San Antonio College Library

Presents techniques to increase efficiency, cut costs, and improve resource use, such as reducing the number of steps in production, reducing waste, and creating standardized tasks and procedures.

In their quest for a "rational" workplace, turn-of-the-century engineers and industrial architects recast the factory itself in the image of the machine. Indeed, they considered the factory building the "master machine," containing and coordinating all of the machinery within. Such rational factory planning improved production speed and the management of workers. Once created, the rational factory transformed the nature of work, both human and mechanical....

"In the knowledge economy, a company's success rests as much on its ability to measure the performance of its intangible assets (such as customer relationships, internal business processes, and employee learning) as on its aptitude for monitoring traditional financial measures. Yet the tasks of evaluating the latest performance measures and aligning your corporate strategy accordingly pose serious challenges to managers who must balance daily business...

"Efficiency - associated with individual discipline, superior management, and increased profits or productivity - often counts as one of the highest virtues in Western culture. But what does it mean, exactly, to be efficient? How did this concept evolve from a means for evaluating simple machines to the mantra of progress and a prerequisite for success?" "In this provocative and ambitious study, Jennifer Karns Alexander explores the growing power...

"A bold challenge to our obsession with efficiency--and a new understanding of how to benefit from the powerful potential of serendipity. Algorithms, multitasking, the sharing economy, life hacks: our culture can't get enough of efficiency. One of the great promises of the Internet and big data revolutions is the idea that we can improve the processes and routines of our work and personal lives to get more done in less time than ever before. There...

"This book provides a guide to the Baldridge Criteria for executives or managers new to quality, or to organizations interested in introductory information. National, regional, state, and local quality award organizations will particularly benefit from this book by providing it as a resource to their examiners and to companies wanting to become involved in the Baldridge award process. Companies that have internal quality awards or self-assessments...

Despite privatization, state-owned enterprises still account for a large share of developing countries' economies. This report shows how divestiture and other reforms can improve the economy, why politics often impede reform, and how countries that reformed successfully overcame these obstacles.