Saturday, March 5, 2011
Pirates of Silicon Valley is a movie about the Making of Personal Computer. It is a made-for-television docudrama written and directed by Martyn Burke which documents the rise of the home computer (personal computer) through the rivalry between Apple Computer and Microsoft. The film is the semi-humorous documentary about the men who made the world of technology what it is today, their struggles during college, the founding of their companies, and the ingenious actions they took to build up the global corporate empires of Apple Computer Corporation and Microsoft Inc.
Reflection:
Pirates of Silicon Valley is a nice movie wherein we see how personal computer rise from two of most powerful company, and along the way, we are shown how deeply power and wealth corrupts. The movie really gives me an insight of a true technology revolution, taking the computers out of the hands of corporate types, and giving them over to the people to use. The film is more focus to Steven Jobs not to all pioneers of the computer industry specially to Bill Gates which I think contributed much of what we are using today.
The film is about how people lives and interacts in a society that are controlled by humanoid robots (surrogates) - fit, good-looking and a physically perfect mechanical representation of themselves. The movie is also about the two FBI agents trying to figure out how the users of the robot surrogates are dying when their surrogates "die" and who is behind the murders.
Reflection:
In the movie, however, it takes the psychology to the next level where people are not interested anymore in being who they are but a more perfected version of themselves: younger, in-shape, adorned with super-human strength and abilities. Actually, I really don't like the idea of letting the robots do what a human must do. Robots being programmed to be intelligent is completely different from a robot being programmed to learn. Human must not rely on what robots can do for them because in the end, their lifestyle gets affected. We must not let the robots take over our job as human because we might lose the chance of enjoying the life given and forget our purpose why we are created in this world.
Eagle eye is techno action thriller movie. There is a lot of technology involved. The main character (LeBouf) has been "targeted," and has the FBI and the SWAT team come after him. He keeps getting phone calls from a unknown caller, that tells him exactly where to go in order to avoid being caught, and eventually decides to go ahead and listen. He finds out that a Super Computer is telling him where to go, and what to do. It monitors his every move, and can control all electronics.
Reflection:
Eagle Eye is one of the techie movie I've watched and it is a exciting film. Throughout the movie I constantly had to think what might be happen next and what the movie was leading up to.The power of technology really manipulates everything. The movie simply illustrates how computers control humans based on what is gathered and monitored.
Based on the movie, there are three laws that govern all robots.
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law.
Reflection:
I thought the story could have been stronger and better explained, but the look of the film, combined with the action, humor and CGI effects made the movie quite entertaining. The last part of the film attempts to explore the three laws of robotics in more detail. The film also has something to say about the spread of technology and the interaction between man and robots. The movie just made me realize that robots are harmful when they enter humans life. They have the potential to take over the world. I really don't want to live in a world where everyone has there own personal robot. We would be come lazy and rely on robots to do everything for us.
WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class)
Earth was abandoned centuries due to excessive waste. To clean up our planet, hundreds of Wall-E robots were sent to Earth to clear up the mess we left. But after a long period of time all the robots have been destroyed and only one Wall E robot remains. Wall-E is a robot designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future. He eventually falls in love with another robot named EVE, and follows her into outer space on an adventure that changes the destiny of both his kind and humanity.
Reflection:
Technology has taken over the world, to the extent that humans are so reliant on it that they don't speak,interact, move, without the help of a computer. The movie gives a realization that too much dependency to the machines is not good. I cant imagine myself living in the future with less work and more dependent to the technology in order to survive. The moral of the story is that us humans should take care and save the Earth because it provides us all the things we need in our daily life.
Monday, December 6, 2010
In my 22 years of existence, Technology has been part of my life. From the time my mother gave birth to me technology plays a great role for me to live and see the beauty of the world. Until now that I'm still studying and hope to graduate soon- Technology is always with me. I wake up holding my cellphone, go to school and uses the computer for learning, my mp5 for great music and my camera for great pictures. Obviously, I'm technology inclined person. (Hehe! :D)
Why do we need to study technology? Simply because it makes the work done easier and we rely to the technology available and make use of it for some purposes. The world needs IT and IT is us- people. We need to study technology because people and technology works together. Though there are technologies that are fully automated but there are some that needs the hands of the People to manipulate the technology available. People also make the technology we had now, from the first invention up to the latest. (See how great we are because we are also the Technology) We need to learn how to make use of the technology properly because the time will come that the Technology made by the people will be destroyed also by the people.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Leaders and managers continually make efforts to accomplish successful and significant change in their work environment. Some are very good at this effort probably more than we realize, while others continually struggle and fail. That's often the difference between people who thrive in their roles and those that get shuttled around from job to job, ultimately settling into a role where they're frustrated and ineffective.
To really understand organizational change and begin guiding successful change efforts, the change agent should have at least a broad understanding of the context of the change effort. This includes understanding the basic systems and structures in organizations, including their typical terms and roles. This requirement applies to the understanding of leadership and management of the organizations, as well.
Organizational change should not be conducted for the sake of change. Organizational change efforts should be geared to improve the performance of organizations and the people in those organizations. Therefore, it's useful to have some understanding of what is meant by "performance" and the various methods to manage performance in organization. Changes in the workflow and overall operation of the business will be based on how people in the organization manage the work and how the business flows. Nowadays, with the complex challenges faced by organizations and the broad diversity of values, perspectives and opinions among the members of those organizations, it's vital that change agents work from a strong set of principles to ensure they operate in a highly effective and ethical manner.
Typically there are four types of changes in the spectrum of organizational change. They are automation, rationalization of procedures, business reengineering, or paradigm shifts. To understand more of this changes, let me discuss them.
Automation
Automation is the replacement of man power with machine power, as man would no longer be needed to run it as there are machines that can do a man's job for no pay, and therefore save a boatload of money. Automation is the use of control systems (such as numerical control, programmable logic control, and other industrial control systems), in concert with other applications of information technology (such as computer-aided technologies [CAD, CAM, CAx]), to control industrial machinery and processes, reducing the need for human intervention. In the scope of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization. Whereas mechanization provided human operators with machinery to assist them with the muscular requirements of work, automation greatly reduces the need for human sensory and mental requirements as well. Processes and systems can also be automated. Automation plays an increasingly important role in the global economy and in daily experience. Engineers strive to combine automated devices with mathematical and organizational tools to create complex systems for a rapidly expanding range of applications and human activities. Human-machine interfaces (HMI) or computer human interfaces (CHI), formerly known as man-machine interfaces, are usually employed to communicate with PLCs and other computers, such as entering and monitoring temperatures or pressures for further automated control or emergency response. Service personnel who monitor and control these interfaces are often referred to as stationary engineers. Automation refers to the use of computers and other automated machinery for the execution of business-related tasks. Automated machinery may range from simple sensing devices to robots and other sophisticated equipment. Automation of operations may encompass the automation of a single operation or the automation of an entire factory.
Types of Automation
Although automation can play a major role in increasing productivity and reducing costs in service industries—as in the example of a retail store that installs bar code scanners in its checkout lanes—automation is most prevalent in manufacturing industries. In recent years, the manufacturing field has witnessed the development of major automation alternatives. Some of these types of automation include:
* Information technology (IT)
* Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM)
* Numerically controlled (NC) equipment
* Robots
* Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS)
* Computer integrated manufacturing (CIM)
Information technology (IT) encompasses a broad spectrum of computer technologies used to create, store, retrieve, and disseminate information.
Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) refers to the use of computers in the different functions of production planning and control. CAM includes the use of numerically controlled machines, robots, and other automated systems for the manufacture of products. Computer-aided manufacturing also includes computer-aided process planning (CAPP), group technology (GT), production scheduling, and manufacturing flow analysis. Computer-aided process planning (CAPP) means the use of computers to generate process plans for the manufacture of different products. Group technology (GT) is a manufacturing philosophy that aims at grouping different products and creating different manufacturing cells for the manufacture of each group.
Numerically controlled (NC) machines are programmed versions of machine tools that execute operations in sequence on parts or products. Individual machines may have their own computers for that purpose; such tools are commonly referred to as computerized numerical controlled (CNC) machines. In other cases, many machines may share the same computer; these are called direct numerical controlled machines.
Robots are a type of automated equipment that may execute different tasks that are normally handled by a human operator. In manufacturing, robots are used to handle a wide range of tasks, including assembly, welding, painting, loading and unloading of heavy or hazardous materials, inspection and testing, and finishing operations.
Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) are comprehensive systems that may include numerically controlled machine tools, robots, and automated material handling systems in the manufacture of similar products or components using different routings among the machines.
A computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) system is one in which many manufacturing functions are linked through an integrated computer network. These manufacturing or manufacturing-related functions include production planning and control, shop floor control, quality control, computer-aided manufacturing, computer-aided design, purchasing, marketing, and other functions. The objective of a computer-integrated manufacturing system is to allow changes in product design, to reduce costs, and to optimize production requirements.
There are many different reasons to automate. Increased productivity is normally the major reason for many companies desiring a competitive advantage. Automation also offers low operational variability. Variability is directly related to quality and productivity. Other reasons to automate include the presence of a hazardous working environment and the high cost of human labor. Some businesses automate processes in order to reduce production time, increase manufacturing flexibility, reduce costs, eliminate human error, or make up for a labor shortage. Decisions associated with automation are usually concerned with some or all of these economic and social considerations.Right now, man uses machines to do work, but soon automation might replace man altogether, and many people believe that is bad.
Rationalization Procedure
The actual procedure divides the product line in to four zones: The least profitable products would be dropped. Products that need to be in the catalog would be outsourced, thus simplifying the supply chain and manufacturing operations.
The cash-cows would remain and the balance would be improved with a better focus in product development, operations, and marketing. Because these products no longer need to subsidize the "losers," they can now sell for less.
The combination of better focus and lower overhead changes will soon restore the "lost" revenue from the dropped products.
The Value of Product Line Rationalization. Eliminating or outsourcing low-leverage products will immediately:
* Increase profits by avoiding the manufacture of products that have low profit or are really losing money because of their (unreported) high overhead demands and inefficient manufacture/procurement
* Improve operational flexibility because, typically, low-leverage products are inherently different with unusual parts, materials, set-ups, and processing. Often, these are older products that are built infrequently with less common parts on older equipment using sketchy documentation by a workforce with little experience on those products.
* Simplify Supply Chain Management. Eliminating the products with unusual parts and materials will greatly simplify supply-chain management.
* Free up valuable resources to improve operations and quality, implement better product development practices, and introduce new capabilities like build-to-order & mass customization.
Business Process Reengineering
Business process reengineering (BPR) is, in computer science and management, an approach aiming at improvements by means of elevating efficiency and effectiveness of the business process that exist within and across organizations. The key to BPR is for organizations to look at their business processes from a "clean slate" perspective and determine how they can best construct these processes to improve how they conduct business.
Business process reengineering is also known as BPR, Business Process Redesign, Business Transformation, or Business Process Change Management. Reengineering is a fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in cost, quality, speed, and service. BPR combines a strategy of promoting business innovation with a strategy of making major improvements to business processes so that a company can become a much stronger and more successful competitor in the marketplace.
.Re-engineering is the basis for many recent developments in management. The cross-functional team, for example, has become popular because of the desire to re-engineer separate functional tasks into complete cross-functional processes. Also, many recent management information systems developments aim to integrate a wide number of business functions. Enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, knowledge management systems, groupware and collaborative systems, Human Resource Management Systems and customer relationship management systems all owe a debt to re-engineering theory.
The impact of BPR on organizational performance
The two cornerstones of any organization are the people and the processes. If individuals are motivated and working hard, yet the business processes are cumbersome and non-essential activities remain, organizational performance will be poor. Business Process Reengineering is the key to transforming how people work. What appear to be minor changes in processes can have dramatic effects on cash flow, service delivery and customer satisfaction. Even the act of documenting business processes alone will typically improve organizational efficiency by 10%.
How to implement a BPR project
The best way to map and improve the organization's procedures is to take a top down approach, and not undertake a project in isolation. That means:
* Starting with mission statements that define the purpose of the organization and describe what sets it apart from others in its sector or industry.
* Producing vision statements which define where the organization is going, to provide a clear picture of the desired future position.
* Build these into a clear business strategy thereby deriving the project objectives.
* Defining behaviours that will enable the organization to achieve its' aims.
* Producing key performance measures to track progress.
* Relating efficiency improvements to the culture of the organization
* Identifying initiatives that will improve performance.
The types of attributes you should look for in BPR software are:
* Graphical interface for fast documentation
* "Object oriented" technology, so that changes to data (eg: job titles) only need to be made in one place, and the change automatically appears throughout all the organization's procedures and documentation.
* Drag and drop facility so you can easily relate organizational and data objects to each step in the process
* Customizable meta data fields, so that you can include information relating to your industry, business sector or organization in your documentation
* Analysis, such as swim-lanes to show visually how responsibilities in a process are transferred between different roles, or where data items or computer applications are used.
* Support for Value Stream mapping.
* CRUD or RACI reports, to provide evidence for process improvement.
* The ability to assess the processes against agreed international standards
* Simulation software to support 'what-if' analyses during the design phase of the project to develop LEAN processes
* The production of word documents or web site versions of the procedures at the touch of a single button, so that the information can be easily maintained and updated.
The software we use by choice is Protos, a very comprehensive Dutch system that has been translated into English. Protos meets all the above requirements, and many more, and is better than any system originated in English that we have seen.
Conclusion
To be successful, business process reengineering projects need to be top down, taking in the complete organization, and the full end to end processes. It needs to be supported by tools that make processes easy to track and analyze.
Paradigm Shift
A paradigm shift is a radical change of pace in our Paradigms -- a fundamental change in our unconscious view of reality, the addition of The Fifth Element into our world. Looming on the horizon in this regard is one identified with the ideas of Zero-Point Energy (ZPE), Connective Physics, and other state-of-the-art science. Paradigm shift (or revolutionary science) is the term first used by Thomas Kuhn in his influential book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) to describe a change in basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science. It is in contrast to his idea of normal science.
The term paradigm shift, as a change in a fundamental model of events, has since become widely applied to many other realms of human experience as well, even though Kuhn himself restricted the use of the term to the hard sciences. According to Kuhn, "A paradigm is what members of a scientific community, and they alone, share." (The Essential Tension, 1977). Unlike a normal scientist, Kuhn held, "a student in the humanities has constantly before him a number of competing and incommensurable solutions to these problems, solutions that he must ultimately examine for himself." (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions). Once a paradigm shift is complete, a scientist cannot, for example, posit the possibility that miasma causes disease or that ether carries light. In contrast, a critic in the Humanities can choose to adopt a 19th-century theory of poetics, for instance.Since the 1960s, the term has been found useful to thinkers in numerous non-scientific contexts. Compare as a structured form of Zeitgeist.
Which is more radical? Amongst the four I think the most radical is the paradigm shift. Paradigm shift is more revolutionary than the others. In paradigm shift one really tends to move away from old habits, processes and traditions and seeks to create new and improved processes, tasks and functions. It turns out that the organization engage into something new. There’s actually a renovation happened. Well it is said to be radical since organization don’t have the power to fight against this change.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automation
http://www.managementhelp.org/mgmnt/orgchnge.htm
http://www.halexandria.org/dward171.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigm_shift
http://www.build-to-order-consulting.com/rationalization.htm
http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/business-process-reengineering.html