Sunday, April 26, 2009
Office Tigers
I found it very interesting that Seth, one the American employees, found it so hard to believe that during one of his teaching sessions the Indian employees commented that everyone does there job for the money. In my Christian Moral Life class we have recently been covering business ethics and this topic has come up; wether people work strictly for money. As a class we came to the conclusion that people do not in fact always become educated and seek a hight profession for money alone. However, we came to this conclusion because we established money as a means to an end and the end is what we really strive for. However, I believe that what we are truly seeking the happiness we feel from these ends. To feel this happiness we need all the sequences. Therefore, we need the money to ultimately make us happy. For this reason I agree with the Indian employees. We all want to achieve happiness and we need money to get us to that ultimate goal. Why do think Seth was so shocked all the employees suggested money as the reason to work hard? Do you think this is the case in most American companies?
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I think maybe Seth acted so shocked because perhaps his background as a U.S. business administrator assumes that anyone he poses that question to is _supposed_ to say 'because we love it' 'we love Office Tigers'. He could have been surprised by his employees' honesty. Who wants to be a data processor--is that anyone's dream? Well, it may be someone's dream somewhere, but every personal moment with an Indian employee in the film indicated that their childhood dreams were to be a doctor or a firefighter. Engineer. Something that society holds in high esteem. At least one employee knew what to say: "I love coming to work and putting in a 20-hour shift!" ...Puh-lease. I wonder if Seth latently realized that no one would work for Office Tigers and their rather abusive, exploitative standards if it were not for the money--or lack of a job opportunity elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteIn most American companies, I can vouch that in front of superiors and clients, showing 'company spirit' is expected and encouraged. It is kind of a taboo to criticize or imply monetary reasons for being there. Among peers, being more honest about 'in it for the money' is more like unspoken knowledge, but complaining about the job is more acceptable.
A last thought why Indian workers at Office Tigers put so much effort into their jobs--there is no job security--work hard to keep your job, or Joe would fire you, no matter if it an ultimately thankless employment position.
I think that the Indian population is so preoccupied in making money for family reasons. Many of these workers are the sole provider for their families. They need to work long, hard hours, sometimes at jobs that they do not necessarily like, just to be able support their families. Several times during the movie I got the impression that the workers wanted to be doing something else, but the money was too good to turn down.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lucy. Seth wasn't being realistic. It is true that this job would be a very rare dream, simply because as young kids we choose to always dream big. It also doesn't take much thinking to figure out that most of the workers are in it for the money. I mean if you look at today's society, where everything comes with a price tag, you'll need to get money. And by that time you wouldn't care more or less if it was your dream job or not if it payed. And I think that it would almost always be the case at most American companies, because if you think about it who would want to work a 'sucky' job with a horrible boss(most of the time). Nobody, yet many people still do it because they can't do any better. And as was said before it is just means to an end.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Pat. I think that the people are too focused on making money to provide for their families. No matter how many hours they have to put in, they will do whatever it takes to make sure their families are taken care of. The employees were talked down to and treated like children during most of the film. However, they would have done whatever it took to succeed in the business world. It is much more difficult to earn a living over there and you have to do everything you can to keep that job once you get it. The money was definitely too good to turn down.
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