SHELLY JOSE
Lecturer, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Kalamaserry
PRESENTED AT
INTERDISCIPLINARY UGC REFRESHER PROGRAMME ON HUMAN RIGHTS FEB 3rd TO 23rd
ACADEMIC STAFF COLLEGE
UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT
JOHN MATTHAI CENTRE
TRICHUR
HUMAN RIGHTS AND CORPORATE LIFE
Introduction
In July 2005, the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed Professor John G. Ruggie to be Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on business & human rights. A number of papers were invited and received by Prof. Ruggie’s office. Frequent themes included right to life liberty and security of person, forced labour, bonded labour, compulsory labour, child labour, right to privacy, freedom of association and collective bargaining, non-discrimination, workplace health and safety, right to an adequate standard of living and right to health.
Modern organisation is experienced by people as an additional locus of their existence; one that divides their lives into two distinct ones: the organisational and otherwise. Our era is characterized by the prevalence of mobility and extended times away imposed many a time by the demands of the organisation to which one belongs. A number of authors also express the same concern when discussing on work-life balance. Unfortunately no such topic is discussed under the human rights concerns.
Universal declaration of Human Rights
On 10th December 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Introduction
In July 2005, the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed Professor John G. Ruggie to be Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on business & human rights. A number of papers were invited and received by Prof. Ruggie’s office. Frequent themes included right to life liberty and security of person, forced labour, bonded labour, compulsory labour, child labour, right to privacy, freedom of association and collective bargaining, non-discrimination, workplace health and safety, right to an adequate standard of living and right to health.
Modern organisation is experienced by people as an additional locus of their existence; one that divides their lives into two distinct ones: the organisational and otherwise. Our era is characterized by the prevalence of mobility and extended times away imposed many a time by the demands of the organisation to which one belongs. A number of authors also express the same concern when discussing on work-life balance. Unfortunately no such topic is discussed under the human rights concerns.
Universal declaration of Human Rights
On 10th December 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Article 16(3) states “the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State”.
Article 29(1) states “Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible”.
This paper draws on the above and asks the question of what should organisations do to adequately address the issue of work life balance as a (human) right.
Two realities
Two realities of the present world are indisputable: the development and use of technology as a tool and the predominance of a formal organisation as economic vehicle. We have experiences with the first in its misuse leading to unspeakable misery not to mention human rights violations before during and after the world wars. We are experiencing currently a softer and slower but definite version of the ill effect of the latter as when increasingly the organisation eats into the lives of people leading to attrition of the primary social unit.
The organisation man (or woman)
The organisation man (or woman)
In our day, the organisation man replaces the chivalrous knight of the middle ages and the gentleman of the Victorian times. The hero of our times is the organisation man. More and more of our lives are affected by organisations as when we are customers of a product produced by a business organisation. More importantly organisations are inevitable as a social system that provides the roles and positions and status through which participants deliver their work and services. In the process more and more of participants who otherwise wish to be on their own find themselves incapable of holding their own, a phenomena known as the ‘corporatisation of work’.
The choice therefore for the majority is to be either part of an organisation where one can contribute one’s labour or be left out economically and socially.
If we only consider the constitution of the US, we can see that the life envisaged is reduced to a right to living, liberty is reduced to the fatigued time left after devoting to the corporation and pursuit of happiness reduced to pursuit of money.
The reality of competition
John Kenneth Galbraith famously remarks in his book 'Affluent Society' about the transition of societies from deficiency paradigm of more and more demanded production to the surplus paradigm of marketing in which demands are fabricated to assist the off take of finished goods and to keep the economic machinery rolling. To produce more and to market more is the duty of the Corporate. And when the purchasing power of the consumer is low, there is a new consumer product called credit. In simple terms, irrespective of the ideology, the economic machinery dominates its creators than the other way around. This is an age old familiar theme celebarated in fictional warnings such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
The lament of collapse
The lament of collapse
In his paper, “The Twilight of American Culture” MORRIS BERMAN postulates that four factors are present when a civilization collapses:
Accelerating social and economic inequality,
Declining marginal returns with regard to investment in organisational solutions to socioeconomic problems
Rapidly dropping levels of literacy, critical understanding, and general intellectual awareness
Spiritual death or the emptying out of cultural content and the freezing or repackaging of it in formulas.
If we examine societies in particular and the world in general today we can see all the above ingredients in full measure.
We therefore see coexistence of improved economic conditions with increased anxiety about the erosion of economic and other values, increased socio economic problems such as suicide, divorce, family breakups and substance abuse, increased information avenues, with lack of wisdom and packaging of culture as saleable commodities. Capping it all is the bye product, environmental degradation.
Rapidly dropping levels of literacy, critical understanding, and general intellectual awareness
Spiritual death or the emptying out of cultural content and the freezing or repackaging of it in formulas.
If we examine societies in particular and the world in general today we can see all the above ingredients in full measure.
We therefore see coexistence of improved economic conditions with increased anxiety about the erosion of economic and other values, increased socio economic problems such as suicide, divorce, family breakups and substance abuse, increased information avenues, with lack of wisdom and packaging of culture as saleable commodities. Capping it all is the bye product, environmental degradation.
The question of human rights
The former discussion was to put forth the thread of causes that bind us in the rat race that in turn leads to the degradation of our existence. Logically it should follow that to preserve human kind two areas need urgent attention: on the restoration of the fundamental unit of society namely family and to environmental restoration.
Both point towards a return to a less individualistic, less consumptive mode of existence. One such mode of alternate living is the eco-communalistic way.
What can organisations do or what should be done to organisations?
Organisations are the social machinery of the economy. If we accept that any human artifact is eventually for human well being rather than competition for its sake then it follows that the organisations must be given its rightful place below the other more fundamental social institutions such as the family and much below the more fundamental real nature. This would mean bringing a more sustainable production process that goes well with the cyclic nature of the natural environment and bringing in systems that makes society more inclusive.
Fortunately modern renewable technology answers the first and modern information technology can be the answer to the second. Wherever possible, organisations may allow flexitime and telecommuting as alternate ways of working rather than appropriating large amounts of time from its workforce. Telecommuting can reduce vehicular emissions considerably and provide increased time for human interaction as well.
Thus leveraging the gains of information technology one may postulate an e-communalism to supplement the eco – communalism mentioned earlier providing both environmental and social benefits.
Conclusion
What can organisations do or what should be done to organisations?
Organisations are the social machinery of the economy. If we accept that any human artifact is eventually for human well being rather than competition for its sake then it follows that the organisations must be given its rightful place below the other more fundamental social institutions such as the family and much below the more fundamental real nature. This would mean bringing a more sustainable production process that goes well with the cyclic nature of the natural environment and bringing in systems that makes society more inclusive.
Fortunately modern renewable technology answers the first and modern information technology can be the answer to the second. Wherever possible, organisations may allow flexitime and telecommuting as alternate ways of working rather than appropriating large amounts of time from its workforce. Telecommuting can reduce vehicular emissions considerably and provide increased time for human interaction as well.
Thus leveraging the gains of information technology one may postulate an e-communalism to supplement the eco – communalism mentioned earlier providing both environmental and social benefits.
Conclusion
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy outlined the Consumer Bill of Rights that codified the ethics of exchange between buyers and sellers. It is perhaps time to envisage a bill of rights to be named the employees’ bill of rights codifying the ethics of living agreed between the employers and employees. And in a strict sense, the employers as natural persons may be subsumed under the term employees and therefore the bill can be termed as bill of rights of “living in organisations”.
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