The terms "blue collar" and "white collar" are occupational classifications that distinguish workers who perform manual labor from workers who perform professional jobs.
According to Wikipedia, a blue collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labor. Blue collar work may involve skilled or unskilled manufacturing, mining, sanitation, custodian work, oil field, construction, mechanical maintenance, warehousing, firefighting, technical installation and many other types of physical work.
When discussing the importance of corporate culture, work environment and employee engagement, it usually refers to white collar jobs. It's a big shortcoming of management if employers don't take blue collar workers into account. In the US, professionals and managers account for 40% of the workforce. The remaining (60%) belongs to other occupations mostly
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- Recognition
As white collar, blue collar employees will feel more engaged when their contributions are recognized. Along with monthly and yearly rewards, values-based recognition is needed to make blue collar workers align with the organization's goals and success.
- Communication
The last but not least important thing is communication. Managers should talk to blue collar workers in a straight and transparent manner to make sure all of them understand clearly. Be sure white collar employees and you respect them as peers, not lower class people. As a leader, you should understand every individual to help them integrate with the team and boost their potentials. Besides enhancing the communication among workers, remember to take feedback from them regularly. This action will help you build trust and handle work-related issues timely and effectively. When blue collar workers have voice in their teams, they will be more motivated and
When analyzing the article “Blue-Collar Brilliance,” written by Mike Rose, and the article “Shop Class as Soulcraft,” by Matthew B. Crawford, you can see several differences in the strategies they use. Rose’s text was an educational article about the intelligence gained through manual labor trades. Roses intended audience is the well educated, professional class, as well as educators, and individuals working in white collar jobs. His purpose is to prove that not all blue-collar workers need an education to succeed and to bust the stereotype that blue-collar individuals can gain the essential skills and education from their jobs. Crawford also based his article around blue-collar work, he mainly focuses on the values the craftsman, being a craftsman
Throughout the entire article, “Blue Collar Brilliance” the author Mike Rose is trying to show the real fact of Blue Collar jobs by describing his mother work as a waitress and his uncle as a factory worker who made his way up to manager. By giving evidence, he is also trying to open the readers eye that Blue Collar workers are in a same intelligence skill as other high-level workers though they do not have four years degrees. The author, Mike Rose, passed his childhood by watching his mom as waiting on booths and table with skillfully to assemble the skill to do work efficiently. He also watched out all other workers and interested by their adaption to coexist with each other. He got the chance as a first person to attend college in his family,
Barton, G. M. (2006). Recognition at Work: Crafting a Value-Added Rewards Program. Scottsdale: WorldatWork Press.
He claims to relate his mother’s quick and effective decisions, customer interactions, memorisation and problem solving, and his uncle, Joe’s, learning, planning and management skills to that of a white-collar worker. “Preposterous”, some might argue. “You cannot possibly compare waiters and conductors with boffins.” However, the dichotomy between the blue-collars and white-collars are subtle. Regardless of Rose’s claim that blue-collar workers are more efficient and carry a broader skill set, there exists no comparison between the two categories. Granted, the social biases about one’s occupation are irrational; however, blue-collars cannot substitute white-collar workers merely because of their “diverse intelligence”. Given Rose’s experiences, he has colluded blue-collar intelligence with white-collar intelligence. Id Est, he believes that social discrimination against blue-collar workers is fallacious from his observations; thus, their skills are the analogous to white-collar workers. In sum, blue-collar workers are intelligent and important in their respective and applicable fields, and white-collars in theirs’; drawing comparisons between them are like comparing apples and
Alfred Lubrano wrote the book Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams and was raised by a blue-collar worker (Ward 38). Lubrano interviewed many “straddlers,” who are white-collar individuals, or those who work in offices or management and hold high socioeconomic statuses, who grew up in a blue-collar environment (Ward 37-40). These now white-collar individuals, such as lawyers, grew up learning the blue-collar principles of hard work that are not as emphasized in other social classes, and achieved economic success in their jobs due to their backgrounds (Ward 37-40). Lubrano concludes, as a result of conducting these interviews in order to discover how blue-collar work enhances the economic success of other professions, that blue-collar workers inspire a tradition of hard work that is unmatched by any other kind of work ethic in America, and can be utilized in non-blue-collar occupations (Ward 37-40). This robust, persistent work ethic is what lifted the United States from being “a poor nation” to being an “industrious, purposeful” one over the course of two centuries, proclaims former United States President Richard Nixon, who was raised in a blue-collar family (Peters and Woolley).
Blue Collar workers today are looked down upon by most of society. People think that if you have a blue collar job you aren’t smart and not successful. But in my opinion, blue collar workers are the backbone of our society, and deserve the same amount of respect as white collar workers. “Blue Collar Brilliance by Mike Rose” explains how blue collar workers are very smart and use a lot of brainpower to get their jobs done. Both his Uncle and mother were blue collar workers and that’s where he got his inspiration to stand up for blue collar workers around the world. He gives us examples of how his own family members were blue collar workers and how they were smart and how they excelled at their jobs. He uses his own experiences to show us that blue collar workers are in fact smart, able to adapt to many different situations, and deserve respect.
In the article, “Blue-Collar Brilliance” by Mike Rose, he begins with an anecdote of his mother working her blue-collar job at a diner as a waitress. Rose vividly describes her common day that is packed with a constant array of tedious tasks she has to accomplish to make her living. The authors goal appears to be making the reader appreciate the hard work of blue-collar workers because society places a stereotype on them as being less intelligent than someone with more schooling or even a white-collar job: “Our cultural iconography promotes the muscled arm, sleeve rolled tight against biceps, but no brightness behind the eye, no inmate that links hand and brain” (282). I agree with Rose’s conclusion that if we continue to place a stigma on
In the United States many people have misconceptions as to the work people in blue collar jobs do versus those who are employed in white collar jobs. Blue collar jobs are not shown the appreciation and respect they deserve because people feel that anyone can perform those jobs. White collar jobs require people to have an educational background with degrees, certificates and years of experience. On the other hand, blue collar jobs sometimes do not have many requirements and some even accept people without a high school education. Every job whether it is a blue collar or white collar deserves respect and appreciation because they each require their own set of skills. Low wage paying jobs such as fast food work has intellectual demands. Working
Mike Rose’s article “Blue-Collar Brilliance” talks about people judging other people’s intelligence based on their jobs. Mike Rose explains in his article that people with blue collar jobs are just as intelligent as people with white collar jobs because they both use critical thinking and multi task while they are working. The standard of their jobs might be different because of their different ways of learning. People who are considered professionals or white collared individuals learn by studying or reading reports where blue collared individuals learn by performing a task. They learn faster ways to perform the task after they have done it multiple times. I believe that Rose’s thinking is very effective as it tells us that we should not judge
“Intelligence is closely associated with formal education- the type of schooling a person has, how much and how long- and most people seem to move comfortably from the notion to a belief that work requiring less schooling requires less intelligence” (Rose 276). My Dad has worked blue collar jobs his entire life. Security guard, lawn service, woodworker, carpenter, plus anything else that involves his hands. He didn’t have any schooling past his high school diploma. But he’s always told me, “Yeah, I wish I went to college, but I’m sure as hell glad I was taught and forced to learn the skills I have now. Like doing things on my own and working with my hands, my work ethic, and my ability to absorb as many things as I could to get the job done.” Blue collar jobs can never be outsourced. There will always be a need for plumbers, electricians, machine operators, carpenters and many, many more
It is much less violent to the public and there is generally less fear about it. When people think of white collar crime they think of things like embezzlement, trade monopolies, and insider trading. The whole bases of the movie “Wall Street” is the story of Bud Fox bringing Gekko’s illegal trading to light. These crimes are very rarely seen unless it is in the news or you are very rich. This is crime that is committed with pens and pencils instead of guns and knives. There are not many films showing white collar crime because as the lecture says “media may self-censor to avoid offending parent company” (Silvestri, 2015). Parent companies are the entities that give most of the funding for films. Also white collar crime is “not sensational enough – sex and violence
Throughout the years, there has been many misconceptions about being working class. “Working class” can often be a confusing term, it’s a term that means differently to others. “Working class” refers to hard working, minimum wage, individuals with no college degree who struggle economically. However, many think “Working class” are lazy, low lives, who have nothing going on for their lives. Growing up, I would see how much my parents have struggled to provide for me and my siblings. My mother cleans houses for a living and my father is a welder. When I was young I would often feel embarrassed whenever a friend asked me what my mother did for a living, I would make up a big lie rather than telling the truth and say what she really worked as. For too long, society has
Recent years, the leadership is a rising topic in daily business, especially in company executives ' management and the relationship between employers and employees has become a significant part of leadership. Accounting to three articles, there is three specific themes of relationship: Communication, empowerment and investing training become the most valuable aspects of the relationship. Empowerment can be defined as give freedom to the manager to draw their own expertise and experience(Ladkin and Weber 2011, p. 278), While Useem(2010, p. 4) defines communication as a clearly directive to goals to staff without micromanagement, workers can freely decide how to do it.How to conduct with a well relationship between employers and employees has become important lessons for leaders.
Internal promotions and a higher place in the hierarchical level should push people to strive for recognition.
This can greatly impact the atmosphere and environment within which employees work. According to Barbara Annisi, a personnel consultant from the US, he argues that the appropriate way to bring about the energetic atmosphere within a workplace is by appreciating and understanding different cultures by employing individuals from different walks of life. This inspires innovation within workplaces as individual’s tackles problems using different approaches. The energetic atmospheres within workplaces also make individuals to become more productive hence increasing the benefit of the whole company in terms of profits. The future of workplaces is therefore rich since most managers in the modern global economy are starting to appreciate different cultures throughout the world. (Fritz,