Critical Perspectives on thechnology and organisation Essay - 1

Critical Perspectives on thechnology and organisation - Essay Example The case study by Scarbrough & Lannon (1989) describes the impact of innovations and technology on the UK banking sector and discusses possible problems and advantages of technology implementation. The authors suggest that innovations and technological change can help to improve knowledge and learning in different service sectors. One reason for this is that once new technical knowledge is acquired, it can usually be embodied in a readily transferable form. The smoothness and slope of the corporate technical learning curve depend on two factors: (1) how well learning about the particular technology is transmitted from site to site and (2) how representative of later sites the first ones that influence developers design decisions are. Scarbrough & Lannon (1989) underline that technology has a great impact on learning and service improvements. It is possible to apply ‘double loop learning’ to the case of the Bank of Scotland to describe learning and knowledge creation infl uenced by technology. â€Å"Double loop learning’ was first developed by Argyris & Schon in their work Theory in Practice: Increasing Professional Effectiveness published in 1974. â€Å"Double loop learning’ can be defined as â€Å"is learning where assumptions about ways of seeing things are challenged and underlying values are changed. Double loop learning, in questioning givens or taken-for-granteds, has the potential to bring about a profound shift in underlying values by cracking their paradigms or ways of seeing the world† (Argyris & Schon 1992, p. 18). Also, ‘Double loop learning’ can be characterized through reflection, particularly with others in dialogue. Applied to the case by Scarbrough & Lannon, it is possible to say that â€Å"double loop learning’ is achieved by means of technology and innovations. Scarbrough & Lannon (1989) state that learning and

Orthomyxovirus (influenza) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Orthomyxovirus (influenza) - Research Paper Example Severe, hospitalizations as well as death normally occur when such pandemic occurs. Though, the pandemic is less serious, it causes extensive morbidity when it occurs. Wilson and von Itzstein points out that two attributes of the virus occurring during replication and its evolution are the ones that makes this virus to be successful in its epidemiological (165). These attributes are its ability to circulate freely in the avian water reservoirs, and emerge without being predicted and spread easily in people. The second attribute is its comparatively quick and unpredictable antigenic transformation that is associated with its evolution the moment they infect the human population. This short paper details some aspects of the influenza virus. Discuss the virus morphology Influence virus is highly pleomorphic; this implies that the envelope of the virus can appear in spherical or filamentous shapes. However, as Jin and Leser (98) explain, the virus’s has a spherical morphology with 50 to 120 nm particles in diameter. The virus also has a filamentous virions measuring 20 nm in diameter, while the measure 200 to 300 nm long. At the same time, the virus has some 500 distinctive spear-like surface protrusions that emerge on the envelope each protruding about 10 nm. Other types of the virus fro example hemagglutinin esterase (HEP) are thickly dispersed on surface, while others like hemagglutinin (HA) spaced sparsely apart. Various strains of this virus differ in the way they form their filaments. Genome: Ito and Gorman (66) explains that influenza A and B viruses have six to eight fragments of linear single stranded RNA, each of this RNA has one or more protein, but type C has got seven fragments. Accordingly, the whole length of genome measures abo ut 10000 nucleotides long. However, the length of genome varies extensively among these three groups of viruses, the difference sometimes occurs even in the same type among the various strains (Jin, and Leser, 99). Structure: the influence has an orthomyxovirus comprising of an envelope, layer of protein, polymerase complex and a nucleocapsid, and has a capsid envelop. Replication There have been extensive studies done on replication of influenza viruses mainly on type A strains, thus replication discussed in this section will mainly be linked to this strain. Ito and Gorman points out that the influenza virus is able to infect a cell by binding it’s HA or HEF protein a cell’s protein receptor (67). The virus then goes through the process of endocytosis, during this process the low PH observed in the late phase of endocytosis results in conformational transformation in the cleavage –activated HA. This leads to a joining (fusion) of the viral and vesicular film. T he fusion of the viral and vesicular discharges its contents of the viruses into the cell’s cytoplasm. Before the fusion takes place, M2 protein from type B viruses produces protons in the within of virion. Transmission The influenza viruses spread its disease via airborne. Accordingly, Hilleman (144) explains that the viruses are deposited in the lower part of the respiratory tract, however, they main part that they infect is the tracheobronchial mucosa. According to Hilleman the virus takes about six hours to replicate and the end of the process it kills the cell (145). The virus then attaches itself to the permissive cell through the hemaggulitinin; this is attached to the cell membrane that has glycolipids that have N-acetylneuraminic acid that has a receptor, where the virus is attached. After this the virus is then surrounded by the pinocytosis and moves to the endosomes. The endosomes have acid and this makes the virus envelope to merge with the plasma layer of the end osome, the virus then

General Motors Essay Example for Free

General Motors Essay 1. The history, development, and growth of the company over time (e. g. , critical incidents) General Motors (GM) was founded in 1908. William C. Durant brought together 25 independent car companies to form one large corporation. Each company held its own identity as GM operated as central administration office for the 25 divisions. Due to high cost in manufacturing of automobiles, GM was only able to target wealthy customers who could afford cars. Then Henry Ford, owner and founder of Ford Motor Company, revolutionizes the production process of manufacturing cars and takes the lead in the industry. With this new process, Ford becomes GM’s largest competitor, rapidly growing their market share by mass produce affordable cars, the Model T. GM did not have the same competency to mass produce affordable as efficiently as Ford and their sales plummeted. GM was in a bad situation, producing a wide range of expensive cars for a small target market of middle class customers. From 1910- 1920 Ford grew stronger and wealthier while GM struggled to stay afloat. In 1920, Alfred P. Sloan became the CEO for GM and made major changes to GM’s strategy to more effectively compete with Ford. Sloan restructured GM to regain its competitive advantage, targeting a different segment in the market. His consolidation of the 25 companies into 5 major self-contained and operated divisions: Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac, and Oldsmobile proved to be successful. In 1925 GM took the lead in the industry, hurting Ford’s sales of the Model T so bad that Ford had to shut down his factories for several months to redesign his production line and produce new models. GM became the United States car market leader with the largest market share, 70% at its highest. 925 to 1975, GM expanded its product line to all kinds of vehicles to full-size trucks, light weight trucks, and various specialized vehicles such as vans and ambulances. GM also started to vertically integrate and at one point, made more than 65% of its cars components. From 1925 to 1975, GM dominated the United States market holding approximately 65% of domestic sales. Together, GM, Chrysler, and Ford, held more than 90% of the United States market. Due to the global oil crisis and low cost/high quality Japanese cars in 1970’s, GM lost its lead in the industry. The oil embargo of 1973 revealed the inefficiency of the American â€Å"gas guzzlers†. Neither GM nor its American competitors at this that time had the competence to build fuel efficient cars. Japanese cars now entered the American market and not only were they fuel efficient, there were reliable and affordable. In the 1970s and 1980s, demand for large sedans fell and thousands of GM workers got laid off. By the end of 1970s Americans flocked to Japanese economy cars or sleek European luxury cars and ignored high cost and low quality American cars. In 1980, GM still earned 3. 3 billion on more than 60 billion in sales. With its large cash flows, GM was still able to act as a dominant competitor. Roger Smith, GM’s new CEO aimed to regain GM’s competitive advantage and launched several major programs to reduce cost and improve quality. By 1990, these programs had cost the company over 100 billion dollars, which at the time, was enough to buy out Toyota and Honda. Smith had the most the difficulty lowering cost due to the high cost labor agreements with the UAW (United Auto Workers). GM invested more than 50 billion to improve and update technology and in 1980 started to develop automated factories using robotics to increase quality and efficiency. GM lacked the competency to effectively operate automated factories and was costing them twice as much in producing parts the traditional way. In 1982, GM created a new division called Saturn to develop low-cost manufacturing skills and produce quality cars by imitating Japanese manufacturing companies. It cost GM 2 billion to build Saturn’s plant, GM largest construction project in history. Saturns were priced to compete with Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. Saturn did not meet its quotas and 1991 and lost $800 million dollars. The next year, Saturn sales picked up and were ranked top 10 in customer satisfaction but still had a loss of $700 million. Saturn could not replicate Toyota and Honda efficiency, especially its low cost supply chain. Same as other divisions, Saturn had difficulties reducing costs because high labor cost due to previous agreements with UAW. To learn Japanese manufacturing techniques GM had a joint venture with Toyota in 1983 called new United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. NUMMI). NUMMI reopened a failed plant in California under Japanese management in 1984. By 1986, with the use of flexible work teams, plant productivity was higher than any GM factory and twice as much as with the old GM management. The flexible teams were regularly rotated, trained to perform the jobs of other works in the team, taught the procedures to analyze jobs to improve work procedures, designed all the teams’ jobs. This freed managers to focus other tasks. GM quickly implemented this system to all its plants and by 2005; GM was laiming to be the most efficient United States carmaker. However, due to tariffs and high costs involved to bring foreign car to the United States, foreign car makers were eager to open their own car plants in the United States. By 1995, foreign controlled plants were making more than 1. 5 million cars a year in the United States. Although GM’s market share declined from 50% in 1978 to 35% 1992, it had not reduced it number of plants or downsized its work force significantly. In 1990 Robert Stempel became the new CEO and like Smith, Stempel did not want to down size the company at all. However, an activist GM director, John Smale, set out to stop GM’s losses and convinced the board to appoint Jack Smith as the new CEO. Smith made drastic changes and down sized the company dramatically. His new strategy for GM was to once again become profitable by aggressively focus on cutting cost, aggressive use of marketing of new designed vehicles that better satisfy customer’s needs, and create a new more-flexible decentralized organizational structure. He also reduced number of models and platforms in which they were built. In 2000, GM built a $1 billion state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Michigan to raise quality to Japanese levels. In 2005, GM did receive higher quality level similar to Japanese competitor but could not preform to be profitable due to high labor costs. In another attempt to lower value chain cost, GM closed down it Oldsmobile division in 2004. GM then focused on improving efficiency with its parts, components and suppliers, making various changes there. In 2000, GM, Ford, and Chrysler formed an organization called Covisint to gain power over global suppliers. Toyota launches program that reduces the number of steps needed to make components and car parts reducing its costs by 2. 6 billion. In 1992, it consolidated its nine groups into five and combined all its car divisions’ engineering and manufacturing units to eliminate redundancy. Also the five design and technical departments were combined into three to speed product development. To promote and improve coordination between departments, GM changed its organizational structure to a global matrix structure and invested heavily in IT to support this new global matrix structure. With the help of IBM, GM was now able to speed information transfer between its divisions all around the world. In attempts to quickly lower its cost, GM spun off several of its component parts divisions and vertically disintegrated. In 1996, form joint ventures with Isuzu Motors and Suzuki to establish facilities and make specialized engines and transmissions for GM. In 2000, GM acquired a 20% equity stake in Fuji, the manufacturer of Subaru cars and received a new CEO, Rick Waggoner. GM also establishes a strategic alliance with Honda. In 2001, GM’s new assembly plant in China begins production. In 2002, GM formed an alliance with Russian company. During this time, GM attempts to rapidly grow globally and competes with Ford to acquire premium European carmakers. GM bought many other European carmakers but did not find any to be profitable, only costing them more money and more failures. GM also acquired Daewoo and Hummer brand in hopes to strengthen product line and market share. All failed. In 2008, GM fell with the recession and spun off, sold, or digested many of its global assets. GM asked the government for bailouts and in the end filed for bankruptcy.

Overview On The Software Crisis Information Technology Essay

Overview On The Software Crisis Information Technology Essay The term software crisis has been used since the late 1960s to describe those recurring system development problems in which software development problems cause the entire system to be late, over budget, not responsive to the user and/or customer requirements, and difficult to use, maintain, and enhance. The software development level is lower than the hardware manufacturing level because the hardware are manufactured fast and the software development takes more time. The construction of new software that is both pleasing to the user/buyer and without latent errors is an unexpectedly hard problem. It is perhaps the most difficult problem in engineering today, and has been recognized as such for more than 15 years. It is often referred to as the software crisis. It has become the longest continuing crisis in the engineering world, and it continues unabated. Software is the set of instructions that govern the actions of a programmable machine. Software includes application programs, sy stem software, utility software, and firmware. Software does not include data, procedures, people, and documentation. In this tutorial, software is synonymous with computer programs. Because software is invisible, it is difficult to be certain of development progress or of product completeness and quality. Index terms software crisis, Reasons, impact. 1. INTRODUCTION:- Poorly functioning computer software is nowadays probably the largest source of annoyance after traffic jams and bad weather. The most often heard complaints about software are that it is buggy, that it does not function adequately, that it is too expensive, and that it is delivered late. Of course, one can wonder whether these grievances are really very consequential; judging from the large amount of money spent on software, apparently it is worth it. However, it is clear that the public expects better achievement from the software industry. Many software engineering experts believe the development of software is a hard to control process for which there are no methods and techniques available .This state of affairs is often referred to as the software crisis. Software crisis is a term used in the early days of software engineering. The term was used to describe the impact of rapid increases in computer power and the complexity of the problems which could be tackled. This was with regards to the difficulty in writing correct, understandable and verifiable computer programs.   software is not manufactured like hardware; it does not have a production phase nor manufactured spare parts like hardware; it is typically custom-built, not assembled from existing components like hardware. Even in todays society, software is viewed with suspicion by many individuals, such as senior managers and customers, as somewhat akin to black magic. The result is that software is one of the most difficult artifacts of the modern world to develop and build. Software is often too complex to be entirely understood by a single individual. We can try to manage complexity by dividing the system into subsystems, but, as systems grow, the interaction between subsystems increases non-linearly. It is notoriously difficult to establish an adequate and stable set of requirements for a software system. Often there are hidden assumptions, there is no analytic procedure for determining when the users have told the developers everything they need to know, and developers and users do not have a common understanding of terms used. Perhaps the first mention of the software crisis in the secondary literature on the history of computing came in Michael S. Mahoneys landmark 1988 paper The History of Computing in the History of Technology. This was Mahoneys first published paper on computing, though by this point his interest in the topic had been growing for some years and he had already educated himself by auditing the core series of undergraduate computer science classes at Princeton. The interaction between the different parts of a system makes change difficult. Software is essentially thought stuff (that is, the result of a thought process) and much of what is important about software is not manifest in the programs themselves (such as the reasons for making design decisions). A requirements specification for a system contains, perhaps implicitly, an application domain model (for example, describing the rules of air traffic). Development of application domain theories is very difficult. Because software development depends on an educated workforce and good communications rather than on a fixed plant of any kind, software is inherently a suitable export product for developing countries. Although the US is still strong in software design and project management, the article notes that third world countries-notably India and Far Eastern countries-are capable of producing many more lines of code per dollar. Today software engineering is fairly popular academic field of study, with conferences, journals, and degree programs. However historians have noted with some frequency that basic debates over its identity were never really resolved and that the rhetoric of a crisis in software development has likewise endured for many decades. Nothing in the broad outline of this established narrative is altogether false. Yet the increasingly entrenched position of the software crisis and the 1968 NATO Conference in the historical literature has gradually led to the distortion of their actual nature, historical significance, and context. At the same time, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the actual background, experiences and intellectual interests of the conference attendees or to the spread of the software crisis concept after the conference itself. I begin with a review of the software crisis concept and 1968 NATO Conference in the secondary historical literature, from their first appearance in 1988 to the present day. Over time the implied scope of the software crisis has grown, as has the implied importance of software engineering as a new identity for programming practice. In the rest of the paper I go back to the original sources to try to reconstruct the actual significance of the meeting and its associated crisis, and to sketch some neglected aspects of the broader history of software and programming in order to better contextualize them. Term software has led to widespread misinterpretation of the scope of the crisis, which was initially understood to afflict only operating systems and programming languages. This leads to an analysis of the backgrounds and affiliations of the participants, from which I conclude that almost all were oriented toward research rather than development, and to systems software rather than applications. Among the groups not represented at the conference were data processing managers (responsible for administrative computing program development within computer using organizations), business school experts on computer use, the managers of large industrial software development projects, specialists in data base management systems, and representatives of software product companies. From the perspectives of these other groups, particularly data processing, neither the NATO Conference nor software engineering nor does the software crisis loom very large. Instead I document a range of computer rel ated crises and chronic complains from the 1950s onward, most of which are constructed as failure to meet the goals of the broader organization rather than being seen narrowly as failures of software. 2. Reasons The reasons for software crisis are as follows: 2.1 Poor/inadequate planning:-It is necessary to plan before what we are going to develop so, if the proper planning is not done then it results in poor software. 2.2 Lose control and review:-Formal and technical reviews ensures the software quality and helps in error finding so, if reviews are not done there will be not proper development. 2.3 Technical incompetence:-Good Technical support is very important because this include the function and the code which results the output. So, technical incompetence results in software crisis. 2.4 Non-engineering approach:-If the development is lacking the engineering approach. 2.5 Projects running over-budget:-Any project requires an amount in developing the project to meet the resources, human resource or machines. So if there will be less budget then the project development will be affected. 2.6 Projects running over-time:-It is very important that the project should be delivered at the right time. So the project running over time will result to software crisis. 2.7 Software was of low quality:-Software should be of good quality means that the output should be proper and the graphics should be user friendly. 2.8 Software often did not meet requirements:-The software should meet the requirements of user. In software validation this is checked that is the software is meeting the requirements of the user or not. 2.9 Projects were unmanageable and code difficult to maintain:-The unmanageable code results in difficulty in maintenance of the project . There are a number of reasons why software construction is an inherently hard process to master. Specification plays a central role here; therefore, better means of specification improve productivity. One way of achieving this may be the use of formal specification languages. 3.IMPACT The following are the impacts of the software crisis. 3.1 The software will be not up to the mark of hardware. The manufacturing speed of the hardware is faster then the development of the software which results the software crisis. so, the impact of this is that the level of the hardware produces is not matched with the software. 3.2 Incompetence between the hardware and the software. 4.REFRENCES: 4.1http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Software_crisis 4.2. Springer An Integrated Approach to Software Engineering, 3rd Edition.[14/571]. 4.3. SE-Pressman-SE-A-PRACTITIONERS-APPROACH [ 39 ].

Earth Spheres :: essays research papers fc

DEFINITIONS: The biosphere is a closed self-regulating system that integrates living organisms with nonliving components of a planet (Lenkeit). The biosphere is part of the outer shell of a planet and includes the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere (answers.com). The hydrosphere is an open system that contains all of a planet's solid, liquid, and gaseous water (Answers.com). As an open system, the hydrosphere interacts with the surrounding systems through inputs and outputs (Lenkeit). The atmosphere is an open system that consists of a gaseous mixture enveloping a planet (Answers.com). These gasses, known as air, include O2, N2 and H2O. The atmosphere is also composed of water, ice and dust particles. Atmosphere functions like a blanket, keeping Earth's heat from escaping into space (Lenkeit). It has also been compared to a greenhouse: like glass it lets short wave insulation inside, but keeps most of long wave ground radiation from going out (Lenkeit). The lithosphere is an open system, which contains all of the cold, hard, solid rock of the planet's crust (surface), the hot semi-solid rock that lies underneath the crust, the hot liquid rock near the center of the planet, and the solid iron core (center) of the planet (Answers.com). On Earth, the lithosphere comprises the crust and the upper part of the mantle. The lithosphere is about sixty miles thick (Lenkeit). INTERACTIONS: The four spheres of the Earth system are highly interdependent causing interactions between the spheres to have many cause and effect relationships. A change in one sphere can cause changes in another sphere, which may cause changes in yet another sphere. The biosphere is sustained through interactions with the gasses from the atmosphere, minerals of the lithosphere, and water of the hydrosphere in the energy cycle (Answers.com). The atmosphere is essential for the biosphere because it supplies oxygen, water, CO2 and some nutrients (N) to living organisms, and protects living organisms from temperature extremes and excessive UV radiation (Answers.com). Outside of the biosphere, the atmospheric interacting with the lithosphere and hydrosphere is when the ocean waves are affected by the wind being slowed by friction from the land (Lenkeit). The lithosphere interacts with the hydrosphere and atmosphere through processes such as erosion where rock and soil become removed through physical and chemical weathering.

Essay --

In both Things Fall Apart and Antigone, Okonkwo and Creon faced many similar difficulties along their paths to their predetermined fate. In white men trying to convert Okonkwo’s village to Christianity, ultimately leading to the suicide of Okonkwo. And in Antigone, Creon faced difficulties as well. King Creon, a dictator, creates his own laws without considering the desires of the people. Creon declares Polyneices not to be buried, punishes and kills Antigone for trying to give her brother a proper burial, lets no one mourn his death (SP4). Although Creon didn’t kill himself he has to live with his knowing that he brought this tragedy on himself. Both characters were challenged together in separate ways with both unfortunate outcomes. In both stories we know that Okonkwo and Creon rule by fear and they both believe that having power is the most important thing; it isn’t (SP1). That trait of fear of weakness may as well of been both Okonkwo and Creon’s trag ic flaw which caused the two their devastating downfall. Likewise, to make decisions, they use their own reasoning rather than consulting or listening to others. This is what compels us to believe why they had their downfall in each of the stories. They are similar, Okonkwo and Creon, in the way that they both are the two tragic heroes. They both are challenged in the way that their lives have been upset by something new. Antigone’s attempt at a heroic action, burying her brother when it was against Theban law to do so. The Theban law prohibited the burial of those that were not loyal to Thebes; however Antigone did so anyways (SP1a). She created chaos for Creon when his whole family died. Creon supposes that all his decisions benefit the whole community, whereas they really on... ...sively never end up in their favor anyways. In both Antigone and Things Fall Apart, they were challenged in ways where at first they believed their verdict of the situation was appropriate and equitable they come to realization at the end that they were very incorrect in thinking so. Okonkwo finds, at the conclusion of the book that everything he ever aimed to become was essentially inevitable. Mirthfully enough, he becomes just like his father, a disgrace to the clan. Creon as well realizes his fault at the end of the book, where he has his anagnorisis. He understands that making this law, and entombing Antigone lead to the death of all his loved ones. The two together rule by fear and don’t like showing weakness. They are oblivious to the desires of those around them, and don’t take into account that the view of the people and their families may be quite different.

Music Is a Form of Media Essay

Thesis sentence: music is a form of media that can influence and define your life. Listening to music can be a good way to feel better about yourself and those around you. Music, as media, has a huge effect on how a person behaves. The type of music a person listen to can either relax them or put them on edge. The difference is how the music is accepted. Music also has a powerful way of bringing back memories and emotions, such as a song played at a wedding that shows love and passion. Sometimes music will remind you of hard times and bad memories of a break up from a spouse or sufficient other or maybe the death of a love one. Most people do not know the impact music has on one’s life. Music can be used to charm humans and animals alike. The studies has shown that humans and animals can be influenced by the sound and pattern found in music. An example is the King cobra being charmed by a snake charmer using music to put him into a trance. Upon hearing the music the cobra goes into a trance tamed as can be. In summary it is not hard to see how much influence music has. As a form of media, music has the ability to influence an individual as well as those around him. We all share a common connection through music both humans and animals alike are bound to the power and influence of music.