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THE phrase ‘designed by computer, built by robots’ was a nice marketing approach which made the most of the high‐technology attributes of the product—a family car. The production…
Abstract
THE phrase ‘designed by computer, built by robots’ was a nice marketing approach which made the most of the high‐technology attributes of the product—a family car. The production processes were indeed highly automated, but ‘built by robots’? That depends on what is meant by ‘built’.
Richard Archer and Paul Bowker
Discusses business process re‐engineering, the latest paradigm toenter the management lexicon, which seeks to combine a processesorientation with an edict for radical change…
Abstract
Discusses business process re‐engineering, the latest paradigm to enter the management lexicon, which seeks to combine a processes orientation with an edict for radical change. Propose that BPR has now passed through the stage of euphoria, characterized by extravagant claims about the benefits to be gained, and into the maturity phase of the management theory life cycle where there is debate over its true worth with 60‐80 per cent of projects failing to achieve their goals. Presents the results of a survey of consultancy practices in an attempt to evaluate the methods which consultants are actually using. Contrasts with most current BPR research which is based on literature reviews. Concludes that BPR is regarded as a vague concept and most projects labelled as BPR are simply normal business process improvement activities which are unlikely to change an organization radically. Suggests that the future of BPR is uncertain but that it is serving a purpose now by highlighting the need for companies to manage their strategic alignment and to integrate strategy, processes, people and technology.
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New Communications Systems will Affect Computer Jobs? One of the constant worries about the new high‐tech developments that are announced with such frequency is their effect on…
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New Communications Systems will Affect Computer Jobs? One of the constant worries about the new high‐tech developments that are announced with such frequency is their effect on the employment market. Throughout the ages each new discovery has affected the working patterns of society but more than ever before the rapid growth in new technology has quickly altered not only the way in which we work but the number of people who can work. It does not require a social scientist or a cybernetician working in this field to inform society of the effects that will accrue from the apparently never ending technological advances that are being announced, and subsequently implemented. Each one produces a scare of enormous proportions. In the 1950s the computer was to put most people out of work, the microcomputer “revolution” was later expected to make sure that those who kept their jobs would soon be redundant. Fortunately, these predictions were not true and although the world's workforces have changed in so many instances to accommodate the new technology the age of total leisure or of mass unemployment has yet to arrive.
Automation of cell culture techniques and drug discovery programmes in the life science industries is increasing as pharmaceutical and biotech companies realise the advantages…
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Automation of cell culture techniques and drug discovery programmes in the life science industries is increasing as pharmaceutical and biotech companies realise the advantages achievable through the use of multi‐axis robots bringing precise control and reliable, consistent performance to many complex and delicate processes. Describes the development and application of the “Cellmate” and “SelecT” robotic cell culture and drug discovery systems by the UK company The Automation Partnership Ltd.. Benefits sited include flexibility of operation and smooth movements that are essential for handling fragile cell cultures.
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WE are as yet without the means of verifying the forecast in our last issue that there would be a cutting of library estimates this year. There has been some; one library…
Abstract
WE are as yet without the means of verifying the forecast in our last issue that there would be a cutting of library estimates this year. There has been some; one library authority known to us having ordered a five per cent. cut. The fact still is that such retrenchments can only be made at the expense of a very few items of our estimates, and of these the book fund is the severest sufferer. This is a fact that cannot always be brought home to finance committees who only think as a rule in gross figures, and do not know that the library estimate consists mainly of fixed charges. The librarian who forms an estimate in anticipation of cuts does not aft quite honestly, but in the way of the world at present he may, like the Unjust Steward, be acting wisely. But it is pitiful to think that this should even be a matter for discussion.
Mary Mackillop, the only Australian to have been declared a “saint” by the Roman Catholic Church, co-founded the Institute of the Sisters of St Joseph, a religious congregation…
Abstract
Purpose
Mary Mackillop, the only Australian to have been declared a “saint” by the Roman Catholic Church, co-founded the Institute of the Sisters of St Joseph, a religious congregation established primarily to educate the poor. Prior to this, she taught at a Common School in Portland. While she was there, the headmaster was dismissed. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which the narrative accounts of the dismissal, as provided in the biographies of Mary, are supported by the documentary evidence. Contemporary records of the Board of Education indicate that Mary played a more active role in the dismissal than that suggested by her biographers.
Design/methodology/approach
Documentary evidence, particularly the records of the Board of Education, has been used to challenge the biographical accounts of Mary Mackillop’s involvement in an incident that occurred while she was a teacher at the Portland Common School.
Findings
It appears that the biographers, by omitting to consider the evidence available in the records of the Board of Education, have down-played Mary Mackillop’s involvement in the events that led to the dismissal of the head teacher at Portland.
Originality/value
This paper uses documentary evidence to challenge the account of the Portand incident, as provided in the biographies of Mary Mackillop.
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Katherine Runswick-Cole and Rebecca Wood
In this chapter, we consider how the character of Rob Titchener has been developed in The Archers, moving him from hero of the hour to villain of the piece. We draw on a critical…
Abstract
In this chapter, we consider how the character of Rob Titchener has been developed in The Archers, moving him from hero of the hour to villain of the piece. We draw on a critical disability studies’ perspective to argue that ability and disability have been crucial in turning the character of Rob from the desirable and attractive man who first arrived in the village into a national hate figure, despised by all. We begin this analysis by introducing critical disability studies and studies of ableism as fields of academic inquiry. We then draw on these resources to offer an analysis of the ways in which ability and disability were used as a narrative device to develop Rob’s character. We question the ways in which ability and disability are used to denote ‘good’ and ‘evil’ in the development of characters in cultural texts like The Archers, and end with a plea to scriptwriters to engage differently with dis/ability and to consider the impact of the stories we tell on the everyday lives of disabled people.