Search results

A recent research project on white collar quality circles in manufacturing industry was carried out because previous research at UMIST indicated that white collar circles were more difficult to set up and sustain. The study involved interviews in eleven companies which had or had had white collar circles, and questionnaire surveys of manufacturing companies and quality circle consultants. The findings indicate that white collar circles are no more difficult to initiate than blue collar circles but they can be harder to sustain. There was little evidence that companies were aware of the benefits of increasing white collar productivity or the part that circles can play in this and white collar workers are often sceptical about the relevance of circles to them. It was also found that white collar circles can face difficulties such as problem choice, over‐complex projects, organising meetings and a tendency to form multi‐disciplinary groups. Companies intending to start white collar circles need to be aware of the pitfalls but these should not deter them from setting them up.

A study carried out at UMIST of the operation of white‐collar circles in manufacturing firms is reported. Despite the problems associated with initiating and sustaining white‐collar circles, it is not suggested that they should be avoided.

This is the final article of a series of three which deal with Quality Circle failures. The first two papers, based on a review of the literature, dealt with the possible reasons why quality circles may fail. To carry the investigation further the authors visited five companies to examine in more detail the main reasons for quality circle failures, how to prevent such failures and plans to revive entire circle programmes. In no way do these case studies purport to be representative. However, they do highlight some important determinants of success or failure and also some aspects which may be important in maintaining the long‐term viability of circles. The investigation was carried out by structured interviews with the appropriate member(s) of the company.

Sixty‐seven British companies took part in a survey to determine causes of failure of quality circles. The main reasons determined were: rejection of the concept by top management and trade unions; the disruption caused by redundancies and company restructuring; labour turnover; lack of co‐operation from middle and first line management; and failure by circle leaders to find enough time to organise meetings. The author was optimistic about the findings since growth in the number of companies using circles and the average number of circles per company is still taking place.

A postal questionnaire survey of quality circles in the UK service sector has been completed. It was revealed that there are no major differences in the characteristics of circle programmes in the service and manufacturing organisations. However, service industries need to be aware of the individuality of each organisation before adoption of programmes.

This is a continuation of Parts I and II of the paper. In this part it is suggested that microscopic particles behave similarly to macroscopic objects: Features of two entangled particles, having the same “dimension” (kind of feature), may interchange and migrate from one particle to the other while their wave function collapses. In the particular case of electrically charged particles, like an electron and a proton, the migrating features that are interchanged between the particles, may be the electrical charges (that have the same “dimension”). This implies that each atom of matter has some very small probability to be an atom of antimatter, and it may be annihilated if it collides with an atom of matter. The purpose of this study is to suggest how this hypothesis may be tested empirically.

The cooler are the molecules of gases, the slower they are. Therefore, according to Heisenberg's principle of uncertainty, the probability that gaseous molecules will collide increases when the gas is cooled.

We may expect that when gases are cooled there is a higher than usual probability that gaseous molecules of matter and antimater will collide and will annihilate each other, emitting photons of gamma rays. Such findings has been reported by Molchadzki, but not explained. The same is true regarding other situations in which the probability of collisions of gaseous molecules is higher than the usual, like the colliding of gaseous molecule at the center of an imploding bubble of gas.

If a procedure that increases the number of collisions between gaseous molecules considerably will be developed, it may be that this procedure will be applicable for obtaining clean energy by annihilations of matter and antimatter.

NL Chemicals/NL Industries Inc announce the acquisition of Victor Wolf Industries Ltd, the UK based producer of polyamide resins, plastics additives, and other speciality chemicals.

Describes research into managers′ experiences of significant organizational change attempts. The research project was aimed at developing frameworks which: describe, illuminate and enable a better understanding of managers′ journeys through organizational change; serve as a template for bringing together the very diverse and fragmented literature relating to individuals experiencing change; highlight issues and pointers for the design and facilitation of effective organizational change initiatives. The first part describes the context, spirit, intentions, sample and methodology of the research. Also, reviews a broad range of literature which can inform our understanding of individuals in change. Propounds the need to open up the “real world” of organizational change, as perceived and experienced by managers, rather than any “ideal” view of how that world is desired or supposed to be. Presents and discusses research findings on the sensed and initiating “primary” triggers for change‐that is, the formal and communicated organizational change objectives; and the perceived and felt “secondary” triggers for change‐that is, the issues raised by, and the implications of, the organizational changes for individual managers. The second part presents a framework depicting the phases and components of managers′ journeys through organizational change. On the framework, the experience of managers can be located, in terms of their thoughts, feelings and behaviours, as the processes of change unfold. While each manager′s journey was found to be unique, the framework proved to be ubiquitous in enabling the mapping of all the managers′ journeys, and it also accommodates literature on phenomena as diverse as learning, personal transition, catastrophe and survival, trauma and stress, loss and “death”, and worry and grief. The findings emphasize the profoundness and deeply felt emotionality of many managers′ experiencing of change in organizations. Finally, identifies the outcomes of managers′ journeys through significant attempts at organizational change. Also presents the reported helping and hindering factors to those journeys. Implications of these findings are pursued, particularly in terms of the leadership and development roles and behaviours required, if the organization and its management are to move beyond simply requiring change towards actively facilitating its achievement.

The wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is a promising technology, but the parts are mostly manufactured on the plane and along the vertical direction. The purpose of this paper is to propose a cylindrical slicing and manufacturing method.

For revolved parts, e.g. blades of a propeller, instead of planes, a series of cylindrical surfaces intersect with the STL model of the part. The generated slicing layers lie on the cylindrical surface, and then these spatial contours are unfolded onto the plane by the use of the cylindrical coordinate system. A deposition system based on an NC machine is established to examine deposition paths. The temperature and stress of part of two deposition orders are analyzed using the finite element method.

The scan parallel path and contour offset path are not suitable to fabricate blades directly. The hybrid of two types of paths and the hybrid of skeleton and contour offset paths are capable of forming blades without gaps. Deposition symmetrically can decrease the deformation of the propeller.

The slicing algorithm is simply implemented and practicable for any parts. The recognition of gaps and supplementary skeleton path can guarantee the full deposition of contour offset paths.

The web application presented in this paper allows for an analysis to reveal centres of excellence in different fields worldwide using publication and citation data. Only specific aspects of institutional performance are taken into account and other aspects such as teaching performance or societal impact of research are not considered. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.

Based on data gathered from Scopus, field-specific excellence can be identified in institutions where highly-cited papers have been frequently published.

The web application (www.excellencemapping.net) combines both a list of institutions ordered by different indicator values and a map with circles visualising indicator values for geocoded institutions.

Compared to the mapping and ranking approaches introduced hitherto, our underlying statistics (multi-level models) are analytically oriented by allowing the estimation of values for the number of excellent papers for an institution which are statistically more appropriate than the observed values; the calculation of confidence intervals as measures of accuracy for the institutional citation impact; the comparison of a single institution with an “average” institution in a subject area: and the direct comparison of at least two institutions.