Tuesday, May 19, 2020

The role of the dutch business system in effectively implementing lean management - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 26 Words: 7818 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? 1. Introduction 1.1 Problem Indication Nowadays lean management is being implemented in many organizations all over the world. Lean management is about reducing waste as much as possible and about doing things simple and thereby constantly improving those things (Slack, Chambers Johnston, 2007). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The role of the dutch business system in effectively implementing lean management" essay for you Create order It has been implemented effectively in many industries and organizations such as Wal-Mart and emergency departments (Dickson, Singh, Sheung, Wyatt Nugent, 2009; Schonberger, 2007). However, there is also evidence that lean management is often not effectively implemented or even considered as a failure (Schonberger, 2007). Multiple studies have been trying to explain what kind of factors influence the success or failure of implementing lean management in organizations (Bhasin Burcher, 2006). For decades authors have argued that organizations and industries are influenced by institutions in their environment (Tempel Walgenbach, 2007; Scott, 1995). It therefore seems important to have a better understanding of the institutions around us. The term institutions, however, is very broad. According to North (1991, p. 97) institutions are the humanly devised constraints that structure political, economic and social interaction. They consist of both informal constraints (sanctions, taboos, customs, traditions, and codes of conduct), and formal rules (constitutions, laws, property rights). Practical examples of institutions are the educational and the financial system. Formal institutions are easier to identify and to discern than informal institutions. In this study the focus will be on formal institutions, thereby limiting the field of investigation. Furthermore, this study follows the business systems approach developed by Whitley (1992b). According to this approach, business systems are explained by institutions. A business system is seen as particular ways of organizing, controlling and directing business enterprises that become established as the dominant forms of business organization in different societies (Whitley, 1992b, p. 125). In other words, the characteristics of a business system show how the economy is organized. According to Whitley (1992a) nations have a highly significant influence on their domestic institutions, because state actions determine the effectiveness and role of formal institutions in governing many important aspects of economic coordination (Whitley, 1999, p. 44).Therefore business systems are situated at the national level and this is also the reason why they are different among nations. A practical example of a business system is the compartmentalized business system, to which e.g. the U.S.A. belo ngs. It is characterized by a highly mobile workforce, shareholder control, well-developed capital markets, and an unregulated labor market. This is very different from the business system in the Netherlands, but its characteristics will be discussed later. It should be stated that some characteristics of the Dutch business system are quite similar to the characteristics of other business systems such as the German. Furthermore, this study recognizes that institutions are sometimes not situated at the level of the nation because e.g. EU institutions overrule national institutions (Koen, 2005). It focuses, however, on the institutional features and the business system in the Netherlands. The implementation of lean management in organizations has shown mixed results. Organizational and institutional studies have argued that organizations are influenced by institutions. It seems quite important for organizations to know how their institutional environment influences the effective implementation of lean management. However, little is known in research about how this is influenced by formal, societal institutions. The aim of this study is to show, by using the business systems approach, whether institutions in the Netherlands facilitate the organizational implementation of lean management effectively. The study will therefore look into the features of the Dutch business system and investigate if they fit with the characteristics of lean management. 1.2 Problem statement The aim of the study is to investigate whether the Netherlands facilitate an institutional environment where lean management can be applied effectively in organizations (see figure 1). In this study, a deeper understanding about institutions will be acquired to see how formal, societal institutions influence the implementation of lean management. These institutional features influence the way an economy is organized (business system) in a country. It therefore investigates the fit between the features of the business systems in the Netherlands and the characteristics of lean management. To this end, the following problem statement will be used: Do the Netherlands facilitate aninstitutional environment to effectively implement lean management in organizations? 1.3 Research Questions The following research questions will be used to answer the problem statement. The first two research questions have a somewhat broader scope, whereas the final research question has a narrower one. 1. What are the features of the Dutch business system? First, the study shows that institutions have an influence on the economic organization (business system) in a nation. Thereafter, the study is able to identify the distinct features of the Dutch business system, which is essential for this study. What are the characteristics of lean management? Here lean management and its characteristics are explained extensively. Furthermore, important coordination characteristics of lean management will be described. 2. How do the features of the Dutch business system influence effective implementation of lean management? This question links the features of the business system in the Netherlands to the characteristics of lean management. This question makes clear whether the business system in the Netherlands facilitates effective implementation of lean management in organizations. 1.4 Research Design and data collection Firstly, this study is a literature review on the effective implementation of lean management by taking an institutional perspective, more specifically a business systems approach. It makes use of secondary data sources to answer the problem statement. The advantage of a literature review is that it ensures no important variables are overlooked during the definition of the problem (Sekaran Bougie, 2010). A limitation of the literature review is that it requires a lot of finesse to identify useful resources (Marrelli, 2005). This study contains old as well as new literature. However, it is possible that data becomes obsolete; therefore the main focus will be on quite recently published literature. Secondly, little research has been done on how formal, societal institutions influence the effective implementation of lean management. Therefore this thesis is an exploratory research since it tries to better comprehend the nature of the problem, which is in this case the fit between insti tutions and lean management (Sekaran Bougie, 2010). Thirdly, this is a causal study that indicates the causal relationship between institutions and the effective implementation of lean management. 1.5 Structure of the thesis In the coming chapters the research questions mentioned earlier will be answered. In the next chapter the institutional features of the Netherlands and the Dutch business system are discussed. In the third chapter Lean management and its characteristics are defined. Thereafter, in the fourth chapter, the fit between on the one hand lean management and on the other the institutional features and the business system in the Netherlands will be discussed. Thereafter this study is able to tell to what extent the Netherlands facilitate a societal, institutional environment to effectively implement lean management in organizations. In the last chapter the thesis is completed with a conclusion, which discusses some limitations of this study and recommendations for future research are given. 2. The Dutch institutional environment Whitley (1999) argues that institutions are significantly influenced at the national level. This chapter will make clear that nations differ from each other because of different institutional features. There are e.g. institutional differences between countries with regard to the financial system (capital-based vs. credit-based), the regulation of markets, and ownership coordination. These different institutional features have as a consequence that nations have different forms of economic organization (business system) that fit with their institutional environment. Hereafter, the existence of institutions is explained. Furthermore, a clear overview of the four crucial institutions and their features will be given and the characteristics of business systems are discussed. Lastly, the Dutch institutional features and the characteristics of the Dutch business system are identified. 2.1 The existence of institutions Why do institutions exist in the first place? According to North (1993) human beings do not make rational decisions because they make decisions based on restricted information and furthermore they do not have the mental capacity to do this. In order to be able to structure interaction between human beings and thereby lowering the transaction costs between them, people have developed institutions. Thus, they are developed by people to diminish uncertainty by constraining human interaction (North, 1993). 2.2 Four crucial institutions Whitley (1999) has identified four formal, societal institutions, which are also interconnected to each other, that are crucial for organizing an economy (see figure 2). These institutions are identified as the state, the financial system, the skill development and control system, and trust and authority relations. Whitley (1999) selected these institutions because in his view they control access to critical resources, particularly capital and labor. Some examples may show what kind of features these four institutions have in the Netherlands. Furthermore, they show how these four institutions operating at the national level affect organizations (Tempel Walgenbach, 2007). 1. According to Whitley (1999) the first important feature of the state is to what degree it dominates the economy and shares risk. This determines to what degree organizations are dependent on policies and actions of the state. Secondly, there are significant differences to what extent nations regulate markets, such as the labor market (Koen, 2005). According to van Iterson and Olie (1992) labor mobility in the Netherlands tend to be quite low because of market regulation in the labor market. They state that changing jobs often causes a pension loss and furthermore the majority of promotions are done internally, thereby reducing the labor mobility of Dutch employees. Lastly, enmity of the state to intermediary associations, which could facilitate collaboration between firms, is considered as an important feature (Whitley, 1999). 2. The second institution Whitley (1999) discusses is the financial system. He makes a distinction between capital-market based financial systems, which depend on the market to effectively allocate resources, and credit-based financial systems, which mainly depend on banks to effectively allocate resources. Although most nations more or less fit into either of these financial systems, the Dutch financial system does not fit into one of these. Like in more European countries such as Germany, not only shareholders, but also other stakeholders are taken seriously. However, it is rather unique that Dutch organizations are also depending on the relatively well-developed capital-market in the Netherlands (van Iterson Olie, 1992). Here a limitation of the business systems approach is identified, because Whitley (1999) suggests that organizations in a specific business system are largely credit financed or capital financed. In the Netherlands and in some other countries, organizations make use of a mix of credit and capital finance. 3. Whitley (1999) states that the third key institution for structuring a business system is the skill development and control system. Here attention is given to how the educational system and the training system develop skills (Koen, 2005). It also focuses on to the functioning of the labor market, in particular the way it is organized and controlled. Whitley (1999) argues that national institutions differ from each in the strength of independent trade unions and labor organizations and in the centralization of bargaining power.In the Global Competiveness Report 2010-2011, written by Schwab, the Netherlands score very high on the quality of the educational system and on the extent of staff training (Schwab, 2010). This indicates that the Netherlands have a very well educated and trained workforce. Schwab (2010) also reports that wage determination is done at a high level of centralization in the Netherlands, which is an indication for high centralization of bargaining in the Netherl ands. Lorenz and Valeyre (2005) argue that higher-level forms of coordination are still important for determining wages in the Netherlands. 4. Lastly, Whitley (1999) considers authority and trust relations as a crucial institutional feature because it influences the governance structure of organizations. Hotho (2009) states that these relations influence how employees and employers interact with each other and how exchange relations between firms are structured. Both Hotho (2009) as Snderskov (2008) argue that the level of generalized trust appears to be relatively high in the Netherlands. Meaning that Dutch people are more likely to trust each other, even if they do not know each other. A high level of generalized trust facilitates transactions between people or organizations. 2.3 Business systems approach To analyze the societal, institutional environment in the Netherlands this study makes use of the business systems approach. In academic literature this approach is used for analyzing organizations from an institutional perspective. By using this approach salient features of the Dutch business system can be identified. As mentioned earlier, a business system is seen as particular ways of organizing, controlling and directing business enterprises that become established as the dominant forms of business organization in different societies (Whitley, 1992b, p. 125). Below the features used by Whitley (1999) to distinguish business systems will be discussed (see table 1). Thereafter we will stipulate the unique characteristics of the Dutch business system. 2.3.1 Work management and employment The first characteristic is to what extent employee-employer interdependence is long-term (Whitley, 1999). The question here is whether organizations rely on the external labor market for employees or that employees are trained and have developed skills within an organization, thereby increasing interdependence on each other. The second characteristic is to what extent employers delegate decision-making to employees and to what extent employers trust in them (Whitley, 1999). 2.3.2 Non-ownership coordination The second feature is the way non-ownership activities are coordinated between organizations, thereby taking a closer look at the relationships between organizations (Whitley, 1999). Whitley (1999, p. 37) identified extent of alliance coordination of production chains, the extent of collaboration between competitors, and the extent of alliance coordination of sectors as the key characteristics of a business system concerning non-ownership coordination. 2.3.3 Ownership coordination Whitley (1999) argues that the first characteristic of ownership coordination is the way ownership is coordinated, which is about the relationship between managers and owners. Whitley (1999) identified three different ways for coordinating ownership: By direct control, organizations are controlled by their managers, who usually also are the owners. By market control, organizations are controlled by their shareholders (owners). By alliance control, in which both owners and managers are involved in taking decisions with respect to managing organizations. Koen (2005) argues that the second and the third characteristic are the degree of the organizations integration into other production chains and sectors, which basically is the degree of horizontal and vertical diversification of organizations. Characteristics Work management and employment Employer-employee interdependence Delegation to, and trust of, employees Non-ownership coordination Extent of alliance coordination of production chains Extent of collaboration between competitors Extent of alliance coordination of sectors Ownership coordination Primary means of ownership control (direct, alliance, market contracting) Extent of ownership integration of production chains Extent of ownership integration of sectors Table 1: Key characteristics of business systemsSource: Whitley (1999, p. 34) 2.4 Studies about the Dutch business system Studies have come to different conclusions about the characteristics of the Dutch business system (Brookes, Brewster Wood, 2005; Hotho, 2009; Whitley, 1999). Whitley (1999), founder of the business system approach, concluded that the Netherlands are part of the collaborative business system, which is one of the six ideal business systems identified by him. They are ideal in a sense that, because of the interconnection of business system characteristics, only six business systems are likely to sustain for a longer period because its characteristics are balanced. According to Whitley (1999) collaborative business systems organizations are characterized by alliance control, high vertical integration and limited horizontal integration. Furthermore, he stated that organizations in this business system have limited vertical alliances and few horizontal alliances, but there is a lot of collaboration between competitors. Lastly, he states that there is some employer-employee interdependence ; in addition, there is high delegation to employees and high trust of employees. Hotho (2009), although agreeing on most institutional features, does not believe that the Netherlands fit into the collaborative business system because he has found evidence that the Netherlands have different institutional features as Whitley (1999) argues. Besides that, Hotho (2009) claims to have evidence that the Dutch business system is a distinctive one and is likely to sustain for a longer period. Hothos research seems to be more credible than Whitleys with regard to the Netherlands, because Hotho investigated the Netherlands much more thoroughly than Whitley did. Furthermore, he found empirical evidence confirming these institutional features. His research is also more recent, making it more reliable. Most importantly, Whitley argues in his research that the Dutch institutional environment is very similar to the German institutional environment. Although they have many similarities, there are some major differences which are better recognized and empirically supported by Hot ho (2009). This study takes this into consideration when finding contradicting information between the two researches. 2.5 Characteristics of the Dutch business system 2.5.1 Work management and employment Hotho (2009) and Whitley (1999) both agree that the generalized trust in formal institutions is relatively high in the Netherlands. Snderskov (2008) also shows in his article that the Netherlands, together with most Scandinavian countries, have a relatively high level of trust compared to other European countries, which fits with the results of Hothos (2009) paper. Moreover, the two studies agree that Dutch employers are very willing to delegate authority to employees. According to Schwab (2010) Dutch employers have a high willingness to delegate authority to employees; in fact, the Netherlands belong to the top five countries. Brookes et al. (2005) argue that in the Netherlands there is some employee-employer interdependence. However, this study concludes that there is a considerable commitment to each other. Firstly, according to Schwab (2010) the Netherlands have an excellent education and training system which according to Whitley (1999) has a positive influence on the employee-employer interdependence. Higher skilled employees are less easily replaced by new ones because of their acquired specialized skills. Secondly, Hotho (2009) argues that in the Netherlands unions are strong and thereby enhance the development of long-term interdependency of employees and employers. Lastly, van Iterson and Olie (1992) state that commitment and loyalty to an organization is rewarded in the Netherlands, which also increases employee-employer interdependence. However, employer-employee interdependence is not as high as in countries such as Japan, where it is normal for employees to stay at the same company all their w orking life. 2.5.2 Non-ownership coordination Alliance forms, both horizontally as vertically, are not common in the Netherlands according to Whitley (1999). He argues that in general, alliance forms are discouraged by a dominant and risk-sharing state because this threatens state dominance. Van Iterson and Olie (1992) and Klaver and Ypma (2006) show that state involvement and risk sharing in the Netherlands has always been low because of the consensus-based approach and international focus of Dutch organizations, thereby encouraging alliance forms. This is not consistent with the findings of Whitley (1999), who believes that in collaborative business systems there is considerable state dominance. However, the research of van Iterson and Olie (1992) seems to be a more reliable since it is much more focused on the specific institutional environment in the Netherlands. Besides that, Whitley (1999) acknowledges that high trust in formal institutions encourages alliance forms, as organizations are better able to rely on their commit ments to each other because they have trust in the institutions that oversee these commitments. In accordance with Whitley (1999), Snderskov (2008) argues that the general trust of Dutch citizens in formal institutions is high. Steijn (2001) argues that there are some alliance forms in the Netherlands, but that the number is growing steadily. Poot, Faems and Vanhaverbeke (2009) validate that the number of horizontal and vertical collaborations between is increasing. However, with empirical evidence they show that there is considerable vertical collaboration in the Netherlands nowadays. As in the case of collaboration between competitors, an increasing trend is found in the Netherlands (Steijn, 2001; Poot et al., 2009). Whitley (1999) argues that collaboration between competitors in the Netherlands is high because the Dutch institutional environment encourages collaboration between competitors. 2.5.3 Ownership coordination Hotho (2009) has shown in his paper that in the Dutch state is not dominant and has low willingness to share risk. Van Iterson and Olie (1992) argue that high trade and export and the consensus-based approach in the Netherlands have kept Dutch state dominance low. Furthermore, Hotho (2009) has shown that the strength and incorporation of intermediaries is considerable in the Netherlands. Van Iterson and Olie (1992) argue that there is considerable vertical and horizontal ownership integration in Dutch organizations, but it is quite instable. The Dutch structure of the economy is characterized by few, but very big multinationals complemented with an enormous number of small firms and very few medium-sized enterprises, thereby causing an instable environment for organizations to integrate ownership in other production chains and sectors (van Iterson Olie, 1992). The information in the literature on the formal regulation of markets is contradicting. Whitley (1999) argues that there is high market regulation in the collaborative Dutch business system. However, Hotho (2009) has found evidence for low market regulation in the Netherlands. In contrast, Schwab (2010) shows that there is some or maybe considerable market regulation. The Global Competiveness Report 2010-2011, written by Schwab, appears the most reliable source since it based on multiple indicators (Schwab, 2010). The Dutch labor and financial market are quite regulated, whereas the state regulations give a lot of freedom to the Dutch organizations. An overview is given in table 2. Characteristics Degree Work management and employment Employer-employee interdependence Considerable (declining) Delegation to, and trust of, employees High Non-ownership coordination Extent of alliance coordination of production chains Considerable (growing) Extent of collaboration between competitors Some (growing) Extent of alliance coordination of sectors Some (growing) Ownership coordination Primary means of ownership control (direct, alliance, market contracting) Alliance Extent of ownership integration of production chains Some/Considerable (instable) Extent of ownership integration of sectors Some/Considerable (instable) Table 2: Key characteristics of business systems of the Dutch business system 3. Lean management Nowadays lean management is a well known production philosophy all over the world. The development of lean management started in the famous Toyota Motor Company. Thereafter, Japan got acquainted with it and later the rest of the world. In short, lean management is about reducing waste as much as possible and about doing things simple and thereby constantly improving those things (Slack et al., 2007). 3.1 A definition of lean management Although lean management has its roots in the car industry and therefore is extensively being used in the manufacturing industry, Womack, Jones and Roos (1990) argue that lean management can be applied anywhere in the world. Because of its fundamental ideas with regard to managing operations, lean can also be seen as a philosophy which can be implemented in other countries, industries and businesses. It thereby shows the relevance of this study, since it investigates the role of institutions in the effective implementation of lean management in the Netherlands. It also shows the confusion concerning the different terminology with regard to lean. In their search for a clear definition for lean management Shah and Ward (2007) argue that the lean philosophy and the lean production method are not similar. They state that the lean philosophy is more about the theoretical principles of lean, which are mutually reinforcing, whereas the production method is about practical tools and techniqu es, e.g. JIT, which are visible in an organization (Shah Ward, 2007). Since this study investigates the fit between the Dutch institutional environment and the characteristics of lean management, it will focus more on the principles of lean philosophy/management. In other words, the study focuses more on the lean philosophy instead of the lean production method. This study therefore needs to identify salient characteristics of lean management in order to be able to compare it with the Dutch institutional features. Studies have used many descriptions for defining lean (Shah Ward, 2007). Shah and Ward (2007) argue that ambiguity in defining lean is caused by its long evolvement. Furthermore, they state that it is often mistaken with other approaches and that there is a disagreement over the exact content of lean management. In search for a suitable definition for lean management, Warnecke and Hser (1995, p. 38) came up with the following definition: a system of measures and methods which when taken all together have the potential to bring about a lean and therefore particular competitive state throughout the entire company. 3.2 Key elements of lean management 3.2.1 Elimination of waste According to Harrison (1992) the three key elements of the lean philosophy are: elimination of waste, involvement of everyone, and continuous improvement. Harrison (1992) argues that elimination of waste is the most important aspect of the lean philosophy. According to the lean philosophy eliminating waste is similar to eliminating everything which does not add value to a product, process or service. According to Hines and Rich (1997) important sources of waste are inventory, waiting time, transportation, inappropriate processing, over production, unnecessary motions, and defectives. Inventory e.g., is seen as a source of waste since it only adds costs and no value. Furthermore, problems will not immediately appear and throughput time is slow if inventory is high. By eliminating waste, all activities that do not add value for the costumer are eliminated. Hereby organizations remove activities that the costumer is not willing to pay for, which in the end saves costs for the organizati on (Sahoo, Singh, Shankar Tiwari, 2008). Furthermore, Womack and Jones (1996) argue that by eliminating waste the flow of goods or services is increased, allowing a lean organization to faster respond to changing customer demands, thereby making it also more flexible. 3.2.2 Continuous improvement Secondly, continuous improvement of products and processes, also known as kaizen, is argued to be of crucial importance (Harrison, 1992). Bhuiyan and Baghel (2005) see it as a culture in which everyone is involved to make improvements in order to eliminate waste in all parts of the organization. In this culture, performance targets are then also increased, making it necessary to keep improving. Bhasin and Burcher (2006) therefore argue that the ideal of continuous improvement is also the reason why many authors have stressed the point that implementation of lean management in an organization takes time. Continuously improving will eventually lead to improved quality. In lean management, it is essential that these quality improvements are perceived as added value by the customer. 3.2.3 Involvement of everyone Thirdly, everyone in a lean organization is encouraged and involved to look for improvements and tackle problems, with the goal of (continuous) improvement of processes and products and the elimination of waste. Employees are expected to think actively about solutions of encountered problems. Cappelli and Rogovski (1998) argue that employee involvement is increased by giving employees more responsibilities and authority, which is important in a lean organization to e.g. tackle problems instantly. They also have the opportunity to give suggestions for improvements. Hereby the organization hopes that employees in a lean organization are more committed to their organization. Training and skill development encourages employees to be more involved in team-based problem solving and doing multiple tasks, making them more skilful and flexible. However, not only employees are involved, also suppliers and customers are involved in a lean organization to improve operations and eliminate waste. 3.3 Implementation of lean management Bhasin and Burcher (2006) state that numerous academic articles have found empirical evidence for the increased competitiveness of organizations after the lean philosophy was implemented. However, they also state that implementing the lean philosophy is experienced as very difficult, which resulted in the low rates of successful implementation. According to Liker (2004) the lean philosophy is a way of thinking, in which workers are the most valuable resource of an organization. In an organization where lean management is being implemented, workers should no longer be seen as a pair of hands, but as analyzers and problem solvers (Liker, 2004). Scherrer-Rathje, Boyle and Deflorin (2009) argue that implementing the lean philosophy, the human side of lean, is a long-term process which requires full involvement of both managers as employees. If managers are not committed to the lean philosophy, chances of failure increase dramatically (Scherrer-Rathje et al., 2009). Hence, successfully im plementing lean management is highly dependent on the involvement and commitment of everyone in the organization. 3.4 Coordination characteristics of lean management 3.4.1 Delegation of authority to employees Delegation of authority to employees is considered as an important factor of successful implementing lean management in an organization (Scherrer-Rathje et al., 2009). Fairris and Tohyama (2002) argue that giving employees more responsibility should lead to quality improvements of products and higher productivity. Employees with more delegated autonomy will develop unique knowledge in their work field and are therefore better able to tackle problems in their work field than their managers. This idea of delegating authority to employees is crucial for the lean philosophy. Furthermore, it is widely recognized that multifunctional teams are important in the lean philosophy (hlstrm, 1998). In a lean organization, employees working in a team should be capable of performing multiple tasks in this team and even take over work from other team members. Each team is responsible for their work and they are therefore given some form of authority by their managers. It is therefore clear that not only at an individual level, but more importantly on a team level, employees are delegated authority in order to improve productivity and reduce waste. 3.4.2 Training of employees Part of the lean philosophy is constantly improving operations, which will lead to quality improvements. It is essential in the lean philosophy that these quality improvements add value for the costumer. Zu, Fredendall and Douglas (2008) argue that highly trained employees will most likely improve operations and thereby add value to products, services, and processes. Zu et al. (2008) found empirical evidence that highly trained employees had more awareness of quality related issues and they were able to make better decisions. Furthermore, lean management is known as a flexible production method. It allows organizations to be more flexible in reacting to the demands of costumers and to the changing circumstances in the economic environment, which eventually reduces waste. According to Fane, Vaghefi, van Deusen and Woods (2003) argue that organizations can be more flexible, when they have cross-trained employees who are able to perform multiple tasks. Fane et al. (2003) argue that employees must be highly trained and skilled in order to be able to perform multiple tasks in the organization. Besides that, employees in a lean organization should be able to identify and resolve existing and emerging problems, which will help to reduce waste (Vidal, 2007). In order to do this, organizations should have highly trained and skilled employees who are able to do this. 3.4.3 Supplier networks In lean management it is important to have tight relations with your suppliers and customers. It is of crucial importance for a lean organization to have reliable, trustable suppliers where it can depend on (Bhasin Burcher, 2006; Shah Ward, 2007). Information sharing between the supplier and the lean organization is very important to effectively cooperate. Lean organizations coerce that they are being supplied with flawless goods or services that meet the requirements of the organization (Warnecke and Hser, 1995). On the one hand it will therefore focus on fewer suppliers; on the other hand this will result in tight long-term relationships with them, thereby increasing involvement between the supplier and the lean organization. It will then not only be able to (continuously) improve collaboration with its suppliers, but the organization will then also be able to reduce or eliminate waste by this improved collaboration. The lean organization is e.g. able to reduce waiting time of su pplies and avoid unnecessary inventory by better coordinating the flow of supplies, so that they will come at the right place, at the right time. Furthermore, by tightly collaborating requirements of the supplies can be continuously improved to the ever increasing standards of the lean organization, resulting in a reduced amount of defects. Besides that, through intensive cooperation with its suppliers, a lean organization is able to ensure itself already in the design state of a service or good of a functional, reliable and simple design (Levy, 1997). Intensive collaboration and coordination with the supplier will in the end lead to increased customer-value in the final product through elimination of waste, involvement of everyone, and continuous improvement. 4. The role of the Dutch business system in effectively implementing lean management In this chapter, the features of the Dutch business system are linked to the characteristics of lean management. First, an introduction about the Dutch society with respect to lean management is given. After that, this study shows to what extent the features of the Dutch business system fit with the characteristics of lean management. 4.1 Introduction In Dutch organizations learning is promoted, which makes them very responsive to environmental changes (Lorenz Valeyre, 2005). This is also necessary in the Netherlands, because it is a small and open economy. Furthermore, Schwab (2010) argues that Dutch organizations are very competitive because of their unique capability to absorb new technologies that increase productivity, thereby making the Netherlands one of the most competitive countries in the world. Bhasin and Burcher (2006) indicate that lean management, if implemented with complete commitment, increases productivity spectacularly. Most likely Dutch organizations will not have major implementation problems with lean management, because they are experienced in adapting and learning. What further highlights the Netherlands is its consensual decision-making, also known as the polder model. The aim of the polder model is to reduce state regulation through consensual agreements (Klaver Ypma, 2006). Consensus is highly valued in the Netherlands and therefore also in Dutch organizations, which has resulted in a lot of compromises (van Iterson, 1997). According to Liker (2004) Toyota, the company in which lean management was invented, also extensively uses consensual decision-making to come to quality decisions. Everyone involved in the decision-making process can first give their opinion about it. After all opinions have been taken into consideration most likely a consensual decision will be taken at Toyota. At Toyota consensus is reached in a slightly different manner as in the Netherlands, but both Dutch organizations as Toyota trust on consensual decision-making to come a quality decision. This again shows that implementation of lean management in Dutch organizati ons could have a future. In the next part, this study investigates the fit between lean management and the Dutch business system more thoroughly. 4.2 Fit between the Dutch business system and lean management First of all, it should be noted that not every feature of the business system will extensively be linked to lean management because of the lack of relevance. Therefore this part of the thesis will look at the relevant features of the business system that can be linked to the characteristics of lean management. 4.2.1 Work management and employment vs. lean management As mentioned before, Liker (2004) argues that in the lean philosophy workers are seen as the most important resource. Also in the Netherlands, where considerable employer-employee interdependence is present, employees are regarded as a very important resource. Workers in a lean environment should be capable of doing multiple tasks and work in multifunctional teams. In these teams they are delegated relatively much autonomy from management in decision making and problem solving. Lean organizations are in need of highly trained and skilled employees who are able to work according to this philosophy (Fane et al., 2003). There appears to be a fit with the Dutch institutional environment, which has an excellent educational and training system, so that Dutch organizations have access to highly skilled workers (Schwab, 2010). Besides that, Schwab (2010) shows that Dutch employees are to a considerable extent trained further within the organization, resulting in well-trained workers. Zu et a l. (2008) argue that well-trained workers will most likely improve operations, which is essential in lean management. Lorenz and Valeyre (2005) and Schwab (2010) indicate that the Dutch labor market is quite regulated. The restricted labor market has led to low labor mobility in the Netherlands (Van Iterson Olie, 1992). The state has constrained labor mobility by imposed laws; laws that e.g. induce pension loss in case you change jobs or make it difficult and expensive to fire personnel have caused labor mobility to be low. This has supported Dutch organizations to invest in skills and training for their personnel. All together, this also has led to considerable employer-employee interdependence in the Netherlands. Besides that, the imposed laws that constrain the labor market have led to a relatively high job security for employees in the Netherlands. This results in the long run in more employee commitment and involvement in the companys goals (Dessler, 1999). Schrerrer-Rathje et al. (2009) emphasize that implementing lean management is a long-term process which requires full involvement and com mitment of everyone. It therefore appears personnel who enjoy relatively high job security are better suited to work in lean organizations (Womack et al., 1990). Furthermore, delegating responsibility to employees is crucial to effectively implement lean management (Scherrer-Rathje, 2009). Fairris and Tohyama (2002) argue that more responsibility should lead to increased productivity and quality improvements. Schwab (2010) has found evidence that Dutch employers have a high willingness to delegate authority to employees. Also Lorenz and Valeyre (2005) argue that most Dutch organizations demand high levels of autonomy and competence from their employees to solve problems and deal with complex tasks. Furthermore, a high level of trust is present, which is necessary for organizing work this way. This again is an indication that Dutch organizations have an institutional environment to effectively implement lean management. 4.2.2 Non-ownership coordination vs. Lean supplier networks In lean management it is important to effectively cooperate with suppliers. Womack et al, (1990) already pointed out that Toyota, the company that invented lean management, did not want to vertically integrate fully with its suppliers, but it also did not want completely independent suppliers. To effectively implement lean management in Toyota, it needed quasi-independent suppliers (Womack et al., 1990). This way Toyota could closely cooperate with their suppliers. Moreover, in lean management it is of high importance to develop supplier relations by collaborating and making alliances (London Kenley, 2001). To achieve these collaborations and alliances with suppliers, trust is required (London Kenley, 2001). As indicated before, a high level of trust is present in the Dutch society, making it more likely that these collaborations and alliances are achievable. Poot et al. (2009) has indeed found an increasing trend in the amount of vertical collaborations in the Netherlands. Besides that, Schwab (2010) indicates that the quality of local suppliers in the Netherlands is very high, making successful collaborations more likely. All these factors reinforce the successful implementation of lean management in the Netherlands. However, more vertical collaboration is needed to improve implementation of lean management in Dutch organizations. This will eventually lead to more clusters and subsequently increased productivity. In Japan, where lean management has been developed, cluster development is the highest of the world (Dutta Mia, 2009). Dutta and Mia (2009) argue that cluster development in the Netherlands is rather high, but not as high as Japan. In this aspect, the Netherlands do not have the most effective institutional environment for lean management. Furthermore, alliances with competitors are getting increasingly important in the Netherlands, but the number of horizontal collaborations is not very high (Poot et al., 2009). In lean organizations it is not uncommon to work together with your competitors. In the automobile manufacturing industry, in which the lean philosophy has been successfully implemented, there are multiple collaborations between competitors (Perez Sanchez, 2002). E.g., BMW and PSA (Peugeot and Citron) have collaborated in the development of a new engine. Furthermore, information sharing and being transparent is meaningful in a lean organization. Lean organizations do not believe that keeping unique information will lead to a sustainable advantage, but rather that successful collaborations are the key to keep a sustainable advantage. Alliances, not only with suppliers and customers, but also with its competitors are important to a lean organization. However, it should be stated that vertical collaborations are more important to a lean organization than horizontal collaborations because the organization will benefit more from these collaborations in the long run, since they are in the same value chain (Hitt, Ireland Hoskisson, 2009). Clusters facilitate effective implementation of lean management in organizations. Collaborations between sectors are not done in these clusters, because they belong to different clusters or networks, and are therefore rather uncommon in the Netherlands and in lean organizations. However, the invention of the Senseo is an example of this. The product has been developed by a collaboration between Philips and Douwe Egberts, which belong to completely different sectors. 4.2.3 Ownership coordination vs. Lean supplier networks Like Japan, where lean management has been invented, the Netherlands has a form of alliance control to coordinate ownership between owners and managers (Whitley, 1999). Just as in the case of Toyota, the use of consensus is conventional in the Dutch organizations. Shareholders should reach a consensus with stakeholders, in order to be able to come to a decision. In this aspect, the Netherlands have a comparable institutional environment as Japan, where lean management has been successfully implemented. The few, but very large businesses in the Netherlands, are mainly responsible for the instable vertical and horizontal integration in the Netherlands. However, empirical data about the exact degree of horizontal and vertical integration in the Netherlands are missing in the existing literature. In lean management collaboration is more important than integration. Therefore the degree of horizontal and vertical integration should not be too high, so that lean organizations are able to concentrate on its core competences. However, there is still some integration in lean organizations, especially in the form of cross-shareholding. This is rather uncommon in the Netherlands, which is caused by the restricting laws imposed by the government. Hostile takeovers are rare in the Netherlands and furthermore the Dutch Competition Authority is very strict in safeguarding healthy competition in the Netherlands (Roosenboom van der Goot, 2003). Takeovers and mergers are therefore carefully being ob served, to prevent that organizations become too powerful. Although, it should be stated that the relative number of mergers and acquisitions in the Netherlands is still higher than in most EU countries, in which the relatively well-developed capital market plays a role. 5. Discussion This concluding chapter draws conclusions and discusses some limitations. Thereafter the chapter makes suggestions for future research and it provides some recommendations. 5.1. Conclusions From this thesis it can be concluded that the Netherlands facilitate a societal, institutional environment to effectively implement lean management. Not all features of the Dutch business system match the characteristics of lean management, but overall most features of the business system are in line with the characteristics of the Dutch business system. Firstly, the human side of lean is in line with the Dutch institutional environment, which is the basis for the organization of an economy. The organization of the Dutch economy, with regard to employment relations and work management fits very well to the characteristics of lean management. Employer-employee interdependence is rather high in the Netherlands. Also delegation to employees and trust of employees is very high in the Netherlands. These features are of high importance to effectively implement lean management because employees should be able to tackle problems, solve problems and work in multifunctional teams with a rather high degree of delegated authority. These features of the Dutch business system are mainly being supported by the highly developed skill and training system, considerable regulation of the labor market by the state, and reliable trust relations in the Netherlands. Secondly, long-term reliable alliances are necessary to effectively implement lean management, especially alliances with customers and suppliers. By tightly collaborating waste can be eliminated, problems can be tackled and solved, and quality can be improved. The degree of vertical collaboration in the Netherlands should improve to better fit with lean management. Although, it should be stated that the degree of vertical collaboration is quickly growing in the Netherlands, just as the degree of horizontal collaboration and the degree of collaboration between sectors. It is necessary that these degrees of collaboration increase in the Netherlands, so that lean management can be implemented more effectively from an institutional perspective. However, with the current degrees of collaboration in the Netherlands it is not insurmountable to effectively implement lean management. Furthermore, Steijn (2001) argues that collaboration is getting more structural in the Netherlands, which posi tively influences effective implementation of lean management. According to Whitley (1999) the well-developed trust relations and the low state dominance and risk sharing of the state in the Netherlands should support alliances. The way to coordinate ownership does not seem to be important for the effective implementation of lean management. Although, it has to be recognized that e.g. Toyota and other Japanese companies have an alliance form to coordinate ownership, just as all Dutch companies have. So there appears to be a fit between that. Furthermore, we conclude that horizontal and vertical integration are not that important anymore in the Dutch business system, the emphasis nowadays is on collaborating. Just as in lean organizations, the emphasis is on collaborating and not on integration. However, there is still some vertical and horizontal integration present in lean organizations and in Dutch organizations. 5.2 Limitations The primary limitation of this thesis is that it is solely based on secondary data; no research has been conducted on the influence of business systems on the effective implementation of lean management in Dutch organizations. Using primary data would make this study more reliable. Furthermore, research about the extent of horizontal and vertical integration in the Netherlands is very scarce, thereby making it difficult to draw conclusions with regard to this aspect. Besides that, it is hard to measure to what extent the Dutch business system and Dutch institutions influence the degree of ownership integration because ownership integration is not limited by national borders and is therefore also dependent on other national institutional environments, while this research focuses on the Dutch institutional environment. It is not uncommon that ownership integration in the Netherlands goes across borders, because it is a small and open economy. The same problem applies to the degree of collaborations. Besides that, the thesis is quite dependent on the findings of Whitleys (1999) business systems approach. It therefore depends heavily on the features of a business system and the institutions identified by Whitley. Although the approach is widely recognized and published, not that many academic authors have made contributions to this approach. Furthermore, there are contradicting findings with regard to the Dutch institutional environment, making it hard to get a clear view of it. 5.3 Future research and recommendations Little research has been done in this field of investigation, thereby making this thesis an exploratory study. Therefore a lot of future research is necessary to get a better picture of the Dutch institutional environment and the features of the Dutch business system. In particular, more research is needed with regard to vertical and horizontal ownership integration in the Netherlands. Then more reliable conclusions could be drawn about the effective implementation of lean management in the Netherlands. Furthermore, lean management researches in the Netherlands that focus on industries and sectors are abundant; however, research about lean management in the Netherlands as a whole is very scarce and is in need of future research. If lean management is effectively implemented it increases competitiveness (Bhasin Burcher, 2006). This thesis concludes that organizations should definitely consider implementing lean management because the institutional environment in the Netherlands facilitates its effective implementation. Organizations should recognize that the way the Dutch economy is organized in the Netherlands positively influences the effective implementation of lean management and it could thereby increase competitiveness.

John Donne s The Good Morrow - 2527 Words

John Donne wrote â€Å"The Good Morrow† was written in 1633, and it was part of John Donne’s famous â€Å"Songs and Sonnets which was consider the corner stone of his career. Donne was a very passionate writer when it came to his love poems. He was born in London in 1572 and educated in many subjects and it showed in his poems with his very strong imagery, puns, and paradoxes. He was considered one of the best metaphysical writers ever. He liked to show his vast array of knowledge in many of his works. His love poems were a little different from his later works when he became a preacher. His earlier love poems were very passionate and dramatic it seemed to express how extreme his youthful years were. Donne was said to be part of many sexual rumors during his youth, and the audience he wrote could see that in his poem. Donne’s early life he was branded as an outsider and it did not really change throughout his life; his place in society seemed to jump around all his life from passionate bachelor to a preacher. His current status in life seemed to influence his work tremendously. Looking at his life it tells us that youth is the part of life that the idea of love is mainly concentrated during this time. Later in his life he seems to settle down with his ideas on love, and his ideas of love become more subtle. Even though Donne has study the sequences in the love poems and sonnets of Petrarchan. He has chosen a different style when writing his love poems, instead of writing about everyShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of John Donne s The Good Morrow And Judith Wright s Woman1499 Words   |  6 Pages John Donne’s The Good Morrow and Judith Wright’s Woman to Man explore the key idea of passionate love through the appreciative tone of voice. In the opening stanza, Donne’s rhetorical question of ‘Were we not weaned till then?’ refers to how he is awaking with his lover by his side, which establishes the setting of their bedroom; whilst the hyperbole deliberately exaggerates how they were supposedly naà ¯ve and childlike before falling in love. The alliteration here serves a similar effect to emphasisRead More Light and Sight in The Good-Morrow Essay902 Words   |  4 Pages Light and Sight in The Good-Morrownbsp;nbsp; John Donne’s poetry deals with themes of creation and discovery. In his work The Good-Morrow, these issues are discussed through the use of poetic symbols. Donne gives major emphasis to the sense of sight as a way of discovering pure love. The first stanza contains images of sleep and, more generally, the ways in which one’s eyes can be closed to the world. Donne uses phrases like not weaned (2), childishly (3), and dream (7), to suggestRead MorePoems with Theme with Life and Death and Their Analysis8446 Words   |  34 Pagesconventions, which developed gradually over centuries, pastoral elegists mourn a subject by representing the mourner and the subject as shepherds in a pastoral setting. The most famous example of the pastoral elegy is Lycidas (1638), by the English poet John Milton. (In music the term elegy is frequently applied to a mournful composition.) Origins and Development: Before language was written, it was spoken. The earliest religious songs and incantations were in poetic form. The same was true of storiesRead MoreSustaining the Innovation Process: the Case of Rolls-Royce Plc13942 Words   |  56 Pagesenables the company to compete in the high-thrust turbofan market as one of the â€Å"Big Three†, along with US-based General Electric Aircraft Engines and Pratt Whitney. The technological foundation of Rolls-Royce’s competitive advantage is the RB211’s unique â€Å"three-shaft† architecture that the company began developing in the last half of 1960s. The initial attempt to develop the RB211 for the Lockheed L-1011 jumbo jet, however, drove Rolls-Royce into bankruptcy in February 1971. Yet, as a nationalised

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place. by Ernest Hemingway Essay

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place reflect Hemingways views on the loss of faith and hummanity in the world. He wrote this short story after experiencing the horrors of World War I. Hemingway, like a lot of other writers during his time, was forever affected by the war. His experiences left hime filled with doubt. Hemingway constructed a story to express his emotions of emptiness and loss that he felt as a result of the war. The story includes characters that serve as vessels for his own emotions. He incorporates various literary techniques throughout his short story that emulate his feelings of loneliness and loss of faith. The main characters in the story are constantly wrestling with the emptiness they feel, and they desperately search†¦show more content†¦For the older waitor and the old man, the cafe is their escape from nothingness. The cafe is vibrant and clean, which has order and clarity. Darkness and chaos are associated with nothingness. The cafe represents the polar opp osite of darkness so it serves as a refuge for those who are trying to escape emptiness and despair, namely the old man and the older waiter. The older waiter contrasts the cafe with bars saying that bars are noisy, dark and unpolished (143). He complains that he cant sit at a bar or even stand before a bar with dignity (144). The noisy unclean bars do not extinguish the despair like the cafe does. Hemingway also incorporates a recurring motif of lonliness throughout the story. The old man is deaf, and his wife has died. He is visibly lonely and frequents the cafe to escape or to temporarily forget his lonliness. The older waiter never actually admits that he is lonely, but he is very similar to the old man in that he likes to sit in cafes late at night (143-44). Both characters find solace in sitting in the cafes because it provides an escaape for them. They are able to sit in a peaceful setting which for them is better than being alone. The older waiter tells the younger one that the cafe provides for all those [people] that need a light for the night (144). The older waiter realizes that the cafe gives purpose to the old man and even to himself. The cafe allows them to momentraily forget about theirShow MoreRelatedA Clean Well-Lighted Place, by Ernest Hemingway990 Words   |  4 Pages Ernest Hemingway’s short story, A Clean Well Lighted Place, created literary controversy when it was initially published in 1933. During this time, there were several literary critics concerned with the dialogue inconsistencies. In the original story, the reader would not be able to distinguish between the two waiters. Hemingway failure to identify the characters by name leaves the story flawed according to the literary critics. Hemingway does not go into the mind of any characters butRead MoreA Clean, Well Lighted Place By Ernest Hemingway1640 Words   |  7 Pages â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† is possibly one of Hemingway’s most excel lent short stories. It depicts the techniques of his signature writing style. The narrative is a perfect example of an initiation story, a short story that focuses on the key character that comes across a concept, encounter, practice or knowledge he never knew. The characters in his story are the old man, young waiter, and the old waiter. Hemingway employs a number of literary tools in the story to convey his themes of lifeRead MoreA Clean, Well Lighted Place By Ernest Hemingway1034 Words   |  5 PagesErnest Hemingway developed his own style of writing and follows it in â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place†. Hemingway’s elegance in writing is such that he indirectly gives all of the information to the reader without making any judgment; thus allowing one to create an opinion about every minute detail of the story. Hemingway illustrates his foundations of writing in â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† by providing small clues that provide an indirect view of the larger meaning. Hemingway illustrates one ofRead MoreA Clean, Well Lighted Place By Ernest Hemingway1950 Words   |  8 Pageseverything humanity values in life is utterly meaningless. The author Ernest Hemingway is one of the few people who understands this concept of a pointless life. In his short story, â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,† Hemingway reveals the principle of existentialism, that life is inherently meaningless and people must attempt to give their own lives purpose, through an analysis of the inner workings of life as a human. Hemingway first reveals life’s meaningless nature through a description of the coreRead MoreA Clean, Well Lighted Place By Ernest Hemingway1628 Words   |  7 PagesIn Ernest Hemingway’s â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† the use of plot, symbolism, characters, and theme creates an intricate and complex story line. The elements of plot keep the readers engaged by guiding the reader though the story. Hemingway emphasizes on despair, loneliness, and isolation as major themes in his short story to help the reader understand the main idea. The themes represent the challenge of finding meaning in life. He also challenges the reader’s understanding of compassion thoughRead MoreA Clean, Well Lighted Place By Ernest Hemingway1024 Words   |  5 PagesWhen profound emotions and heartfelt experiences lay beneath a narrative subtext, a simple short story can become an elaborate puzzle where one continues to discover new pieces. Ernest Hemingway’s, â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† is a fascinating short story that has a powerful theme of ‘nothingness’ and ‘loneliness’ enveloped beneath its dialogue. This short story’s re-readability pulls us, the reader, back into its’ text just to discover that a specific character’s dialogue could elude to yet anotherRead MoreA Clean, Well Lighted Place By Ernest Hemingway1854 Words   |  8 PagesErnest Hemingway is a noble prize winner that is noticed as one of the great American twentieth century writers, and is known for works like â€Å"The Sun Also Rises† and â€Å"For Whom the Bell Tolls†. When first reading Ernest Hemingway’s short story â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† it seemed to be a plain, emotionless, and almost not finished short story. Although, as the reader looks deeper into the short story, they realize it’s not just about a clean, quiet, well lighted cafà © that has two employees thatRe ad MoreA Clean, Well Lighted Place By Ernest Hemingway972 Words   |  4 Pagesin a Clean, Well-Lighted Place Despair is an emotion that can rob one’s joy, inner peace, and eventually, life. The desire for serenity is usually sought after by a person whose life is futile and is at his or her wit’s end. That individual is usually left with no other alternative but to come to the realization that if he or she fails at his or her attempts (such as suicide) to alleviate despair, then the opportunity of finding peace and comfort is an alternative worth pursuing. In Ernest Hemingway’sRead MoreA Clean, Well Lighted Place By Ernest Hemingway849 Words   |  4 Pagesin life, and try to make rational existing in an irrational universe. The fact that humans are conscious of their mortality, and must make decisions about their life is basically what existentialism is all about. In the story â€Å"A clean, Well-lighted place† by Ernest Hemingway was about two waiters waiting to close up the restaurant/cafà © for the night. They only had one customer left, an old man who wa s deaf and drunk. But he wasn’t causing any trouble, just keeping to himself. The two waiters apparentlyRead More Nothingness in A Clean Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway1369 Words   |  6 PagesNothingness in A Clean Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway Man is often plagued by the question of his own existence. Existentialism is a subjective philosophy that is centered upon the examination of man’s existence, emphasizing the liberation, responsibility, and usually the solitude of the individual. It focuses on individuals finding a reason for living within themselves. The philosophy forces man to make choices for himself, on the premise that nothing is preordained, there is no fate

Interview With George Phillips, A Professor At The...

I conducted an interview with George Phillips, a sociology professor at the University of Central Florida. I held the interview on Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at Noon. I chose to interview him because my topic deals with the interactions of people and studying their social behaviors which is a sociology topic. I emailed him to ask him for a time to interview and then set up the interview for a time while I wasn’t working and that he said would work for him. I made sure I had permission to record the interview and then sat down with him to get his responses. I asked 5 questions on his opinions of student’s social habits in relation to video streaming. We discussed how he has seen student’s social lives change because of the availability of†¦show more content†¦The Class of 2019 page has over 9,000 members and since it requires a knights mail account it guarantees these participants are students. The Greek life groups also are all students which gave me even m ore results that I needed. I received 99 responses but 2 responses were from outside my target demographic so I used the tool Survey Monkey offers to delete their responses. I had ten questions that I asked. I asked their age so that I could decide if they were the right demographic for my study. I asked what video streaming websites they belonged to or used. I also asked the hours a day they spend on television and the hours they spend with friends, as well as if they watched television alone or with a friend. I asked if they watched similar television shows to their friends, as well as if they would prefer to go out with a friend or to watch Netflix. Finally I asked what device they use to watch Netflix along with how many episodes in a row they usually watch. I wanted easy quick questions so that I didn’t take up too much of my respondent’s time. I included an â€Å"Other† option because some of the questions I knew could have answers I was unaware of. The in formation I gathered in the survey was to see what college student’s television streaming habits were like so that I could analyze them. Strengths and Limitations I had a few limitations with my survey. For a while I struggled to get responses until I asked my friends to post the link in their Greek

Stanley Milgram Obedience Experiments

Question: Discuss about the Stanley Milgram Obedience Experiments. Answer: Introduction: Obedience is stated as one of the basic elements in the structure of social life. Obedience is considered as an important determinant of human behaviour that helps in analysing the psychology of the referred person (Haslam, Loughnan Perry, 2014). In order to analyse the rate of obedience and the inclination of obedience among the people, various experiments have been conducted that would help in analysing the behavioural aspects of humans (Haslam, et al., 2015). In this essay, Milgrams experiment of behavioural obedience has been taken into consideration. The procedure, findings and analysis of the experiment is analysed in this particular essay. The second part of the essay deals with related studies that has been conducted based on the principles of Milgrams experiment. The essay further analyses the scope of future studies related in this field that would help in attaining variations in the field of psychology. Main findings of original study Stanley Milgram has conducted an experiment that helps in analysing the aspect of obedience among 40 men. This experiment has been conducted at Yale University in the year 1963. The participants for this experiment have been selected by inviting volunteers from the research through newspaper advertising for male participants. The participants were paid $4.50 for volunteering in the experiment (Bgue, et al., 2015). Milgram had chosen 40 males among the age of 25-50 years. Occupation was not considered as a barrier for the selection of the experiment. Each person was introduced to a confederate in the experiment. Purposely, the victim was chosen as the teacher in the experiment to be conducted whereas, the confederate was chosen as the learner (Haslam, et al., 2015). The procedure of the experiment was that, the learner in the experiment would be strapped in an electric chair, where the learner would be receiving electrical shocks. The teacher would be asking a list of word pairs given to the learner to learn. Four options would be provided to them. For every wrong answer given to the teacher, the learner would receive a electric shock. Control of the shock would be under the teacher itself, where he would be provided with a range of electric buttons ranging from 15 to 450 volts. The learner purposely provided the teacher with wrong answers, to which the teacher had to give him shocks. When the teacher refused to administer a shock to the learner, the experimenter had given him a series of prods, where he was plainly ordered to continue with the experiment conducted (Miller, 2014). Milgram had conducted such an experiment to show how the people had responded with respect to orders being formulated to them. According to the experiment, the dependent measure in order to analyse the level of obedience n the person is the maximum shock which he administers before refusing to go any further. A subject, who breaks of the experiment in between at any point, is known as defiant in nature. Others who continue to obey is known as the obedient subject (Hollander, 2015). After the conduction of the experiment, it could be concluded that ordinary people are accustomed to follow the orders that are given to them. Obedience to the authority is one of the most important aspects in our life. Our behavioural system in instructed in such a manner where going against the authority is not considered as something that is not appropriate in nature. People tend to obey orders from other people if they recognize their authority as morally right and / or legally based. This response to legitimate authority is learned in a variety of situations, for example in the family, school and workplace. Several experiment based on Milgram experiment were conducted over the years. All the experiments had kept the base of the research and its methodology the same. Yet, some variations were created on the confederate, the gender, or the manner in which the experiment was carried on. Maximum Milgram-type experiments have the ability to show the same results as that had been achieved earlier in the year 1963 (Haslam, Reicher Birney, 2014). Based on a cross-cultural analysis it could be stated that the obedience rate over different countries have most probably been the same. It has been possibly noticed that the results based on the experiments of Milgram experiments resulted into same average obedience scores. The results of United States stated an obedience rate of 60% whereas, that of remote countries stated an obedience rat of 65%. Surprisingly there were countries like Germany, which recorded an obedience rate high up to 85% (Millard, 2014). Hence, it could be easily stated that on conducting a cross country analyse of Milgram type experiments, the obedience rate among the selected people has been rather same, yet, there were exception countries whose rate was too high in comparison to others. This proves that even if the left is too less, there exist presence of some cross country and cultural difference with respect to the behaviour of obedience (Griggs, 2017). The base experiment of Milgram had been conducted by considering only male members as participants. A second experiment in the year 1974 had been conducted by Milgram, which considers the female victims in order to test their obedience rate. The experimenter had found that women had more inclination towards the behaviour of obedience than men. Twelve Milgram type experiments had been conducted which shows the effect on both male and female participants. The variation in the obedience rates was visible from country to country. It could be seen that in United States, women were equivalent to the rate of obedience with respect to males. None of the America found any sex difference by conducting the experiment (Miller, 2014). An experiment conducted in Australia shows that men were more obedience in comparison to women in the country. Furthermore, in countries like India, it had been found that females were less obedient in nature. In sum, totality of the results that had been derived fr om these experiments states that majority of the students found no sex differences between the two genders whereas, a small number of experiments stated female are considered as less obedient to the male participants. Milgram had theorized in his book that obedience of the sort could be found by allowing the subject to enter into a different experimental state, known as the agentic state (Brannigan, 2013). This state is characterized by the subjects shedding responsibility for his or her actions relinquishing it to the authority in charge. He saw this as the process that enables an individual to act destructively, without the usual moral constraints on his or her own behaviour. Conducting such experiments it was noticed that obedient people shed their responsibilities mire that the defiant ones. This was completely in contrast with what had been believed throughout the years. It was assumed that the obedient people would easily agree in accepting responsibilities, yet that was not the case. Future studies in this area The Milgram experiment that was conducted in order to analyse the rate of obedience in the human behaviour was a famous experiment that had been conducted in the 1963. This experiment had been quite successful in analysing their research aims; yet, the experiment had gone against the ethical concerns related to the subjects. Critics of the research work had argued that the participants of the experiment have been subjected to short term stress and long term harm (Ifcher Zarghamee, 2016). Though Milgram had revolted in his defence that not much harm was done to the subjects, yet, it could be easily stated that under the ethical standards of treating the participants, Milgrams experiments was completely out of bound. The unethical issue that has been raised with respect to Milgrams experiment has halted such psychological experiments to be carried out for more than three decades. In order to overcome such unethical issues, various experiments had been conducted based on the same principle yet with some additional safeguards. According to Burger (2014), Jerry Burger had conducted a similar research where he had undertaken various safeguard measures. He used a two screening process in order to avail potential participants and thereby exclude any participants with negative reactions. Secondly, before the processing of the experiment, the participants were told that they could withdraw their names and still receive an amount of $50. Thirdly, a mild shock of 15 volt was administered rather that 45 volt shock that Milgram had given to his participants. Fourthly, he allowed no time to elapse between ending the session and informing participants that the learner had received no shocks. Within a few secon ds of the studys end, the learner entered the room to reassure the participant that he was fine. Fifth, the experimenter who ran the study also was a clinical psychologist who was instructed to end the study immediately if he saw any signs of excessive stress. Santa Clara University institution review board approved these safeguard measures had helped in maintaining the ethical considerations of conducting experiments and it (Erdos, 2013). After conducting such experiments, though the effect was not as crucial as that of Milgrams experiment, yet, it was sufficient in generating the results for analysing the rate of obedience among the chosen group of participants. Various further experiments had been carried out in this manner under the principles of Milgram experiment, which helps in analysing the obedience behaviour in humans. There are some contradicting results with respect to change in time. Independent attribute of the modern age has shown less rate of obedience that that which had been retrieved before. These experiments carried out are quite helpful continuing the principle of the famous Milgram experiment. Future directions Milgram experiment that has been conducted in the year 1963. At that time, people had more inclination of obeying their authorities. They were dependent upon various factors prevailing in the society. These people had lesser facilities of stating their own perception. With regards to such habits, the inclination of the people towards obeying their authorities is quite natural. There has been a gap of 40 years since such an experiment has been conducted. Various Milgram type experiments had been carried out since then; where with the change in laws, there had been some variations to the extent in which such psychological experiments can be conducted (Leonard Hillstrom, 2016). The future scope of such experiment is to analyse the obedience behaviour of the people in this current era. People are considered more independent in todays world, where they do not hesitate in stating their own perceptions. It has been seen that there is lesser gender discrimination prevailing among the countr ies. This would imply that the difference in the obedience rate between male and female would be considerably low (Miller, 2014). Hence, the further scope of such experiments would be to conduct and analyse the obedience behaviour of the people in the present scenario. Milgram experiment is considered as one of the basic experiments that had been conducted in the field of psychology that forms the base of various experiments to be conducted. In this essay the effective results of Milgram experiment has been analysed along with its unethical considerations. To overcome such unethical considerations, further experiments has been conducted by analysing the safeguards in the experiment. With the change in time, there has been a considerable change in the prospects in which obedience rate is varying among the people. Future scope of experiments could be carried out based on the principles of Milgram thereby having the possibility of attaining the future prospects of human behaviour. Reference Bgue, L., Beauvois, J. L., Courbet, D., Oberl, D., Lepage, J., Duke, A. A. (2015). Personality predicts obedience in a Milgram paradigm.Journal of Personality,83(3), 299-306. Brannigan, A. (2013). Stanley Milgrams obedience experiments: A report card 50 years later.Society,50(6), 623-628. Burger, J. M. (2014). Situational features in Milgram's experiment that kept his participants shocking.Journal of Social Issues,70(3), 489-500. Erdos, E. (2013). The Milgram Trap.Theoretical Applied Ethics,2(2), 123-142. Griggs, R. A. (2017). Milgrams Obedience Study: A Contentious Classic Reinterpreted.Teaching of Psychology,44(1), 32-37. Haslam, N., Loughnan, S., Perry, G. (2014). Meta-Milgram: An empirical synthesis of the obedience experiments.PloS one,9(4), e93927. Haslam, S. A., Reicher, S. D., Birney, M. E. (2014). Nothing by mere authority: Evidence that in an experimental analogue of the Milgram paradigm participants are motivated not by orders but by appeals to science.Journal of Social Issues,70(3), 473-488. Haslam, S. A., Reicher, S. D., Millard, K., McDonald, R. (2015). Happy to have been of service: The Yale archive as a window into the engaged followership of participants in Milgram's obedienceexperiments.British Journal of Social Psychology,54(1), 55-83. Hollander, M. M. (2015). The repertoire of resistance: Non?compliance with directives in Milgram's obedienceexperiments.British Journal of Social Psychology,54(3), 425-444. Ifcher, J., Zarghamee, H. (2016). Ethics and Experimental Economics. InPracticing Professional Ethics in Economics and Public Policy(pp. 195-205). Springer Netherlands. Leonard, A. E., Hillstrom, J. E. (2016). Inducing Application of Interdisciplinary Frameworks: Experiences from the Domains of Information Literacy and Responsible Conduct of Research. InInterdisciplinary Pedagogy for STEM(pp. 57-83). Palgrave Macmillan US. Millard, K. (2014). Revisioning obedience: Exploring the role of Milgram's skills as a filmmaker in bringing his shocking narrative to life.Journal of Social Issues,70(3), 439-455. Miller, A. G. (2014). The explanatory value of Milgram's obedience experiments: A contemporary appraisal.Journal of Social Issues,70(3), 558-573.

Rethinking My High School Education Essay Example For Students

Rethinking My High School Education Essay As a young child, high school was glorified and looked at as the most amazing and important four years of your life. High school seemed like another world too my peers and I. The excitement of experiencing this consumed me as I anticipated to eventually becoming a high school student. During my 8th grade year I looked forward to high school more as my expectations were hyped even further by the endless media television and movies that featured the magnificent life of high school. Relishing in what Id seen in media seemed very promising since this life was just around the corner from me. It’s very clear that even in school they prepare us for the â€Å"next level† of education. The word next level always stuck out to me because if it’s next level then it must be better. So at this grade I believed that how high school was displayed could be very true since it needed preparation. Not being able to control my curiosity of what real high school is like I turned toward my older siblings who were still in high school or had previously graduated from high school. It was the way that I could grasp a taste of what was told to be one of the best experiences of your life. My eldest brother disagreed and clearly explained to me that some things were over exaggerated in the media. Not going into detail he told me that some things were actually true about how the media portrayed the high school experience. Believing in what my brother told me I was highly upset. Freshman-year of high school showed me a whole new reality, high school turned out being exactly the opposite of what we were sold to believe. High school in reality was just like any other year of my educational experiences. I was no longer excited for these supposed four amazing years ahead of me. I felt betrayed by everything from teachers all the way up to media outlets who heavily exaggerated the ideal high school. That year of high school I questioned everything I was ever told or made to believe was true about what really happens in high school. This shift was significant to me in ways that are still relevant to me as I am now in my junior year of high school. High school in my eyes is no longer seen as what some would call a ragger but more like a process. How? Well since I have entered high school nothing as changed from any other grade level except for some of the work. When I finally indulged in the world of high school and experienced it for my self the reality of it changed my mind set. I was no longer intrigued by high school; something that once was my world became so vain and obscure. All in all I once was excited for high school but soon had a shift of feeling when I finally became a high school student.