Industrial Management articles from May 1993

Industrial Management archives from May 1993

The four "ins" of management - avoid them!
May 1, 1993... In any organization with more than a few managers, typically one or more managers can be found suffering from the four "Ins" of management. The number of "Ins" practiced may vary, as well as the individual intensity, but you can expect to find...

Do employee participation programs violate U.S. labor laws?
May 1, 1993... As America enters the 21st Century, there can be little doubt that the globally competitive environment that U.S. industry finds themselves in will intensify. American companies will have to compete more efficiently for foreign as well as...

Intellectual property rights: who owns the knowledge?
May 1, 1993... With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, many philosophers and sociologists have been concerned with the "deskilling" impact of automation within the workplace. Deskilling implies a reduction in the skill set and level of skills required to...

Learn to use TQM as part of everyday work, not as a buzzword. (total quality management)
May 1, 1993... The commitment to total quality, or continuous process improvement, has emerged after a period of complacence, and perhaps arrogance, by U.S. management. Having been able to sell everything their workers designed and built, there seemed to be...

The future of labor-management relations.
May 1, 1993... Cooperation between management and labor/unions in instituting and/or continuing these programs is a must if the labor force is to be trustful and thus receptive to them. We have all heard how out-dated and inefficient our production system is...

Beliefs for management. (poem)
May 1, 1993... The leading edge doesn't last forever. Always acknowledge the obvious. Beware the chasm between what is said and what is done. For example is neither definition nor proof. If you can't bite don't show your teeth. Make sure to be in with your...

Introducing the newest business liability: workers' compensation.
May 1, 1993... The number of lost work days increased to 60.4 million in 1990, compared to 56.7 million in 1989. Half of the 6.4 million work-related injuries reported in private industry were serious enough to result in lost work time or restricted work...

Lies, damn lies and the selection interview: don't take them lies lying down.
May 1, 1993... When interviewers use generic interview questions, they might have difficulty evaluating candidates on their potential success for a job. The title of this article is a takeoff from the book How to Lie With Statistics. The book illustrated some...

There is nothing wrong with job security - right?
May 1, 1993... If the system of family and schools are not doing the job well, it's up to management to cooperate with these agencies to improve their performance. There is nothing wrong with job security -- except who provides it, who pays for it and how it...

Effective CIM implementation using socio-technical principles. (computer integrated manufacturing)
May 1, 1993... One lesson learned from Japanese operation/production management in the 1990s is to use advanced manufacturing technology such as computer integrated manufacturing (CIM), just-in-time (JIT) systems, concurrent engineering (CE), and flexible...

Discovering methods to help break the fire-fighting cycle.
May 1, 1993... The solution to this time consuming problem should be formalized. That is, the manager should go through a step-by-step formal decision-making process, and develop formal procedures to improve the situation. "That is a good idea, but I haven't...