Manufacturing and Service Technologies Essay Example for Free

Manufacturing and Service Technologies Essay Manufacturing and Service Technologies technology refers to the work processes, techniques, machines, and actions used to transform organizational inputs into outputs. One important theme in this chapter is how core technology influences organization structure. Understanding core technology provides insight into how an organization can be structured for efficient performance. Core technology is the work process that is directly related to the organization’s mission. A non-core technology is a department work process that is important to the organization but is not directly related to its primary mission. Woodward developed a scale and organized the firms according to technical complexity of the manufacturing process. Technical complexity represents the extent of mechanization of the manufacturing process. High technical complexity means most of the work is performed by machines. Woodward’s scale consists of ten categories and these categories were further consolidated into three basic technology groups: The groups are consisted of small-batch and unit production, large-batch and mass production, and continuous-process production. Small-batch production relies heavily on the human operator; it is thus not highly mechanized. The large-batch is manufacturing process characterized by long production runs of standardized parts. In continuous-process production, the entire process is mechanized. Overall, the management systems in both unit-production and continuous -process technology are characterized as organic, as defined in Chapter 4. Mass production, however, is mechanistic, with standardized jobs and formalized procedures. When adopting a new technology, realign strategy, structure, and management process to achieve top performance. Lean manufacturing uses highly trained employees at every stage of the production process, who take a painstaking approach to details and problem solving to cut waste and improve quality. Lean manufacturing techniques have been implemented in hundreds of organizations all over the world and have led to dramatic improvements in quality, productivity, and efficiency. Service technologies are different from manufacturing technologies and, in turn, require a different organization design. The most obvious difference is that service technology produces an intangible output, rather than a tangible product. Hence, service organizations may have an organization structure with fewer boundary roles, greater geo-graphical dispersion, decentralization, highly skilled employees in the technical core, and generally less control than in manufacturing organizations. The feature of service technologies with a distinct influence on organizational structure and control systems is the need for technical core employees to be close to the customer. The impact of customer contact on organization structure is reflected in the use of boundary roles and structural disaggregation. The text also introduces Non-Core Departmental technology, as the section that shifts to the department level of analysis for departments not necessarily within the technical core. The framework that has had the greatest impact on the understanding of departmental technologies was developed by Charles Perrow. Perrow specified two dimensions of departmental activities: Variety and Analyzability. Variety is the frequency of unexpected and novel events that occur in the conversion process. Analyzability is when the work can be reduced to the mechanical steps and participants can follow an objective, computational procedure to solve problems. The dimensions of variety and analyzability form the basis for four major categories of technology: routine, craft, engineering, and nonroutine. (Daft) The text discusses both core and non-core work processes and their relationship to designing organization structure. The nature of the organization’s work processes must be considered in designing the organization for maximum efficiency and effectiveness. The text illustrates that forces affecting organization design come from both outside and inside the organization. External strategic needs create top-down pressure for designing the organization in such a way as to fit the environment and accomplish goals. This illustrates that today’s companies is that strategy, structure, and technology need to be aligned, especially when competitive conditions change. For example, several years ago, Dell created a business model to uild personal computers faster and cheaper, other computer manufacturers had to realign strategy, structure, and technology to stay competitive. Dell made PCs to order for each customer and sold most of them directly to consumers without expense of distributers or retailers. IBM for example, tried to differentiate their products and charge a premium price switched to a low-cost strategy, adopted new technology to enable them to customize PCs, revamped supply chains, and began outsourcing manufacturing to other companies that could do the job more efficiently.

Going the Speedlimit Essay -- Speeding Driving Tickets Essays

Going the Speedlimit   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many approaches that we humans use to weasel out of a speeding ticket. This is not an easy task, but it has been mastered by a select few. The very reasonable way of just not speeding is used quite often. The method of lying is frequently used. This is sometimes effective and usually safe. The flirtatious approach (which usually is used only by females) is tried numerous times on male officers. Finally, there is the method of "outrunning the cops". This method quite often ends in arrest.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Not speeding is probably the best bet of not getting a ticket. If you aren't speeding then you have removed yourself from the situation of ever getting a ticket. Although this is the most intelligent and safe way to avoid tickets, it is also the least enjoya...

Analysis Of “In Search Of Horatio Alger”

Philippe Bourgois’ 1989 article â€Å"In Search of Horatio Alger† takes a fairly sympathetic but nonetheless alarming look at the underground crack economy thriving in inner-city America. While he does not approve crack dealing or the violence it encourages, he demonstrates a solid grasp of why urban youth sometimes opt for this illegal trade, and he elaborates credibly on the â€Å"culture of poverty† idea scholars have debated for decades. After using a series of vignettes he gathered while observing the crack trade in New York’s Spanish Harlem, Bourgois segues into his analysis, which treats the crack economy like a business.He presents a context of socioeconomic change, in which well-paying manufacturing work has disappeared and been replaced by low-paying, poorly-regarding service-sector jobs. While many accept these, along with their exploitive conditions and low pay, others seek alternatives that seem less demeaning. Bourgois (1989, p. 626) writes, â€Å"These pariahs of urban industrial society seek their income, and subsequently their identity and the meaning in their life, through what they perceive to be high-powered careers ‘on the street.’† Though the crack trade is illegal and excluded from the mainstream economy, it nonetheless functions very much like a business and is indeed a sort of parallel. Not only does it provide sellers with income, but it also depends on control of designated territories (claimed and enforced through violence), has a clearly-defined hierarchy with bosses who collect receipts from workers on assigned shifts (and maintain discipline), competes for customers (also violently at times), and has an overriding concern for bottom lines.The chief difference, though, is the participants’ ethnicity (often black or Latino), their lack of education, and the heavy use of violence. Bourgois points out (1989, p. 632) that while legitimate businesses consider violence irrational and aberrant, within the crack world it â€Å"can be interpreted, according to the logic of the underground economy, as a judicious case of public relations, advertising, rapport building, and . . . ‘human capital development.’† Legitimate businesses use professional behavior, protocol, and nonviolent means of cultivating personal relations and enforcing their standards because violence deviates from their norms; in impoverished inner-city neighborhoods, though, violence is the norm and is highly effective. For these people, crack dealing represents a legitimate career not only because it is easy to enter, but mainly because it seems a viable alternative to the racial and social subordination inherent to service jobs.Bourgois rejects the notion that the urban poor are simply passive victims of a changing economy; instead, he argues that it is an active, advertent effort by the inner-city poor to create an economy that supports them and, perhaps more importantly, giv es them prestige, albeit on their own terms. They see no dignity in service-sector work and find independence, flexibility, and a respite from racism in this alternative economy. In addition, inner-city youth often encounter negative attitudes and have discouraging experiences in the legal economy, thus making crack dealing seem a viable alternative.Using the Puerto Ricans he met in Spanish Harlem as an example, Bourgois (1989, p. 626) writes that the urban poor are deemed â€Å"unemployable† and trapped in a culture of poverty, the existence of which has not been disproved after decades of scholarly debate. He adds (1989, p. 626) that â€Å"the media and a large portion of the inner-city residents themselves continue to subscribe to [the] culture-of-poverty concept. † Excluded by institutional racism, poor education, and troubled family lives, the urban poor are also beset by a changing economy that allows them to hold only menial, poor-paying jobs that offer little o r no advancement (1989, p.627). In fact, those who favor the crack trade view legitimate jobs with disdain, rejecting the system in ways that they believe it has rejected them. Bourgois (1989, p. 629) claims that because they are trained for subordinate roles by the educational system and offered only low-status jobs, such people sometimes react by developing a kind of â€Å"structurally induced cultural resistance† fed by deep frustration and anger. As he asserts (1989, p. 630), â€Å"The underground economy .. . is the ultimate ‘equal opportunity employer’ for inner-city youth. † Bourgois also implies that such feelings are understandable, especially given the fact that many in the crack economy had negative experiences in legal jobs, though he also concedes that not all of the working poor are automatically driven to illegal livelihoods. To his credit, though, Bourgois does not condemn the poor or claim that the socioeconomic system automatically drives them into lives of crime.Though the crack trade appears to some a viable alternative to jobs that earn little money or respect, Bourgois does not romanticize the crack dealer as a noble figure or excuse the crack economy in general. Instead, he condemns the effects crack has on inner-city neighborhoods; though a lucrative business, it is a destructive force because of the addictions it creates and the violence by which dealers create and maintain reputations. In his field work, Bourgois pays particular attention to the dealers’ machismo and alludes to the especially negative effects crack has on women.Though Bourgois claims (1989, p. 644) that poor women of color are actually more emancipated in recent years, since they work outside the home more than in past decades and are not as homebound as in previous generations. However, the crack economy puts women into an ugly paradox; those who attach themselves to the crack trade are usually hangers-on, attracted by the prospect o f money and drugs, and they often allow themselves to be treated more as objects than as people. Also, addiction forces some to turn to prostitution in order to support their habits, at the expense of their families.Few are allowed to become dealers; though Bourgois (1989, pp. 623-625) mentions one in his field observations, many are barred from street dealing because of their vulnerability to physical violence and, in a parallel with the legitimate economy, are barred from rising very far in this street economy. Women’s involvement is encouraged, but limited by the dynamics of machismo and the reality of physical violence as a means of building and maintaining reputations; they are as subordinate in this economy as they are in the legitimate one, albeit with vastly more damaging consequences in the former. As Bourgois explains (1989, p.645), â€Å"[The] proves of emancipation that has enabled women to demand equal participation in street culture and to carve out an expanded niche for themselves in the underground economy has led to a greater depreciation of women. . . .† Bourgois presents a credible explanation of why some of the urban poor are drawn to the underground crack economy. Their ambitions and energies, frustrated by social, educational, and economic conditions, are sometimes channeled into the violent, risky, but intensely lucrative crack trade because it represents, he claims, a sort of Horatio Alger â€Å"rags to riches† story for the post-industrial age.He does not demonize the poor as a whole, or even those who gravitate toward crack dealing, since he conveys an understanding of why they see few viable alternatives. On the other hand, he does not laud their participation in the underground economy; while he indicates the participants’ sense of rebellion and resistance against discrimination, he depicts the crack economy as a symptom of the much larger social problem of poverty without apparent escape or alternatives. The article also offers proof that a culture of poverty exists – the examples he uses paint a sordid picture in which the poor feel rejected by the establishment and thus create their own system, which is even more disastrous to their communities and lives. Bourgois, P 1989, â€Å"In search of Horatio Alger: culture and ideology in the crack economy,† Contemporary Drug Pr

Biography of Aristotle, Influential Greek Philosopher

Aristotle (384–322 BCE) was one of the most important western philosophers in history. A student of Plato, Aristotle tutored Alexander the Great. He later went on to form his own Lyceum (school) in Athens, where he developed important philosophical, scientific, and practical theories, many of which had great significance during the Middle Ages and are still influential today. Aristotle wrote on logic, nature, psychology, ethics, politics, and art, developed one of the first systems for classifying plants and animals, and posited significant theories on topics ranging from the physics of motion to the qualities of the soul. He is credited with developing deductive (top-down) reasoning, a form of logic used in the scientific process and highly valued in business, finance, and other modern settings. Fast Facts: Aristotle Known For: One of the greatest and most influential philosophers of all time, as well as a tremendously important figure in the history of science, mathematics, and theaterBorn: 384 BCE in Stagira, GreeceParents: Nichomachus (mother unknown)Died: 322 BCE in Chalcis, on the island of EuboeaEducation: Academy of PlatoPublished Works: Over 200 works, including Nichomachean Ethics, Politics, Metaphysics, Poetics, and Prior AnalyticsSpouse(s): Pythias,  Herpyllis of Stagira (mistress with whom he had a son)Children: NicomachusNotable Quote: Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives – choice, not chance, determines your destiny. Early Life Aristotle was born in 384 BCE in the city of Stagira in Macedonia, a seaport on the Thracian coast. His father Nichomacus was the personal physician to King Amyntas of Macedonia. Nichomacus died while Aristotle was still young, so he came under the guardianship of Proxenus. It was Proxenus who sent Aristotle, at age 17, to complete his education in Athens. Upon arriving in Athens, Aristotle attended the institution of philosophical learning known as the Academy, which was founded by Socrates pupil Plato, where he stayed until Platos death in 347. Aristotle was an outstanding pupil and soon began giving his own lectures on rhetoric. Despite his impressive reputation, however, Aristotle often disagreed with Platos ideas; the result was that, when a successor to Plato was selected, Aristotle was passed over in favor of Platos nephew Speusippus. With no future at the Academy, Aristotle was not at loose ends for long. Hermeas, ruler of Atarneus and Assos in Mysia, issued an invitation for Aristotle to join his court. Aristotle remained in Mysia for three years, during which he married the kings niece Pythias. At the end of the three years, Hermeas was attacked by the Persians, leading Aristotle to leave the country and head to the island of Lesbos. Aristotle and Alexander the Great In 343 BCE, Aristotle received a request from King Phillip II of Macedonia to tutor his son Alexander. Aristotle agreed to the request, spending seven years working closely with the young man who would later become the famous Alexander the Great. At the end of seven years, Alexander was crowned king and Aristotles work was complete. Though he left Macedonia, however, Aristotle stayed in close touch with the young king, corresponding regularly; it is likely that Aristotles counsel had a significant impact on Alexander for many years, inspiring his love of literature and the arts. The Lyceum and Peripatetic Philosophy Leaving Macedonia, Aristotle returned to Athens where he set up The Lyceum, a school that became a rival to Platos Academy. Unlike Plato, Aristotle taught that it is possible to determine the end causes and purposes of existence and that it is possible to figure out these causes and purposes through observation. This philosophical approach, called teleology, became one of the major philosophical concepts of the western world. Aristotle divided his study of philosophy into three groups: practical, theoretical, and productive sciences. Practical philosophy included the study of fields such as biology, mathematics, and physics. Theoretical philosophy included metaphysics and the study of the soul. Productive philosophy focused on crafts, agriculture, and the arts. During his lectures, Aristotle would constantly walk back and forth around the Lyceums exercise grounds. This habit became the inspiration for the term peripatetic philosophy, meaning walking around philosophy. It was during this period that Aristotle wrote many of his most important works, which had profound impacts on later philosophical thinking. At the same time, he and his students conducted scientific and philosophical research and amassed a significant library. Aristotle continued to lecture at the Lyceum for 12 years, finally selecting a favorite student, Theophrastus, to succeed him. Death In 323 BCE when Alexander the Great died, the Assembly in Athens declared war against Alexanders successor, Antiphon. Aristotle was considered an anti-Athenian, pro-Macedonian, and so he was charged with impiety. Bearing in mind the fate of Socrates, who was unjustly put to death, Aristotle went into voluntary exile to Chalcis, where he died one year later of a digestive ailment in 322 BCE at the age of 63. Legacy Aristotles philosophy, logic, science, metaphysics, ethics, politics, and system of deductive reasoning have been of inestimable importance to philosophy, science, and even business. His theories impacted the medieval church and continue to have significance today. Among his vast discoveries and creations are included: The disciplines of natural philosophy (natural history) and metaphysicsSome of the concepts that underlie Newtonian laws of motionSome of the first classifications of living things based on logical categories (the Scala Naturae)Influential theories about ethics, war, and economicsSignificant and influential theories and ideas about rhetoric, poetry, and theater Aristotles syllogism is at the basis of deductive (top-down) reasoning, arguably the most common form of reasoning used today. A textbook example of a syllogism is: Major premise: All humans are mortal.Minor premise: Socrates is a human.Conclusion: Socrates is mortal. Sources Mark, Joshua J. Aristotle. Ancient History Encyclopedia, 02 Sep 2009.Shields, Christopher. â€Å"Aristotle.†Ã‚  Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 09 July 2015.