensibledecision,grounde
In1930,W.K.Kelloggmadewhathethoughtwasasensibledecision,grounde
In1930,W.K.Kelloggmadewhathethoughtwasasensibledecision,grounde
随机试题
Whentheheartbreaksdown,itbeatsirregularlyornotatall.Abonecanc
某建设工程双代号时标网络计划图如下图所示,在第6周末和第11周末对工程进度进行了
制取无牙下颌印模时,远中的范围是A.盖过磨牙后垫 B.盖过磨牙后垫的2/3
使用信息技术必须遵守相关法律法规,以下行为构成犯罪的是()。A.在网站上共享
下列关于特殊类型基金的说法错误的是()。A.LOF只能在交易所进行基金份额交
某地拟建一制衣厂,根据《建筑设计防火规范》规定,下列关于其消防设计方案中,正确的
衡量收入差距最常用的指标是( )。A.国民收入 B.基尼系数 C.人均GD
关于小儿静脉补钾浓度,哪项正确() A.1% B.3% C.5% D.1
A.发热、贫血、出血 B.出血 C.贫血 D.发热、贫血、出血、淋巴结或肝
原始凭证有错误的,正确的处理方法是()。A:向单位负责人报告B:退回,不予接受
最新回复
(
0
)