7,99 €
The subject of this book is a subject-specific business discussion on the paradigms of time management. The time itself is not tradable, not storable and also not purchasable to acquire. Time cannot be heard, smelled, tasted or felt. Nevertheless, it is omnipresent for all persons in companies as well as in private life. This book deals with a special question for companies: the paradigms in time management. The term "paradigm" was chosen in order to express the fundamental, generally prevailing and no longer to be discussed opinion on predefined questions, here the temporal arrangement in enterprises. They reflect a generally accepted consensus on what solutions should be found for certain issues. In terms of time, the paradigm is that "acceleration" is the only direction underlying time management. It seems to be a kind of one-way street. In other words, ever faster means ever more successful or ever better. Three special categories of time management and their respective paradigms are discussed in this book: The first category considers time as a measure of efficient operational business processes. So, time has an operative value. The second category regards time as an expression of sustainable competitive strategy and as an opportunity to take a unique position towards competitors. In other words, time has a strategic value. The third category considers time as a measure of the demarcation and characterization of societies. This time management of all people involved in a society does not pass our social developments by without a trace; on the contrary, it strongly shapes them. "Time" in the meaning of a modern spirit makes a clear mark on all of us. I.e., time has a social value.
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Seitenzahl: 169
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020
Willi Darr
Concepts and paradigms in operative, strategic and social time management
Willi Darr
Concepts and paradigms in operative, strategic and social time management
tredition VerlagHamburg
Prof. Dr. Willi Darr
University of Applied Sciences Hof
Procurement and Logistics Management
Alfons-Goppel-Platz 1 ׀ D-95028 Hof/Saale
Hardcover
ISBN 978-3-347-03014-5
Paperback
ISBN 978-3-347-03013-8
E-Book
ISBN 978-3-347-03015-2
Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek
Bibliographic Information of the German National Library
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.dnb.de abrufbar.
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data can be found on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
Copyright: 2020 Willi Darr
Das Werk einschließlich seiner Teile ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung, die nicht ausdrücklich vom Urheberrechtsgesetz zugelassen ist, bedarf der vorherigen Zustimmung. Dies gilt insbesondere für den Nachdruck, für Vervielfältigung, Bearbeitungen, Mikroverfilmungen und die Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronischen Systemen.
The work including its parts is protected by copyright. Any use that is not expressly permitted by copyright law requires prior consent. This applies in particular to reprinting, duplication, processing, microfilming and storage and processing in electronic systems.
Cover and design by tredition & Willi Darr
Translated by Sally Rendl
Originaltitel: Konzepte und Paradigmen im operativen, strategischen und gesellschaftlichen Zeitmanagement
Herstellung und Verlag ׀ Printed and published by tredition GmbH, Halenreie 40-44, D-22359 Hamburg, Germany
Contents
Contents
List of figures
List of tables
List of abbreviations
Introductory thoughts instead of a foreword
1. Time as an everyday phenomenon and its functions
a. Quote: Tomorrow is another day
b. The definition of time in this book
c. Selected phenomena of time: a historical and cultural overview
d. Selected cultural studies about/on time
e. Analysis of social time structures: The concept of Acceleration by Hartmut Rosa
f. Time responsibilities and measurement methods
g. Functions of time
2. Syntax: Standardization of the language of time
a. Quote: 20 equals 15
b. A review of standardization of time
c. Today's standardized characters
3. Semantics: Time as an evaluative criterion
a. Quote: Everything has its time
b. Process as model of the real world
c. Time as an expression of duration and reliability
d. Time as a form of expression of a reserve
e. Time as a unique product
f. Industry 4.0 and the time-based mapping of business processes
g. Brief interim conclusion
4. Pragmatics: The paradigm in operational management
a. Quote: Time is money (Zeit ist Geld)
b. Principle of valuation
c. Methods for analysing and controlling time
d. Time in purchasing, production and distribution
e. Key question of operational planning: accelerated or decelerated
f. The evaluation of operational processes against the background of the discussion of industry 4.0
g. Interim conclusion
5. Pragmatics: The paradigm in strategic management
a. Quote: If we don't act quickly, the game is lost.
b. Time in the leading strategy concepts
c. Time strategies in the sense of short delivery times
d. Time strategies in the sense of reliability and punctuality
e. Time strategies in the sense of robustness and resilience
f. Time strategies in the sense of timeliness
g. The evaluation of time-based strategies in the discussions of industry 4.0
h. Interim conclusion
6. Pragmatics: The paradigm currently in society
a. Quote: The time trap or hamster wheel looks like a career ladder from the inside
b. Acceleration means estrangement
c. Deceleration and idleness as ways out?
d. Resonance or self-organization?
e. Final Conclusion
7. Footnotes
8. Bibliography
List of figures
Figure 1.1: Relating activities
Figure 1.2: Key statements on the phenomenon and functions of "time"
Figure 3.1: Elements and variants of processes
Figure 3.2: Hierarchy of processes
Figure 3.3: Sequences of processes
Figure 3.4: Length and width of networks
Figure 4.1: Slow and rapid circulation
Figure 4.2: Acceleration or deceleration
Figure 4.3: Effects of digitisation and digitalisation
Figure 4.4: Order cycle and time effects
Figure 5.1: Punctuality cascade
Figure 5.2: Robustness and resilience
Figure 6.1: Summary of the phenomena, functions and paradigms of time management
Figure 7.1: Digital penetration points
List of tables
Table 1.1: Selected statements on the classification of the societies
Table 3.1: Parameters influencing the process analysis
Table 6.1: Overview of the semiotic developments of "time"
List of abbreviations
A.D., AD
Anno Domini
AtO
Assemble to Order
Aufl.
Auflage, Volume
B.C., BC
Before Christ
BtO
Build to Order
BtS
Build to Stock
BVerfG
Bundesverfassungsgericht
d
Dauer, duration
DVD
Digital Video Disc bzw. Digital Versatile Disc
E
Entscheidung, Decision
EDIFACT
United Nations Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport
EinhZeitG
Einheiten- und Zeitgesetz
EU
Europäische Union
Fn.
Fußnote, Footnote
GB
Großbritannien, Great Britain
GG
Grundgesetz
GMT
Greenwich Mean Time
GPS
Global Positioning System
GTIN
Global Trade Item Number
H.
Heft, Issue
i.e.
id est, that is
ILIPT
Intelligent Logistics for Innovative Product Technologies
INCOTERMS
International Commercial Terms
Iss.
Issue, Ausgabe
Jg.
Jahrgang, Volume
IoT
Internet of Things
K
Kosten (Prozesskosten), Cost
No.
Number, Nummer
OPP
Order Penetration Point
p.
Page, Seite
Rn.
Randnummer
S.
Seite
SDD
Same Day Delivery
t
Time
TAI
Internationale Atomzeit
TPS
Toyota Produktions System
UK
United Kingdom
US
United States
USP
Unique Selling Proposition
UT
Universal Time
UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Vol.
Volume, Jahrgang
Z
Zeit (Prozesszeit), Time (Process Time)
ZeitG
Zeitgesetz
Introductory thoughts instead of a foreword
The subject of this book is a subject-specific business discussion on the paradigms of time management. The time itself is not tradable, not storable and also not purchasable to acquire. Time cannot be heard, smelled, tasted or felt. Nevertheless, it is omnipresent for all persons in companies as well as in private life. Some selected examples may prove this, and each reader may make its personal evaluation, to what extent the time and/or the time pressure releases an oppressive or relaxing feeling for it. Here are the examples from daily life:
- The alarm clock and the church bells ring at 6 o'clock in the morning.
- The children should get up on time to be at school or to reach the school bus.
- Employees should arrive early at the workplace. The schedule is well filled. This also applies to students: The lecture begins punctually at 8 o'clock.
- The morning traffic torments through the city and makes promised appointments in the early morning uncertain. The duration of the green phase at the traffic lights is very short and only a few cars manage to get further.
- The annual holiday period is several weeks and for the planning of the annual summer vacation, all colleagues have to meet a common regulation/ have to make a joint arrangement in coordination with their supervisor/ company.
- Today there is little time for lunch or lunch break. The next appointment is already "on the doorstep".
These examples make it clear that time plays a permanent role in everyday life. Possible time buffers can alleviate the temporal tension and defuse the time pressure (and vice versa). This is expressed in idioms or proverbs, such as having no time or losing no time or the race against time.
Time also plays a prominent role in sport. Not only does a football match last 90 minutes (plus injury time), but the fame and honour of the best competitive athletes in motor sports, skiing or athletics sometimes only depend on a few hundredths of a second. The tenth of a second is often no longer the yardstick to distinguish between victory and defeat.
Time also plays a prominent role in art and literature. The picture "La persistencia da la memoria" (the permanence of memory or the elapsing time) by Salvadore Dali from 1931, pictures on still life, the books by Michael Ende (Momo) and Thomas Mann (Der Zauberberg) or the films "In Time" or "Modern Times" with Charlie Chaplin prove this. The books on time travel with the time machines of H.G. Wells or on the circumnavigation of the world in (then) record time by Jules Verne ("Around the world in 80 days") are also world-famous.
Time is also currently being discussed: (i) Thus the time discussion in the state of Bavaria was again decided in school politics to the G8 or G9 on the high schools. (ii) Shortly before, the Süddeutsche Zeitung had the headline "Jamaika-Sondierern läuft die Zeit davon" (Jamaica sounders runs out of time) (Süddeutsche Zeitung, 16.11.2017, p. 1). (iii) Another example is the award of the 2017 Nobel Prize for Medicine to US researchers Jeffry Hall, Michael Rosbach and Michel Young for their work on the day-night rhythm, the so-called 'inner clock'. (iv) As private customers in the mail order business, deliveries are offered in certain cities with a same-day delivery service. In Munich and Berlin, deliveries can be made after just a few hours.
Time also plays an important role for companies: companies have always been embedded in a value creation network: raw material manufacturers, raw material producers, parts and component manufacturers, end producers and dealers are the components of the supply chain. In earlier days, i.e. before the globalisation of supply chains, the majority of them were organised locally/regionally/ nationally and imports were only necessary due to raw materials or special parts. Today's supply chains are built globally thanks to global logistics and trade regulations. The competitive pressure of these open markets then led to the reduction of all capacity, inventory and time reserves, so that these supply chains are closely linked by serial interdependencies. In this respect, the term "supply chain" has been aptly chosen.
In the companies, the assembly lines are supplied "just-in-time" by the suppliers. This eliminates the need for warehousing at the purchasing company and reduces its costs. Only the time guarantee of the supplier guarantees the orders and prevents (in case of order) contractual penalties due to delivery delays.
The disaster of Fukushima or the discussions on hard Brexit are examples of the (possible) effects of "unplanned" disruptions of such efficient supply chains. In view of the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union, Japanese car manufacturers have announced that they will discontinue or review their production in the UK in order to ensure that production processes can continue.
With the digitalisation (i.e. industry 4.0, logistics 4.0 or purchasing 4.0), all participants now hope for further cost savings and acceleration of internal and intercompany processes. Previously unavailable data is now available faster or for the first time, enabling faster or more qualified decisions. The time benefit also becomes strategically important as an economic factor and enables new "time-based" business models.
However, digitisation is not uncontroversial. On February 28, 2019, Zeit-Online headlined the presentation of a new smartphone at the Mobile World Congress that supports the new high-speed standard 5G: "The Discovery of Speed" and chose the linguistic counterpart to Sten Nadolny's novel "The Discovery of Slowness"; a novel in which slow rhythm gives meaning to life. If this contradiction is now transferred back to 5G, the positive, i.e. meaningful, message of the new fast technology would be immediately questionable, i.e. faster technology would then no longer make sense. Was this the intention? This contradiction will be discussed later.
These wide-ranging examples are intended to show how ubiquitous the phenomenon of "time" is for all parties involved. In retrospect, this list could also be extended to include historical examples, e.g. the temporal rituals of indigenous peoples in harmony with nature or the development of the measurement of time using simple technical instruments. It is not possible to avoid "time"; time is omnipresent.
This book focuses on the business paradigms of time management and therefore it should be clear beforehand which aspects are not considered:
- The physical discussion at present (e.g. Rovelli, 2018): It is initially a fixed quantity as a result of the division of distance and speed. Albert Einstein formulates a "relative time" with general and special relativity theory and contradicted the statement that time is an absolute quantity. Thus, for example, the time elapses so differently in the course of a GPS measurement on Earth and in the GPS satellite due to the two speeds that a correction of time measurement must be made according to the Lorentz factor in order to compensate for positioning errors.
- The dimensions of space and time: Elias explains the four dimensions of space and time and pleads for a fifth dimension. This dimension should represent the personal experience, the consciousness or the personal experience. With this he wants to expand a theory of social symbols: Among its previous representatives of language/of meaning, space and time should also be included (Elias, 2017, p. XLVI, 26, 52 and 112).
- Heidegger's philosophical discussion about time: For him, the meaning of being does not only arise from the references to the present, but also from a temporal sequence, i.e. from the past (Heidegger's Gewesenheit) and the future.
- The field of tension between boredom, leisure, stress and amusement: This is where "flow" or idleness and positive or negative stress are discussed. (Luckner, 2012).
- The medical and psychological discussion about time, especially about the "inner clock": This phenomenon was investigated by Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbach and Michel Young and honoured with the Nobel Prize for Medicine. Their special focus was on the investigation of the day-night rhythm, i.e. the question of the mechanisms that control the 24-hour rhythm.
- The perception of time and the perception of time of people as personal and physical phenomena: The former refers to the length of time intervals that can be grasped by people with their senses. Only above a certain time threshold (duration) can facts be perceived by our sensory organs, e.g. perception of an optical stimulus by the eye or feeling of a heat stimulus on our skin. The perception of time, on the other hand, refers to the feeling of time, i.e. our evaluation of the actual duration of processes or processes in time. On the one hand, the intensity of mental activity plays a decisive role here. This feeling is expressed colloquially in phrases such as "time is running out, time flies by, time stands still, killing time". On the other hand, the perception of the chronological sequence can also be perceived in the sense of the "good old time" or "a turning point in time".
These aspects are not further elaborated in this book. This book deals with a special question for companies: the paradigms in time management. The term "paradigm" was chosen in order to express the fundamental, generally prevailing and no longer to be discussed opinion on predefined questions, here the temporal arrangement in enterprises. They reflect a generally accepted consensus on what solutions should be found for certain issues. In terms of time, the paradigm is that "acceleration" is the only direction underlying time management. It seems to be a kind of one-way street. In other words, ever faster means ever more successful or ever better. This is also evident from the above-mentioned introduction of the faster transmission standard 5G. Backhaus and Gruner (1997) speak early of an "epidemic of time competition".
Three special categories of time management and their respective paradigms are discussed in this book:
The first category considers time as a measure of efficient operational business processes: The operational processes form the backbone of the division of labour (services) and are to be managed (mastered) fast and reliably in the sense of efficiency. This means that time has an operative value.
The second category regards time as an expression of sustainable competitive strategy and as an opportunity to take a unique position towards competitors. Individual companies compete for more demanding customers with the aid of "time". In recent decades, globalization has facilitated or opened market access and supply chains have been reshaped as a result. Global competition has also become competition for time. In other words, time has a strategic value.
The third category considers time as a measure of the demarcation and characterization of societies. This time management of all people involved in a society does not pass our social developments by without a trace; on the contrary, it strongly shapes them. "Time" in the meaning of a modern spirit makes a clear mark on all of us. I.e., time has a social value.
The societal discussion seems justified because here too the shortening epitomizes the prevailing guideline. The result is a permanent feeling of haste and an existing time and deadline pressure. The link between companies and society takes places mostly through the employees, the buying behavior of the customers, the novelty levels of the products and the work organization.
The discussion of the three paradigms is prepared and thus easier to understand by first explaining essential phenomena and the functions of time. It will be shown that from the historical point of view the design of functions is a sign of our time. Therefore, in the basic chapter 1 the individual historical and cultural phenomena will be explained on the one hand and the functions of time will be explained on the other hand. Here it is a matter of explaining what is meant by the term "time" in view of its immateriality and how this view has developed (changed) in recent centuries. From these basics it will also be shown how the mentioned functions of "time" lead into the three categories of process, strategy and society.
In chapters 2 and 3, two functions are explained that are fundamental to the paradigms of time management: the standardization of language about time and time as an assessing criterion.
Chapters 4 and 5 focus on the third function, which is discussed on the basis of the entrepreneurial paradigm of time management. Acceleration is the predominant one-way street in time management. Chapter 4 deals with operational issues and chapter 5 with strategic issues.
Chapter 6 illustrates the permanent acceleration of social processes and thus their handling of the resource "time". Possible ways out (alternatives) of the never-ending acceleration of our social time are shown on the basis of time concepts. In this respect, this discussion could also be carried out from a pragmatic point of view. In this book, however, this takes place in two separate places: on the one hand in chapter 1 under the aspect of the analysis of social time structures and on the other hand in chapter 6 under the aspect of the possibility of escaping from this time vortex of society.
Each chapter begins with a well-known citation, which is intended to express its basic message briefly and concisely. In order to maintain legibility, the use of double forms or other markings for female and male persons is renounced.
I would be delighted if you as a reader would gain personal insights into the phenomenon of "time" and would not allow yourself to be drawn into the time vortex without reflection. For students as readers, I hope that they will gain a better understanding of the topic and sharpen their ability to judge temporal phenomena. For practitioners as readers, I hope to be able to create suggestions for their own operational discussion and its implementation.
I wish you lots of curiosity and sufficient "time" while reading.
Willi Darr
1. Time as an everyday phenomenon and its functions
a. Quote: Tomorrow is another day
This quote derives from the final sentence of the novel ‘Gone with the Wind’ by Margaret Mitchell.