The Governments and workers have put in a great effort in regularizing the working hours and working week over the course of last one and a half century. The average work week in the world stands at 40 hours. With unemployment among all the work force in Sweden almost hitting 11 percent and in youth aged 15-24 hitting almost 27 percent. It’s definitely alarming and requires measures to reduce. Different political forces in Sweden including Green Party and left party have joined forces in reducing the working week to 30 hours. The reduction in the working hours certainly presents a solution to different issues like work life balance, quality of life and work satisfaction but is it a solution to reduce unemployment at the same time source of motivation? That is the fundamental question we have tried to answer in the pages to follow. The reduction in working hours, during the economic downturn of 2008, supported financially by Government of Germany actually helped save at least half a million jobs. Volvo Power Train saved a number of jobs in Sweden by reducing the working hours of all the employees, so did Scania, and Saab in Sweden. Toyota reduced the working hours of its employees in 1990s to increase motivation, job satisfaction and quality of life. Our research has shown that if working hours are reduced then jobs can not only be saved, but can be created as well. In the following pages you will come across information obtained through number of information sources and printed material which directly aims at looking into how reduction in working hours can reduce unemployment. Our research presents different scenarios where reduction in the hours can generate employments. The debate however is open for future researchers to test these scenarios and see if they are viable proposals and can help reduce the employment.
People, process and IT are amongst the most important assets of any organization. Optimal utilization of these resources has been the question of research in business and academia for many decades. The business world have responded by inventing various methodologies that can be used for addressing problems of quality improvement, efficiency of processes, continuous improvement, reduction of waste, automation, strategy alignments etc. Some of these methodologies can be commonly called as Business Process Quality Management methodologies (BPQM). In essence, the first references to the process management can be traced back to Frederick Taylor and scientific management. Time and motion study was addressed to improvement of manufacturing process efficiency. The ideas of scientific management were in use for quite a long period until more advanced quality management techniques were developed in Japan and USA. One of the first prominent methods had been Total Quality Management (TQM) which evolved during 1980’s. About the same time, Six Sigma(SS) originated at Motorola as a separate method. SS spread and evolved; and later joined with ideas of Lean manufacturing to form Lean Six Sigma. In 1990’s due to emerging IT technologies, beginning of globalization, and strengthening of competition, companies recognized the need for better process and quality management. Business Process Management (BPM) emerged as a novel methodology that has taken all this into account and helped to align IT technologies with business processes and quality management. In this thesis we studied various aspects of above mentioned methods and identified their relations. An extensive amount of information exists on these methodologies and they have been commercialized by various consulting firms. However, a comprehensive understanding of what these methodologies can do and deliver is missing. Purpose of the thesis is to study these three related methods in business process quality management; identify their relation to each other and how they have developed. An extensive literature review has been done prior to data collection to understand theory behind each methodology. Research data was collected by studying existing case studies describing implementation of above mentioned methodologies. Below are some of our key findings • BPQM methodologies evolved with time either by becoming more focused or through better integration of people and Information Systems • Processes are key for operations of any organizations. Processes need to controlled and developed over time. As BPQM methodologies evolved, they became more process centric. • Quality can be achieved as outcome through increasing process performance. Quality and processes are very closely linked to each other. It is impossible to expect high quality end-results without understanding what needs to be done to get a desirable output from various inputs. • Management support is vital for any BPQM methodology implementation. • Modern organizations are result oriented. Therefore the choice of BPQM methodologies is heavily influenced by their ability to improve bottom line performance.
The paper will reflect on Stefan Karlsson’s process of developing the business plan Poker E-‐‑ Sports. This paper is intended to be read by (1) nascent entrepreneurs, (2) students in the end of their education whom is about to create a link between the academic learning’s and the first job, (3) university personnel involved in this development process and (4) stakeholders whom are about to read the business plan Poker E-‐‑Sports. This reflection will chronology describe the development process with the decisions made and reflect upon how practical decision making connects with entrepreneurship theory. This paper describes the process at six headlines; (1) Business Idea, (2) Business concept (3), Business plan first version (4) Business plan middle version, (5) Business plan is it done? and (6) conclusion. This paper describes the process to create this business plan from the start of the idea to the complete business plan. In the conclusions I will reflect on the big picture and highlight what I will consider being my key leanings from this turbulent process.
Abstract Lahore, Pakistan is one of the most populated and hottest regions of the world. Due to long summers beverages consumption is generally high leading to an increase in consumption of beverage PET bottles. There is a huge amount of municipal waste which is not being recycled and as a result it ends up in land refills. Through a survey I have tried to figure out that how different factors like income level, educational level, recycling facility, knowledge and incentives influence recycling behavior of 124 individuals in Lahore, Pakistan. The research conducted shows us a positive relationship between recycling and low income level and also shows an increase in recycling trend with an increase in financial incentive to the general public. However a negative relationship can be observed among the recycling trend and an increase in private cost in terms of effort and time. According to the study one of the major factors which demotivates the public sector from recycling is the shabby condition of junk shops. Furthermore it seems lower recycling rates are due to lack of awareness in general public regarding importance of recycling, people want a clean environment but are unaware of the fact that recycling is a key component in preserving the environment. So, the appended study below shows that effort needs to be done to create awareness and start an effective and planned collection system which can reduce private cost of recycling, similarly efforts should be made for advertising and campaigning about the benefits of recycling and encouraging individuals to feel proud of the fact that they are contributing towards the betterment of society by recycling.
Effectively applying model mix and assembly sequencing can result in smooth part usage and balanced workloads on the automotive assembly line. I have studied the problem of production planning in automotive industry in terms of scheduling various models on an assembly line using SAP APO over a time horizon. The trends in automotive industry are moving from built to stock to built to order since more customers are demanding cars specific to their requirements. This shift of interest creates a big challenge on the whole supply chain and specifically on the shop floor in automotive industry. As the number of car variants increase, the amount of products to be ordered and cars to be made specific to customer requirements creates an additional challenge on the shop floor regarding resources (Labour, Material and Equipment) optimization. The resources optimization can be done by implementing a model mix and assembly sequencing concept based on the integrated Product and Process Engineering (iPPE) structure. Using iPPE structure and takt based scheduling in SAP APO give consistent results and make the planning process simpler as the number of car variants increases though the absence of model mix percentage calculating module and lack of flexibility in editing the iPPE structure are some of the weaknesses of the system. Sequencing between departments in automotive industry using SAP APO can be investigated further.
The health care is a very important sector in Nigeria. Continuous observations of medical practitioners changing to, and picking up employments in other field for example, banking, insurance, oil and gas, marketing etc, pose a question if the problem has to do with Human Resources Management in the health institution where majority of the medical personnel get employed. This study was carried out to determine what effect this would have on staff performance and in turn health service delivery. This study adopted the simple random sampling technique to select one hundred and twenty (120) medical practitioners. The Likert scale was used to assess the opinion of the respondents. The data gathered through the questionnaires was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). More than half of the respondents: 54 (52.9%) confirmed their uncomfortable office conditions, 62 (60.4%) their insufficient benefits and allowances, 61 (59.8%) do not agree that they were being paid fairly for their responsibility. A vast majority of the respondents: 60 (58.8%) attested that employees are not recognized for good performance. Most of the respondents: 69 (67.6%) agreed that they were growing as a professional in the hospital. Quite a number of the respondents: 63(61.8%) confirmed that there is no policy that covers hazard related to their jobs. This study highlighted the overall Human resources management challenges in the health sector and confirmed the relationship between poor pay structure, lack of facilities, infrastructures, safety at work – and attitude to work. The Government and Health managers should address those factors that affect attitude to work. Improving the work environment so that it provides a context congruent with the aspirations and values systems of health workers is more likely to increase a better attitude to work and consequently have a positive effect on individual, organizational and health outcomes.