Christianity
The three major monotheistic religions of the world – Christianity,Islam, and Judaism – all have definite theology related to issues of death and dying. Christianity is the largest of these and, in fact, the largest religion in the world. Although Christians may be divided in many ways over issues of theology, they do hold the same core values and beliefs. One of these is that there is an afterlife in which believers will spend eternity with God. Although there may be dissention over smaller matters, in issues of life and death, there tends to be more common ground. Sickness, suffering, and death are viewed by many Christians through their understanding of Christ’s suffering and death on the cross and his subsequent resurrection. Christians also believe that God participates in the affairs of humanity, another tenet that inform their views of death and dying. The New Testament teaches that one’s body is the temple of God, so most Christians believe that life is sacred, although not necessarily to be preserved at all costs. For example, in questions of withholding or with drawing treatment, the official position of the Roman Catholic Church is that there is a distinction between ordinary measures (i.e. those medical treatments that are intended to preserve life such as medicines, treatments, and operations that offer reasonable hope for preserving life and that can be obtained without excessive expense, pain, or other inconvenience) and extraordinary measures (i.e., medicines, treatments, and operations that do not offer reasonable hope of preserving life and which cannot be obtained without excessive expense, pain, or other inconvenience). There is, of course, no list of procedures that easily fall into one category or another; all such treatment needs to be made with informed consent on an individual basis by the patient or family. For example, a feeding tube or mechanical ventilation at one stage during the course of a disease or illness may provide sufficient time for other measures to take affect and enable the patient to life; given at another time, however, it may only preserve existence with no hope of recovery.
Islam
The second largest (and youngest) major monotheistic religion is Islam. Although Islam has legal rulings or fatawa (sg., fatwa) about life and death issues such as organ donation and euthanasia,there is not widespread agreement about these issues between Muslim jurists from different schools of Islamic law (Sachedina, 2005). In general, however, Islam teaches that death comes to us all and that how we die is of importance. According to Muslims, God is both the origin and destiny of life so that life is therefore sacred. According to the Qur’an, death does not occur except by God’s permission. Therefore, in Islam, it is necessary to do everything possible to prevent a premature death. The question of preserving life at any cost, however, is the subject of much debate within Islam. Although on the one hand there is the obligation to save or even prolong life, on the other hand there is the argument that one should limit life sustaining treatment if there is a lack of resources. Further, in Islam, the decision of life-prolonging treatment is not the decision of the individual alone. Islam emphasizes the link between the welfare of the individual and his/her family and community. Decisions about whether or not an aggressive or invasive treatment can prolong life without causing further harm, therefore, is a matter of concern not only for the individual but for all associated with him/her. Regarding pain, the approach of most Muslims is to act in such a way as to alleviate pain through actively removing its cause. As in Christianity, the human body is seen as a temple of God. Therefore, Islamic law does not recognize a patient’s right to die voluntarily (e.g., suicide, assisted suicide, or other types of active human intervention). There are, however, exceptions to this general principle depending on the circumstances: Specifically, the administration of medication to relieve physical and mental suffering in a terminal patient that has the side effect of shortening life or the withdrawal of futile treatment after informed consent (Sachedina, 2005).
Judaism
The smallest, albeit the oldest, of the major monotheistic religions is Judaism. As with Christianity and Islam, the Jewish religion holds that the body belongs to God. This means that human beings have the obligation to seek both preventative and curative medical treatment. However, as also with the other two religions, Judaism recognizes the fact that all human beings are mortal. Similarly, there is not widespread agreement across all Jewish traditions about how this is to be interpreted. In addition,
culture (in the form of country, generation, or family) may also affect the interpretation of these matters. Because the individual belongs to God, Judaism does not condone suicide or the enlistment of aid to end one’s life. Judaism has its own criteria for determining death. Traditionally, these have been the cessation of breathing and heartbeat (although sufficient time must be allowed before burial to determine that this is a permanent condition). After the development of the Harvard criteria for brain death, Conservative rabbis accepted these criteria as fulfilling the traditional requirements. Criteria for the acceptability of withholding life-sustaining treatment varies, with the strictest interpretation being the prognosis that the patient will die within 72 hours or less and more liberal interpretations allowing for withholding life-sustaining measures if the patient will live up to a year or more. However, most rabbis view artificial nutrition and hydration to be the equivalent of food and liquids required by everyone to live, and require them to be used even when other life-sustaining treatments are withdrawn. Regarding heroic measures, most view these as permissible as long as there is some hope of a cure; however, such measures are not required and the decision is to be made based on the risk/benefit ratio, the patient’s best interests, and the patient’s desires. Jews are allowed to sign advance directives for health care to specify their wishes in such cases should they not be able to communicate their desires at the time. Pain control, palliative care, and hospice programs in which the goal is to make the patient comfortable but not to cure are all acceptable under Jewish tenets.
Further, Jewish tradition holds it to be an obligation to visit the sick, treat them with respect, and pray for them. Ethical considerations continue even after death. Regarding autopsy and organ donation, the ruling principles are that the dead body should be honored as the property of God and that one has an obligation to save the lives of others. Because of the first principle, autopsies are not routinely performed unless required by civil law, three doctors agree that the cause of death cannot be otherwise ascertained, that the autopsy might helps save the lives of others with similar illnesses or that the results of the autopsy might be of benefit to surviving family members with a hereditary disease.
These criteria, however, are debated. Although the donation of cadavers to science or of organs to save others is permitted by most rabbis, there is also disagreement about the circumstances under which these actions are permissible.
Hinduism
Not every religion is monotheistic, however. In fact, the second largest religion of the world is Hinduism. Although this religion does not have an institutional framework or demand adherence to particular doctrines, most Hindus do hold certain tenets in common that apply to death and dying. Most Hindus believe that a living being (either human or animal) possesses a soul that moves on from one life to the next. In addition, most Hindus hold that there is a difference between a good death and a bad death. The former occurs in old age either on the banks of the sacred Ganges River or on the ground at home. (For this purpose, many Hindus keep a container of Ganges water to be offered to the dying person and placed on the lips of the corpse.) Hindus prepare all their lives for a good death and enter into it consciously and willingly. A good death requires the correct rituals in order to speed the soul on its way. Bad deaths, on the other hand, are premature, violent, or uncontrolled, happening at the wrong place and time (often signified by vomit, feces, urine, and an unpleasant expression). The worst type of death in Hinduism is suicide that happens for selfish reasons. There is a long tradition of voluntary death in Hinduism, typically where such an action is linked to a specific purpose such as gaining freedom. However, Hinduism makes a distinction between the willed death of an individual. Suicide for selfish reasons is considered to be morally wrong and cannot be sanctioned with the appropriate rites of death. Some Hindu authorities also argue that human beings should not take their own lives because of the karmic effect on the next life. In general, Hinduism stands strongly against involuntary euthanasia primarily because it goes against the principle of autonomy and can be easily abused. However, in all these matters, it is difficult to generalize the Hindu attitudes toward death and dying because they are highly correlated with education, class, and tradition.
Buddhism
Another major polytheistic religion (one, in fact, with more adherents than Judaism) is Buddhism. In this religion, the inevitability of death is recognized and emphasis is placed on the psychological preparation necessary to accept death with calmness and dignity. Buddhists place great value on mindfulness and mental clarity because they believe that it can affect the quality of their rebirth. This fact impacts their philosophy of dying. For example, some Buddhists may forego pain relieving drugs or sedatives sothat their mental facilities can be unimpaired. The Buddhist definition of death involves the loss of three criteria: vitality, heat, and sentiency. Although determining the loss of heat is a rather straightforward matter, determining the loss of the other two criteria is not, particularly given the tradition of yogic trance in which life signs may not be observable. On the other hand, there is no disagreement between Buddhist tradition and modern medicine on the status of patients in a persistent vegetative state: Individuals in this state are clearly alive according to both views. From the Buddhist perspective, irreversible damage to the neocortex is no different than damage to another organ when making ethical decisions regarding treatment. This typically means that unless there are secondary complications, the person should continue to be given nutrition and hydration. Further, Buddhists do not believe in taking a life. Therefore, they do not condone suicide or the incitement of someone to commit suicide. This prohibition also extends to assisted suicide and euthanasia, even though these actions might spare the person unnecessary pain. On the other hand, due to the Buddhist belief in the inevitability of death, Buddhists do not condone attempts to prolong life beyond its natural span through technology, but encourage adherents to prepare to accept death calmly when it comes. This, however, does not preclude hospice or other palliative care.
Monday, July 05, 2010
THE VIRUS WAR
Wars are fought by brave men but the virus war is fought by men who think they are intelligent but in actual fact copycats. Very unfortunately we are the victims of these wars. Unlike some wars, this war is unstoppable, no matter how much effort we put in to stop the war. The only thing that we can do is to prevent less damage from being done is by unpluging ourselves from our computers. Can we do that? The answer is obvious. Who is to be blame? Look in the mirror and you will find the person.
As technology advances, the virus wars will continue to escalate, with output poised to exceed that of 2003 – year of the worm. Original virus writers used to write viruses just for the joy of experimentation and not for the joy of destroying your hard disk. Unfortunately time has changed and so has the reasons for writing a virus. Virus writers come in four categories. They are writers who write for the thrill of it, students who do it for research, script kiddies who write to impress but unfortunately their coding sucks and their scripts are copied from other virus codes and finally cyber terrorists who write viruses for destruction. There is no real need of spending hours to learn how to write a virus. It can be written with only a few lines of codes. You can even learn how to write a virus by visiting a website that teaches you how to write a virus.
Script Kiddies have taken full advantage of it. They can even weave together existing attacks from codes available from community resources. That’s why I say that they think they are cool and intelligent but in actual fact copycats.
One of the main reasons why viruses are written in the 21 century is money. Keyloggers are able to be installed in computers to act as backdoors in order to track passwords, credit card numbers and other confidential information. The valuable information can be stolen and sold for profit. Hackers can also use these methods to blackmail a company. After all what is losing a few thousands dollars compared to losing your customers which would result in a loss of a few million dollars.
There has been some rivalry between virus writers like Bagel and Netsky. They are using huge pools of zombie machines adapting exploits left by others like MyDoom and So Big to spread new variants with code containing taunts. They are also trying to get a better of the anti virus industry as well. For example, the ability for virus to be spread through attachments. In response the anti-virus industry created their software to scan for zip files and extensions. Virus writers then used password protected zip files at which anti-virus could not decrypt the password. Anti – virus companies followed up by creating a new AV program that could parse an e-mail message for the password and store it in memory so that they could decrypt the message and scan for virus. In retaliation, the writes use a bitmap file instead of using passwords. Other current trends include self-propagating codes with tie-ins with spammers, networks of bots created by organised crime to use in extortion and codes shared with other writers
Virus writers will invent more tricks in the future. The virus MyDoom is spread through attachments. The user had only to click on the e-mail in order to spread the virus. As I type these stories, there are talks of creating multiplatform viruses that would infect icons, cursors, or media files or damage CD-ROM and DVD-ROM viruses. As of now, viruses attack software but not hardware so don’t worry too much. As for the future whether it would attack hardware, only time will tell. Due to the advancement of technology, the terrain for viruses to exploit have widen. Viruses now target instant messaging, peer-to-peer networks, voice mail systems, handheld devices, Microsoft Xboxes and other consoles, and mobile phones..
With all these viruses running around, have you asked yourself why there has not been a Big One ( a rapid spreading virus that would destroy a lot of data) yet? The answer is that a virus has to find a exploit first and that is not very easy to find. If it runs too soon, it will destroy it self. If it runs too late, the AV companies will stop it.
There is an increasing need for viruses to elude the AV software. One such kind of virus is the metamorphic virus. It rewrites itself each time it mutates. The AV scanners have to decrypt it and then scan it to find the underlying code.
UnFortunately there are now many of these kind of virus because most virus are written using Visual Basic which is easy to use. The writers are of course yours truly script kiddies. That’s why I shall re-enforce my statement by saying that they think they are intelligent and cool but they are not. You need a more complicated program to write a metamorphic virus. Those who have succeeded are the intelligent ones.
Some writers are even annoyed with script kiddies because they create virus to trick people to open attachments inorder for the viruses to activate. They don’t write viruses to exploit various OS weaknesses. For example, Netsky let users believe that the mail they received came from someone they knew, by extracting e-mail addresses from files in a certain way and this is possible when an e-mail is sent using SMTP to anyone from any address. I could send a mail under your address to your girlfriend saying something horrible and she’d think you wrote it to her. Alright I won’t do that. Don’t worry!!!!!
There has been an increasing trend in the use of viruses to target specified groups like political ones to spread their messages. Viruses also have a great effect on businesses. If virus keep on increasing ( which they will do ), consumers’ confidence to do trading on the net will drop. Business could lose a lot of money. Isn’t it good to combat viruses and not to take for granted that you are save just because you have installed “ an out of date AV program”.
Yes, the signature engines for AV programs run out of date once they are shipped. It is our responsibility to update our virus engines once it is installed. We must not wait to update the engines only when we suffer a virus attack.
ISP can help us by protecting our incoming and outgoing e-mail but that does not mean we must rely on our ISP alone. We must develop a mult-tier protection concept. Some methods are protection from our ISP, protection from our updated AV program and last but not least encrypting all data in case if a hacker gains access to your data and files.
There are many encryption softwares in the market, like PGP. To describe their functions would be out of scope for this story. The good news is that Pacific Net and Singtel offer services to protect your e-mails but you have to pay for it. I think they should change this concept and provide it for free. After all protection of computer systems is every one’s effort.
AV companies now have more effective suites. The best suites are the ones combined with programs that monitor spam with AV and anti-spyware capabilities. They are aware that the technical challenges of neutralising viruses are shifting. They have to analyze what the entry points that virus could exploit and the speed at which viruses are spreading.
They have to change their mindset as well by creating reactive defenses and proactive defenses as well. Fortunately some companies have done that. For example, Cisco, Fotinet, Panda and others all have products that will detect threats and close down without interfering with the primary AV engine.
One strategy that has not been implemented yet is sandboxing. It creates a virtual OS so sophisticated that when a piece of code comes in, it’s fooled into operating on the virtual OS instead of on the actual one. The engine can then analyse what the code is trying to do and handle it without letting it ever reach the real OS. Other strategies could be to create all in one programs that address viruses, self-propagating e-mail worms, spyware and adware, the use of AV technology to track down virus writers or quarantine poorly managed networks; intrusion prevention integrated into firewalls to block malware at the border and systems that have security built – in rather that added on.
AV programs should be developed in such a way that it is user-friendly. There is an increase in less computer savvy people using computers. They should be skilled in the usage of AV programs. If they find that the AV program too troublesome to use, they will dread to use its functions.
We should not be too dependent on Microsoft OS and their applications. It is not easy to do away with Microsoft and it is also one of the reasons why we are easily attacked by viruses. We have become to predictable.
We must not target certain groups. Like Aids, we think only certain classes of people are prone to be infected by the deadly viruses. In reality, anyone of us is valuable to the disease if we are not careful so do not forget to wear a condom. AV programs must be created to protect all kinds of targets.
We must not be subjective and only scan certain files for virus. For example, we scan files that we are downloading from peer-to-peer networks for virus and not other files. Well maybe there are some that would scan every file that they have for virus but there are others who do not. I am the biggest culprit.
Finally we must question our moral judgement on creating viruses and using them for destruction, unauthorized entry of a computer system, stealing and tracking of information. For example, RIAA wanting access to hack into machines and send viruses to file shares. If we allow them to do that, we will open Pandora’s box. We will create a culture whereby anyone could write a virus program in order to hack somebody’s computer system. The best thing is that they would think it is a moral thing to do.
Therefore, let the wars continue because there is nothing much we can do but only prevent less damage from being done. So look forward to more viruses and new developments in the AV industry. It would be interesting to see how they combat the new viruses. The most important think is too stay alert and vigilant at all times. Don’t let our guard down as the virus will appear at an hour we would not expect.
As technology advances, the virus wars will continue to escalate, with output poised to exceed that of 2003 – year of the worm. Original virus writers used to write viruses just for the joy of experimentation and not for the joy of destroying your hard disk. Unfortunately time has changed and so has the reasons for writing a virus. Virus writers come in four categories. They are writers who write for the thrill of it, students who do it for research, script kiddies who write to impress but unfortunately their coding sucks and their scripts are copied from other virus codes and finally cyber terrorists who write viruses for destruction. There is no real need of spending hours to learn how to write a virus. It can be written with only a few lines of codes. You can even learn how to write a virus by visiting a website that teaches you how to write a virus.
Script Kiddies have taken full advantage of it. They can even weave together existing attacks from codes available from community resources. That’s why I say that they think they are cool and intelligent but in actual fact copycats.
One of the main reasons why viruses are written in the 21 century is money. Keyloggers are able to be installed in computers to act as backdoors in order to track passwords, credit card numbers and other confidential information. The valuable information can be stolen and sold for profit. Hackers can also use these methods to blackmail a company. After all what is losing a few thousands dollars compared to losing your customers which would result in a loss of a few million dollars.
There has been some rivalry between virus writers like Bagel and Netsky. They are using huge pools of zombie machines adapting exploits left by others like MyDoom and So Big to spread new variants with code containing taunts. They are also trying to get a better of the anti virus industry as well. For example, the ability for virus to be spread through attachments. In response the anti-virus industry created their software to scan for zip files and extensions. Virus writers then used password protected zip files at which anti-virus could not decrypt the password. Anti – virus companies followed up by creating a new AV program that could parse an e-mail message for the password and store it in memory so that they could decrypt the message and scan for virus. In retaliation, the writes use a bitmap file instead of using passwords. Other current trends include self-propagating codes with tie-ins with spammers, networks of bots created by organised crime to use in extortion and codes shared with other writers
Virus writers will invent more tricks in the future. The virus MyDoom is spread through attachments. The user had only to click on the e-mail in order to spread the virus. As I type these stories, there are talks of creating multiplatform viruses that would infect icons, cursors, or media files or damage CD-ROM and DVD-ROM viruses. As of now, viruses attack software but not hardware so don’t worry too much. As for the future whether it would attack hardware, only time will tell. Due to the advancement of technology, the terrain for viruses to exploit have widen. Viruses now target instant messaging, peer-to-peer networks, voice mail systems, handheld devices, Microsoft Xboxes and other consoles, and mobile phones..
With all these viruses running around, have you asked yourself why there has not been a Big One ( a rapid spreading virus that would destroy a lot of data) yet? The answer is that a virus has to find a exploit first and that is not very easy to find. If it runs too soon, it will destroy it self. If it runs too late, the AV companies will stop it.
There is an increasing need for viruses to elude the AV software. One such kind of virus is the metamorphic virus. It rewrites itself each time it mutates. The AV scanners have to decrypt it and then scan it to find the underlying code.
UnFortunately there are now many of these kind of virus because most virus are written using Visual Basic which is easy to use. The writers are of course yours truly script kiddies. That’s why I shall re-enforce my statement by saying that they think they are intelligent and cool but they are not. You need a more complicated program to write a metamorphic virus. Those who have succeeded are the intelligent ones.
Some writers are even annoyed with script kiddies because they create virus to trick people to open attachments inorder for the viruses to activate. They don’t write viruses to exploit various OS weaknesses. For example, Netsky let users believe that the mail they received came from someone they knew, by extracting e-mail addresses from files in a certain way and this is possible when an e-mail is sent using SMTP to anyone from any address. I could send a mail under your address to your girlfriend saying something horrible and she’d think you wrote it to her. Alright I won’t do that. Don’t worry!!!!!
There has been an increasing trend in the use of viruses to target specified groups like political ones to spread their messages. Viruses also have a great effect on businesses. If virus keep on increasing ( which they will do ), consumers’ confidence to do trading on the net will drop. Business could lose a lot of money. Isn’t it good to combat viruses and not to take for granted that you are save just because you have installed “ an out of date AV program”.
Yes, the signature engines for AV programs run out of date once they are shipped. It is our responsibility to update our virus engines once it is installed. We must not wait to update the engines only when we suffer a virus attack.
ISP can help us by protecting our incoming and outgoing e-mail but that does not mean we must rely on our ISP alone. We must develop a mult-tier protection concept. Some methods are protection from our ISP, protection from our updated AV program and last but not least encrypting all data in case if a hacker gains access to your data and files.
There are many encryption softwares in the market, like PGP. To describe their functions would be out of scope for this story. The good news is that Pacific Net and Singtel offer services to protect your e-mails but you have to pay for it. I think they should change this concept and provide it for free. After all protection of computer systems is every one’s effort.
AV companies now have more effective suites. The best suites are the ones combined with programs that monitor spam with AV and anti-spyware capabilities. They are aware that the technical challenges of neutralising viruses are shifting. They have to analyze what the entry points that virus could exploit and the speed at which viruses are spreading.
They have to change their mindset as well by creating reactive defenses and proactive defenses as well. Fortunately some companies have done that. For example, Cisco, Fotinet, Panda and others all have products that will detect threats and close down without interfering with the primary AV engine.
One strategy that has not been implemented yet is sandboxing. It creates a virtual OS so sophisticated that when a piece of code comes in, it’s fooled into operating on the virtual OS instead of on the actual one. The engine can then analyse what the code is trying to do and handle it without letting it ever reach the real OS. Other strategies could be to create all in one programs that address viruses, self-propagating e-mail worms, spyware and adware, the use of AV technology to track down virus writers or quarantine poorly managed networks; intrusion prevention integrated into firewalls to block malware at the border and systems that have security built – in rather that added on.
AV programs should be developed in such a way that it is user-friendly. There is an increase in less computer savvy people using computers. They should be skilled in the usage of AV programs. If they find that the AV program too troublesome to use, they will dread to use its functions.
We should not be too dependent on Microsoft OS and their applications. It is not easy to do away with Microsoft and it is also one of the reasons why we are easily attacked by viruses. We have become to predictable.
We must not target certain groups. Like Aids, we think only certain classes of people are prone to be infected by the deadly viruses. In reality, anyone of us is valuable to the disease if we are not careful so do not forget to wear a condom. AV programs must be created to protect all kinds of targets.
We must not be subjective and only scan certain files for virus. For example, we scan files that we are downloading from peer-to-peer networks for virus and not other files. Well maybe there are some that would scan every file that they have for virus but there are others who do not. I am the biggest culprit.
Finally we must question our moral judgement on creating viruses and using them for destruction, unauthorized entry of a computer system, stealing and tracking of information. For example, RIAA wanting access to hack into machines and send viruses to file shares. If we allow them to do that, we will open Pandora’s box. We will create a culture whereby anyone could write a virus program in order to hack somebody’s computer system. The best thing is that they would think it is a moral thing to do.
Therefore, let the wars continue because there is nothing much we can do but only prevent less damage from being done. So look forward to more viruses and new developments in the AV industry. It would be interesting to see how they combat the new viruses. The most important think is too stay alert and vigilant at all times. Don’t let our guard down as the virus will appear at an hour we would not expect.
How Does A Company or Department Kill Their Employees Self Development
Singapore is a country whereby one must work for a living. The Singapore government does not believe in giving out social welfare benefits to those that do not work. At most, they would give out a small amount of cash to those that really cannot work due to disability or for reasons that make them incapable to find any job. The government believes that one must work in order to enjoy the benefits that Singapore has to provide. Therefore, most Singaporeans have to work until they are not able to work anymore. From nine to five, Singaporeans are indulged in work that they may have to do for the rest of their lives. Well, there maybe a lucky few that may not need to work because their partners are able to bring the bread home. As for the majority of Singaporeans, they may have to keep on working because the wages that they are earning may be barely enough for them to survive. For those, that are able to upgrade and earn a bigger salary, they may be able to retire early. Whether one is able to upgrade while one is working is another matter altogether. This issue will be addressed later on in this essay.
We are caught in a repetitive cycle of work because most work processors in government organisations and in some private companies are standardized. Some questions come to mind at this juncture. If work is repetitious, do workers enjoy their work? Do they have a chance to indulge in self-development at their work place? Why do workers submit themselves to boring and “tortuous” work if they are not able to improve themselves in their work place?
Singapore, like all other capitalistic countries, is rationalistic in nature. What do I mean by rationalistic in nature? They are rationalistic in nature by means of following certain set of rules and regulations. This applies to organisations set up in Singapore and other parts of the world. These rules and regulations make companies bureaucratic. These rules and regulations are important because they help the Singapore government to govern Singapore properly and orderly. It also helps in the proper running of businesses. Singaporeans have to follow these sets of rules and regulations. If not, they would be breaking the law and have to face the consequences. The same goes to those that are working in the various and bureaucratic organisations set up in Singapore. What’s the big deal of having rules and organisation? Isn’t that something that is given when you run a company or country? How do these rules and regulations affect people’s behaviour and the way they work? The following paragraphs will elaborate on these issues.
Rules and regulations are usually formulated by the “professional people” who are running their respective countries or organisations. They create the “attractive procedures” that govern our behaviour and the way we carry out our work. Most Singaporeans are groomed to be obedient at a very young age and do not question whether these rules and regulations are detrimental to their well-being. In every social environment, there is always the good and the bad. Therefore there will be rules and regulations that will be beneficial to some and to others not.
The “Professional people” or specialist, who set up the work procedures in how certain work should be done, actually adopted these work procedures when they were studying. Universities usually teach students how certain work, for example, accounting, should be done. They are taught to apply the same work procedures when they go out in the world and work. Therefore, the standardization of work actually starts when we are in school. Even the government set the standardization of work in order for government bodies to carry out work uniformly. These can be seen in uniform organisations, statutory boards and civil – service organisations.
Workers are surrounded by rules and regulations. They follow proper work procedures to do our work. Day in day out, nine to five, they follow the same work procedures. As mention before, some of them endure their “boring & torturous” job because what they earn may be barely enough for them to survive. The work that they do will become repetitious. They may perform their job just like a robot. Eventually they will become bored and alienated from their work. For example, a cashier cashing in the goods that customers purchase at a supermarket. The process of cashing in the goods never change. The cashier internalizes the process. The tools that she uses to cash in the goods and herself become one. She becomes alienated from her work. Companies may form unions to persuade their workers that their work life is normal when it is actually detrimental to their well-being and there is no need for self development. A false consciousness is formed among the workers.
On the bright side, more companies nowadays recognise the need of self – development and encourage it. However, even when self-development programs are being developed, some workers especially clerical staff (non-graduates) will still be stuck in their repetitious work, due to the fact that their education level is low and are earning a small salary. They would not have much chance to change to a better job. The only option is to further their studies. However, they also may not have enough money to upgrade themselves unless their companies are willing to sponsor them or they themselves find other means to pay for their education.
In some companies, eventhough one may have the means to further their studies, their company rules may make it difficult for them to do so. This is especially so when the subject that they are learning is not relevant to their work. Some workers lose their moral in studying because studying and working is not easy and if they fail because they were not able to obtain leave in order to study for their exams, their moral will further slide down south. They may all together give up studying thus thrashing the hope of ever getting a better job or promotion. This also puts a halt on their self-development. Therefore, companies should encourage and support those that want to study eventhough what they are studying may not be relevant to their job.
Their companies should grant them study leave for them eventhough what they are studying is not relevant to their jobs.Supervisors must have a change of mindset if these were to happen. They must realise that we are now in a ever changing world where the power of knowledge helps one to develop their self-development and help them to work better. They must not have the notion that if their workers upgrade themselves, they will take over their jobs. The rules and regulations that govern the way employees work also make them feel like they are in an iron cage. Some employees may feel this constrictive effect. They may not be able to find ways to make their work more interesting and effective. If they do, their supervisors may not like it. This is especially so for employees whose supervisors go by the book. Those in the accountancy department are mostly to portray this kind of behaviour. However, I am not saying that all organisations do not have avenues for their employees to make suggestions about ways to improve their work and how they can upgrade themselves. Even if companies have avenues for suggestion making, supervisors must also have an open mindset to implement the suggestions that are valid and feasible to implement.
Therefore rules and regulations are a must for the smooth running of a company or country. These rules and regulations may make employees feel alienated from their work or make them feel like they are in an iron cage. In order to counter these negative effects that will affect workers performances, employees must have a say in the work processors. They must be able to suggest changes that can be made to their work processors so that they will be able to perform effectively. There must also be flexibility in a company. For example, employees should be granted study leave for the subjects that they are studying eventhough it may not be relevant to their jobs. Supervisors must adopt an open mindset and encourage their workers to study and upgrade themselves. Employees must be given a chance for job rotation because some employees may become bored of doing the same kind of job for many years or it may be due to the fact that the job that some employees indulge do not match in what they specialise in. For example, an employee specialising in mass communication but is doing finance work. He or she may feel better off doing work regarding about mass communication. Therefore he or she should be allowed to job rotate.
For all these changes to take place, companies must adopt the correct working culture for their employees so that they would work effectively and not suffer from alienation from their work or even feel like they are in an iron cage. If workers feel alienated from their work or feel that they are in an iron cage, their self-esteem may dive south. The situation worsens if these employees are not given a chance to engage in self- development. Their thinking processors may fade and their brains may die a natural death. Ever wondered why at times you can see people doing things automatically without thinking. Most likely they are working in a government body or a company where it’s rules and regulations are rigid and non-flexible. They may not be able to improve themselves. I hope in the future all companies will become more flexible and allow their employees to indulge in self-development and upgrade themselves for better work opportunities and to earn higher salaries.
We are caught in a repetitive cycle of work because most work processors in government organisations and in some private companies are standardized. Some questions come to mind at this juncture. If work is repetitious, do workers enjoy their work? Do they have a chance to indulge in self-development at their work place? Why do workers submit themselves to boring and “tortuous” work if they are not able to improve themselves in their work place?
Singapore, like all other capitalistic countries, is rationalistic in nature. What do I mean by rationalistic in nature? They are rationalistic in nature by means of following certain set of rules and regulations. This applies to organisations set up in Singapore and other parts of the world. These rules and regulations make companies bureaucratic. These rules and regulations are important because they help the Singapore government to govern Singapore properly and orderly. It also helps in the proper running of businesses. Singaporeans have to follow these sets of rules and regulations. If not, they would be breaking the law and have to face the consequences. The same goes to those that are working in the various and bureaucratic organisations set up in Singapore. What’s the big deal of having rules and organisation? Isn’t that something that is given when you run a company or country? How do these rules and regulations affect people’s behaviour and the way they work? The following paragraphs will elaborate on these issues.
Rules and regulations are usually formulated by the “professional people” who are running their respective countries or organisations. They create the “attractive procedures” that govern our behaviour and the way we carry out our work. Most Singaporeans are groomed to be obedient at a very young age and do not question whether these rules and regulations are detrimental to their well-being. In every social environment, there is always the good and the bad. Therefore there will be rules and regulations that will be beneficial to some and to others not.
The “Professional people” or specialist, who set up the work procedures in how certain work should be done, actually adopted these work procedures when they were studying. Universities usually teach students how certain work, for example, accounting, should be done. They are taught to apply the same work procedures when they go out in the world and work. Therefore, the standardization of work actually starts when we are in school. Even the government set the standardization of work in order for government bodies to carry out work uniformly. These can be seen in uniform organisations, statutory boards and civil – service organisations.
Workers are surrounded by rules and regulations. They follow proper work procedures to do our work. Day in day out, nine to five, they follow the same work procedures. As mention before, some of them endure their “boring & torturous” job because what they earn may be barely enough for them to survive. The work that they do will become repetitious. They may perform their job just like a robot. Eventually they will become bored and alienated from their work. For example, a cashier cashing in the goods that customers purchase at a supermarket. The process of cashing in the goods never change. The cashier internalizes the process. The tools that she uses to cash in the goods and herself become one. She becomes alienated from her work. Companies may form unions to persuade their workers that their work life is normal when it is actually detrimental to their well-being and there is no need for self development. A false consciousness is formed among the workers.
On the bright side, more companies nowadays recognise the need of self – development and encourage it. However, even when self-development programs are being developed, some workers especially clerical staff (non-graduates) will still be stuck in their repetitious work, due to the fact that their education level is low and are earning a small salary. They would not have much chance to change to a better job. The only option is to further their studies. However, they also may not have enough money to upgrade themselves unless their companies are willing to sponsor them or they themselves find other means to pay for their education.
In some companies, eventhough one may have the means to further their studies, their company rules may make it difficult for them to do so. This is especially so when the subject that they are learning is not relevant to their work. Some workers lose their moral in studying because studying and working is not easy and if they fail because they were not able to obtain leave in order to study for their exams, their moral will further slide down south. They may all together give up studying thus thrashing the hope of ever getting a better job or promotion. This also puts a halt on their self-development. Therefore, companies should encourage and support those that want to study eventhough what they are studying may not be relevant to their job.
Their companies should grant them study leave for them eventhough what they are studying is not relevant to their jobs.Supervisors must have a change of mindset if these were to happen. They must realise that we are now in a ever changing world where the power of knowledge helps one to develop their self-development and help them to work better. They must not have the notion that if their workers upgrade themselves, they will take over their jobs. The rules and regulations that govern the way employees work also make them feel like they are in an iron cage. Some employees may feel this constrictive effect. They may not be able to find ways to make their work more interesting and effective. If they do, their supervisors may not like it. This is especially so for employees whose supervisors go by the book. Those in the accountancy department are mostly to portray this kind of behaviour. However, I am not saying that all organisations do not have avenues for their employees to make suggestions about ways to improve their work and how they can upgrade themselves. Even if companies have avenues for suggestion making, supervisors must also have an open mindset to implement the suggestions that are valid and feasible to implement.
Therefore rules and regulations are a must for the smooth running of a company or country. These rules and regulations may make employees feel alienated from their work or make them feel like they are in an iron cage. In order to counter these negative effects that will affect workers performances, employees must have a say in the work processors. They must be able to suggest changes that can be made to their work processors so that they will be able to perform effectively. There must also be flexibility in a company. For example, employees should be granted study leave for the subjects that they are studying eventhough it may not be relevant to their jobs. Supervisors must adopt an open mindset and encourage their workers to study and upgrade themselves. Employees must be given a chance for job rotation because some employees may become bored of doing the same kind of job for many years or it may be due to the fact that the job that some employees indulge do not match in what they specialise in. For example, an employee specialising in mass communication but is doing finance work. He or she may feel better off doing work regarding about mass communication. Therefore he or she should be allowed to job rotate.
For all these changes to take place, companies must adopt the correct working culture for their employees so that they would work effectively and not suffer from alienation from their work or even feel like they are in an iron cage. If workers feel alienated from their work or feel that they are in an iron cage, their self-esteem may dive south. The situation worsens if these employees are not given a chance to engage in self- development. Their thinking processors may fade and their brains may die a natural death. Ever wondered why at times you can see people doing things automatically without thinking. Most likely they are working in a government body or a company where it’s rules and regulations are rigid and non-flexible. They may not be able to improve themselves. I hope in the future all companies will become more flexible and allow their employees to indulge in self-development and upgrade themselves for better work opportunities and to earn higher salaries.
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