Thomas Bailey - Böcker

Much of the hoopla surrounding quality circles, teams, and high-performance work systems has been based on anecdotes and very thin evidence. It has not been established that those employee involvement strategies amount to anything more than another series of management fads or ruses designed to get more out of workers without giving them anything in return. This revelatory book, written by some of the skeptics, lays some of the suspicion to rest.Based on their visits to 44 plants and surveys of more than 4,000 employees, Eileen Appelbaum, Thomas Bailey, Peter Berg, and Arne L. Kalleberg concluded that companies are indeed more successful when managers share knowledge and power with workers and when workers assume increased responsibility and discretion.The study of steel, apparel, and medical electronics and imaging plants revealed much. In self-directed teams, workers were able to eliminate bottlenecks and coordinate the work process. In task forces created to improve quality, they communicated with individuals outside their own work groups and were able to solve problems. Expensive equipment in steel mills operated with fewer interruptions, turnaround and labor costs were cut in apparel factories, and costly inventories of components and medical equipment were reduced.And what did the employees think? The worker survey showed that jobs in participatory work systems often provide more challenging tasks and more opportunities for creativity. Employees in apparel had higher hourly earnings; those in steel had both higher hourly earnings and higher job satisfaction. Workers in more participatory settings were no more likely than others to report heavy workloads or excessive demands on their time. They were, however, less likely to report involuntary overtime or conflict with co-workers, and were more likely to be satisfied with their surroundings. Manufacturing Advantage provides the best assessment available of the effectiveness of high-performance work systems. Freestanding chapters near the end of the book provide full documentation of research data without interrupting the narrative flow.

Much of the hoopla surrounding quality circles, teams, and high-performance work systems has been based on anecdotes and very thin evidence. It has not been established that those employee involvement strategies amount to anything more than another series of management fads or ruses designed to get more out of workers without giving them anything in return. This revelatory book, written by some of the skeptics, lays some of the suspicion to rest.Based on their visits to 44 plants and surveys of more than 4,000 employees, Eileen Appelbaum, Thomas Bailey, Peter Berg, and Arne L. Kalleberg concluded that companies are indeed more successful when managers share knowledge and power with workers and when workers assume increased responsibility and discretion.The study of steel, apparel, and medical electronics and imaging plants revealed much. In self-directed teams, workers were able to eliminate bottlenecks and coordinate the work process. In task forces created to improve quality, they communicated with individuals outside their own work groups and were able to solve problems. Expensive equipment in steel mills operated with fewer interruptions, turnaround and labor costs were cut in apparel factories, and costly inventories of components and medical equipment were reduced.And what did the employees think? The worker survey showed that jobs in participatory work systems often provide more challenging tasks and more opportunities for creativity. Employees in apparel had higher hourly earnings; those in steel had both higher hourly earnings and higher job satisfaction. Workers in more participatory settings were no more likely than others to report heavy workloads or excessive demands on their time. They were, however, less likely to report involuntary overtime or conflict with co-workers, and were more likely to be satisfied with their surroundings. Manufacturing Advantage provides the best assessment available of the effectiveness of high-performance work systems. Freestanding chapters near the end of the book provide full documentation of research data without interrupting the narrative flow.

Community colleges enroll almost half of all undergraduates in the United States. These two-year colleges manifest the American commitment to accessible and affordable higher education. With about 1,200 institutions nationwide, community colleges have made significant progress over the past decade in opening access and have become the critical entry point to higher education for many Americans who traditionally have been left out of educational and economic opportunity. Yet economic, political, and social developments have increased the challenges community colleges face in pursuing an "equity agenda." Some of these include falling state budgets combined with growing enrollments, a greater emphasis on outcome-based accountability, competition from for-profit institutions, and growing immigrant student populations. These trials come at a time when community colleges confront crucial economic and workforce development pressures that may impact their mission. How can community colleges continue to maintain their open-door policies, support underprepared students, and struggle to help enrolled students complete degrees and certificates that prepare them for success in the workplace? Building on case studies of colleges in six states -- New York, Texas, Florida, California, Washington, and Illinois -- this volume offers a fresh examination of the issues currently facing American community colleges. Drawing on their fieldwork supplemented by national data, the authors analyze how these challenges impact the community college mission of educational opportunity -- especially for low-income students, students of color, and other underserved groups -- and how colleges are responding to a drastically different environment. They then propose a set of strategies to strengthen the role of community colleges in providing both access and opportunities for achievement for all students.

Develop the real-world experience you need to build and launch your own Flutter apps with this full-color guideKey FeaturesGet up to speed with the basics of Dart programming and delve into Flutter developmentLearn about Flutter widgets, plugins, and animations to create a high-quality app user experiencePackage and deploy your Flutter apps to achieve native-like performanceBook DescriptionThere have been many attempts at creating frameworks that are truly cross-platform, but most struggle to create a native-like experience at high performance levels. Flutter achieves this with an elegant design and a wealth of third-party plugins, making it the future of mobile app development. If you are a mobile developer who wants to create rich and expressive native apps with the latest Google Flutter framework, this book is for you.This book will guide you through developing your first app from scratch all the way to production release. Starting with the setup of your development environment, you'll learn about your app's UI design and responding to user input via Flutter widgets, manage app navigation and screen transitions, and create widget animations. You'll then explore the rich set of third party-plugins, including Firebase and Google Maps, and get to grips with testing and debugging. Finally, you'll get up to speed with releasing your app to mobile stores and the web.By the end of this Flutter book, you'll have gained the confidence to create, edit, test, and release a full Flutter app on your own.What you will learnExplore the core concepts of the Flutter framework and how it is used for cross-platform developmentUnderstand the fundamentals of the Dart programming languageWork with Flutter widgets and learn the concepts of stateful and stateless widgetsAdd animation to your app using animated widgets and advanced animations techniquesMaster the complete development lifecycle, including testing and debuggingInvestigate the app release process to both mobile stores and the webWho this book is forThis book is for developers looking to learn Google's revolutionary framework Flutter from scratch. No prior knowledge of Flutter or Dart is required.

Learn from real-world examples to build, launch, and maintain your own Flutter apps with this extensive beginner's guideKey FeaturesFamiliarize yourself with Dart and Flutter fundamentals through practical, real-world examplesExplore widgets, animations, and plugins to craft intuitive UIsPackage and deploy your Flutter apps to achieve native-like performancePurchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBookBook DescriptionThe Fourth edition of Flutter for Beginners is fully updated for the latest Flutter and Dart releases, ready to guide you from taking your first steps in Flutter to publishing your first cross-platform app. Designed for new developers and those transitioning from other technologies, this practical guide shows you how to build, test, and release high-quality mobile apps for iOS, Android, and the web.With a project-based approach, this book will help you master the fundamentals of Dart and Flutter’s widget-driven architecture while building a complete app from scratch. Each chapter builds on the last with step-by-step explanations that will teach you how to design beautiful interfaces, manage state, handle navigation and user input, and add animations that bring your UI to life.You’ll explore popular third-party plugins such as Firebase and Google Maps, learn to debug and test your code effectively, and prepare your app for release on multiple platforms.By the end of this book, you’ll have the hands-on experience and confidence to design, build, and publish your own Flutter apps using the latest best practices.What you will learnExplore Flutter core concepts and use for cross-platform developmentGain a solid understanding of the fundamentals of DartWork with Flutter widgets and learn about stateful/stateless widgetsTake on advanced fundamentals such as navigation and state managementAdd animation using animated widgets and advanced animation techniquesManage the entire development lifecycle, including testing and debuggingRelease your app to both mobile stores and the webWho this book is forThis book is for developers looking to learn Google's revolutionary framework Flutter from scratch. No prior knowledge of Flutter or Dart is required.

Follow this step-by-step illustrated guide to launch your own Flutter apps and gain hands-on experienceKey FeaturesGet up to speed with the basics of Dart programming and delve into Flutter developmentLearn about Flutter widgets, plugins, and animations to create a high-quality, user-friendly appPackage and deploy your Flutter apps to achieve native-like performancePurchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBookBook DescriptionThere have been many attempts at creating frameworks that are truly cross-platform, but most struggle to create a native-like experience at high-performance levels. Flutter achieves this with an elegant design and a wealth of third-party plugins, solidifying its status as the future of mobile app development. If you are a mobile developer who wants to create rich and expressive native apps with the latest Google Flutter framework, this book is for you.You’ll start with the basics of cross-platform development frameworks, specifically Flutter. You’ll then explore the Dart programming language which is the foundation of the Flutter framework. Next, you’ll get a feel for Flutter and how to create your first app, followed by an exploration of the various popular plugins that supplement the Flutter framework. Finally, you’ll explore testing and app release, including some common glitches that you may experience.By the end of this book, you’ll be well-equipped to create and release a basic Flutter app along with gaining a solid understanding of the Flutter framework and Dart language.What you will learnUnderstand the Flutter framework and cross-platform developmentAcclimate the fundamentals of the Dart programming languageExplore Flutter widgets, the core widget library, and stateful and stateless widgetsDiscover the complete development lifecycle, including testing and debuggingGet familiar with both the mobile and web app release processesDig deeper into more advanced Flutter concepts like animationExplore common Flutter plugins ad how to use themDiscover the Flutter community and how to stay up-to-dateWho this book is forIf you are an existing mobile developer seeking a better way to develop cross-platform apps, an existing software developer looking to explore mobile app development, or someone investigating mobile apps and simply wants to know what the Flutter fuss is about, this is the book for you. Prior knowledge of Flutter and Dart is not required.