Thu-Cuc Nguyen: Assignment#2 (newspaper article)

The article I selected is Festering Wounds Impair Writers’ Talks, it is about a current issue that has been going in the entertainment industry. The reason why I chose this article because it relates to the concept in the book about “The Meaning of Work.” According to Eisenberg, Goodall and Trethewey states that “employees want to feel the work they do is worthwhile, not just a way to draw a paycheck.” And with current issue that has been going on in the last week about screenwriters who are on stike because they demanded longer contracts and higher pay.

It is important that employers carefully assess their employees on a continuous basis in order give their employees highest job satisfaction and at the same time achieve their objectives. As in the case with the entertainment industry, by not acknowledging the screenwriters’ effort and how much work they have put in to the studio, the result of it was that many screenwriters walked out on their jobs to form a strike. In addition, the meaning of work goes more than enjoying and being in a job that one thinks is worthwhile, it is a combination of having opportunities to participate in the organization in term of decision making and job security. Because screenwriters feel that their contacts are not being extended and that once the contracts are expired then there would not be anymore contracts thereafter; therefore, the purpose of organizing a strike by these screenwriters is to try to negotiate with the studios so that they can have a longer contracts that allows them the security that the job offers.

Without thinking that the job is worthwhile to do, then employees are more likely to be stressed out. As evidenced by the screenwriters in Hollywood, once employees are dissatisfied with their jobs, there are many costs that may be associated with this. For example, with the entertainment industry, due to the lack of screenwriters, there has been a lot of reruns on a couple of shows. If reruns are occurring repeatedly, then the studios may lose a lot of revenue from advertising. So, organizations nowadays need to understand what does work mean to them and provide the right person with the right job to increase employees satisfaction and productivity will follow.