A Framework for Exploring the Dynamics of Autonomous Work Groups in Manufacturing Organizations

Nowadays, new paradigm of enterprise organization i s constantly changing due to the emergence of the global marketplace, the rise of information technology, and the emphasis of the social developments. This re quires a more flexible form of organization that are more adaptable to rapid cha nges in business environment such as autonomous work groups (AWGs) in order to achieve higher productivity and effectiveness. AWGs are work units responsib le for the production of goods and the provision of services. They involve team members in making decisions that are traditionally the responsibility of the sup ervisors and managers (Cohen & Bailey, 1997). Team members of AWGs are allowed t o self-regulate their behavior on jobs such as task assignments, methods for ca rrying out the work, and scheduling of activities etc. (Cohen & Ledford, 1994). For example, Motorola achieved a high organizational performance due to the succ essful implementation of AWGs in quality management (Piczak & Hauser, 1996). Xer ox also reported their operational successes based on the team-oriented work gr oups (Wageman, 1997). In recent years many organizations have replaced the traditional layers of manag ement with autonomous team-based work arrangements. Surveys indicated that the adoption of AWGs has soared in responding to the competitive business challenges . Many enterprises are making a deliberate effort to use AWGs to carry out work and operational processes as an alternative for hierarchical approaches (Lawler et al., 1995). There is a growing body of evidence that AWGs are more effective than traditionally managed groups and they contributes to organizational perform ance, such as improvement in operational performance, productivity, quality, cos t savings, employee attitude and behavior, and employee satisfaction (e.g. Pears on, 1992; Cohen & Ledford, 1994; Seers et al. 1995). Given the complexity and cognitive nature of team-based organizations, the mech anisms that the enterprises use in the development of the increasingly sophistic ated models, which can contribute to the effective functioning of AWGs, are extr emely important. The process of developing effective AWGs enables enterprises to inherent built-in intelligence of the organizations so that they will be more able to accommodate to external pressures and changes. The context of this paper is the construction of a dynamics framework and a stra tegic path for autonomous work groups in the technology-oriented manufacturing organization re-design. The framework is a conceptual one drawn from the litera ture survey. The importance of studying autonomous work groups for today’s manuf acturing organizations is claimed. Based on the General System Theory (GST), the characterization of AWGs is addressed. Three-dimensional domains such as t echnical content, service content, and relationship content are identified. A st rategic path is proposed to guide the organizations how the development of AWGs progresses at different levels of maturity that are associated with organization al effectiveness and performance. The utility of the model for AWGs is expected to provide technology-oriented organizations with a strategic path to achieve h igher organizational performance.

An Investigation into Pair Work and Group Work Using Corpus

This English teaching in language classroom essay is based on an investigation into the use of pair work and group work in middle school China by means of a corpus to throw some light on the interaction patterns of our English teaching

大学英语大班教学中的group work及其组织策略

基于大学英语大班教学困境愈加突出的现状,小组合作学习作为一重要手段具有特别优势,可大量应用于大班英语教学。本文通过对小组合作学习在大班英语教学运用中存在问题的思考,对小组活动的组织策略提出一些建议,以改善学生参与小组合作学习的积极性,加大课内课外学生练习度,提高学生学习效果,弥补大班语言学习课堂之不足。

Group Work Learning In English Learning And Teaching

Group work learning is one of the hot topics in English learning and teaching today. This discourse will probe the meaning and the advantages of group work learning, as well as its implementation. Also, the discourse discusses the proper time for group work learning. In addition to that, problems of group work learning are enclosed.

A Discrepancy between An Advocacy of Group Work and the Reality of Its Poor Implementation ELT Classrooms of Junior High Schools in China's Mainland

The paper investigates how group work was implemented in English teaching classrooms in a junior high school of China's Mainland as a case study. The research data was collected by classroom observations, a survey of the students and interviews with the classroom teachers. The research finds a mismatch between an advocacy of group work and the reality of its poor implementation. It has implications on English curriculum innovation and the advocacy of group work in ELT classrooms in China's Mainland.

The Application of Group Work Method to Oral English Teaching

Group work method plays an important role in oral English teaching,and appropriate application of the group activities to oral English class can improve students'oral English effectively.This paper focus on the relationship between group work and oral English teaching,the principles,merits and the types of group works in oral English class.The aim is to improve the efficiency of oral English teaching and students'oral ability effectively.

The value of group work in developing oral skills for Chinese learners of EFL

Researchers have demonstrated that group work is an effective way to improve students' oral English and should be widely used in speaking classes because it can not only create a relaxed atmosphere with a sense of security to reduce students' anxiety,but also provide them with as many opportunities as possible to practice speaking English.In this paper,the author attempts to demonstrate the benefits of group work in enhancing oral skills for Chinese learners of EFL by relating the literature review of group work to his own language learning experiences which will be presented as a reflection,comparison and evaluation of the literature and the findings of the studies.

The Effective Approach to Interactive English Classes --- Group Work

A series of study and investigation has been made on the basis of the theory of group work. The purpose is to study the effectiveness of group work in the interaction class, thus to attract more English teachers＇ attention to seek for the new approach to the breakthrough of traditional English class mode.

The Use of Group Work in ESL Classrooms- Discourse Features and Implications

Group work has many advantages from language acquisition point of view. However, some teachers are unwilling to introduce group work in their own classroom because group work is very difficult to manage. The author of this essay explores the discourse features of successful and unsuccessful group work using discourse analysis in the hope that the results of this language classroom research can help language teachers gain some insight into the use of group work and make more informed decisions about group work management.

The Significance of Group Work in Generating Motivation and Reducing Anxiety

This paper discusses group work from affective domain. It points out that group work can make learners feel less anxious because it can provide learners with the sense of security and unity, besides, it can establish good relationship between the teacher and learners. Group work can also be motivating because it can fulfill the human needs for experiencing competence, relatedness and autonomy.

On the Effectiveness of Group Work in English Language Teaching

This is a case research on group work and the aim is to investigate the effectiveness of group work in English teaching in English major of Zhejiang Guangsha College of Applied Construction Technology(ZGC).By carrying out a 15-week experiment on 08 Applied English Class 1 and 2,questionnaires on 08 Business English Class 1-5(213 students),and interviews on 22 teachers of English major,the research results show and prove that group work is often performed in ZGC and group work is quite effective in English teaching.

Investigation on Roles in Group Work of College English Classroom

Group work has been being widely welcomed by scholars and college English teachers when it was introduced into Chinese college English classrooms which usually contain more than 60 students,probably because group discussions or cooperative work provide more chances for Chinese college students to involve in the class teaching and learning and get them more opportunities to practice their oral English so as to promote their English competent.However,little attention has been paid to what kind of group work arrangement is more effective on making students more engaged in the task as teachers expect in China.This investigation will help answer the question that whether students should be informed their roles in group work through longitudinal qualitative research,the class observation and interviews specifically.Comparison will be taken between two classes to figure out the better way of arranging group work in college English classes.

The Application of Group Work in Higher Vocational College English Teaching in Beibu Gulf

With the increasing demand for communicative competence in English, organizing small group activities has become important and increasingly popular in EFL classrooms in higher vocational college. But there still exist many problems such as:too silence, little enthusiasm, out of control and so on, which has made group teaching activities can’t reach the expected effect.The paper takes the higher vocational college English Teaching in Beibu Gulf as an example, basing on the reasons mention above, put forward some suggestions and hopes that there may be some help in the effective use of group work in higher vocational college English teaching.

A Study on Group Work in College English Collaborative Teaching

Nowadays, collaborative teaching has become an original and effective teaching strategy, which has been generally accepted in many countries. It is an effective means to cultivate and train students＇ language using ability and their autonomous learning ability. The core of collaborative teaching is making students accomplish a common learning goal via group work. In view of the current situation of college English teaching, this paper has explored issues on the group work in collaborative teaching, including group work designing, group work implementing and group work evaluating. In addition, it has discussed with examples the merits and demerits of group work and come up with concrete measures for improvement so as to further promote college English teaching reforms.

Group classification for path equation describing minimum drag work and symmetry reductions

The path equation describing the minimum drag work first proposed by Pakdemirli is reconsidered （Pakdemirli, M. The drag work minimization path for a fly- ing object with altitude-dependent drag parameters. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C, Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science 223（5）, 1113- 1116 （2009））. The Lie group theory is applied to the general equation. The group classi- fication with respect to an altitude-dependent arbitrary function is presented. Using the symmetries, the group-invariant solutions are determined, and the reduction of order is performed by the canonical coordinates.

The Collaborative Study in the Form of Group Works

Over the past decades, the rapid development has taken place in the teaching and research of English writing throughout the nation. However, due to the drawbacks in traditional teaching of English writing, especially the lack of effective information input （EII）, it is not an easy task for students to improve their writing level in conventional classes. This paper focuses on the study on group work from the perspective of information input. Unlike previous research, this paper intends to demonstrate the role of group work in obtaining effective information input. It starts with a brief introduction to problems in traditional teaching of English. Then it states the definition of group work and the ZPD theory applied in the paper. In the third part, it proposes a case study to testify how group work may improve the effective information input and terminate the study with the conclusion that group work can help to enhance students＇ effective information input. Based on the results of the study, we may suggest that applying group work in an English writing class will finally help students to elevate their writing level.

CAFIU Working Group Visited the U.S. and Canada

正At the invitation of the University of Mississippi, Friendship Force International and the North America Association for International Exchanges, Mr. Du Kening, Deputy Secretary-General of CAFIU, leading a 3-member working group

AQSIQ Sends Working Groups to Implement the Spirit of National Quality Working Conference

On August 1st, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) convened a conference to transmit the spirit of national quality work and study an important speech regarding standards from Wen Jiabao,Premier of the State Council.……

EPC is Developing-Introduction to China EPC Working Group

The year of 2004 is the first year for EPC (Electronic Product Code) enteringChina. EPC brings the new opportunity for RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Hardware) technologyand boundless imagining space and market chance, and provides an open platform for global logisticsdevelopment. China EPC Working Group organized the first Chinese EPC forum on April 22^(nd), 2004.After June of last year, there were almost 2 or 3 forums on EPC/RFID every month. Over tenministries and commissions, such as Ministry of Information and Industry, Ministry of Science andTechnology, have been paying much attention to the EPC development. International retailers, such asWal-Mart, Metro, Tesco and DOD all support the development of EPC. Especially, Wal-Mart gave themandate to it's first 100 suppliers, and all the goods shipped to Wal-Mart distributor center shouldbe tagged since January 2005.