In the majority of fields in which most people are now employed today, very few of them offer its worker, or its employees a sense of actual acheivement, nor give the sense that higher goals have been attained, with the only exception being the material rewards (money) that come as a result of filling a place of office. Of course what is done with such reward, how it is distributed and spent, and whether it is put to beneficial or wasteful use, is entirely down to the individual who earns it.
Before I enter greater detail on this, some decent examples of the environments this entails would include call centres, factories, and in general the product cycle, concerning the distribution and sale of consumer goods.
As is the case with expansive workforces that are more often than not coupled with superficial 'target-driven' environments, we see an immediate flaw, in that by attaining numerical goals as a means to satisfy companies demand of income, the actual skill, intellect and drive of each employee is relegated to mere written statistics. In essence, there is no regard for the individual merits of those with the best potentials, and otherwise a boost of ego is often given toward those whose 'lack' of worldly abilities, and a general mindset devoid of external discovery (living for the weekend, 'money to burn') leave them safe to dwell within the confines of the functional limits of their job. Especially when we take into consideration the field of consumer sales, in which the lust of revenue for its own sake is dressed up with a caring, ultra-sympathetic attitude that is nothing more than a sly ploy to seduce potential customers into purchasing a product.
When such an atmosphere permeates nearly every corner of the modern urban workforce, the original purpose of working as a means to live is negated through the narrow confines of mental and physical activity the surroundings place on individual employees. The fact that the hours of work (this can also be applied to nearly every scale of modern work, with the exception of self-employment) are rigid and merely confined to their numerical limits (shifts) is also a detriment towards the individual capabilities of a workman, and has no relation in respect to the tasks and errands that each of them must perform, regardless of how, when and with what efficiency they are performed by each person. In other words, said institutions are anti-meritocratic, and for the obvious purpose of expanding the economic income for what would be best aptly branded as the 'power elite', quantity triumphs over quantity.
The modern approach, or the modern ethic towards how work is performed appears to be valued only in a purely mechanical context, and that with little beyond the physical function of the chore, little else besides that is valued appropriately, and without too deep an analogy, it is obvious as to why many often describe this medium as 'de-humanizing'.
The democracy of modern economics has left open a gateway for endless competition between buisnesses and companies, that is so great in it's expanse that no room is left for the well being of those people who serve them, nor is there a sense of appreciation for a genuine quality in the produce that is outputted. In other words, it is as if all organisms are but cogs in a transparent wheel, where buisness knows nothing more than gaining in materials for the pure sake of avoiding it's inevitable decline and overthrow. What will become in succession to this remains to be questioned, though so long as the most vulgar elements of human desire keeps making itself clear, there is always a barrier that keeps a more organic and natural replacement from making it's occurence.
