From: ae547@yfn.ysu.edu (Ronda Hauben)
Subject: Re: Amateur-Comp Charter New Technology vrs Management Reorganization
Reply-To: ae547@yfn.ysu.edu (Ronda Hauben)
Organization: St. Elizabeth Hospital, Youngstown, OH
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 21:20:28 GMT


Peter Carr asked me to post this for him in the alt.amateur-comp
newsgroup as he doesn't have accessto the newsgroup at present. He asks that 
any comments be sent to him email as well as being posted in response.


His email address is : carrp@cme.nist.gov (Peter Carr)

 
 
 
 
Ronda,
 
I meant to send you a reply earlier, but I have been rather busy.
Here is a description of my interests, as they pertain to the items
listed in the charter.
 
My interests are twofold. First, I have been on an "intellectual
journey" the past few years studying the interrelationships between
the use of computer technology and organizational restructuring in the
manufacturing domain. I enjoy the internet, and am very happy to see a
group discussing issues involving computers and workers. Second, as a
PC owner, I am interested in learning more about grass roots computer
users movements. I do not consider myself a hobbyist or an expert with
the PC. I do feel at the mercy of a man who I irrationally consider as
a nemesis, Bill Gates.
 
In addition to working on a project at NIST (as a computer
programmer), I am also struggling to finish my master's thesis. I am
enrolled at Boston University in a BA/MA program. It is an
interdisciplinary program and I have chosen my topic as the role of
computers in reorganizing manufacturing enterprises. My thesis is as
follows: 
 
   The impact of technology is dependent on the organizational setting
   in which it is conceived and implemented. It is the organizational
   setting which ultimately affects the relationship between people
   and machines.
 
   The continuing development and use of computer and communications
   technology in manufacturing organizations has led to the notion of
   computer integrated manufacturing (CIM). This concept promises to
   revolutionize established practices and consequently the way that
   work is organized. 
 
   While computerization of processes offers great promise for
   increasing the performance of a firm, more often than not, the
   potential benefits of CIM systems are not realized. This has as
   much to do with the underlying understanding that an organization
   has towards technical and human resources, as with the specific
   technical problems encountered with its adoption. In fact, the two
   elements, technical and organization, can not be adequately
   understood in isolation from the other.
 
   While the implementation technologies for computer integrated
   manufacturing are very similar across a number of organizations,
   there are differences in the way that CIM is practiced and
   understood. The differences in the way it is understood can be
   classified into two views. The underlying view of CIM (the way
   that a particular organization understands CIM) accounts for the
   the widely differeing results in the application of computer
   technology to the manufacturing process.
 
   The first, narrower view, understands CIM as another manufacturing
   process technology, as a technical problem with technical
   solutions, offering gains in cost, quality, and manufacturing
   efficiency. This view does not necessitate a global view of the
   manufacturing enterprise, and it considers CIM as primarily part
   of the manufacturing domain.
 
   The second view is broader in that the computer technology is seen
   as a way to integrate many of the elements of an enterprise.
   Effective use of the technology is dependent on underlying
   principles of continuous process improvement, and a different
   approach towards workers at all levels of the production chain. It
   necessitates a global view of the enterprise, and one in which
   technical solutions and policies come after organizational goals
   and impacts are considered.
 
I have taken a decidedly broad view of the topic, hence I haven't been
able to devote my energies towards in-depth understanding of a
particular sitaution. I haven't any real background, either. Most of
my knowledge has been from reading histories and business and
manuagement literature.
 
Throughout my studies I have become interested in a number of topics
which may be related to the issues discussed in the charter, including:
the skill-deskilling debate about the role of computers and
automation; the scientific management practices developed by Taylor;
the implications for employee training and employee involvement of the
increasing use of computers in the manufacturing workplace.
 
Our system administrator has not yet hooked us up to the new
newsgroup. I am not in a position to make such as demand at this point
in time. I hope to here more later.
 
Thanks,
Peter J. Carr
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
bldg. 220, rm. A150
Gaithersburg, MD 20899
(301)975-2423
e-mail: carrp@cme.nist.gov
 
-- 
Ronda Hauben                    email address:ae547@yfn.ysu.edu
Amateur Computerist Newsletter              or
P.O. Box 4344                   rhauben@heartland.bradley.edu
Dearborn, MI 48126
Newsgroups: alt.amateur-comp