Technology in the Workplace - 3524 Words

Caribbean Studies School Based Assessment Technology and its Impact on the Workplace in the Caribbean: The Changing Nature of Jobs [pic] Name: Rekha Burnett School: Harrison College Centre No.: 030014 Candidate No.: 030014 Date: 16/04/2010 Table of Contents Page Introduction 2 Purpose of Research 3 Literature Review 4 Data Collection Sources 6 Presentation of Findings 7 Interpretation of Findings 11 Discussion 13 Conclusion/Limitations of the Research/Recommendations 15 Bibliography 16 Appendices 17 Introduction†¦show more content†¦From the introduction of the computer social networking has become very popular and has changed the way in which people communicate for example Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. This love of social networking has created a growing concern about the impact these websites have in the workplace. A recent survey done by Nucleus Research (2009) reveals that businesses that allow their workers to access these websites in the workplace lose an average of 1.5 percent in total employee productivity. The survey of 237 employees also showed that 77 percent of workers use these websites during work hours. Furthermore another researcher says that computerization of the workplace replaces labour with machines, thereby reducing the unit cost of production while increasing both productivity and efficiency (Ellwood, 1998). For instance instead of hiring twenty workers to accomplish one task, an employer can simply buy one machine to do the same task faster and more efficiently; less resources are invested while much more output is generated. However, the use of technology can severely limit the amount of interaction among employees. Team meetings, worker cooperation, and informal conversations over the coffee machine or in the lounge are often replaced by email and voicemail messages, conference calls, and shared access to data over computer networks. Although video conferencing seems toShow MoreRelatedTechnology in the Workplace3509 Words   |  15 PagesCaribbean Studies School Based Assessment Technology and its Impact on the Workplace in the Caribbean: The Changing Nature of Jobs [pic] Name: Rekha Burnett School: Harrison College Centre No.: 030014 Candidate No.: 030014 Date: 16/04/2010 Table of Contents Page Introduction 2 Purpose of Research 3 Literature Review 4 Data Collection Sources 6 Presentation of FindingsRead MoreThe Impact Of Technology On The Workplace1438 Words   |  6 Pagesthe workplace is changing rapidly due to technology; wages no longer parallel a worker’s education level; burdensome and unnecessary credential requirements are imposed on low-wage workers; and the unemployment rate is increasing. These phenomenon have led to the decline and downsizing of the American workforce. With the replacement of workers by technology and strict training specifications, it’s very difficult for low-wage workers to find a stable job without competition in the workplace. CompaniesRead MoreImpact Of Technology On The Workplace1392 Words   |  6 PagesWith the expansion of technology in the workplace, face-to-face interaction has decreased and the workplace is transforming. Meetings that once took up to two hours now take 45 minutes with the arrival of technology. One must not forget that there are certain situations in which one cannot rely on technology, if one intends to transmit an effective message. Whether it is a client or an employee there will be occasions in which face-to-face meetings are necessary in order to be successful at managingRead MoreImpact Of Technology On The Workplace921 Words   |  4 Pagescom/story/tech/columnist/2015/02/25/joelle-emerson-column-technology-diversity-social-science-research/24002013/ Technology companies are still having a hard time implementing diversity within the work environment. Although these types of companies historically have not created an environment in which diversity flourishes. Current lawsuits for discrimination and harassment are causing technology companies to relook at their policies. Will these new policies and procedures be enough to diversify the technology world? As the articleRead MoreTechnology Problems At The Workplace1716 Words   |  7 PagesTechnology Problems at Workplaces Heriberto Gonzalez Keiser University Table of Contents Letter of Transmittal †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...3 Executive Summary 4 1.0 Introduction 5 2.0 Challenges in Using Technology in Professions 5 3.0 Recommended Solutions to Technology Problems at Work 6 3.1 Recruiting Personnel with Adequate Skills in Technology 6 3.2 Organizing Staff Training in the Usage of New Technology 7 3.3 Forming a Department of TechnologyRead MoreThe Impact Of Technology On The Workplace1239 Words   |  5 PagesThe Impact of Technology in the Workplace Since the creation of modern computerization, several consequences have arisen for humankind, particularly in the work environment. Both skilled and unskilled laborers are gradually being forced out of work due to these technological innovations. This is especially true in industries that have been greatly affected by this phenomenon, such as the communication, transportation, information and manufacturing activity. Rather than creating jobs and increasingRead MoreTechnology In The Workplace Essay969 Words   |  4 Pagesin your industry. Supporting the way your company operates, your culture, and business processes should be a technology solution that enables collaborative productivity no matter what time zone your employees work in. Cloud and mobile technologies can create an environment to secure, retrieve, and allow access to critical information regardless of location. To implement this technology, you must first have the proper infrastructure in place to support its success. Although this could presentRead MoreInformation Technology And Its Impact On The Workplace1206 Words   |  5 Pagesemployees do not effectively share information learned in the workplace resulting in redundant work activity and ultimately profit loss. Most large organizations collect information treasure-troves from the many inputs and experiences created by frontline employees and consumers using online portals. Firms can harness the information generated from these sources by instituting knowledge management platforms. To leverage this technology, firms have to make sure that their employees fully adopt a knowledgeRead MoreTechnology And The Global Workplace2933 Words   |  12 Pagesfrom the unlikeliest of networks, and more impo rtantly, to change your thought process, abandon preconceived notions and conjure up creative solutions to fight dynamic demons. Closer to home, there are two key trends that are shaping the global workplace. In their 2013 report â€Å"Talent Mobility: 2020 and beyond†, PriceWaterhouseCoppers postulated through a survey of 900 companies that employee mobility and innovation are the corporate trends du jour in the forthcoming years. The reason for this aforementionedRead MoreThe Impact Of Social Technology On The Workplace1166 Words   |  5 PagesSocial Technology in the Workplace The exploding growth of social technologies has drastically altered the way people communicate. As a result, the utilization of social technologies to move a business forward has become widespread. Software tools such as blogs and wikis and social network platforms like Facebook and Twitter and other communication technologies are helping to advance businesses. These new technologies improve the way that tacit and explicit knowledge is recognized, categorized

Key Logistics Activities and Technologies Related to Logistics Free Essays

string(30) " an inventory control system\." Introduction Logistics play a major role in our life. Most of the people might not be aware of the importance of logistics until there are problems appear. Under the pressure of arising competitive environment, most of the business entities are initiated to focus on the development of logistics. We will write a custom essay sample on Key Logistics Activities and Technologies Related to Logistics or any similar topic only for you Order Now Logistics can be said as the transfers of goods and services from the point of origin to the point of consumptions effectively and efficiently in order to meet the requirement of the customers (Logistics World, n. d. ). Logistics include the distributions of raw materials, in-progress inventories, finished goods and other related information. Successful logistics enable the business entities to deliver the goods and services consistently to the correct customers on time. Based on the question given, I do not agree with the statements saying that ‘logistics is nothing more than getting goods from one point to another’. Logistics covered much more aspects and involved a lot other activities other than what the statement above mentioned. There are still many different types of activities in logistics such as customer services, inventory management, material handling and packaging, order processing, procurement and et cetera. On the other hand, in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of logistics management, a variety of solutions and technology advancements had been introduced to the business market. The literature below will review the other activities and the technologies improvement for logistics (Stock Lambert, 2000). Key logistics activities One of the activities involved in logistics is the customer service. Stock Lambert (2000) stated customer service is â€Å"a customer oriented philosophy that integrates and manages all elements of the customer interface within a predetermined optimum cost-service mix† (p. 4). To design a logistics system, companies should always start with setting a strong and clear customer service objective. Without having a common objective for everyone in the company, decisions about order strategies, production, transportation, inventory investment, and warehousing will not be consistent and effective. Customer service objective acts as guidelines for the logistics managers in setting up targets of their performance as well as making decisions when they encounter problems in the future. Logistics play an important role in ensuring high customer satisfaction. Getting the right product to the customers under the right condition, at the right place and the right time, as well as with the right cost are the main criteria for achieving a high customer satisfaction (Stock Lambert, 2000). For example, Kraft Foods Incorporate make sure their customers get the right products they ordered at the right time and right place regardless of whether the customers are at the hypermarket in France or a cafe in Sweden (Kraft Foods, n. . ). Other that the five rights, excellent customer services also need to make sure the order and return processes are convenient to customers. The company needs to provide accurate and consistent information to customer by selling the products and services that are worth for the price. Lastly, they need to deliver the products and services on time. By providing the best customer service and fulfilling all the five ‘right’ criteria, company will be able create higher customer satisfaction and therefore gaining competitive advantage. When customers are satisfied with the products and services provided by company, they will most likely become the loyal customers and support the products and services from the company in long term scenario (Stock Lambert, 2000). Besides that, Banning Gibson indicate loyal customers can act as one of the advertising medium by conveying positive messages and comments to their friends and family (Banning Gibson, n. d. ). In that way, the market share and profitability of the company will increase and at the same time the total costs of logistics also will reduce. Other than that, inventory management is also one of the activities under logistics. In the industries now, most of the company will hold inventory to achieve economies of scale. Company usually purchase and transport all inventory at once to reduce their cost. This is because purchase in a huge amount will reduce the cost of per-unit price while having a full truckload shipment will reduce the cost of per-unit transportation. Then, company will also choose to have a greater plant capacity so that the per-unit manufacturing cost will be lower. However, holding inventory contributed a significant amount of expenses to the companies due to high storage costs, capital cost, service cost, risk cost, and some of the product can be obsolescence in short time. Therefore, the company might try to minimize the expenses by reducing the amount of inventory without interrupting the flow of the products to the customers. Since there is conflict between economies of scale with handling and warehousing costs, companies need to find a suitable way to balance of these two criteria. For instances, company can use Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) to determine the best amount of inventory to order (Stock Lambert, 2000). The objective of every inventory planner is controlling the inventory they hold to meet the exact amount of customers’ demand. This is because either excess or shortage of inventory will bring up significant costs to the business affecting the operation and opportunities of the business (Management Study Guide, n. d. ). In addition to that, raw materials and parts, work-in-process, and finished goods inventories are required to be considered. These inventories require sufficient physical space, capital, and personnel time to maintain and pile up. A successful inventory management will determine the amount of inventory necessitate to meet the demand of customers and at the same time consider the costs needed to put in the logistic activities. Besides that, excellent inventory management can increase the cash flow and return on investment. Nowadays, many companies start paying more attention to inventory control especially on the products that can become obsolete in short time, such as high-tech merchandise, automobiles, and seasonal goods (Stock Lambert, 2000). For example, in April 2005, Mazda Motor Corporation comes out with its Mazda Materials Management Planning (M3P) which is an inventory control system. You read "Key Logistics Activities and Technologies Related to Logistics" in category "Essay examples" The system of M3P improved inventory levels, enhanced the speed of supply, and ensure the Mazda’s retail and service operations are smooth all the time. Other than that, M3P also brings benefits to customer such as providing better customer service and shorten the length of responding time (Mazda, 2005). Furthermore, logistics need to take care of the material handling and packaging in the company. Material handling takes part in managing the flow of raw materials, in-process inventory, and finished goods inside a warehouse. The costs of firm will increase for each and every item handled. Since handling the item will not increase the value of a product but incur more costs to the company, company should always try to reduce the number of material handling wherever possible by decreasing the inventory. Then, materials handling design the plan to reduce distance travelled of the materials and minimize the work-in-process of the materials. Other than that, material handling makes sure the materials can flow through the process consistently without having troubles. Lastly, material handling will find ways to decrease the possibility of getting losses from breakage, waste and spoilage (Stock Lambert, 2000). On the other hand, packaging is the process of getting the container and wrapper to hold the products (Reference for Business, n. d. ). In logistics aspect, packaging of the products can act as a barrier to prevent the products from getting damaged during transportation of the products or storing the products. Furthermore, product with appropriate packaging is easier to be move or store. However, packaging will add up space and weights subsequently incur more cost. Thus, many people in this area always spend time in thinking ways to reduce to space and weight of the products after packaging (Stock Lambert, 2000). A successful packaging strategy can help a firm to strengthen its competitive advantages such as optimizes service, cost, and become more convenient (Learn Marketing, n. d. ). When a product go international, the packaging will becomes more important to a company. The products are required to travel more distances and need more physically handling if compare to domestic packaging (Stock Lambert, 2000). Additionally, order processing is taken to account when discussing about the activities of logistics. Order processing is the  process or work flow that starts with the receipt order from customer, followed by verifying the order status and communicate about the order with customer, while lastly making order and ensure the availability of the products to satisfy customer’s needs (Jetef, n. d. ). Order processing can divide into three groups. The first group is the operational elements, including order shipping, setting preparation, order entry, scheduling, and invoicing. Next group is the communication elements, for example, order status inquiries, order modification, error correction, tracing and expediting, and product information requests. The last group of order processing is the credit and collection elements, such as accounts receivable processing and credit checking. The quality and speed of the information flow provided by company during the order processing to their customers can affect the cost and the efficiency of the entire operation. If the information flows are slow and erratic, the company will not only suffer from decreasing in customer, but also increasing transportation, inventory, and warehousing costs. The faster and more accurate the service the company can provide, the greater the customers satisfaction obtained by the company. Information system today can help in order processing by making the time of order processing to become shorter between order placement and product shipment. For example, customers’ order can be placed and sent to the company’s computer directly by using electronic data interchange (EDI). Decision support system (DSS), quick response (QR), efficient consumer response (ECR) and et cetera are other information system that can help the company to improve order processing and achieve customer service goals at competitive cost. Information system not only helps company to improve its speed, quality, and accuracy of order processing, but also help company to save some logistics expenses like transportation and inventory while boosting up the sales (Stock Lambert, 2000). Finally, the last activity of logistics that this literature will discuss is procurement. Procurement is the effective purchasing of goods and services to make sure the manufacturing and logistics processes of the firm are run in effectiveness. In order for the company to ensure them to obtain the supplies that can meet their requirement in terms of time, location, quality and quantity, the company is required to procure suitable goods and services (Procurement, n. d. ). The procurement function includes supplier selection, determination of the form of material to acquire, purchasing time, pricing and quality control. According to WiseGEEK, while â€Å"procurement logistics are the processes used in the delivery, receipt, movement and storage of materials purchased for a business or organization†. The goals of procurement are to minimize the costs at the same time increase the service provided (WiseGEEK, n. d. ). In the purchasing process, the most important task is to choose the best supplier from all the potential vendors. The purchasing process is complicated. Decision makers and decision influencers from decision making unit (DMU) need to go through twelve steps of buying process when purchasing items from supplier. If company is doing routine buying, then some of the steps can be skipped (Stock Lambert, 2000). When making purchasing decision, DMU also need to consider the number of orders, lead time requirements, delivery expectations, product reliability, drop-off locations and others. All of the final price of products should be including transportation and storage cost. Company can usually try to minimize these hidden costs by requesting just-in-time delivery from supplier (WiseGEEK, n. d. ). In short, paying enough attention o the management of purchasing cost as well as the evaluation of purchasing performance can lead to increasing profitability of a company (Stock Lambert, 2000). Technologies related to logistics Due to an increase in attention paid on the logistics, experts started to develop more and more ways to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of logistics through acquiring the technologies. One of the most significant improvements made by technology is the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) (Stock Lambert, 2000). EDI is the exchange of business messages and information through computers of the trading partners via communication cables with standard protocols and standard data formats (EasyLink Services, n. d. ). For example, EDI can be used when there are purchase orders. Organizations are able to make a purchase order with their suppliers through computers. EDI is more convenient for the organizations as the usage of internet are more and more common (Stock Lambert, 2000). According to GXS, there are a few advantages of using EDI in logistics. EDI will transform most of the paper works into electronic base. Many of the procedures can be done automatically and quickly through the advancement of technologies. Therefore, the time taken to complete the process will be reduces significantly. It promotes the efficiency of the organizations which leads to the increase of productivity. Besides, EDI replaced human to key in the data of the organizations routinely. When there are less human works, the probability of getting error in data entry will be reduced drastically or even eradicated. Furthermore, the data transferred among the computers are using the standard and same formats. This ensures that the data transferred to the receivers will be analyzed accurately and correctly. Thus, the communication error between the sender and receiver is diminished. The diminished in error will subsequently raise the efficiency of the organizations as well since there are less likely for the organizations to repeat the procedures and make corrections on the mistakes (GXS, n. d. ). In addition to that, EDI can also increase the accuracy of inventory and reduce the cycle time and thus reduce the cost of inventory. In such, EDI increases the productivity while reducing the costs as well. With the development of the internet, EDI is free if it flows through the internet instead of VAN. Many major companies such as NASA Goddard, UNISYS and AVEX Electronics are now using EDI supported by the internet (Stock Lambert, 2000). Bar coding is another technology advancement that contributes to the improvement of logistics. Bar coding are commonly use in our daily life such as the products in supermarket. Bar codes are a row of parallel bars distanced with a number of gaps with different width. They able to convey different messages in the form of letters, numbers and special characters based on the array of gaps between the bars. A beam of light is used to interpret the information of the bar codes and sent it to the computers. These codes are used mainly on tracking and security purposes. They are important in decreasing the probability of errors compare to key in the information manually. Statistics showed that the bar codes error rate is one out of hundred thousand while the error rate of manually key in data is one out of thirty. It had clearly showed that the error rate had been improved significantly (Stock Lambert, 2000). In relation to the bar codes, as said by Lyne, Quick Respond (QR) codes from Japan are also introduced to the society. QR codes is a two dimensional barcodes that normally stored with specific links contained with extra information. QR codes are named because it can be scanned quickly even with the smart phones that installed with QR codes reader. It is convenient for the consumers to obtain certain information about the products since it does not required a specific code reader device just like that bar code reader. Furthermore, QR codes able to store more variety of information instead of letters, numbers and special characters only such as url links and geo coordinates. QR codes are enable the customer to know about the product details, contact details, coupons or event a link to YouTube video for further information (Lyne, 2009). For instance, the product code, manufacturing history, expiration date and other data can be encoded in the QR codes. Coca-cola had used this feature in their logistics management at Chukyo. They are able to check for the quality and track the products easily using QR codes (Sundaramurthy, n. d. ). Management Information System (MIS) is also one of the technologies used to improve logistics. A successful MIS is able to provide sufficient and relevant information for the managers in order to make an effective decision. There are five areas that MIS need to fulfil which are the timing, accuracy, relevance, completeness and consistency (Office of the Comptroller of Currency, 1995). MIS should be able to provide the latest and current information using the shortest time. The information collected should be checked buy auditors as well as ensuring the information is useful. Unwanted information need to be filtered and the relevant information need to be summarize completely. Lastly, the method in processing and compiling the information need to be consistent so that the manager will not misunderstand the information. MIS is important in logistics for collecting, analyzing and interpreting the information from various aspects such as the suppliers, resources, transportation and so on. MIS can make sure there is no interruption n the supply chain. A well managed MIS allowed the organizations to control every detail in different region in a faster time (Stock Lambert, 2000). In real example, World Health Organization need to have an uninterrupted supply of drugs through the supply chain to ensure the increasing number of HIV/AIDS patients are able to get their treatment (World Health Organization, n. d. ). How to cite Key Logistics Activities and Technologies Related to Logistics, Essay examples

Rrefugee Crisis

Question: Discuss at least two factors that have contributed to the current refugee crisis. Describe what effects have occurred as a result either for the destination countries or for the lives of the refugees. Answer: Introduction: In the recent times, large numbers of people are forced to drive out from their house or flee because of the conflicts that occur within the inter-countries dispute. The disturbance caused by the natural calamities even force people from one country to re-habit in the other country. The displacement from the actual place to a new location makes them face a lot of problems since they do not have any protection against the international law. The victims run from the place of habitat and lands up to some underdeveloped countries resulting no securities and protection for them. The situation becomes worst during the wartime, or when they arrive at a different place they fall prey to the scarcity of food, water, shelter and even medical care. When they leave their home, they leave behind the valuable as well as the and even dont have the guarantee whether they will be able to get a new place or even if they get, whether they will be allowed or not. Discussion: The refugee crisis is not a very recent occurrence of the world. But, it is new to the Europe and Western countries. The recent refugee crisis reasons have a huge contribution from the Syrian Civil War. The statistics compiled by the UN shows the huge number that has turned to the refugees. The refugee statuses of the people have made an effect on the education system of the children. The lack of the fund system has made the situation even worse for the people who stay in the refugee camp. The second factor of the refugee crisis increased due to the lack of accommodation in the Middle East. Hence, now it is impossible for the Syrians to make a legal entry in such places. The majority do not have the legal permission to work resulting in the lack of assurance for their family and the continuation of the children's education. In the view of (Mayer Chuman, 2014), even the environment they live in is filled with some junkyard with the smell of the diesel and garbage. Even for such places, the owner charges a high rate, making them impossible to re-habit. By the international law with concern to the refugee and human rights law, the migrants deserve rights as well as opportunities with a hope of good futures. The people who migrants have the right to seek asylum from the host country. But lately, it is observed that the legislations and the applications bear a gap going adversely against the human rights law which is a positive law. As stated by (Carlier, 2016), that the U.S. and the Canadian government responses to the Syrian refugees in a different manner. The Canadian while allowed 25,000 refugees to resettle; the U.S. put a ban in the plan of Obama for resettling 10,000 more refugees. It is believed that the presence or the absence of multi-cultural policies or the degrees of Islamophobia and the number of terrorist attacks might be the reason for such difference. In the view of (Silverman Nethery, 2015), nowadays, due to the increasing tensions in the countries especially a country like Syria, many countries have adopted the restriction policy of the re-habiting of the refugees. Upon such conditions, the detentions have increased at an alarming rate and the countries even approved the categorization while the detention is made. Usually, two types of people are detained, like, the person without any valid stay permit or the person whose stay permits has expired. Now the question is if there is any emergency immigration of the refugee then from where they will get a valid permit. The Syrian case is a matter of importance since the rate of the refugee level is increasing at an alarming rate due to the civil war that started in 2014. The detention is required for the administrative level purposes resulting for further examining of the visas, which takes a long time and increases the harassment of the immigrants due to the lack of protection. (Kearns et al., 2016) explains that the increasing number of the refugees often results in the migration to the unhealthy places resulting in population explosion with increased level of the health deteriorates. Conclusion: The discussion aims here to enhance the awareness of the condition that the refugees are facing with the deteriorating the health and lack of education to the children. If such conditions keep on rising due to some of the administrative declarations, then the place will fill up with the unhealthy environment and higher rate of crime activities. References: Balsari, S., Abisaab, J., Hamill, K., Leaning, J. (2015). Syrian refugee crisis: when aid is not enough.Lancet,385(9972), 942. Carlier, M. (2016). Explaining Differences in the Canadian and American Response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis.7JSHJOJB 1PMJDZ 3FWJFX, 56. Kearns, A., Whitley, E., Egan, M., Tabbner, C., Tannahill, C. (2016). Healthy Migrants in an Unhealthy City? The Effects of Time on the Health of Migrants Living in Deprived Areas of Glasgow.Journal of International Migration and Integration, 1-24. Mayer, R., Chuman, J. (2014).The Syrian Refugee Crisis: The Tensions between Refugee Rights and Host Country Capacity(Doctoral dissertation, Master Thesis), Columbia University, Online. Retrieved from https://www. academia. edu/13150740/The_Syrian_Refugee_Crisis_The_Tensions_Between_ Refugee_Rights_and_Host_Country_Capacity), pp- 1-6 Silverman, S. J., Nethery, A. (2015). Understanding immigration detention and its human impact.Immigration Detention: The Migration of a Policy and Its Human Impact,6, 1.