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Article
Publication date: 1 April 2006

Emil Walter‐Busch

Among leaders of the French Socialist Movement, Albert Thomas (1878‐1932) was one of the few steady supporters of scientific management. The purpose of this paper is to describe…

1835

Abstract

Purpose

Among leaders of the French Socialist Movement, Albert Thomas (1878‐1932) was one of the few steady supporters of scientific management. The purpose of this paper is to describe how Thomas developed his ideas about advanced management thought and practice during and after World War I.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper makes extensive use of published and unpublished primary sources preserved at the Archives nationales, Paris, at the Bureau International du Travail (BIT), Geneva, and at Smith College, Northampton, MA.

Findings

Thomas's reformist ideology first stood the test during World War I when he served as minister for munitions for France. After the International Labour Organization had entrusted him with the directorship of the BIT, Thomas helped to create the International Management Institute (IMI) as a center for the collection and dissemination of advanced management thought and practice. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the rationalization movement fell into disrepute. Like some progressive members of the Taylor Society, Thomas identified scientific management increasingly with concepts of socioeconomic planning and international cooperation. Nonetheless, the intellectual tide turned against his reformist creed. Having lost the support of its American sponsors, IMI closed its doors in January 1934, only about two years after Thomas's unexpected death.

Originality/value

The paper tries to show how one of the most brilliant French politicians of the last century developed and applied his theories‐in‐use about scientific management under changing historical circumstances.

Details

Journal of Management History, vol. 12 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1751-1348

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 March 2022

Ann Francis and Albert Thomas

System dynamics has several applications in the built environment, and few studies indicate that it has potential in evaluating sustainability. Sustainability in the built…

Abstract

Purpose

System dynamics has several applications in the built environment, and few studies indicate that it has potential in evaluating sustainability. Sustainability in the built environment involves numerous entities and multiple trade-offs. Hence, a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) method is ideal for promoting sustainability-based decision-making in the built environment. Therefore, this study integrates system dynamics with an MCDM method to enable the sustainability assessment by capturing the time-induced dynamic changes affecting long time sustainability performance of buildings.

Design/methodology/approach

Conventional sustainability assessment tools in the built environment lack a comprehensive evaluation that balances the needs of the society, economy and environment. This study develops a system dynamics-based framework to enable sustainability-conscious decision-making and policy analysis in the built environment.

Findings

Various material, technology and water-related policies specific to the buildings are investigated for a case study building. It is found that the effect of penetration of renewable energy technology to the tune of 80% and above in the energy mix is a much superior policy in sustainability improvement in comparison to material and water-related policies. The study also demonstrates the effect of weights assigned for the different indicators on sustainability-based decisions.

Originality/value

The study provides a methodological framework for a sustainability-based decision support system for the built environment that enables dynamic performance evaluation by coupling system dynamics with the MCDM. This coupling further strengthens system dynamics as a decision-making and policy analysis for sustainability evaluation in the built environment.

Details

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, vol. 12 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6099

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 22 December 2005

Isabel da Costa

France has a long tradition of research on labor and employment issues dating back to the emergence of the “Social Question” in the 1830s. Yet, the field identified as industrial…

Abstract

France has a long tradition of research on labor and employment issues dating back to the emergence of the “Social Question” in the 1830s. Yet, the field identified as industrial relations (IR) emerged slowly in France and has not achieved the institutional status it did in Anglo-Saxon countries. French universities have no IR departments and there are no academic journals with IR on the title. Teaching takes place within different disciplines and research produces an abundant literature, which does not always claim the IR label.

The concept of “industrial relations”, translated as “relations professionnelles”, started to be used in France only after World War II (WWII). The terms commonly used both before WWII and even nowadays alongside IR are “relations du travail” (labor relations) or “relations sociales” (social relations). Even though “industrial relations” might not always be the label used, a distinctive French IR tradition exists nonetheless which this paper identifies and presents.

The paper starts with the forerunners at the origins of the field of IR in France, high ranking civil servants who played a role not only in the development of French but even of international industrial relations, and represented a “problem-solving” approach to IR. The emergence of IR as a field of research with a self-recognized academic community bent on “science building”, however, mostly followed the evolution of IR practice in France in the post-WWII period, which the paper then analyzes, presenting the IR milieu in France through its research structures, theoretical debates and challenging prospects.

Details

Advances in Industrial & Labor Relations
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76231-265-8

Article
Publication date: 6 July 2023

Omprakash Ramalingam Rethnam and Albert Thomas

The building sector contributes one-third of the energy-related carbon dioxide globally. Therefore, framing appropriate energy-related policies for the next decades becomes…

Abstract

Purpose

The building sector contributes one-third of the energy-related carbon dioxide globally. Therefore, framing appropriate energy-related policies for the next decades becomes essential in this scenario to realize the global net-zero goals. The purpose of the proposed study is to evaluate the impact of the widespread adoption of such guidelines in a building community in the context of mixed-mode buildings.

Design/methodology/approach

This study decentralizes the theme of improving the energy efficiency of the national building stock in parcels by proposing a community-based hybrid bottom-up modelling approach using urban building energy modelling (UBEM) techniques to analyze the effectiveness of the community-wide implementation of energy conservation guidelines.

Findings

In this study, the UBEM is developed and validated for the 14-building residential community in Mumbai, India, adopting the framework. Employing Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) compliance on the UBEM shows an energy use reduction potential of up to 15%. The results also reveal that ECBC compliance is more advantageous considering the effects of climate change.

Originality/value

In developing countries where the availability of existing building stock information is minimal, the proposed study formulates a holistic framework for developing a detailed UBEM for the residential building stock from scratch. A unique method of assessing the actual cooling load of the developed UBEM is presented. A thorough sensitivity analysis approach to investigate the effect of cooling space fraction on the energy consumption of the building stock is presented, which would assist in choosing the appropriate retrofit strategies. The proposed study's outcomes can significantly transform the formulation and validation of appropriate energy policies.

Details

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6099

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Advances in Accounting Education Teaching and Curriculum Innovations
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76231-035-7

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1988

Robert O. Jordan

The Two Revolutions in Advertising. Dr. Shoop's Restorative was a patent medicine sold around the turn of the century. It allegedly cured shingles, rickets, the grippe, the…

Abstract

The Two Revolutions in Advertising. Dr. Shoop's Restorative was a patent medicine sold around the turn of the century. It allegedly cured shingles, rickets, the grippe, the vapors, neuritis, and neuralgia. It also changed the course of advertising. One day in 1904 a couple of young ad men, Ambrose Thomas and Albert Lasker, were sitting in their Chicago offices when a messenger arrived with a note. “I am downstairs at the saloon,” it said, “and I can tell you what advertising is.” When Thomas and Lasker went down to investigate, they found an imposing fellow named John E. Kennedy, a former member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who had more recently been employed as a copywriter for Dr. Shoop's Restorative. Several hours and many drinks later, they hired Kennedy at a salary of $28,000 a year—fantastic money in those days. But Kennedy eventually made them very rich, and his concept made advertising the $170 billion global industry it is today.

Details

Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 2 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0887-6045

Article
Publication date: 1 June 1994

P.R. Masani

Presents the scientific methodology from the enlarged cybernetical perspective that recognizes the anisotropy of time, the probabilistic character of natural laws, and the entry…

Abstract

Presents the scientific methodology from the enlarged cybernetical perspective that recognizes the anisotropy of time, the probabilistic character of natural laws, and the entry that the incomplete determinism in Nature opens to the occurrence of innovation, growth, organization, teleology communication, control, contest and freedom. The new tier to the methodological edifice that cybernetics provides stands on the earlier tiers, which go back to the Ionians (c. 500 BC). However, the new insights reveal flaws in the earlier tiers, and their removal strengthens the entire edifice. The new concepts of teleological activity and contest allow the clear demarcation of the military sciences as those whose subject matter is teleological activity involving contest. The paramount question “what ought to be done”, outside the empirical realm, is embraced by the scientific methodology. It also embraces the cognitive sciences that ask how the human mind is able to discover, and how the sequence of discoveries might converge to a true description of reality.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 23 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2008

O. Pozo, B. Soulestin and N. Olivi‐Tran

We set up an original apparatus to measure the grain grain friction stress inside a granular medium composed of sodo‐silicate‐glass beads surrounded by a water vapor atmosphere.We…

Abstract

We set up an original apparatus to measure the grain grain friction stress inside a granular medium composed of sodo‐silicate‐glass beads surrounded by a water vapor atmosphere.We analyze here the influence of the physico chemistry of water on our glass beads and its consequences on our shear experiment. We found two scales in the analysis of the shear stress signal. On the microscopic scale of one bead, the experimental results show a dependence on the size of beads, on the shear rate and on humidity for the resulting stick slip signal. On the macroscopic scale of the whole assembly of beads, the behavior of the total amplitude of the shear stress depends on the size of the beads and is humidity dependent only for relative humidity larger than 80%. For high degrees of humidity, on the microscopic scale, water lubricates the surface of the beads leading to a decrease in the microscopic resistance to shear while on the macroscopic scale the resistance to shear is increased: the assembly of very humid grains behaves as a rheothickening fluid.

Details

Multidiscipline Modeling in Materials and Structures, vol. 4 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1573-6105

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1908

The endeavour that is being made at the present time to rouse public interest in the extremely important question of the purity of the national milk supply is one that deserves…

Abstract

The endeavour that is being made at the present time to rouse public interest in the extremely important question of the purity of the national milk supply is one that deserves unqualified praise. It is in no spirit of carping criticism that it is here pointed out that the partial and unofficial remedy by which it is proposed to diminish the risk to the consumer may in itself be indirectly a means of continuing what has become a grave public danger. No reasonable doubt can exist that pasteurization as a method of dealing with large quantities of milk in bulk and from all sources will be of considerable use. It will certainly tend, if carried into effect to the extent and in the way suggested, to greatly lessen the risk that consumers run at the present time. It will prevent a large amount of disease that arises from the consumption of impure milk. But such a method, however admirable and philanthropic in conception and sound in theory, is one that by no means answers all, or even a part of, the large number of important questions connected with the subject. The general public and honest milk dealers will, it is to be hoped, benefit by the new milk legislation that is proposed by the Local Government Board and by the London County Council. The public, however, is very apt to be caught by a phrase, and may, therefore, think that “milk pasteurization” is the beginning and the end of all that need or can be said on the subject. It is likely that the foundation of depots for the preparation and supply of pasteurized milk will blind its eyes to the fact that the evils which have rendered the establishment of such places necessary remain untouched. Indeed, the very fact that milk depots of this kind are at work may be used by interested persons as evidence that all hygienic requirements have been complied with, that for this reason veterinary considerations may be ruled “out of court,” and that the necessity for further legislation of a more fundamental and drastic kind no longer exists. The agitation that is taking place at the present moment is no new thing. For many years past the matter has engaged the most serious attention of those experts whose business it is to investigate and, as far as they are permitted, to control the quality of the milk supplies of both our town and country districts. For example, a perusal of the annual reports of the Local Government Board that have been issued since that Board was instituted in the early seventies, will satisfy any one, who takes the time and trouble to read them, that Public Analysts have from time to time animadverted in terms more or less strong on the poor quality of the milk supplied, and that even if the field of inquiry be limited to what may be called purely analytical standards the difficulties of the case are enormous, even if they be looked at from the best and the most hopeful point of view. At the present moment we are more concerned with the equally important hygienic aspect of the question. Local self‐government, while conferring a large amount of autonomy on administrative units, has naturally resulted in an almost entire absence of any definite national system that can deal with the important subject of food supply generally and milk supply in particular. At the present time it is left to the local authority to decide whether it will or will not apply for powers from the central authority—the Local Government Board—to put into force regulations under the Dairies, Cowsheds, and Milkshops Order, though in cases where this has been done the benefit to all concerned has been marked, and the necessity for such action demonstrated. The subject of the milk supply divides itself, roughly speaking, into three branches, which may be referred to under the headings of Production, Carriage, and Sale, though it is evident that no sharp line of demarcation can be drawn. With regard to all of these the law is either defective or nonexistent. Under the present “system” prosecutions are mostly instituted against persons of whom it is alleged that they have knowingly sold milk from which fat has been abstracted or to which water has been added, but even here “the difficulties connected with the administration of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts in the case of milk have been a constant subject of discussion between the officers of local authorities and the Board's Inspectors.” What these difficulties are are well known to all who are brought into contact with the administration of the Food and Drugs Acts, but any one can satisfy himself as to them by reference to, say, the last annual report of the Board of Agriculture in this respect, keeping in mind, at the same time, the fact that only one aspect of the case is there dealt with. Under the heading of Production brief reference may be made to the subject of the cow and her surroundings. Much evidence exists which shows the urgent need for expert and unbiassed hygienic and veterinary inspection of all dairy farms, cowsheds, and cows. In much that has been recently written on the subject of pure milk in the daily press, it is somewhat remarkable to note that while the dangers that arise from drinking raw milk derived from tuberculous cows has been rightly insisted on, comparatively little reference has been made to the importance of cow and cowshed inspection. It is unfortunately the case in too many instances that the owners of cows are content to house the animals in sheds under conditions that are usually, though wrongly, thought to be fit only for pigs. This, of course, leaves entirely out of the question the fact that the animals themselves may be tuberculous or otherwise diseased, and therefore a source of most serious danger to the public health. With regard to carriage of milk it may be pointed out that the modern city draws its supply of milk from all over the country, and that this means a rail journey of frequently some hours' duration. Our modes of transporting and handling milk have not, however, kept pace with modern requirements. The frequently Arcadian simplicity of the methods in vogue would appeal the more strongly to lovers of the picturesque if they did not lead so often to the introduction of filth of all kinds into the milk cans. Lastly, regarding the sale of milk from retailer to consumer, the public itself is largely to blame for the objectionable practice of adding colouring matter to the milk. A general impression is abroad among the poorer, and therefore it may be presumed the more ignorant, consumers, that milk is not genuine unless it be what is called “cream coloured.” Hence the introduction of annatto or some less innocent substance. For the frequent presence of such substances as formaldehyde, boracic acid, and other “preservatives” no excuse of any kind exists. Such practices are simply means but too often resorted to of masking incipient putrefaction induced by tardy and uncleanly methods. At the same time, these dangerous chemical preservatives make the “food” more difficult of digestion, with results to young children and persons in weak health that are too obvious to need comment. In addition to all this the milk may be subjected, of course, to adulteration of the usual kind. Hence the present position is that against defective methods of production and sale, out‐of‐date methods of transport, absence of any national and compulsory system of inspection and control, and a law that is either deficient or hopelessly tangled, a semi‐philanthropic method is proposed which, though probably sound and admirable in itself, is almost certain to be used by the unserupulous as a means of preventing the important problem of our milk supply being attacked in the only way in which there is reasonable hope of success—that is, by an appeal to the cow and its surroundings. Unless the method of pasteurization be recognised as a useful but still a subordinate means of dealing with an already contaminated substance, it is more than likely that tinkering and generally unsatisfactory legislation will be resorted to, and that as a result of this the state of the milk supply will remain very much as it is at present.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 10 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1992

Helis Miido

A total of 1641 questionnaires were mailed in March 1990 to members of the US Medical Library Association and the European Association of Health Libraries and Librarians…

Abstract

A total of 1641 questionnaires were mailed in March 1990 to members of the US Medical Library Association and the European Association of Health Libraries and Librarians, requesting information on the status of automating the processing of serials and books. Of the 1641 questionnaires mailed, 626 (38%) valid responses were received for analysis. Depending on geographic area, between 37% and 46% of the medical libraries surveyed process all serial functions manually. A greater number of US libraries have automated all procedures for processing serials (11% as opposed to 9% in Canada and 8% in Europe). A greater proportion have automated some procedures (42% in Europe and 40% in both the US and Canada). Between 23% and 34% process all book functions manually. A greater proportion of Canadian libraries have automated all book functions (26% as opposed to 14% in the US and 13% in Europe). A greater proportion of European libraries have automated some book functions (58% as opposed to 47% in the US and 34% in Canada). Personal computers are used more often than the mainframe/minicomputers to process both serials and books. Not all libraries use the same system throughout for automating all library functions, and a number of libraries ‘mix and match’ multiple systems or use systems which are specific to a geographic location. The most frequently used systems on the personal computer and mainframe/minicomputer for processing serials and books are given by function within geographic location.

Details

The Electronic Library, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-0473

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