Workaholics and Workaholism: A Growing Problem for Companies :: ESL Essays

Workaholics and Workaholism: A Growing Problem for Companies   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Workaholics – people, who have a compulsive and unrelenting need to work (www.dictionary.com) – appear more and more among the working people of United States and other developed countries. At first glance, workaholics do not seem to be such a problem for industry and society as a whole. But in spite of all devotion to their work the workaholic will not be as valuable as a normal worker. Workaholics do not think about anything else except work that can cause severe health problems and can cause problems on their work. All that causes a reduction of economic profit for the company.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The term â€Å"workaholism† appeared in the beginning of the 20th century after Frederick Taylor integrated new organization of work system. Taylor, famous businessman was born in 1856 in Philadelphia, and was known as â€Å"father of scientific management†. His new theory of work management has been known as â€Å"Taylorism†. The term â€Å"Taylorism† is seldom used in a positive way. For a short description, according to JoAnn Greco, the journalist of â€Å"The Journal of Business Strategy†, â€Å"Taylorism† is â€Å"a sort of ruthless and quasi-Victorian efficiency that melds man with machine, often to man’s disadvantage.† According Taylor’s theory of work organization the worker is nothing but a tool for gaining profit. (Greco)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It will be unfair to say that Taylor’s theory did not do any good for the economy as a whole. In fact it really helped the economy in age of industrial development. But presently, in the age of high technologies we do not need to stress people to work hard. Many jobs require qualified people that being fired very hard to replace. Creating a workaholic – Type A persons, can be very dangerous for future economics of single company and nation’s economy in the whole. Perfect example of the typical Type A person was presented in essay â€Å"Company Man†, written by Ellen Goodman. The main character Phil was working in one company all his life striving for president’s position. There would be nothing wrong with that except for his fanatic desire to work – â€Å"If he wasn’t at the office, he was worried about it,†- summarizes Goodman in the end of the essay. In his desire to become a president, Phil had to sacrifice the other part of his life – his family. His wife Helen and his children did not even see their father too much - even on weekends he could not forget about his work.