Monday, May 29, 2017
Post 9: Cloud Computing; Big Data
Class discussion revolved around the uses of Cloud Computing and the significance of Big Data.
Sunday, May 21, 2017
Post 8: Innovation
Tolerance for Failure
Since beginning my studies in Industrial Engineering, I have heard Toyota mentioned dozens of times. Toyota is the father of Lean, and an example that many companies across industries should learn from. According to the article "Toyota Innovation Culture Profile," there are several factors that influence Toyota's success, including 'tolerance for failure.'
Tolerance for failure is what enables failure to happen. But why would we want failure? Failure is important for organizational innovation, for the simple reason that the if one doesn't try new things, one can never move forward, and trying by nature is prone to failure. An organization that does not allow room for failure is therefore doomed to become obsolete.
Availability of Reward Mechanisms for Innovation
Another important factor in Toyota's success is it's reward system for employee innovation. Who in Toyota is rewarded and how?
Blue Oceans
Shark Fin
In class we discussed the shark fin model. This model refers to market adoption of new technology, and is contrary to the traditional bell curve model. But what causes this shark fin?
Since beginning my studies in Industrial Engineering, I have heard Toyota mentioned dozens of times. Toyota is the father of Lean, and an example that many companies across industries should learn from. According to the article "Toyota Innovation Culture Profile," there are several factors that influence Toyota's success, including 'tolerance for failure.'
Tolerance for failure is what enables failure to happen. But why would we want failure? Failure is important for organizational innovation, for the simple reason that the if one doesn't try new things, one can never move forward, and trying by nature is prone to failure. An organization that does not allow room for failure is therefore doomed to become obsolete.
Availability of Reward Mechanisms for Innovation
Another important factor in Toyota's success is it's reward system for employee innovation. Who in Toyota is rewarded and how?
Blue Oceans
Shark Fin
In class we discussed the shark fin model. This model refers to market adoption of new technology, and is contrary to the traditional bell curve model. But what causes this shark fin?
Monday, May 8, 2017
Post 7: Crowdsourcing
An organization plans to use crowdsourcing in developing a new type of robot. How can crowdsourcing help?
Sunday, May 7, 2017
Post 6: Knowledge Preservation
As we learned, most of a company's knowledge lies between the ears of its employees. Employees might not even be aware of the knowledge they have.
Post 5: Organizational Digital Content
The questions at hand refer to management of digital documents within a company.
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Post 4: Large Organizations; False Alarm
KM in Large Organizations
For this assignment, we were asked to read an article regarding learning lessons (or "debriefing") in large organizations.
The article lists several examples for faulty debriefing, in all sorts of organizations. The reasons for faulty debriefing are plenty, but the one that stands out most is the reference to "organizational memory" - especially in the context of the IDF. Manpower in the army is always switching over, so new soldiers need to be taught.
False Alarms
The second part of this assignment is about the issue of false alarms. As an engineering student, I've been taught that there will always be a trade off between the type 1 and type 2 errors - and this trade off has to be determined by the management. It is easy to say that an event with devastating results should be avoided at all costs - but what if the cost is a system that cries wolf? There is no right answer regarding the alarm system itself, but for a problem like the one in the assignment, the solution is training the staff thoroughly. If the staff members are aware of the cost of the spilled material, and know how the alarm system works - they'll be able to avoid such mistakes in the future.
In some cases, false alarms can have devestating concequences in themselves.
For this assignment, we were asked to read an article regarding learning lessons (or "debriefing") in large organizations.
The article lists several examples for faulty debriefing, in all sorts of organizations. The reasons for faulty debriefing are plenty, but the one that stands out most is the reference to "organizational memory" - especially in the context of the IDF. Manpower in the army is always switching over, so new soldiers need to be taught.
False Alarms
The second part of this assignment is about the issue of false alarms. As an engineering student, I've been taught that there will always be a trade off between the type 1 and type 2 errors - and this trade off has to be determined by the management. It is easy to say that an event with devastating results should be avoided at all costs - but what if the cost is a system that cries wolf? There is no right answer regarding the alarm system itself, but for a problem like the one in the assignment, the solution is training the staff thoroughly. If the staff members are aware of the cost of the spilled material, and know how the alarm system works - they'll be able to avoid such mistakes in the future.
In some cases, false alarms can have devestating concequences in themselves.
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Post 3: LinkedIn; Tools
LinkedIn - to Whom Does the Information Belong?
In class, we discussed the widely known professional social network - LinkedIn. In this assignment the discussion is about whether an employee's (Sigal) LinkedIn profile can be considered intellectual property of his company rather than his own.
The company claims that the connections belong to the company, but I disagree. A person's LinkedIn profile belongs to her alone. It uses her email address and password and is updated by her.
If the company wanted its connections to belong to the company and not the employees, it should have those connections contact the company, and not Sigal. It is possible that the contacts connected with Sigal only because of the company she worked for - but in that case the company doesn't have to worry, because the connections won't want to keep their connection now that she's not in the company. The bottom line is that if human contacts are the company's main asset - the company should have a way to manage those contacts independently of its own manpower.
Tools - Which Tool Would I Find Useful?
The tool that caught my eye in class was Evernote. It reminds me of Pinterest a little, in the sense that one can save website articles by topic - but if Pinterest works primarily with photos, it seems that Evernote works well with articles or web-pages of any type. The next obvious advantage of Evernote it the ability to actually save the sites to one's desktop, including the ability to search through them - a feature that Pinterest doesn't offer.
In class, we discussed the widely known professional social network - LinkedIn. In this assignment the discussion is about whether an employee's (Sigal) LinkedIn profile can be considered intellectual property of his company rather than his own.
The company claims that the connections belong to the company, but I disagree. A person's LinkedIn profile belongs to her alone. It uses her email address and password and is updated by her.
If the company wanted its connections to belong to the company and not the employees, it should have those connections contact the company, and not Sigal. It is possible that the contacts connected with Sigal only because of the company she worked for - but in that case the company doesn't have to worry, because the connections won't want to keep their connection now that she's not in the company. The bottom line is that if human contacts are the company's main asset - the company should have a way to manage those contacts independently of its own manpower.
Tools - Which Tool Would I Find Useful?
The tool that caught my eye in class was Evernote. It reminds me of Pinterest a little, in the sense that one can save website articles by topic - but if Pinterest works primarily with photos, it seems that Evernote works well with articles or web-pages of any type. The next obvious advantage of Evernote it the ability to actually save the sites to one's desktop, including the ability to search through them - a feature that Pinterest doesn't offer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)