The Concept of Work

Meaning of Work

In any community, people engage in various activities to earn money and meet their basic needs. These activities, which can be mental or physical, help sustain their lives. Some individuals make bricks for building houses, others stock their harvests, while some cultivate land communally for crop production. People might also dance in jazz bands or fish. All these activities are collectively referred to as work.

Definition of Work

Work can be defined as the use of physical strength and mental skills to make things or provide services. Examples of work include:

• Farming
• Brick-making
• Livestock-keeping
• Fishing
• Carpentry
• Trading
• Teaching
• Nursing patients

Exercise 1: Mention other types of work that you know.

Different Work-Related Activities Done in the Community

Doing Work

It is an obligation for all adults and able-bodied people to perform different tasks (work). People work to earn a living in various activities, depending on their skills and abilities. Some types of work are greatly influenced by the environment. For example, those living beside rivers, lakes, or oceans tend to engage in fishing, like the people around Lake Victoria (e.g., Kerewe, Sukuma, Haya, and Jita). In areas with reliable rainfall and fertile soil, free from pests and diseases, people engage in agricultural activities (e.g., Nyakyusa, Haya, Bena, and Fipa).

Work-Related Activities

There are two main types of work-related activities: physical work and mental work.

Physical Work-Related Activities

These involve the use of physical strength and include:

• Farming
• Lumbering
• Plumbing
• Carpentry
• Quarrying
• Mining
• Building
• Road construction

Work and Development

People strive in their work to improve their living standards and contribute to national development.

Question Time 1: What is development?

Development is the process of changing the socio-economic situation from one stage to another, usually from lower to higher. It involves improving living standards, such as advancing from primary to secondary education or building more houses.

Types of Development

There are two types of development: individual and national development.

Individual Development

Indicators of individual development include:

• Having a good house, clothes, sufficient food, clean water, education, and medical care
• Being able to solve problems and maintain good relationships with others
• Having work and sufficient income
• Accumulating capital

National Development

Indicators of national development include:

• Availability of employment
• Adequate sources of labor
• Building sufficient infrastructure, such as tarmac roads
• Providing quality education and social services
• Creating and implementing effective internal and external policies
• Developing internal and external markets
• Conducting research on natural resources and exploiting them properly

Question Time 2: What is underdevelopment?

Underdevelopment is the condition of either remaining stationary or regressing from an advanced stage to a lower standard of living. For example, selling all properties without developing them or keeping a plot of land unused.

Individual Underdevelopment

Indicators include:

• Inability to provide essentials like shelter, food, and clothes
• Lack of access to education, health care, water, and furniture
• Remaining idle without earning an income

National Underdevelopment

Indicators include:

• Limited number of skilled laborers
• Internal and external debts
• Low level of education
• Poor policies for running the country
• Insufficient infrastructure
• Inability to safeguard national sovereignty
• Relying on external conditions to run the country

Exercise 2: Answer the following questions:

1. What is development?
2. Name two types of development.
3. How can you know that in a certain place there is a low standard of life?
4. What are the indicators of underdevelopment?

Importance of Work

The importance of work is directed to an individual when involving oneself at work for own benefit.

The Importance of Work for Self-Development

Explain the importance of work for self-development

Therefore, work is very important for self-development because it provides human beings with their basic needs, including food, clothing, and shelter, and the source of income for an individual. For example, peasants earn money after selling part of their harvest, with which they are able to buy clothes, food, and iron sheets for roofing their houses, as well as paying school fees for their children.

Work is also a means of social identity. For example, society identifies an individual as a teacher, a lawyer, a nurse, a driver, a trader, or a peasant. Work also helps to promote the cultural aspects of some communities such as the Makonde carvings.

Work can be a source of foreign exchange. For example, mining produces a lot of minerals for export like gold, diamond, and Tanzanite, which bring a lot of foreign currency to Tanzania, which are used to import other commodities from foreign countries. It can also be obtained from exporting cash crops, such as cotton, coffee, and tea.

Work helps to maintain the physical and mental health of individuals and is a standard of moral belonging and God’s justice on earth. Work solves the problem of poverty. It also improves life standards of the individuals. Work helps to check crime or wrongdoings, like killing, drug abuse, or robbery. So with work, people are unlikely to engage in crime.

Through work, the production of goods and services at the individual level will greatly be increased, hence, boosts the economic and social status of an individual.

Work gives people a sense of dignity, self-worth, and respect to a person. A person who works diligently is greatly respected in society. Laziness brings disrespect and loss of dignity. Therefore, work stops people from being poor and improves their standard of living.

Work and the Development of the Nation

Relate work to the development of the nation

Importance of work to the development of the nation

The importance of work is directed to improvement of the life of the people in the country. Therefore, work is very important for the development of the nation because it helps to reduce the number of people who are unemployed and facilitates the utilization of material and human resources in the country. If all able-bodied people in a country are working, it is easy to bring rapid national development and maintain peace, security, and stability.

Additionally, it is a source of national income and foreign currency. It helps the nation to provide public services such as water, education, electricity, and medical care. Lastly, work helps in promoting proper moral behavior in the society or the nation at large.

Activity 1: Observe one work-related activity around your school and explain how important it is for individual and nation development.

Exercise 3

A. Write “True or False” against the statements below:

1. Fishing is mental work – False
2. Teaching is not physical work – True
3. Work gives a person respect – True
4. No food without work – True
5. Stealing is legal work – False

Exercise 4

B: Match the work-related activities with the correct type of services or goods produced