The Changing Workplace Quiz

PDF page 21: Until the 1980s, many American firms had little in the way of serious international competition. As a result, there was little incentive to innovate and remain efficient and competitive. Many companies became lazy and lost touch with their customers. This situation changed abruptly as companies in Asia and Western Europe developed more sophisticated products and marketing systems and gained significant market shares in home electronics, automobiles, medical equipment, telecommunications, and shipbuilding, to name a few areas. As a result, American companies lost considerable clout—and profitability. In the 1990s and into the new millennium, the lowering of trade barriers and acceptance of trade agreements like NAFTA led corporations to seek less expensive labor overseas. This led to lower costs and the ability to offer products at more competitive prices, but also led to a drop in manufacturing in industries like steel production, a drop in manufacturing of products like iPhones, and the relocation of call centers from the U.S. to India. If we examine corporate behavior during the early decades of the new millennium, it is not difficult to see

PDF page 21: Until the 1980s, many American firms had little in the way of serious international competition. As a result, there was little incentive to innovate and remain efficient and competitive. Many companies became lazy and lost touch with their customers. This situation changed abruptly as companies in Asia and Western Europe developed more sophisticated products and marketing systems and gained significant market shares in home electronics, automobiles, medical equipment, telecommunications, and shipbuilding, to name a few areas. As a result, American companies lost considerable clout—and profitability. In the 1990s and into the new millennium, the lowering of trade barriers and acceptance of trade agreements like NAFTA led corporations to seek less expensive labor overseas. This led to lower costs and the ability to offer products at more competitive prices, but also led to a drop in manufacturing in industries like steel production, a drop in manufacturing of products like iPhones, and the relocation of call centers from the U.S. to India. If we examine corporate behavior during the early decades of the new millennium, it is not difficult to see

PDF page 22: following examples: During the last year reported, India experienced a 7.5 percent annual growth rate in real GDP while China recorded an increase of 6.7 percent. This is a measure of how economies are progressing. Great Britain, France, and Italy all had close to 2 percent increases. At the same time, however, the United States recorded a 3.8 percent annual increase (and Canada had a 3 percent increase), a larger increase after a lethargic recovery from the 2009 financial crisis. While traditional jobs have shifted to developing countries, countries like the United States and Canada have transformed their economies by incorporating more technology and automation as well as having a greater proportion of the workforce in the service sectors. It is anticipated that the coming decades will continue to bring disruption to traditional workplace skills that will result in challenging workers to continually evolve their skills. Finally, the number of products that were invented in the United States but are now primarily manufactured overseas has increased dramatically—advances in technology are helping the United States regain the top spot in world manufacturing. There had been a significant decline in our manufacturing sector as less expensive labor in markets like India and China led companies to locate factories there. Since 2010, however, the United States has risen from fourth place to second and is expected to claim the spot as the leading nation by 2020. The major reasons for this are: advanced manufacturing capabilities require fewer “line workers,” and having products produced near their major markets reduces transport and time to market. Considering several indicators of the relative competitiveness of economies using seven metrics, the U.S. performs quite well. The seven metrics are institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, and labor market efficiency. When taking all of these factors into consideration (see Table 1.1), the United States ranks very well and has an environment of stable growth. One challenge is that workers will need to be nimble and evolve as new skills arise and will need to embrace continuous education and training as a way of managing their careers.

PDF page 22: following examples: During the last year reported, India experienced a 7.5 percent annual growth rate in real GDP while China recorded an increase of 6.7 percent. This is a measure of how economies are progressing. Great Britain, France, and Italy all had close to 2 percent increases. At the same time, however, the United States recorded a 3.8 percent annual increase (and Canada had a 3 percent increase), a larger increase after a lethargic recovery from the 2009 financial crisis. While traditional jobs have shifted to developing countries, countries like the United States and Canada have transformed their economies by incorporating more technology and automation as well as having a greater proportion of the workforce in the service sectors. It is anticipated that the coming decades will continue to bring disruption to traditional workplace skills that will result in challenging workers to continually evolve their skills. Finally, the number of products that were invented in the United States but are now primarily manufactured overseas has increased dramatically—advances in technology are helping the United States regain the top spot in world manufacturing. There had been a significant decline in our manufacturing sector as less expensive labor in markets like India and China led companies to locate factories there. Since 2010, however, the United States has risen from fourth place to second and is expected to claim the spot as the leading nation by 2020. The major reasons for this are: advanced manufacturing capabilities require fewer “line workers,” and having products produced near their major markets reduces transport and time to market. Considering several indicators of the relative competitiveness of economies using seven metrics, the U.S. performs quite well. The seven metrics are institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, and labor market efficiency. When taking all of these factors into consideration (see Table 1.1), the United States ranks very well and has an environment of stable growth. One challenge is that workers will need to be nimble and evolve as new skills arise and will need to embrace continuous education and training as a way of managing their careers.

PDF page 22: following examples: During the last year reported, India experienced a 7.5 percent annual growth rate in real GDP while China recorded an increase of 6.7 percent. This is a measure of how economies are progressing. Great Britain, France, and Italy all had close to 2 percent increases. At the same time, however, the United States recorded a 3.8 percent annual increase (and Canada had a 3 percent increase), a larger increase after a lethargic recovery from the 2009 financial crisis. While traditional jobs have shifted to developing countries, countries like the United States and Canada have transformed their economies by incorporating more technology and automation as well as having a greater proportion of the workforce in the service sectors. It is anticipated that the coming decades will continue to bring disruption to traditional workplace skills that will result in challenging workers to continually evolve their skills. Finally, the number of products that were invented in the United States but are now primarily manufactured overseas has increased dramatically—advances in technology are helping the United States regain the top spot in world manufacturing. There had been a significant decline in our manufacturing sector as less expensive labor in markets like India and China led companies to locate factories there. Since 2010, however, the United States has risen from fourth place to second and is expected to claim the spot as the leading nation by 2020. The major reasons for this are: advanced manufacturing capabilities require fewer “line workers,” and having products produced near their major markets reduces transport and time to market. Considering several indicators of the relative competitiveness of economies using seven metrics, the U.S. performs quite well. The seven metrics are institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, and labor market efficiency. When taking all of these factors into consideration (see Table 1.1), the United States ranks very well and has an environment of stable growth. One challenge is that workers will need to be nimble and evolve as new skills arise and will need to embrace continuous education and training as a way of managing their careers.

PDF page 22: following examples: During the last year reported, India experienced a 7.5 percent annual growth rate in real GDP while China recorded an increase of 6.7 percent. This is a measure of how economies are progressing. Great Britain, France, and Italy all had close to 2 percent increases. At the same time, however, the United States recorded a 3.8 percent annual increase (and Canada had a 3 percent increase), a larger increase after a lethargic recovery from the 2009 financial crisis. While traditional jobs have shifted to developing countries, countries like the United States and Canada have transformed their economies by incorporating more technology and automation as well as having a greater proportion of the workforce in the service sectors. It is anticipated that the coming decades will continue to bring disruption to traditional workplace skills that will result in challenging workers to continually evolve their skills. Finally, the number of products that were invented in the United States but are now primarily manufactured overseas has increased dramatically—advances in technology are helping the United States regain the top spot in world manufacturing. There had been a significant decline in our manufacturing sector as less expensive labor in markets like India and China led companies to locate factories there. Since 2010, however, the United States has risen from fourth place to second and is expected to claim the spot as the leading nation by 2020. The major reasons for this are: advanced manufacturing capabilities require fewer “line workers,” and having products produced near their major markets reduces transport and time to market. Considering several indicators of the relative competitiveness of economies using seven metrics, the U.S. performs quite well. The seven metrics are institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, and labor market efficiency. When taking all of these factors into consideration (see Table 1.1), the United States ranks very well and has an environment of stable growth. One challenge is that workers will need to be nimble and evolve as new skills arise and will need to embrace continuous education and training as a way of managing their careers.

PDF page 22: 1 Switzerland 5.9 0.00% from best

PDF page 22: 2 United States 5.9 0.09% from best

PDF page 23: Although it is common to think of “high tech” as applying only to the aerospace and telecommunications industries, advanced technologies can be found throughout most industries. For example, most of us are familiar with the explosive growth in computing. Both hardware and software change so rapidly that it is difficult for many companies to keep up. Personal computers are being replaced by cell phones that are now faster and more powerful than their predecessors. Cloud computing and access to big data and applications transform data into useful information that is increasingly complex and increasingly user friendly. In November of 1971 Intel launched the first microchip. Today, a modern Intel Skylake processor contains around 1.75 billion transistors—half a million of them would fit on a single transistor from the 4004—and collectively

PDF page 23: they deliver about 400,000 times as much computing muscle. More and more companies are using computerbased systems and equipment—such as e-mail, real-time messaging and file sharing, PDAs, and cell phones—for communications. As a result, the way in which employees and managers communicate and make decisions is changing dramatically, and the importance of educated and knowledgeable workers is increasing rapidly. Technological changes also can be seen in the increased use of robotics, expert systems, and computerintegrated manufacturing systems, which have changed the way many products are manufactured today. Such changes affect not only production efficiency and product quality but also the nature of jobs. In many industries, the first-line supervisors are disappearing and being replaced by self-managing work teams who assume responsibility for production scheduling, quality control, and even performance appraisals. All of these technological changes require managers who are capable of effectively implementing technological change in the workplace—managers who can adapt to the technological imperative while still maintaining and

PDF page 24: Many executives struggle in the ongoing competitive landscape of technology. With fast-paced changes, staying one step ahead as well as being able to pivot quickly to respond to action are two critical elements to successful leadership. Apple Inc. has made its third change in the past year to the leadership of the artificial intelligence voiceassistance system Siri. Due to many factors, including being outperformed by the competition such as Google Assistant and Amazon Inc.’s Alexa, the company decided to pivot and make the change. These two systems have seen incredible growth in 2018, with the Amazon Echo and Google Home claiming each 34 percent of the market. Now John Giannandrea, formerly Google’s head of search and AI, has joined the Apple team and is tasked with getting on the rival’s level from which he came (Verge 2018). He will be challenged not only by having a new culture and company to fit into, but also by finding a good balance on how to innovate in his new role, as well as taking the best practices that he has from his previous role and applying it to boost the success of the Apple artificial intelligence. Keys to his success will be how quickly he can adapt to the new role, learning, adapting, and making changes along the way to bring Apple back to the playing field of artificial intelligence. Question 1: What other challenges would a new executive have coming from a competing company? Question 2: How much change is too much? What cautions should Apple be concerned about with all of the turnover for this position? Sources: Nick Statt, “Apple’s New AI Chief Now Oversees Siri, Core ML, and Machine Learning Teams,” The Verge, July 10, 2018, https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/10/17555652/apple-siri-ai-john-giannandreamachine-learning-core-ml-teams; Stephen Nellis, “Apple Shifts Responsibility For Siri to Operating System Chief,” Reuters, September 1, 2017, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-siri/apple-shiftsresponsibility-for-siri-to-operating-system-chief-idUSKCN1BC65B; Tripp Mickle, Apple Hands Siri Responsibility to Executive Poached from Google,” The Wall Street Journal, July 10, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-hands-siri-responsibilities-to-executive-poached-fromgoogle-1531261759.

PDF page 24: Many executives struggle in the ongoing competitive landscape of technology. With fast-paced changes, staying one step ahead as well as being able to pivot quickly to respond to action are two critical elements to successful leadership. Apple Inc. has made its third change in the past year to the leadership of the artificial intelligence voiceassistance system Siri. Due to many factors, including being outperformed by the competition such as Google Assistant and Amazon Inc.’s Alexa, the company decided to pivot and make the change. These two systems have seen incredible growth in 2018, with the Amazon Echo and Google Home claiming each 34 percent of the market. Now John Giannandrea, formerly Google’s head of search and AI, has joined the Apple team and is tasked with getting on the rival’s level from which he came (Verge 2018). He will be challenged not only by having a new culture and company to fit into, but also by finding a good balance on how to innovate in his new role, as well as taking the best practices that he has from his previous role and applying it to boost the success of the Apple artificial intelligence. Keys to his success will be how quickly he can adapt to the new role, learning, adapting, and making changes along the way to bring Apple back to the playing field of artificial intelligence. Question 1: What other challenges would a new executive have coming from a competing company? Question 2: How much change is too much? What cautions should Apple be concerned about with all of the turnover for this position? Sources: Nick Statt, “Apple’s New AI Chief Now Oversees Siri, Core ML, and Machine Learning Teams,” The Verge, July 10, 2018, https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/10/17555652/apple-siri-ai-john-giannandreamachine-learning-core-ml-teams; Stephen Nellis, “Apple Shifts Responsibility For Siri to Operating System Chief,” Reuters, September 1, 2017, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-siri/apple-shiftsresponsibility-for-siri-to-operating-system-chief-idUSKCN1BC65B; Tripp Mickle, Apple Hands Siri Responsibility to Executive Poached from Google,” The Wall Street Journal, July 10, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-hands-siri-responsibilities-to-executive-poached-fromgoogle-1531261759.

PDF page 24: The challenge of industrial competitiveness incorporates several interrelated factors, including an appropriate product mix, manufacturing efficiency, effective cost controls, investment in research and development, and so forth. Not to be ignored in this pursuit is the quest for increased quality control of the products and services offered in the marketplace. Total Quality Management (TQM) is a term often used to describe comprehensive

PDF page 25: efforts to monitor and improve all aspects of quality within a firm. BMW established and continues to maintain its reputation in part because customers have come to respect its high level of quality. Quality is also a major reason for the success of many Japanese products in North America. Simply put, if companies are going to compete, renewed efforts must be devoted to enhanced quality assurance. This, too, is a management challenge. How can managers get employees to care about the products they produce or the services they offer? In this book, we will consider both the issue of quality control (what is it?) and mechanisms of ensuring improved product quality (how do we get it?). Moreover, quality control includes several organizational issues. For instance, how can managers get parties who are traditionally independently associated with a product to work together to build a better product? That is, how can they get the design staff, manufacturing engineers, workers, suppliers—and potential customers—to come together and cooperate in developing and manufacturing a superior product? Later in the book we will examine several instances in which such teamwork played a major role in quality improvement.