Difference between revisions of "325--Week 10 Questions/Comments"
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One thing I found striking was in the passage by Henry Ford titled "My Life and Work," he writes "the parts could be made so cheaply that it would be less expensive to buy new ones than to have old ones repaired." The cars he was building would not last forever and would inevitably need repairs or replacements. He made it cheaper to buy new parts, so customers would buy new parts from Ford instead of going to a repair shop. Even after a person purchased a car, the company could still make money from the sale of replacement parts. This demonstrates Ford's shrewd business skills because he was guaranteeing the success of the company. -- Karen Siegmund | One thing I found striking was in the passage by Henry Ford titled "My Life and Work," he writes "the parts could be made so cheaply that it would be less expensive to buy new ones than to have old ones repaired." The cars he was building would not last forever and would inevitably need repairs or replacements. He made it cheaper to buy new parts, so customers would buy new parts from Ford instead of going to a repair shop. Even after a person purchased a car, the company could still make money from the sale of replacement parts. This demonstrates Ford's shrewd business skills because he was guaranteeing the success of the company. -- Karen Siegmund | ||
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| + | In class we discussed Ford and Professor said how Ford encouraged the term "Fordism," and James J. Flink's "Modern Times" addresses the term. He describes the term and is read with a negative tone, thats how i perceived it. He opens with the end to skilled workers and then in the definition, says "apprenticeship required for becoming a competent craftsman" were no longer necessary. It shows with just those sentences, how the workplace went from a prestigious job/ability to where anyone could do it. I realize it is more efficient, but it seems the workers lost their ability to contribute to the end product, it was now a fixed result. Also, the lunch break, 15 min, is just ridiculous. Flink goes on to explain the workplace conditions. There were "gang labor spies and thugs": to keep control of the workers. --Maggie Wroe | ||
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| + | In this week's readings "Colonial Radio Saves Wasted Motion" is another document where women are bring used in the workplace (from the watch texts). I like that it describes the need for training girls, and the steps through it. --Maggie Wroe | ||
