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Many Japanese companies have opened factories in Britain, one of the most successful in economic terms is the electrical giant Matsuchita which now runs a factory in Wales under the brand name of N...ational Panasonic. The aim of this programme is to try to describe what is going on at the plant in terms of three different types of system. The first is a conventional or engineering description of the plant in terms of hardware, with tangible inputs and outputs. But the enterprise can also be seen as a particular type of quality creation system since the methods of ensuring good quality products are quite distinctive and permeate the manufacturing process. The attitudes of both management and employee, at National Panasonic are different in many respects from those at British owned factories. Some of these attitudes are imported from Japan, and the third systems representation of National Panasonic is that of an attitude transformation system. Different interpretations of why these systems might apply are offered both from staff at National Panasonic and from a Union representative, Barrie Sherman of ASTMS. In systems terms, attention is drawn to the fact that the Quality Creation System has both tangible and intangible inputs, and that the Attitude Transformation System has purely intangible inputs.
Many Japanese companies have opened factories in Britain, one of the most successful in economic terms is the electrical giant Matsuchita which now runs a factory in Wales under the brand name of N...ational Panasonic. The aim of this programme is to try to describe what is going on at the plant in terms of three different types of system. The first is a conventional or engineering description of the plant in terms of hardware, with tangible inputs and outputs. But the enterprise can also be seen as a particular type of quality creation system since the methods of ensuring good quality products are quite distinctive and permeate the manufacturing process. The attitudes of both management and employee, at National Panasonic are different in many respects from those at British owned factories. Some of these attitudes are imported from Japan, and the third systems representation of National Panasonic is that of an attitude transformation system. Different interpretations of why these systems might apply are offered both from staff at National Panasonic and from a Union representative, Barrie Sherman of ASTMS. In systems terms, attention is drawn to the fact that the Quality Creation System has both tangible and intangible inputs, and that the Attitude Transformation System has purely intangible inputs.
| Module code and title: | T241, Systems behaviour |
|---|---|
| Item code: | T241; 03; 1982 |
| First transmission date: | 04-05-1982 |
| Published: | 1982 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:24:32 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Andrew Millington |
| Contributors: | Margaret Blunden; Colin Leahy; Barrie Sherman |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Matsushita; National Panasonic; Quality creation systems; Systems management |
| Master spool number: | HOU3889 |
| Production number: | FOUT121W |
| Videofinder number: | 2728 |
| Available to public: | no |
