INDIVIDUAL RESPONSE PAPER 1 SC 3101

RHAMADINNA FATIMAH NT081527R

Hire on merit
EMPLOYERS are urged to make fair employment an integral part of the corporate culture, in good times or bad. 'The principles of fair employment remain relevant to employers, whether in an upturn or now in a downturn,' said Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong at a conference on fair employment practices on Tuesday morning. He feared that in the current economic climate, many firms will be preoccupied with cash flow and other business issues and some might put the fair employment agenda on the backburner. 'But I urge employers not to lose sight of our long-term goal of making fair employment an integral part of our corporate culture,' he said. 'Even in the downturn we need to press ahead with efforts to shape the behaviour and mindsets of employers to hire on merit. Those who put in place enlightened hiring practices now will be more attractive to talent and job-seekers when the economy recovers and the job market tightens.' Mr Gan said fair employment is not limited to the hiring practices. There are other in-employment practices that businesses should internalise, including the need to properly handle grievances, administer performance appraisals, and manage dismissals and terminations. Singling out McDonald's for fair practices, Mr Gan said firms can learn from the fast-food chain which believes that every member of its crew has the potential to be a manager. 'Many of McDonald's management staff had started out in junior positions, and had risen through the ranks based on their ability and job performance,' he noted, citing one employee, Mr Jeffrey Tan, who joined McDonald's in 1979 at 20 as a part-time crew, and rose to become Director of Operations in March 2007. Mr Tan now heads McDonald's operations in Malaysia. Urging employers to act fairly and responsibly towards their workers as they cut costs to get through the recession, Mr Gan said: 'When human resources are poorly managed, there could be negative spillovers that may lower staff morale, tarnish the firm's reputation, and ultimately impact the firm's bottom-line in the long term,' he said. 'It is therefore in the interest of businesses to ensure that their employees' concerns and needs are properly and sensitively addressed.' A key part of the strategy in tackling manpower management challenges is for companies to closely involve and consult their workers when making decisions, he added. The Straits Times, February 10, 2009

Based on the article, I want to criticize Karl Marx within the local scene, particularly from the Singapore government point of view as the speaker on the article is representative of Singapore government. Briefly, in my opinion, Singapore gives effort not to alienate between the worker class, which Marx says as Proletarian, and the upper class that hold the capital. Thus my stand on this case, Marx theory about class oppression is not applicable here. Firstly, I want to emphasize that Marx theory about class oppression by the capitalist came up during the time after revolution industry. In my opinion, the capitalism nowadays grows into the complicated one which employee is not always being the one who is exploited. In some cases, it could be a country exploits another country where not only the worker class in the country being exploited but also the upper class, though the upper class living in the wealth but they actually fall in the wrong consciousness as they also being exploited. Singapore urges employers to put employee as an equal human being. Even though employee exactly get different wage, facilities, and so on but it doesnt mean that they are threaten as a machine. They still get them but surely in different quality. And the level of the quality is considered on a continuously basis as the life is continuously changing as well. For example is the changing of economic today, downturn. The article mentioned that even in downturn employers have to keep fair employment an integral part of the corporate culture. And the reason is that, When human resources are poorly managed, there could be negative spillovers that may lower staff morale, tarnish the firm's reputation, and ultimately impact the firm's bottom-line in the long term. Marx theory says, that capitalism grows based on the level of its exploitation on their worker which the higher capitalist exploit worker the higher the interest they can be made. Indeed managing human resources from many classes well is the only Singapore must do to survive their life as Singapore has no resources that can be sold but human resources. They need employee as equal as they need the upper class that holds the capital. In addition put the employee in a position which receive less then they supposed to receive will put Singapore in risk as it can be the root of employee strike. Thankfully Singapore, so far, doesnt do this. If it does, what Marx says could be come true someday.