Mechanical Handling Engineers—A Case for Engineering Management with Style

Author(s):  
T W Batley

This case study concerns a mechanical engineer who has strong views on business management. He purchased a small engineering company in Dunedin, New Zealand, and put into practice his managerial philosophies of worker participation in decision-making and profit-sharing. The paper reviews the progress of the company during its first three years and then discusses the options for its future development.

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (04) ◽  
pp. 1850038
Author(s):  
Z. Aytan Ediz ◽  
M. Atilla Öner ◽  
Y. Can Erdem ◽  
Nesimi Kaplan

Make-or-buy decision is an important factor affecting the profitability of the firms in all sectors. The goal of this study is to propose a model for firms in engineering design services sector for make-or-buy decisions. A survey was conducted to determine the importance percentages given in an engineering company in make-or-buy decisions and a model was developed. The results of the case study show intriguing clusters of company personnel. As the lack of consensus among company managers and personnel may inhibit the successful implementation of the developed strategy, we use K-Means Clustering to determine the different perspectives of different groups of employees (managers, senior engineers, junior engineers, technical and administrative support personnel) which may contribute to the understanding of social dynamics of decision making within the company. 4-cluster and 5-cluster analysis results indicate the need for further study on the dynamics of cluster membership.


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Diane D. Galbraith ◽  
Fred L. Webb

The purpose of this case study is to provide a pedagogical teaching tool for undergraduate business students to fully comprehend the importance of the business management functions of planning, organizing, leading and controlling businesses. This case is inspired by events in the history of Rockwell International Corporation. As a major conglomerate struggles to transform itself over a period of eight decades, Rockwell provided a challenging problem for students to solve.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Amanda Wolf

Policy practitioner–students in a Master of Public Policy programme in New Zealand describe many problems and processes in their work environments as ‘complex’. Yet, they hold firmly to a belief in the merits of ‘evidence’ to guide their advice and decision making in the face of that complexity. This article examines the aims and pedagogy of a two-course sequence designed to help students replace over-reliance on analysing existing evidence with understanding of the ways complexity concepts can aid in estimating possible outcomes of policy interventions. Starting with identifying evidence challenges, students learn how to compare a status quo situation and a prospective case of that status quo in which a new policy has been implemented. This method draws on existing scholarship in lesson-drawing for policy applications. Students are eased into an appreciation of a variety of complexity frameworks and concepts by looking at a case about which there is, strictly speaking, no evidence. 


Author(s):  
Kate Parkinson

This chapter assesses family group conferences (FGCs) as an international model of decision-making. FGCs are used in at least 20 countries across the globe. They are internationally recognised as an effective way of engaging families in decision-making processes. As the model has been applied in other countries, it has been adapted to reflect the cultures and the historical and policy context of individual countries and jurisdictions. Some of the processes are very similar to the original New Zealand model while others are very different and are hybrids of the original model. The chapter then studies the different levels of service implementation of FGCs and considers some of the outcome studies from seven countries. It also focuses on China as a case study for a country attempting to introduce FGCs as a culturally appropriate method of child protection practice.


Author(s):  
Sam Trowsdale ◽  
Kelly Boyle ◽  
Tom Baker

While modern water management has been central to the achievement of a range of beneficial social outcomes, it has increasingly drawn criticism for its disconnection from democratic decision-making, hindering efforts to develop more resilient systems. This paper examines how an experiment with more resilient water infrastructure politicized centralized water management focusing, in particular, on a stormwater re-use ‘third-pipe’ system at a large residential development in Auckland, New Zealand. Through analysis of resident and expert views on safety, cost and security, the paper attends (1) to the ways in which techno-managerial water management was contested and, thus, politicized through the implementation of the third pipe, and (2) how the mobilization of techno-managerial discourses by water management authorities delegitimized the third-pipe system, rendering it ultimately inoperable. While our case study was thwarted by the de-politicizing apparatus of water management authorities, such experiments offer precedents, resources and hope for more democratic systems of water management. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Urban flood resilience’.


2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 1413-1431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda C Thomas

There has been a burgeoning of geography literature that draws on post-politics to make sense of trends in Western liberal democracies. This body of literature argues that consensus is constructed around capitalism, and spaces for dissensus are closed off. However, critiques have focused on the state-centric and totalising nature of some of this literature. This article adds nuance and depth to explorations of post-politicising processes. I do this through an empirical case study that demonstrates how dissensus is disavowed through the construction of community, and highlights gendered and classed experiences of this disavowal. In exploring a rural community in Aotearoa New Zealand engaged in catchment-based decision making, I draw on Nancian critical community scholarship to analyse how neoliberal and rural discourses defined belonging. Boundaries, and who could access the catchment committee, were shaped by expectations of economic consumption, spatial membership, gendered behavioural norms and class. The policing of these boundaries became increasingly antagonistic to the point of threats of violence. Accounts by those who experienced this policing demonstrate the embodied and largely banal nature of post-politicising processes. And yet, this case study illustrates how efforts to depoliticise are entangled with politicisation and raises questions about how change unfolds.


2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dileep Kumar M.

The Higher Education Institutions that run business management programs in Malaysia is under severe criticism from industry that the passing out management graduates do not have adequate practical exposure to the industry and lack of practical skills to deal industrial issues proactively as the catalyst of change.This indicates that the traditional management education curriculum, as presently constituted, may not be adequately preparing individuals for the challenges they experience as professional managers.To deal with this issue, many management institutes are adopting case study as a pedagogy, a hypothetical or actual business situation to formulate a recommended policy or decision based on the facts and figures provided, to induce practical exposure to the students by simulating case situations, which improve students analytical skills and decision-making skills.A case study in business management course is a rigorous analysis of an incident, situation, person, crisis or any such phenomenon or concept, in relation to industry, business or people in the organisations.It is well related to the management, process or methodology adopted by the organisation stressing analysis of chain of events for better change management in relation to business operation context. The case studies included in this book provides better perspective of various issues and situations in the business field.The cases are written from the field of Organisational Behaviour, Human Resource Management, Marketing, Business Ethics, International Business, Strategic Management, Business Laws and General Management. These case studies are to be thoroughly analyzed by the faculty members before applying that into the classroom. It is expected that the faculty members should refer to the similar case scenarios at local and international levels to stimulate students to have better discussion on the multifaceted issues or situation. Instead of a direct entry into theoretical concepts, the author suggests that the faculty members distribute these cases well in advance and invite students to come for creative discussions and practical solutions.By preparing solutions to case studies, the students will be exposed to a variety of business operations, business process, management roles, and business situations.Thus the case studies can adequately integrate theoretical concepts effortlessly in realistic situations with better referential skills.The 50 cases included in this book can extremely be valuable in preparing students a career in industry by giving better chance to develop analytical and decision-making skills in the classroom that meet up the challenges of industry.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vitorino Neves ◽  
João Lanzinha

Currently, the importance of the condominiums technical management and the organization of their annual budgets (with an enormous preponderance of the funds reserve) is not recognized in the decision-making process regarding the maintenance and rehabilitation actions of multi-family buildings. For this reason, it is of particular interest the development of models and technical tools, some that could help to list/report pathologies/anomalies as well as the correlation between the listed pathologies/anomalies and the building, and some others that may consolidate the technical legacy, in order to understand the importance of maintenance labor in the quality and durability of buildings. In this context, the article reflects, in its essence, a proposal for guidelines elaboration for the conditions assessment of the current multi-family buildings envelope in a condominium regime, carried out within the scope of a curricular unit and an ongoing PhD thesis project. The demonstration of the methodologies and tools developed for this evaluation, with the differentiation between a preliminary evaluation and a detailed evaluation, complemented by the brief presentation of a case study, is of particular importance in this work. The work also includes the reference of the importance of this study in the future development of the thesis, as well as the schematic demonstration of other complementary works for it.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document