Management and Organisations in a Global Environment Research Paper 1

This research paper covers the concepts of Ford and Taylorism and Thomas Friedman on Globalisation. It discusses the impact of Taylorism on the workforce and the call centres. It also elaborates on the drawbacks of the flat world of globalization and the uneven level of globalization around the world.

Higher Education Faculty
Assignment Cover Sheet
Subject Title Management and Organisations in a Global Environment
Subject Code HI6005
Lecturer LecturerName
Assignment Title Research Paper 1
Due Date Friday Week 5
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Student Name YourName
Student e-mail address [e-mail]
I acknowledge that:
1. This assignment is my work. I acknowledged and disclosed fully any assistance received in
its preparation and cited any sources from which I used data, ideas, words, either quoted
directly or paraphrased.
2. This assignment was prepared by us specifically and only for this subject.
3. This assignment is identical with the work submitted via Self-Check on Blackboard.

Table of Contents
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................3
E-learning Activities..................................................................................................................3
Week 1 – Activity 1 – Ford and Taylorism............................................................................3
Week 2 – Activity 1 – Thomas Friedman on Globalisation; 3 Eras of Globalisation; World
is flat.......................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

Executive Summary
Based on the e-learning activities, the two sections covered were Ford and Taylorism
and Thomas Friedman on Globalisation. Taylorism concept focused more on extended work
and commitment, which might have improved the production and made workers get more
wages, but it could reduce the morale level of the employees. On the other hand, Thomas
Friedman on Globalisation explained the iron rule of the flat world and even analysed the
uniformity of globalisation at various levels.
E-learning Activities
Week 1 – Activity 1 – Ford and Taylorism
Q1: According to the video, it could be understood that Taylorism had made a huge
contribution by changing the way machine functions and even resulted in enhanced
productivity. Fredrick Taylot changed the entire way of managing trade and labour
management and focused on producing cars with more simplicity and available at lower
prices too. Taylor focused on mechanical drives, machines and industries to ensure speeding
up the production. Taylor guided the workers in the right direction and the jobs were broken
down into tasks, which helped in producing the most efficient scientific shovelling. He even
scheduled the working hours and he thought hat more productivity could result in better
satisfaction of workers. The ideas of Taylor improved the efficiency and speed of managing
tasks and brought huge industrialisation but the workers were quite unsatisfied with the
higher working hours (Waring 2016). Thus, it would be recommended that workers Australia,
America or Europe accept the Taylorism in this form today.
Q2: Yes, Taylorism could be seen in the call centres, where people would work for longer
hours to enhance the productivity of the organisations. According to Taylorism, organised
efficiency was the central aspect of managing business in not only the car manufacturing

companies, food manufacturers but also in the call centres nowadays. The workforce was
though not satisfied with the longer working hours and it could be a major problem
nowadays, which would slow down the business processing speed and might even result in
degradation of business performance. Taylor monitored each and every activities of the
workers and even pressurised them to increase the production level, though he just watched
them working (Witzel and Warner 2015). At the call centres nowadays, there are specific
targets along with quantity and quality by call centre management that should be achieved
within the assigned time regardless of what might the situations be and this favoured the
concept of Taylorism. Thus, it could be understood that Taylorism could be seen in the call
centres.
Q3: Though the clip showed the history from 100 years ago, still the world had moved on and
the ideas could not be considered as totally out of date. Many ignored the fact, still there were
people who believed that Taylorism had been one of the major aspect that improved the
productivity and lead to workforce efficiency in the twentieth century. It had not only made a
great contribution to businesses as well as improved the lives of people through work and
commitment. According to Taylor, more work would lead to efficiency and better
productivity along with work done at a faster rate. He focused on engineering concepts,
which resulted in speeding up the production as well as made the tasks to be completed
within the allocated time frame. This was a pain for the workers due to work overload,
though according to Taylor, more work done by them could make them earn better as well
(Waring 2016). With the implementation of advanced technologies, the tasks are completed
at a much faster rate and it can be concluded that Taylorism may not be influential at the
present era. With the advanced technologies, less pressure would be given to workers and
tasks could be completed at a faster rate too.

Week 2 – Activity 1 – Thomas Friedman on Globalisation; 3 Eras of Globalisation;
World is flat
Q.1- According to friedman, there are several drawbacks or risks in the flat world of
globalization. He described the flat world as a platform, where there is absent of any barriers
and the people can work, collaborate and communicate across the boundaries, but there are
certain disadvantages of living in this flat world of globalization 3.0. The very first is that
different people will have different thoughts. Secondly, the business ethics of the
organizations will reduce freedom. Like, for example, the MNCs will shift into the
developing countries in order to reduce the cost. With the same, if there are no boundaries or
barriers, then the people would do whatever they like to do (Roberts, Hite and Chorev 2014).
They will create their own set of rules to conduct trade. Lastly, the theory of flat world would
result in the misinterpretation of the trends by the executives. This in turn may lead to
strategic errors made by them, which are potentially very risky and serious.
Q.2- Yes, I agree with the friedman’s iron rule of the flat world. This is because; the
advancement of new technologies will give people freedom to do whatever they want. Like,
for example, the Southwest airline. This airline has incorporated a website where the people
can go online for downloading and printing out their own boarding passes with bar code.
Hence, every man should become his own ticket agent and this also let people to change in
order to learn something new and to do whatever they feel to do.
Q.3-No, the level of globalization is not uniform around the world. It is uneven, both in is
effects and process. The term globalization refers to the increase in integration in between the
countries through opening the trade barriers and accessing the capital and labor. It has
resulted in the countries opening up their markets to the international completion. But, there
are few poor countries that have still not developed to that extent. These poor countries have
grown over a long period of time and that too without opening up to the trade market.

Globalization has also led to an international or global division of the labors in between the
developing and the developed countries. In some countries, women are working in the
agriculture sectors, where they are less paid as compared to the other countries. As stated by
Manaay (2013), globalization is affecting the indigenous girls in the Philippines in context to
health impacts. With the same, globalization has also led to inequality in terms of ethnic,
which have a very significant repercussions for the protection and safety of the communities
in the other parts of the world. With the same, the Muslims are also being accused in some
parts of the world for being engaged in the events.
Conclusion
Hence, the paper has briefly elaborated on the perception of Friedman towards
globalization, which is growing with a fast pace in this current world. It has also reflected on
the acceptance of his iron rule of the flat world. With the same, the paper has also thoroughly
elaborated on the concept of taylorism through a systematic analysis of the video ‘Ford and
Taylorism’.

References
Manaay, S.M., 2013. Discipline in the Philippine Context: Factors Affecting Parents' Use of
Corporal Punishment(Doctoral dissertation, The Chicago School of Professional
Psychology).
Roberts, J.T., Hite, A.B. and Chorev, N. eds., 2014. The globalization and development
reader: Perspectives on development and global change. John Wiley & Sons.
Waring, S.P., 2016. Taylorism transformed: Scientific management theory since 1945. UNC
Press Books.
Witzel, M. and Warner, M., 2015. Taylorism revisited: culture, management theory and
paradigm-shift. Journal of General Management, 40(3), pp.55-70.