The essence of labor and its signs

Labor is a system consisting of three components: objects of labor, means of labor and people as subjects of labor, transforming objects and products in the process of labor with the help of means of labor.

Means of labor are a thing or a set of things that a person places between himself and the object of labor and which serve for him as a conductor of influence on this object in order to obtain the necessary material wealth.

The means of labor include tools and a workplace. Labor efficiency is influenced by a set of properties and parameters of means of labor, properly adapted to a person or a collective as a subject of labor. If there is no correspondence between the psychophysiological characteristics of a person and the parameters of the means of labor, the safe mode of work is violated, the fatigue of the employee increases, etc. new technology and equipment, from the investment activity of the enterprise.

Working conditions are understood as a set of elements of the production environment that affect the functional state of a person, his performance, health, all aspects of his development, and above all, the attitude to work and its efficiency. Working conditions are formed in the production process and are determined by the type and level of technology, technology and organization of production.

Working conditions in the broadest sense of the word are the level of technical equipment of production, the nature of technological processes, the current mode of work and rest, the socio-psychological climate in the work collective, the aesthetic environment in production, as well as working conditions in their traditional understanding, that is, features and general condition of production facilities, sanitary and hygienic conditions, occupational hazard of labor, availability of work performed in adverse conditions.

Distinguish between socio-economic and industrial working conditions. Socio-economic working conditions include all factors that affect the level of preparation of an employee for participation in labor, on the restoration of the labor force (level of education and the possibility of obtaining it, the possibility of good rest, living conditions, etc.).

Industrial working conditions are all elements of the working environment that affect the employee in the labor process, his health and performance, and his attitude to work.

In accordance with the classification of the Research Institute of Labor, all elements that make up the concept of working conditions are combined into four groups:

Sanitary and hygienic, including microclimate, natural and climatic conditions, lighting, etc. They are closely related to the characteristics of the applied equipment and technology, with the organization of labor;

Psychophysiological, depending on the characteristics of the labor process and determined by the amount of expenditure of nervous and muscular energy of a person;

Aesthetic, forming the employee's attitude to working conditions, to the working environment and affecting energy consumption in the labor process;

Socio-psychological, in particular, the socio-psychological climate in the team, the state of labor discipline, leadership style, features of labor stimulation.

The object of labor is a substance of nature, a thing or a complex of things that a person influences in the process of labor with the help of means of labor in order to adapt them to meet personal and production needs. If they form the material basis of the product, they are called basic materials, and if they contribute to the labor process itself or give the basic material new properties, then they are auxiliary materials. The objects of labor in a broad sense include everything that is sought, extracted, processed, formed, namely: material resources, scientific knowledge, human society, etc.

The subject of labor can be an individual employee or a team. Since the means of labor and objects of labor are created by a person, he is the main component of labor as a system.

A huge role belongs to social and individual psychological characteristics. labor collective and its members. Social characteristics include needs, motives, value orientations, goals and expectations, interpersonal relationships (including formal and informal), socio-psychological climate in the team, etc.

The individual psychological characteristics of individual workers are personal needs, personal motives, the level of individual qualifications, specific professional knowledge and skills, skills, psychological and physiological personal qualities.

The automation of production that occurred as a result of scientific and technological progress did not subordinate man to technology, did not deprive him of his leading role in modern production. The cost of an employee in the literal and figurative sense is growing faster than the cost of equipment. This is due to the fact that the pace of the change of generations of technology is now ahead of the change of generations of workers. The equipment becomes obsolete and is replaced by a new one, but the person remains, but he needs to acquire the qualities necessary for the development of a new generation of equipment. Therefore, the costs of training an employee, including his education, are not only commensurate, but in prosperous firms in Western countries they exceed the cost of production assets. A working person is a social wealth not only socially, but also in economic sense... At the same time, the need for adaptation of a person and means of production increases.

A subject of activity, or an employee, is a system that has complex internal (mental) properties. These properties include an emotional disposition for work, a general consciousness of security in society, confidence in the future, temperament features, as well as the ability to organize the future result of activity, to calculate options for achieving this result. The most important mental condition of activity is the image of a goal, which cannot always be clearly specified and the normative parameters of which do not always correspond to the ideas of an employee or a group of employees about it, which is why the subject of labor sometimes pursues a different goal that was set for him. A conflict of goals can be caused by an insufficient level of professional consciousness, the inability of managers to clearly formulate a goal, an insufficient level of education and qualifications of the employee. Psychologists distinguish three types of goals of professional activity: to recognize (understand, evaluate, etc.), transform, find. It is easier to set goals for the practical transformation of material objects according to a well-defined technology. But people create not only material products, but also inner world other people, services, information, artistic images, order social processes - all these are areas of work in the broad sense of the word. The psychological signs of work are:

Mental anticipation of a valuable result;

Consciousness of the obligation to achieve it;

Possession of external and internal means of activity;

Orientation in interpersonal industrial relations.

These signs of labor can be used as a program for an expert assessment of the level of a formed person as a subject of labor, which will reveal his strengths and weaknesses, the degree of suitability for work in a particular position, in a particular profession.

World development experience market economy shows that the labor market is one of the most important components of the general economic market mechanism. This is a set of economic relations arising from the demand and supply of labor. It is not labor itself that is sold in the labor market, but its services.

The labor market has the following features:

• 1) the demand in the labor market is derived from the demand for goods and services of industrial and personal consumption;
• 2) the specificity of the goods sold on it, the workforce associated directly with the personality of the employee;
• 3) the duration of the relationship between the seller (employee) and the buyer (employer);
• 4) labor mobility;
• 5) employees differ significantly from each other in their qualities, and work - in the required qualifications and working conditions;
• 6) compensation for work is represented not only by salary, but also by certain benefits (paid vacation, medical care, food, etc.);
• 7) the large role of non-monetary factors: working conditions, complexity, prestige, etc .;
• 8) there are many institutional structures on the labor market that represent the interests of the state, business, and trade unions.

The labor market infrastructure is represented by stock exchanges, retraining centers, employment funds, etc.

At the center of the labor market are the definition of the conditions for the exchange of labor for money (the amount of labor sold and purchased, its prices, etc.) and the exchange process itself, which makes it the most important of all markets in the modern economy, both for an individual and for society as a whole.

The components of the labor market are price, competition, supply and demand (of labor services).

The demand for labor depends on the level of economic development and scientific and technological progress, the availability and condition of other factors of production, the quality of labor, the size of the market for products and is derived from the value of the demand for goods and services produced with the help of labor.

The subjects of demand in the labor market are private entrepreneurs and the state. The volume of demand for labor is inversely proportional to the price of the resource (rate wages). With a decrease in the wage rate, the amount of demand for labor increases, with a decrease, it decreases. The relationship between the value of wages and the volume of demand for labor is expressed by the curve of demand for labor (see Figure 1.1): D L = MRP.

Figure 1.1 - Labor demand curve

market legal labor competition

The labor demand curve for an individual firm is the marginal income curve of the marginal product of labor. Income from the marginal product of labor shows the additional income from the hiring of each additional unit of labor and is calculated as follows:

The marginal product of labor (MP L) is an additional product created by an additional unit of labor (? Q /? L). Marginal revenue (MR) is the additional income of a firm that can be obtained by selling an additional unit of output (? TR /? Q). Hence:

MRP L = (? Q /? L) H (? TR /? Q) =? TR /? L (1.2)

This formula shows how the contribution of labor services changes depending on the number of employees hired.

The demand for labor of all firms in a given industry forms the industry demand for labor. Market demand for labor is the sum of the volumes of demand for labor across all industries. Graphically, the curves of the sectoral and market demand for labor are obtained by summing horizontally, respectively, the curves of individual and sectoral demand. The slope of these curves is determined by the price elasticity of labor demand (wage rate), which characterizes changes in labor demand (? L) depending on changes in wage rates (? W).

The elasticity of the sectoral demand for labor is calculated using the formula

E L = (? L / L) / (? W / W), (1.3)

where L is the number of person-hours; W is the wage rate in the industry.

The elasticity of labor demand depends on the following factors:

• · Price elasticity of demand for industry products. The more elastic the demand for the price of finished products, the more elastic the demand for labor in terms of wages and vice versa;
• · Availability of substitute resources. The greater the opportunity to apply them where labor is used, the more elastic the demand for labor and the greater the decline in employment in the industry in response to a decrease in the wage rate;
• · Elasticity of supply of other resources used in the industry. The more inelastic the supply of substitute resources, the more inelastic the demand for labor when the wage rate changes;
• · time. In the long run, the demand for labor is more elastic than in the short run.

The elasticity of the market demand for labor is determined by the ratio of the volume of demand for labor in individual industries in the total volume of demand and the elasticity of the industry demand for labor.

The supply of labor is manifested in the desire and ability of the individual to work a certain amount of time for wages set by the labor market at the level of the alternative labor price.

Labor supply is determined by the size of the population, the number of working hours per day, week, month, year, productivity and qualifications of workers, as well as labor migration. The individual offer schedule is shown in Fig. 1.2.

To understand the nature of the individual labor supply, it is necessary to consider the effects of income and substitution on changes in wages.

The substitution effect is based on the substitution of a worker for free time by a worker to obtain additional earnings, i.e. leisure is replaced by a set of goods and services that an employee can purchase for an additional salary. In this case, the individual labor supply curve has a positive slope, which means an increase in working hours with an increase in wages. However, when the needs of the employee are saturated, even with an increase in wages, the supply of labor will decrease, and the income effect begins to act, i.e. the value of free time becomes higher than the additional income. The income effect arises because in the case of an increase in wages, for any given number of working hours, a person's money income becomes larger. It is known that by increasing income, the employee increases the consumption of normal goods. Leisure is a normal blessing. Consequently, with an increase in wages, an income effect arises, which forces a person to devote more hours to leisure. This means that the supply declines in response to rising wages.

Figure 1.2 - Individual labor supply curve

Thus, there are three segments of the individual labor supply curve (see Figure 1.2). At the first, the substitution effect acts: with an increase in the wage rate from W 1 to W 2, the amount of working time increases from H 1 to H 2. In the second, the income effect is equal to the substitution effect. This is expressed in an increase in wages from W 2 to W 3 with the same amount of working time H 2. In the third segment, the income effect exceeds the substitution effect: an increase in wages from W 3 to W 4 leads to a reduction in working hours from H 2 to H 3.

The sectoral labor supply curve differs from the individual labor supply curve (see figure 1.3). It shows the growth of those wishing to be hired with an increase in wages: not everyone has achieved a certain well-being, in which the value of free time is higher than that of a worker, therefore there are always those who want to be hired in the labor market.

Figure 1.3 - Sectoral labor supply curve

The intersection point of these curves (K) represents an equilibrium state characterized by an equilibrium amount of labor and an equilibrium wages... The classics believed that in an equilibrium state in the labor market, full and effective employment in the economy is achieved. It is complete, since everyone will be provided with jobs, and all firms will be able to hire the required number of workers. At the same time, this level of employment is effective, since the last employee hired will receive what he produces in the form of wages.

The equilibrium state of the labor market at point K according to the theory classical school is stable, and any deviations from such a state automatically generate a tendency to return to an equilibrium state.

So, if the real wage is established above the equilibrium (u1), then unemployment occurs, and the emerging surplus labor supply (Ls1 - Ld1) will reduce wages. It is generally accepted that this situation is explained by a decrease in nominal wages (W) under the influence of forced unemployment. This will be followed by a decline in prices (P), but to a lesser extent than nominal wages. Thus, real wages will tend to decrease down to the equilibrium state (u0) and, conversely, if wages are established below the equilibrium level (u2), then an unsatisfied demand for labor arises in the economy (Ld2 - Ls2). To fill vacant jobs, entrepreneurs are forced to raise wages, and as a result, it will return to the equilibrium level (u0). Consequently, the levels of wages u 1 and u 2 are characterized by instability. The market mechanism should automatically restore the disturbed equilibrium and thereby prevent involuntary unemployment. It can completely or partially block the action of the market mechanism only in a non-competitive effect. It can come from the state, which retains the right to set unjustifiably high minimum wages, or trade unions fighting to raise it.

In the labor market, not only the equilibrium value of the labor used in production (L 0) and the equilibrium wages (u 0) are determined, but also the equilibrium volume of the produced GDP (Y). It is enough to establish an equilibrium volume of labor in order to determine the equilibrium level of the national product using the production function.

In macroeconomics, the aggregate production function is obtained by aggregating the set of production functions of individual market participants. At the level of an individual firm, a production function of the form Y = f (x1, x2,…, xn) expresses the technical relationship between the volume of production and the number of factors of production used. At the macroeconomic level, all factors of production can be reduced to land (Q), labor (L) and capital (K). Therefore, the aggregated production function has the form: Y = f (Q, L, K). However, in short term the amount of capital used remains unchanged (K = const). Under the conditions of scientific and technological progress and the high technical level of the technologies used, one can abstract from the land as a production resource. As a result, in short-term macroeconomic models, labor (L) remains the only variable factor, and the aggregated production function takes the form: Y = Y (L).

Consequently, the aggregated derivative function reflects the relationship between labor input and the level of national income (output). Figure 1.2 shows a graphical interpretation of a production function. The curve increases, because with an increase in the amount of labor used, the volume of output (income) increases, however, judging by the shape of the curve, the rate of its growth slows down, which is explained by the action of the law of diminishing marginal productivity of a variable resource.

Thus, having determined the equilibrium level of employment in the labor market, it is possible immediately, using the aggregated production function, to calculate the equilibrium volume of production (GDP).

The relationship between the labor market and the aggregated production function is graphically depicted in Figure 1.3.

So, the equilibrium in the labor market determines the equilibrium levels of real wages, employment and output. With an equilibrium real wage, the supply of labor corresponds to the demand for labor. At the cost of labor L E (in accordance with the production function), a national income equal to Y E is created. This level of output corresponds to the level of full-time income.

Thus, summing up the results of the first chapter, we can conclude that the labor market is a system of economic mechanisms, norms and institutions that establish a connection between firms and form, under the influence of supply and demand, the price of labor.

The demand for labor is determined by its productivity, which depends on the level of economic development, scientific and technological progress, the quality of labor, the state of other factors of production, the size of the market for products and is derived from the demand for goods and services produced with the help of labor.

The individual labor supply can have both direct and inverse dependence on the wage rate, which is explained by the influence of income and substitution effects. The sectoral labor supply is only directly dependent on wages.

The basis of human life is purposeful professional activity... It is at work that a person spends most of his time. Someone does this for their own satisfaction and pleasure, others - for the material support of themselves and their families.

Theory: basic terms, definition of "labor"

Labor - direction human activity, the signs of which are expediency and creation.

The nature of labor is the qualitative characteristics of labor activity, which combine several types of labor into a group according to certain characteristics.

Forms of labor activity - a set of types of labor operations, the implementation of which requires energy costs, the use of mechanized or automated equipment and machine tools.

Labor classification and labor characteristics

In fact, there are many classifications of labor. This is due to the fact that labor is a complex multidimensional socio-economic phenomenon.

Depending on the content, labor is divided into:

Depending on the nature, the following types of labor are distinguished:

• Concrete and abstract work activity. Concrete labor is the labor of an individual worker who transforms an object of nature in order to impart utility to it and create consumer value. It allows you to determine labor productivity at the enterprise level, to compare individual industries and Abstract labor - a commensurate specific labor, where the qualitative diversity of a variety of functional types of labor activity fades into the background. Creates the value of marketable products.
• Independent work and independent work include absolutely all types of work activities that a specific person-worker or specific enterprise. Collective labor- the work of a group of employees, personnel of an enterprise, its separate department.
• Private and public work activities. Social labor always consists of private labor, since the latter has a social character.
• Wage and self-employed types of labor. Hired labor activity is carried out on the basis of a contract between the employer and the employee. Self-employed labor implies the independent creation of an enterprise and organization production process when the owner of the production provides himself with a job.

Depending on the results of labor activity, it happens:

• Living and past labor. Living labor is the work of a person, which he carries out in this moment time. The results of past labor activity are reflected in the objects and means of labor that were previously created by other workers and are products of production purpose.
• Productive labor and unproductive. The main difference is the form of the created good. As a result of productive labor activity, natural and material benefits are created, and as a result of unproductive labor, social and spiritual benefits are created, which are valuable and useful to the public.

Depending on the means of labor used in labor activity, there are:

Depending on the working conditions, it happens:

• Stationary and mobile labor... Includes all types of labor that are due to the specifics technological process and the types of goods produced.
• Light, medium and hard work activities. Depends on the level of physical activity that the employee receives when performing certain functions.
• Free labor and regulated. It depends on the specific conditions of work and the style of enterprise management.

Depending on the methods used to attract people, it stands out:

Basic forms of labor

Features of mental work

Mental work is an activity that requires the reception and processing of information data, the implementation of which occurs due to the activation of the thought process. For mental labor activity, a strong tension in the activity of the central nervous system... Also, cases are not excluded when physical activity is necessary for the successful implementation of mental work.

Workers Who are they?

Mentally laborers include managers, operators, creative professionals, medical workers, pupils and students.

Managerial work is performed by the heads of organizations, enterprises, teachers. Feature: the minimum amount of time for processing information.

The creative professions include artists, painters, writers, composers, designers. Creative work is the most difficult type of mental work.

Medical personnel are also considered intellectual, but only those specialties that imply constant contact with people - patients, and the performance of work requires increased responsibility, where the decision must be made in as soon as possible, there is a deficit of the time factor.

The scientific work of school and university students requires activation of memory, attention and perception.

Physical labor activity

Physical labor is carried out at the expense of certain physical activity. Salient feature- interaction of the human worker with the means of labor. In physical labor activity, a person is a part of the technological process and the performer of certain functions in the labor process.

Mental and physical work activity: physiological differences

Mental and physical work activities are interconnected and interdependent. Any brainwork requires certain energy costs, just as the physical is impossible without activating the information component. For example, all types manual labor require a person to activate both mental processes and physical activity. The difference is that during physical labor activity, energy expenditure dominates, and with intellectual activity, the work of the brain.

Mental activity activates a greater number of nerve elements than physical activity, since mental work is complex, qualified, extensive and multifaceted.

Physical fatigue is more noticeable from physical activity than from mental work. In addition, with the onset of fatigue, physical work can be stopped, but mental activity cannot be stopped.

Manual professions

Today, physical labor is more in demand, and skilled workers find it much easier to find a job than "intellectuals". Lack of labor leads to relatively high rates for performing work that requires physical effort. In addition, if heavy physical work is performed in conditions unfavorable to human health, an increased payment is provided at the legislative level.

Light physical labor is engaged in: production workers managing automated process, service staff, seamstresses, agronomists, veterinarians, nurses, orderlies, industrial goods sellers, physical education instructors, trainers of sports sections, etc.

Occupations with moderate physical exertion include: machine operator in the woodworking and metalworking industry, locksmith, adjuster, surgeon, chemist, textile worker, driver, food industry worker, service personnel in the household sector and in the field Catering, a seller of goods for industrial purposes, a railway worker, a lifting transport driver.

Professions with heavy physical stress include: a builder, almost all types of agricultural labor, a machine operator, a surface miner, a worker in the oil, gas, pulp and paper, woodworking industries, a metallurgist, a foundry worker, etc.

The professions with physical labor of increased severity include: an underground miner, steelmaker, timber cutter, bricklayer, concrete worker, excavator, loader of non-mechanized labor, worker in the production of building materials (non-mechanized labor).

Labor functions

Labor performs the following functions:

• participates in the reproduction of goods (is one of production factors) aimed at satisfying human needs;
• forms social wealth;
• contributes to the development of society;
• determines the development of scientific and technological progress and culture;
• participates in the formation of a person;
• acts as a way of self-realization and self-expression of an individual.

The role of labor in human life

“Labor made man out of a monkey” is a familiar phrase, isn't it? It is in this phrase that a deep meaning is hidden, which reflects the greatest role of labor in the life of each of us.

Labor activity allows a person to become a person, and a person to be realized. Labor is the guarantor of development, obtaining new knowledge, skills and experience.

What happens next? A person improves himself, acquires knowledge, experience, relying on which he creates new goods, services, cultural values, provoking scientific and technological progress, causing new needs and fully satisfying them.

A manager is a person who is empowered to make decisions and lead others towards achieving common goals. The manager is the leader of the organization with formal authority. Power provides the manager with the ability to influence other people. A manager can exert influence in different ways, depending on this, forms of power differ: power based on coercion, on reward, on knowledge, personal qualities, on the law, on persuading and attracting employees. The work of a manager is specific - his subject and product is information, and his object is people. The work of a manager is predominantly mental, complex, and cannot be measured in terms of the amount of product produced. This is a work that requires deep enough professional knowledge, as well as natural abilities to influence other people. The place of a manager in any organization is very peculiar - being endowed with power, the manager acts as a link between the organization and its employees, between the organization and the external environment, between different levels hierarchy of the organization.

Managerial work is inherently very different from non-managerial work. The job of a shop floor supervisor has much more to do with the job of the CEO than with the work of the people under his control. Its distinctive features are its short duration, diversity and fragmentation.

Features of managerial work: the characteristic features of this work.

Managerial work is a type of work activity, operations and work for the implementation of administrative and managerial employees of management functions in an organization.

Managerial labor stood out during the period of division and cooperation of labor.

Managerial work is extremely diverse, in connection with which the operations and procedures that characterize the content of this work are difficult to accurately classify and typify. In addition, the range of management operations is constantly expanding, and the operations themselves are being modified due, on the one hand, to the transformation of management methods and areas of their application and, on the other hand, due to the increasing use of new technical means of storing, transferring, accumulating, processing information. Revolutionary changes in the content of operations, managerial labor procedures are introduced by computer technology, which makes it possible to introduce fundamentally new information technologies. Nevertheless, it is possible to single out the most characteristic operations of managerial labor, which occur primarily in the process of developing and adopting management decisions... They are:

· formulation of the problem;

· Search for information manually and using computers;

· Analysis of information;

· Grouping of information (manually or using a computer);

· The simplest calculations without a computer;

· Calculations using a computer;

· Preparation of decisions;

· Making decisions individually;

· Collegial decision making;

· Paperwork, writing letters, etc.

The impact (indirect) of administrative and managerial workers on the product of aggregate labor is carried out by using information and transforming it into appropriate solutions to change the state of this object in the direction of achieving the set goals.

Therefore, the main feature of the labor of administrative and managerial workers is the informational nature of the subject and product of their labor, due to the fundamental difference between the labor process (in its content and results) from other types of labor.

One of the classics of management, the American scientist G. Mintzberg, identifies 10 roles that, in his opinion, are assumed by managers at different periods and to varying degrees. He classifies them into three broad categories: interpersonal roles, information roles, and decision-making roles. However, in contemporary literature more widespread was the point of view, according to which the management process is to implement the functions of planning, organization, motivation and control.

Control levels

Despite the generality of functions, managerial work, like any other, is differentiated. One of the forms of managerial work is horizontal in nature: the placement of specific leaders at the head of individual departments.

To carry out production work, horizontally divided management work must be coordinated so that the organization can achieve success in its activities. Some leaders have to spend time coordinating the work of other leaders, who, in turn, coordinate the work of other leaders, until we descend to the level of the leader who coordinates the work of non-managerial personnel - people who physically produce products or provide services. ... This vertical division of labor forms the levels of management. Typically, there are three levels of management: grassroots or operational managers, middle managers and executives top echelon... The control levels are graphically depicted in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Control levels

Grassroots leaders

The junior bosses, also referred to as the first (grassroots) or operational leaders, are the organizational level that sits directly above workers and other workers. They monitor the execution of production targets to continuously provide direct information about the correctness of these targets. This is the foreman, the shift foreman, the head of the department. Most of the leaders in general are the leaders of the lower level.

Middle managers

The work of junior managers is coordinated and supervised by middle managers. Typical middle management positions are: Dean, Regional or Country Sales Manager, and Branch Director. A middle manager often leads a large division or department in an organization. The nature of its work is more determined by the content of the work of the unit than the organization as a whole.

Basically, however, middle managers act as a buffer between top and bottom managers. They prepare information for decisions made by senior managers and transfer these decisions, usually after their transformation, in a technologically convenient form, in the form of specifications and specific assignments to grassroots line managers. While there are variations, most of the communication between line managers takes the form of conversations with other line and line managers.

One study of middle managers in a manufacturing enterprise found that they spend about 89% of their time verbally. Another study indicates that line managers spend only 34% of their time alone, and it also emphasizes that most of the time these managers spend on verbal communication.

Senior executives

The highest organizational level - senior management - is far fewer in number than others. Even in the largest organizations, there are only a few senior executives. Typical senior management positions in business are chairman of the board, president, vice president of a corporation, and treasurer of a corporation. In the army, they can be compared with generals, among statesmen - with ministers, and at the university - with chancellors (rectors) of colleges.

Senior executives are responsible for making critical decisions for the organization as a whole or for a major part of the organization. Strong senior executives leave an imprint of their personality on the entire face of the company. For example, the atmosphere in which the federal government operates, and indeed the entire country, usually undergoes significant changes under a new president.

Think of the contrasts between the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan administrations. The influence of a senior executive in a company can be brilliantly illustrated by the dramatic changes that Chrysler has undergone under the leadership of Lee Iacocca (Lee Iacocca. Manager's Career: Transl. From English. M .: Progress, 1990). Therefore, successful senior executives in large organizations are highly valued and highly paid. But the hardships of such a post are also great: the person in this post is usually very lonely.

After scrutinizing the top five executives, Mintzberg concluded: “The amount of work a manager has to do or thinks needs to be done in a day is enormous, and the pace at which it needs to be done is very intense.

The main reason for this is that the work of a senior executive does not have a clear end. As opposed to a sales agent who has to do

a certain number of phone calls, or a worker in production who must meet the production rate, there is no such moment at the enterprise as a whole, except for the complete stop of this enterprise, when the work can be considered finished. Therefore, a senior executive cannot be sure that he (or she) has successfully completed his or her activities.

As the organization continues to operate and the external environment continues to change, there is always a risk of failure. The surgeon can complete the operation and consider his task completed, but the senior executive always feels that something else needs to be done, more, further. A working week of 60 to 80 hours is not uncommon for him. Below is an example of how this time is spent.

Unscheduled meetings 10%

Trips, inspections 3%

Paper handling 22%

Scheduled meetings, meetings 88%

Phone calls 6%

Introduction

The direct form of human existence as a person is labor activity. Activity is a form of active attitude towards reality, aimed at achieving a consciously set goal. The main generatrix of activity is the vector "motive - goal". In the traditional concepts of classical psychology, three genetically replacing each other and coexisting throughout life path type of activity: play, study, work. Although as types of human activity they have much in common, nevertheless, there are fundamental differences in the results, organization, and specificity of motivation. For a person, labor is the main activity, because it not only serves the other two types, but also ensures, through the creation of a socially significant product, the unity and solidity of human society, both in space and in time.

The concept of labor, its signs, the estimated parameters of labor

In the most general definition, labor is a purposeful and socially useful human activity that requires mental and mental stress. The Encyclopedic Dictionary defines labor as "purposeful human activity aimed at modifying and adapting objects of nature to meet their needs." Labor is of decisive importance for the formation of the personality and its existence. The labor process unfolds in the sphere of material production. Through labor, a person, with the help of knowledge, skills, skills, adapts the material environment to his needs and requirements. The components of labor are:

expedient activity (labor as a process and result) Physical labor (material products) and mental labor (ideal products);

subject of labor (objects to which human activity is directed);

means of labor (tools with which labor is performed). Manual, mechanized and automated labor;

subject of labor (employee) Automated labor worker - operator;

The more meaningful and more complex the work, the more often the skills and abilities of the worker appear as tools. Each component of labor includes a psychological aspect, but the largest share of the psychological component falls on the labor process and the subject of labor. Labor is the main type of human activity that ensures its survival as a species (F. Engels). Labor subject Practical activities acts as the main determinant of human development. In the tools and objects of labor, the abilities of the individual are objectified, materialized. In the process of labor, creating a product, a person, as it were, “invests” in it physical and spiritual strength (labor skills and abilities, abilities and knowledge, volitional efforts and emotional attitude). They are "objectified", that is. in a latent form, they pass into an object, turning into special properties of an object generated by labor. In such an objectified form, they are passed on to future generations. For example, opening and then creating steam engine It “objectified” the spiritual forces of its creators and “turned” into the property of movement of mechanisms created on the principle of a steam engine. At the same time, the reverse process of “de-objectification” is inherent in labor. The functions and properties of the object determine the development of a person's own abilities and skills. This means that in order to achieve success, a person, acting on an object, must conform to its own laws and properties, relying on them in his activities. For example, mastering a car, a person must understand the principle of the engine (that is, "appropriate" the ideas and abilities of the creators) and develop the ability and skills to use the car. Thus, by “de-objectifying” the latent spiritual and physical potential of the ancestors, the descendants move to a new level of development. For the purposes, methods of carrying out activities, both the achievements of previous modern generations and the prospects for their use by future generations are fixed. This is how the progressive development of mankind is carried out. This is the social nature of labor.

Unlike the productive behavior of animals, labor, as a specifically human activity, is characterized by awareness. This awareness from a psychological point of view is expressed in:

Conscious anticipation of a socially valuable result;

Awareness of the obligation to achieve a socially fixed goal;

Awareness of interpersonal production relations and dependencies.

The described social mechanism of labor has its own psychological structure... Within the framework of labor psychology, the individual psychological, cognitive, personal and socio-personal aspects of labor are studied.

As civilization develops, it becomes more complex and differentiated. labor process, its collective character intensifies, more complex social connections... There is practically no absolutely individual form of labor. Even a highly individualized activity (for example, a writer writes a work) is saturated with a mass of necessary social contacts: tools of labor, information, printing a book for readers - all these are socially determined aspects of the writer's activity. Thus, the next sign of labor is its social character... The most striking manifestation of this feature is the socially valuable product of labor. If the result obtained has no social value, then this activity is not of a labor nature.

The assimilation of tools and products of labor with the help of de-objectification and the appropriation of the abilities fixed in them goes through overcoming the contradictions between the socially determined method of de-objectification and the individual capabilities of the individual, between the current level of culture and production and the actual creative activity of the individual. The higher the level of culture of a society, the more diverse the forms of human activity, the more universal and more complex the abilities required to master this activity. However, this is not a straightforward relationship. Individual personality traits affect the manifestation of her essence, and her own activity determines the direction, intensity and content of the activity. Consequently, another sign of labor is activity. Labor activity is carried out only with the active role of the personality itself. Activity, covering the entire content of mental life, is a process that has a subject-object direction and various forms. The result of human development is the emergence of forms of activity with new qualities arising from their social nature. Through activity, active action there is a combination of personality and work situation (M.Ya. Basov).

Modern ideas about labor activity include its systemic characteristics (B.F. Lomov, V.D.Shadrikov, A.V. Karpov). Any work activity begins with the formation of a goal. Expediency is another sign of labor. The goal is what a person should ultimately receive in the course of activity. The purpose of the activity acts as a) a task (or the level of achievement that a person sets for himself); b) the image (this is "the goal - the image"). In the first case, the leading factor is motivation, in the process of which the personal meaning of the activity is established. In the second case, an idea of ​​the result of the activity and individual actions is formed. The goal and the result are assessed in terms of qualitative and quantitative indicators.

The specific way to achieve the goal is the way of action. Needs are the main energizing and activating force. The socio-personal aspect is closely intertwined with the cognitive and psychophysiological. The characteristic of a person's abilities in a specific historical framework is important point that determines the nature of work and personal development. Labor activity is carried out purposefully with the activation of all higher mental functions of a person. It is the cognitive structure that constitutes the psychological basis of labor. The system-forming vector for ensuring the purposefulness of the activity is the motive - the goal. In the process of labor, mental, brain and muscular energy is expended, the senses are activated, and multilevel nervous activity is carried out. In other words, all labor has a biological basis.

To assess the efficiency of labor activity, the following parameters are used: productivity, quality, reliability.