General Motors Organizational Transition

General Motors Organizational Transition General Motors was founded by William Durant on September 16th, 1908. General Motors (GM) is an American based automobile manufacturing company. From its inception, GM has grown from a small Detroit, Michigan manufacturing plant to one of the top three auto manufacturers in America and the world’s second largest. GM has manufacturing plants in 35 countries and sells in over 200 countries. Throughout the years, recognizable brand names such as Oldsmobile, Opel, Cadillac, Pontiac and Chevrolet have become a part of GM. The company has branched out into the aviation and financial lending fields as well. Recent economic meltdowns have affected GM to point of bankruptcy in 2008. It took an American government bail-out in 2008 to save the company. GM then began an over-haul of its entire organization; including production, manufacturing, management structure and fiscal responsibility practices. The article, GM Organizational Change by Michelle Powers, published March 17, 2009, covers many points of the corporation’s transition from a traditional organizational model to a transformed organizational model. The article identifies how changing the organizational model impacted GM’s workforce, customer base and local communities that GM’s many arms of business were a part of, support systems that were put in place at GM to insure successful transition. Before the transition was put into effect, GM had a traditional hierarchical management structure and viewpoint. At the top of the structure was the president, who was answerable to only the board of directors, senior management and vice-presidents of varied departments were answerable to the president. On down the line there were division managers & supervisors and so on, then your average, regular employees. Having separate entities, such as Buick, Cadillac and other divisions operating differently from each other and the parent company was costly and ineffective in this â€Å"earth is flat† economic and communications era. GM North America President Mark Reuss, stated, â€Å"I could see clear as day that the mix and the structure of people just wasn’t right. These changes were necessary for GM to move faster and win. We need people who are change agents. After the economic troubles of the company, all aspects of how the company was run and directed were researched. Jack Smith GM’s CEO stated, â€Å"I had the opportunity to really structure the business in the way I thought is should be run. † GM has started to move their organization into what is called a transformed organizational model (TOM). A TOM does not have multiple departments, performing sepa rate tasks from others with different goals. It has taken several years to transform GM to an organization with a more centralized organization. The company set up The Automotive Strategy Board, a management committee to ensure that the CEO was informed and knowledgable of the company’s progress, trouble-spots, and over-all health. A monthly meeting is held with all the heads of all the regional departments even Global officials had to attend via phone. With this plan, all of the companies leaders were informed and were able to implement common goals and practices. The separate computer systems bogged down communications and often produced more mis-communication than not. A central software program was developed and implemented. All offices, administration staff, management, and employees were all trained on the new system world-wide. This level of development and training was costly. With the new level of stream-lined communications and universal usage, the system and training proved their worth. In the new Mishawaka, Indiana plant, GM has pioneered a teamwork concept called the Global Manufacturing System (GMS). Teams of workers have designed the jobs that are performed for each stage of the production process. The worker is supported first by his or her own â€Å"team†, a group of four or five workers assigned to perform specific tasks. The team is supported by a team leader. In turn, each group of four or five teams has the support of a group leader. In addition, each person is a member of a team assigned to perform specific tasks. Each team member is cross-trained for each other’s job. â€Å"Inherent in this process is everyone helps everyone. The whole focus, the entire focus, of GMS is to support the operator,† said AM General President and Chief Executive Officer, James Armour. So far, AM General has spent $35 million on more than 177,000 hours of training for employees. The plant(s) implementing the GMS model show more confidence in the workers. On the assembly line there are cords for each station in the event that a worker feels that there is a problem, he or she can stop the line at his or her discretion to correct the problem. The assembly lines are designed more ergonomically. Other plants use the straight-line assembly model where workers have to reach the line either by differing platform heights or outright reaching from the ground. The new plant has the assembly line rolling along for different heights for each portion of the production needed in that placement. Employees have more control over their life on the job. This has been leading to less management/labor disputes . The plant has a three-step grievance system and as of yet, no grievance has gone further than the first step. Not all plant employees who have been offered a transfer to the new GMS model have not been interested in a transfer. For some people the old way is working best for them. If this model continues to be successful, they might not have a choice about it for much longer. I believe that the changes GM has been implementing have improved the company overall. It seems that extensive research showed that getting the people of all levels throughout the company more involved with more aspects has had a positive impact. The use of teams has proved more effective than the solitary worker with a manager or supervisor to report to. Centralizing communications has put everyone on the â€Å"same page† for goal setting, problem solving, and share of information throughout the organization. The more information that is shared, the better for all concerned. The employees are more empowered with the chance to improve their production, implement their ideas, creativity and have more responsibility. The company has showed concern for the worker’s well-being, respect for their jobs and contributions to the company. That type of leadership gives the employees confidence in their leaders and their jobs. The entire over-haul of the company has predominately been concerned with OB. Corporate culture begins with OB. You cannot change a company for the better without taking into account the people who work at all levels for the company is not going to be effective on any level. GM has been recovering from its financial difficulties and these changes have had a major part in it. It has been showing consistent growth and profit for the last year. It has also been making it’s payments for the financial bail-out. I believe they are the only company who has done so. On top of that they have been running ads telling the people of America thank you and acknowledging their employees for their efforts at improving GM.

Electrical Conductors vs Insulators Essay

Every thing in the world is differentiable on the basis of its electrical conductance. Some things are called insulators and these substances never conduct electricity. they include things such as cold air,wood and plastic. Then there are things that conduct electricity and current flows through them, they are called conductors. examples of conductors are most metals like copper and steel. Other materials that are sometimes used as conductors are silver, gold, and aluminum. Copper is still the most popular material used for wires because it is a very good conductor of electrical current and it is fairly inexpensive when compared to gold and silver. Aluminum and most other metals do not conduct electricity quite as good as copper. The electrons of different types of atoms have different degrees of freedom to move around. With some types of materials, such as metals, the outermost electrons in the atoms are so loosely bound that they chaotically move in the space between the atoms of that material by nothing more than the influence of room-temperature heat energy. Because these virtually unbound electrons are free to leave their respective atoms and float around in the space between adjacent atoms, they are often called free electrons. Also, this relative mobility of electrons within a material is known as electric conductivity. Conductivity is determined by the types of atoms in a material (the number of protons in each atom’s nucleus, determining its chemical identity) and how the atoms are linked together with one another. Materials with high electron mobility (many free electrons) are called conductors, while materials with low electron mobility (few or no free electrons) are called insulators. Some substances that conduct at high temperatures are called semi conductors. they do not conduct as good as conductors but have various uses that make them more versatile than conductors themselves. Lastly, are materials of recent times, called superconductors, that at very low temperatures, such as 230 Kelvin, can conduct freely without any resistance whatsoever. The difference comes down to nothing more than how the electrons are arranged around the nucleus. The laws of quantum physics say that there are only specific bands (or tracks) in which any electron can travel. There are some interesting facts about these bands. First of all, only a very specific number of electrons can travel in each one; once it’s full, it’s full. Second, which track an electron is in corresponds to how much energy that electron has. And third, some of the bands are closer to each other than others. Different atoms have different numbers of electrons, and how those electrons are arranged in the bands defines whether a material made of those atoms will conduct. In every atom, the electrons get as close to the nucleus as possible, since the bands that are closest to the nucleus are also the ones that require the least energy. That means that the outermost shell might not be completely filled, and thus an electron from a nearby atom can join this atom in its outermost shell. these moving electrons create an electrical current. therefore we can say that atoms with empty spaces in the outermost electron bands are conductors. the materials with no empty spaces in the outermost electron band are insulators. They do not let electrons flow very easily from one atom to another. Insulators are materials whose atoms have tightly bound electrons. These electrons are not free to roam around and be shared by neighboring atoms. However there are materials that fall in between conductors and insulators. Their conductance is in between metals and insulators. And their conductance can be modified by shining a light on them or injecting charges. They’re known as semiconductors. They are mostly made of atoms that don’t conduct electricity, but they have a handful of atoms with loose electrons. Under certain circumstances — by changing things like temperature or how much energy is injected — these loose electrons will start a flowing current. Superconductors are very different from the first three, since no material known today superconducts except at very cold temperatures. Scientists are discovering materials that do superconduct closer and closer to room temperature all the time, but no one is quite sure how that happens. However, some scientists have come up with a theory for how the very coldest superconductors work, known as the BCS theory. In such materials, at low temperatures, the atoms vibrate in a way that forces the moving electrons closer together. Normally electrons don’t like to huddle so close, since they’re all electrically negative and therefore repel each other. But in superconductors, the electrons actually achieve almost an attraction for each other. The result is that as one electron moves, it pulls the next electron along right behind it. Electrons slip from atom to atom more easily than they ever do normally. Therefore, atoms which, at the right temperature, can make electrons attract instead of repel each other are superconductors. In a conductor, electric current can flow freely, in an insulator it cannot. Metals such as copper typify conductors, while most non-metallic solids are said to be good insulators, having extremely high resistance to the flow of charge through them. Conductor† implies that the outer electrons of the atoms are loosely bound and free to move through the material. Most atoms hold on to their electrons tightly and are insulators. In copper, the valence electrons are essentially free and strongly repel each other. Any external influence which moves one of them will cause a repulsion of other electrons which propagates, â€Å"domino fashion† through the conductor. Simply stated, most metals are good electrical conductors, most nonmetals are not. Metals are also generally good heat conductors while nonmetals are not. While the normal motion of â€Å"free† electrons in a conductor is random, with no particular direction or speed, electrons can be influenced to move in a coordinated fashion through a conductive material. This uniform motion of electrons is what we call electricity, or electric current. To be more precise, it could be called dynamic electricity in contrast to static electricity, which is an unmoving accumulation of electric charge. Just like water flowing through the emptiness of a pipe, electrons are able to move within the empty space within and between the atoms of a conductor. The conductor may appear to be solid to our eyes, but any material composed of atoms is mostly empty space! The liquid-flow analogy is so fitting that the motion of electrons through a conductor is often referred to as a â€Å"flow. † With electricity, the overall effect from one end of a conductor to the other happens at the speed of light: a swift 186,000 miles per second!!! Each individual electron, though, travels through the conductor at a much slower pace. Effects on conductance: Different conductors have different levels of conductance. Silver is the best conductor, offering easier passage for electrons than any other material cited. Dirty water and concrete are also listed as conductors, but these materials are substantially less conductive than any metal. Physical dimension also impacts conductivity. For instance, if we take two strips of the same conductive material — one thin and the other thick — the thick strip will prove to be a better conductor than the thin for the same length. If we take another pair of strips — this time both with the same thickness but one shorter than the other — the shorter one will offer easier passage to electrons than the long one. Most metals become poorer conductors when heated, and better conductors when cooled.

Nazi Control Over Germany

Identify Nazi opposition: 1.) Communists 2.)Social Democrats 3.)Anti Nazi teachers and University Professors 4.)Roman Catholic Church 5.)Protestant Churches 6.)Jews and other persecuted minorities (once purges started). 7.)Lander (State parliaments) 8.) trade unions How Nazis dealt with opponents? To ensure political dominance, Nazis wanted to make Germany into a one-party state. To wipe out communists, Hitler used Reichstag fire as an excuse of a â€Å"communist uprising† to disable much of the communist activities. It is to be noted that anti-communism was a major part of Hitler's ideals. Social democrats were disabled as well. Lander were allowed to exist but lost all power. Anti Nazi teachers and university professors posed the threat of spreading an anti-Nazi message. The Nazis even wanted subjects to be taught according to their principles. These people were kept in check by fear of Gestapo. Roman Catholic church was a political threat and the church also had influence over people. In 1933, Hitler signed a concordat with Pope and said Nazis will not interfere with church affairs if church stayed out of politics. However Nazis broke concordat when it dissolved catholic youth league as it was a rival to Hitler youth. Catholic schools closed down after protestations. By 1937, church conflicting with Nazis and pope Pius XI issued Encyclical saying that Nazis were â€Å"hostile to Christ and his church†. Hitler angered and 1000's of priests +nuns sent to conc. camps. Protestant churches were attempted to merge into Reich church. Failed and after protests, people sent to conc. Camps. Jews sent to conc. Camps and murdered. Trade unions banned and replaced with German labour front which reduced pay and took away right to strike How did Nazis use culture and mass media to control people? After Nazis gained power, all forms of media were controlled by Joseph Goebbels. This made sure that no anti-Nazi ideas were publicized. Jewish works were banned as part of the anti-Semitism policies. By these methods, the way the German people thought could be adjusted to the Nazis' will. Culture was used in the way of making Aryan people feel that they were a superior race. Cultural Activities of racial minorities were mostly banned so that they would have no effect on Aryan ideals. Why Nazis persecuted many groups? The Nazis had an ideology of â€Å"racial purification†, whereby only the Aryans were to be in Germany. Therefore Jews and other small races were sent to conc. Camps. Jews were also persecuted because they owned many shops and businesses (once they were removed, these jobs given to Aryans). Mentally and physically disabled people were also persecuted because the Aryan race was supposed to be â€Å"perfect†. Homosexuals were persecuted as well. Was Nazi Germany a totalitarian state? A totalitarian state is a system of govt. where there can be only one party and the people are totally devoted to the state. Nazi Germany was definitely one of these because: 1. One party state: only the national socialists allowed existing. Power taken away from Lander. 2. Civil service purged of â€Å"enemies of the state† until it was fully reliable. 3. Trade unions banned 4. Education system controlled and Nazi ideals fed into children by Hitler youth. 5. Communication and media controlled. 6. Economic control by which unemployment was reduced and Germany brought close to self sufficiency. 7. Religious control 8. People monitored by Gestapo so that if a person was anti-Nazi, he would be taken away. 9. Anti Semitism and other forms of unjustified racial discrimination.

How mobile learning is used by students as part of their learning Essay

How mobile learning is used by students as part of their learning practice And to what extend does it provide new opportunities for teaching and learning in terms of access and flexibility - Essay Example In other words, m-learning reduces the restriction of the location of learning with the general portable devices’ mobility. The use of the mobile technologies elicits interesting queries as scholars examine the effectiveness of learning and teaching in this digital age. In real sense, mobile technologies enhance and extend learning across diverse groups of people. Currently, almost all people use and own at least one form of mobile devices. Such people not only own and use the devices but also invest some considerable amount of time, resources, and efforts in choosing, purchasing, customizing, as well as exploiting them. Most of these handled devices are an expression of part of even much of the values, identity, individuality, and affiliations of their owners via their choice as well as use. The devices are ubiquitous and pervasive, unobtrusive and conspicuous, taken to granted and noteworthy in lives of majority of the people. This explains why m-learning is more than e-learning using mobile devices as it also hints the possibility of leveraging the devices of learners and this can take education to new spaces, places, and modes (Traxler 2011, p. 4-5). For clarification, mobile learning is the use of handheld and mobile information technology devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablet PC technologies, as well as laptops in learning and teaching activities (Prensky 2001a, p. 1). As the internet and computers become vital tools of education, the technologies become increasingly portable, effective, easy to use, as well as affordable. This offers numerous opportunities for broadening the access and participation to information and communication technologies, and specifically to the internet (Campbell 2005, p. 32). The mobile devices like PDAs and mobile phones are more reasonably priced in comparison to desktop computers, thus

Telecommuting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Telecommuting - Essay Example While the new concept has many specific advantages and at the same time certain inherent limitations over conventional work places and can be implemented only in limited spheres of work, the concept is gaining immense popularity both among employers and employees due to tremendous flexibility available to them while working at home and also sufficiently meeting company deadlines. The aim of this paper is to study and bring out various advantages and disadvantages of telecommuting and their effects on organizational work culture and certain behavioral aspects in the present era. Hidden inside our advance to a new production system is a potential for social change so breathtaking in scope that few among us have been willing to face its meaning. For we are about to revolutionize our homes as well. Telecommuting is the trend which has grown fast since 1975 when just about 3% people worked from home and they were mostly farmers. Today, a much greater number of people are telecommuting and working from home. Telecommuting essentially implies that employees are using means of computers and telephones for work rather than using normal transportation channels. This has helped them save commuting time wasted on roads or rail, which in many cases can be up to 2-3 hours a day or 25-30% of time spent outside homes. This work culture saves money for employers as well in terms of reduced infrastructural requirements for employees and added benefits of improved productivity, better motivation for people in need as well as personal satisfaction for the employees who cannot move out of homes but want to work nevertheless. However, this aspect has had a considerable effect of lasting nature on the prevalent office culture. In succeeding paragraphs, we shall discuss the advantages and disadva ntages of telecommuting Telecommuting: Benefits Saved Time and Effort. As per a recent research, 10 minutes commuting time one-way amounts to two 40 hrs weeks a year. A similar 40 min one way commuting time consumes eight working weeks every year. (Telework, 2006) For those of us not understanding the gravity of the situation, this commuting time which is actually wasted doing nothing productive is actually equivalent to our whole entitlement of leave and holidays every year. Imagine having double number of off-duty days without any effect on your salary! Improved Productivity. Direct fallout of telecommuting has been improved productivity of an individual. While working from office, many good employees have serious reservations owing to their personal requirements at home. This is especially so in cases of working mothers, single parents or individuals with similar responsibilities. Such people, despite their good employability, cannot work and thus choose part time working or staying at homes. Even if they choose to work, they are pre-occupied with their personal requirements directly or indirectly affecting their work quality and as well as company's output. If such people have an opportunity to work from home than commute to office

Do we posses free will and are we ever morally responisble Essay

Do we posses free will and are we ever morally responisble - Essay Example Furthermore, the denial of free will leads to the fact that morality as a science of human responsibility and freedom of ethical choice loses its value. Not having the freedom of will, a person cannot take a free moral choice. Consequently, regardless of human actions including bad ones no one can punish a person because in this case the man is not morally responsible. From my point of view, these two arguments in favor of the existence of free will are sufficiently convincing. Nevertheless, opponents of the idea of free will can bring two rather serious counterarguments that have scientific and ethical character. According to the first scientific counterargument, human free will cannot exist for one simple reason. Every human act can be explained on the basis of the reason, which leads to its implementation. Specialists who deny free will demonstrate that regardless of what people do one can find reasons for their behavior and actions. Not by chance that many philosophers who had the opportunity to conduct scientific studies have concluded that human life, actions, and even thoughts are deterministic, since they have a cause. Therefore, free will cannot exist because determinism defines human life. For example, in addressing the issue of the relationship between free will and determinism, a well-known English philosopher Thomas Hobbes emerged as an opponent of the doctrine of free will (Duncan). Hobbes defined the will as the desire stemming from the preceding act of deliberation. The will is not arbitrary, said Hobbes, thus Hobbes denied any free will. Hobbes consistently and persistently p ursued the idea that the will itself is caused by other factors that do not depend on it. Therefore, all voluntary actions are caused by necessary reasons and are compelled. This logic may seem to be rather convincing and able to justify the denial of the existence of freedom. Nevertheless, if one continues to

Reflective Memo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reflective Memo - Essay Example When the Sprint website did not load, a decision was taken to replace it with AT&T. For the final choice, I based the outcome on three separate criteria: $50 or less per month, minimum of one year plan, and any additional features. The Appendix showed all the choices in a chart so that the Executive Director could easily differentiate between the three choices. After the table, some pictures of the three company’s cell phones were included so that the Executive Director could get a visual on what the phones looked like. This was meant to help reinforce his decision. The peer review helped me to tighten the report and cut out any unnecessary words. The whole point of a report like this is to keep it short and concise because management does not have time to weed through all the â€Å"garbage.† I feel confident that the best choice was made based on the data at hand, and I know that the Executive Director will be pleased with the