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Unit

Working, Playing

(chapters 8-11)

 

The touring group acquires labor credits.  The purpose of this unit is to consider the nature and role of work in modern life.  There should be dignity in all work; it should be distributed among all citizens; a leisure class, if permitted, will make increasing demands on others; with proper effi­ciency, planning, and control, no one need work more than half the typical working day in mod­ern society.

 

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Illustrations

 

The concepts in Walden Two are often illustrated in daily life.  Below are students' illustrations of three concepts in this unit.  Supply additional examples yourself of these or other key concepts in this unit.

 

Labor credits (45).  "Our family unit has operated over the past 23 years somewhat on the labor credit principle.  All services were free to family members.  There were of course different providers of different services.  Actual entries were not made in ledgers, but the chores were always being evaluated and willingness levels changed.

 

"For example, bringing in wood in the fall was an eagerly awaited chore when we were child­ren, but now that we are young adults the willingness level of that chore has changed dramati­cally.  That chore would have been rated about a .4, but now it is a definite 2.

 

"A chore that my father, my two older sisters and I all hate is going to the dump.  We all rate that as a solid 2. But my 16-year-old sister rates that as .6. It's another excuse for her to drive all over town!  Past history shows that the willingness level of that chore changes at about age 17."

 

Social engineering (71).  "After graduating from high school, I worked in a fast-food store for several years and gradually worked my way up to a supervisory position.  I was in charge of about 10 to 12 college students, and it was my job to train them and then keep them happy and produc­tive in their work.

 

"I got some of my ideas from watching supervisors in businesses all over tow-n.  In one super­market where I often shopped, the head guy was on everyone's back all the time-telling baggers to hurry up, checking on the cashiers, and asking why shelves weren't stocked, always with a negative, critical tone.  Most of the employees worked hard, or pretended to work, when this manager was around, but they quit as soon as he disappeared.  He was dictatorial and people worked only for that reason.  They certainly didn't care about him, the store, or even the custom­ers.

 

"In a restaurant across town things were very different.  This place was a combined restaurant and deli, and the guy in charge, sort of a head waiter and counter manager, ignored the other em­ployees completely, and so they stood around and just gabbed while customers needed water, menus, or their orders.  They even overlooked customers trying to get their attention.  The whole approach was laissez-faire and nobody was happy-not the waiters, not the customers, not even the head waiter himself.  After some months, that place changed ownership.

 

"I decided to try the obvious third approach-paying attention to my workers, giving plenty of support.  For each new person, I explained the goals of the fast-food service and the particular contribution the new person would make.  Then I trained that person as fully as possible, point­ing out how each part of the training contributed to the overall goal.  And then I tried to stay off their backs.  Instead, I let them know when they did a good job and tried to keep motivation as high as possible.

 

 

 

 

 

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"Part of the success, I discovered, was to let the workers make some of the decisions themselves  making them feel responsibility for the overall success of the business.  Some of them actually seemed to enjoy the work quite a bit, trying to increase their speed, find new ways to put on the condiments, and so forth.  I really think our customers enjoyed coming in partly due to the ob­vious team spirit among our work crews, all because I tried to accent the positive and not ignore anyone.”

 

Conditioned reflex (77).  "My mother, with six kids, was a busy woman, and one of us was al­ways sick.  For the sake of efficiency, she always put a big green garbage bag at the head of the sick child's bed-for refuse of all sorts, including handkerchiefs, bandages, and medicine bottles) and even in case we had to vomit.

 

"After several illnesses, once with the measles I remember in particular, I began to associate those bags with feeling awful.  And then I discovered I felt queasy just bringing the bag to my mom for use with one of my brothers.  It was a conditioned reaction, certainly, for I was not sick at all.

 

"But that was long ago and since I've been married that reaction has changed.  My husband uses these bags for leaves and then bonfires, for we live out in the country.  I love the smell of the leaves burning, and I enjoy frolicking with Jim in the process.  My earlier sensation actually has been replaced by a very slight but pleasant glow on seeing the bags, at least in the fall."