All Features
MIT News
Scott Stern doesn’t work in a laboratory or have a degree in the hard sciences. You’ll never find him using a genome sequencer or an MRI scanner. Yet he knows more about some aspects of science than almost any practicing scientist does.
That’s because Stern, an economist at the MIT Sloan School of…
William A. Levinson
Compliance is an unfortunate word in connection with standards because it suggests something arduous, unpleasant, costly, and annoying that one must do to “get the certificate.”
It’s true that organizations must meet certain requirements to register to a standard like ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and the…
Gallup
When it comes to project management, most organizations put their practices before their people. They place more emphasis on rational factors, i.e., the process itself, and less on emotional drivers that could lead to project excellence—like their employees’ engagement with the project and company…
Bruce Hamilton
Do you remember a post-hippie-era song called “Signs?” The song’s refrain came to mind recently during a workplace walkthrough.
“Sign, sign, everywhere a sign Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?”
—Five…
Mountz
During the assembly of parts using an electric torque screwdriver, there are many things to consider to achieve proper torque control. Is the joint hard or soft? What material is being used? Is the screw lubricated or treated with a locking patch? One factor that’s often overlooked is the RPM…
Oscar Combs
With companies being asked to produce more with fewer resources, managing risks is more critical than ever. Sometimes organizations become so accustomed to navigating around their inherent risks that they become complacent in identifying and anticipating them—until something catastrophic happens.…
Steven Ouellette
“It is what it is.” I’m hearing that a lot now. I’m OK with it if someone is using it as a shortcut to mean something like the Serenity Prayer. But more and more, I’m hearing people use it in a way that sounds like an expression of helplessness and futility.
As “it is what it is” permeates into…
MIT News
A team of MIT researchers has developed a way of making a high-temperature version of a kind of materials called photonic crystals, using metals such as tungsten or tantalum. The new materials—which can operate at temperatures up to 1,200°C—could find a wide variety of applications powering…
Jason W. Womack
Your plane hasn’t even left its gate, and you already feel defeated by another harried day of travel. You hit every red traffic light on the way to the airport; you waited, frustrated, in a slow-moving check-in line; and you went through the usual hassle (and occasional humiliation) required to…
NIST
The great artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci once said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) research engineer Javier Atencia certainly believes in the wisdom of what da Vinci preached; he has a reputation for creating novel…
Oscar Combs
This case study provides an overview of the design, development, implementation, and subsequent management of a total quality management (TQM) system developed for the international division of the largest drilling contractor in the world, which is based in Houston. The TQM system covered all…
Direct Dimensions Inc.
The city of Rome is one of the most popular destinations in the world owing to its culture, architecture, and especially the art that remains from its ancient citizens. Every year millions of people visit the travertine stone remains of the Coliseum, the Roman Forum, and other sites, wondering what…
Tim Lozier
Seems like the “next best thing” is always coming out. I’m not one of those people who miss the good old days; I always marvel at what we have in the modern world. I feel like TV shows have gotten better, consumer products are better, my kid’s toys are cooler, and technology is smarter and sleeker…
Forrest Breyfogle—New Paradigms
In one section of the January 25, 2012, Wall Street Journal, several articles pointed to an underlying dysfunction in companies from diverse industries. Although they offered different products and services, they all had one thing in common: Employees may have been working their hardest, but their…
Jude Holmes
I recently went to the movie Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, starring an incredible new young actor named Thomas Horn, along with Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock. There is a scene in the movie when Oskar (Horn) and his dad (Hanks) are having an oxymoron war, saying things like “deafening…
Knowledge at Wharton
As Eastman Kodak begins to adapt to the challenges of bankruptcy, David A. Glocker’s company, Isoflux, is expanding, thanks to technology he developed in Kodak’s research labs. He didn't steal anything. In fact, before he founded Isoflux with Kodak’s blessing in 1993, Glocker approached his…
Dawn Keller
My six-year-old came home from school one day very excited to let me know that Maggie’s mommy was a doctor and she helped sick people get better. Seems Maggie’s mommy was a “community hero.”
My unspoken response: Not Maggie’s mommy again.
You see, in preschool, Maggie’s mommy remembered to send…
Texas A and M News and Information Services
In an era of soaring medical costs, providing health care to employees at or near their workplace is gaining new momentum, according to an article in the Winter 2012 issue of MIT Sloan Management Review.
A 2011 study by the professional-services company Towers Watson and the nonprofit National…
Timothy F. Bednarz
Teams are complicated, complex structures because they are comprised of individuals with different personalities, biases, strengths, and weaknesses. Before people can form into an effective team, they must first learn to work together. Participants must work through personal differences, find…
Stephen F. DeAngelis
Munich Re, one of the world’s largest reinsurers, is paying increasing attention to climate change, according to Carol Matlack, author of the special report “How Munich Re Assesses Risk,” published in the Dec. 2, 2010 issue of Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
“The company [Munich Re] has the world’s most…
Davis Balestracci
Twenty years ago at a great conference, I learned a wonderfully simple model summarizing the personal change process. It complements the “ABC” model—which stands for activating event, beliefs, and consequential behavior, leading to results (R)—that I described in part one.
ADVERTISEMENT…
Jim Frost
Story update 2/2/2012: We inadvertently used the wrong graphic for the Third Estimates. This has been fixed.
This is part three in a series where we assess what information we can obtain from the various estimates of quarterly GDP growth using statistical analysis and a control chart. Read part one…
Jonathan Chowdhury
BusinessAssurance.com, the world’s first online management systems community, which is sponsored by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance Inc., brings to you an interview with Mike Toffel, a leading management systems expert and an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business…
Paul Naysmith
The menu has folded out into four sections. Each page has a picture next to the delicious option; however, I know the server will be taking the menu away from me after I’ve placed my order. I’m pondering how I can confirm that my order is the same as the picture. Perhaps I should ask if they have a…
Bill Kalmar
Novelist Rose Tremain is quoted as saying, “Life is not a dress rehearsal.” Accordingly, there are no second rounds. We get one chance—one moment—and there is no looking back at what could have been. Sounds pretty depressing, doesn’t it? But what if you could go back with the knowledge of what went…
