Chapter 11 Reading Questions, Part 1

2.) What are the major components of the modern automated factory?

Some of the major components are robots and computers in general

4) What are the advantages and disadvantages of telecommuting from the point of view of the worker? Management? Society?

Some of the advantages include increased job satisfaction for the worker and higher productivity for the management. Disadvantages include distractions and security concerns for the worker and management, respectively.

5) Describe several software tools used by managers, and explain how they help them do their jobs.

There are several software tools that managers can use but it all depends on the time of manager he is (i.e where he works). Most managers, however, will use a spreadsheet because it is an efficient and organized way to keep data of a large amount of employees. Other software managers might use include calculator, Word, etc.

6) What is de-skilling? what is up-skilling? Give examples of each.

De-skilling is making a job easier so less skill is required, and Up-skilling is the exact opposite. An example would be one-click items for cashiers instead of putting the prices manually for de-skilling and engineers might have to solve problems that calculators can for up-skilling.