His and Hers or Changing by Design

His and Hers: Gender, Consumption, and Technology

Author: Roger Horowitz

The pathbreaking essays in this collection explore the history of consumption by synthesizing discrete historical literatures on consumer culture, gender, and the history of technology. Luxury hotels and the chocolate industry are among the diverse array of topics these authors use to demonstrate that consumption is both a material and a cultural process. Production and consumption become equally inextricable under close analysis. Tools from both the history of technology and gender studies illuminate how these categories intersect. Although broad social and technological trends influence the outcome of these stones, the authors emphasize the agency of particular groups, including consumers, workers, manufacturers, and the "mediators" who communicate between producers and consumers. This volume will be of interest to historians in a wide range of fields.

Booknews

Eight contributions explore the history of consumption by synthesizing literature on consumer culture, gender, and the history of technology. Topics include the culture of the American luxury hotel, gender and the American candy industry, gender and energy marketing in the early 20th century, the reconfiguration of community marketplaces in postwar America, and a parable involving gender, design, the market, and the search for a good stove. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Table of Contents:

	List of Illustrations
	Introduction	1
1	Men/Women/Production/Consumption	7
2	A House Divided: The Culture of the American Luxury Hotel, 1825-1860	39
3	Love, War, and Chocolate: Gender and the American Candy Industry, 1890-1930	67
4	Getting Housewives the Electric Message: Gender and Energy Marketing in the Early Twentieth Century	95
5	"A Cleanser for the Mind": Marketing Radio Receivers for the American Home, 1922-1932	115
6	Cinderella Stories: The Glass of Fashion and the Gendered Marketplace	139
7	Shopping for a Good Stove: A Parable about Gender, Design, and the Market	165
8	From Town Center to Shopping Center: The Reconfiguration of Community Marketplaces in Postwar America	189
	About the Contributors	235
	Index	237

Go to: Bruce Aidellss Complete Book of Pork or University Wine Course

Changing by Design: Organizational Innovation at Hewlett-Packard

Author: Deone Zell

Hewlett-Packard is among a growing number of companies in the United States exploring what is called sociotechnical systems (STS) redesign. As competitive pressures have grown, interest in STS redesign has increased because it has the potential to catalyze comprehensive organizational change and avoid the pitfalls of a piecemeal of small-scale approach. STS redesign works from the ground up, involving front-line employees in both analysis of the entire organization and creation of a new design. In Hewlett-Packard's California Personal Computer Division, production operators worked alongside managers to redesign their printed circuit board assembly line into self-managing teams of employees. In the Santa Clara Division, a very different workforce of engineers, initially unwilling to standardize their creativity, had to develop commercial applications and become more responsive to customers in order to survive. On the basis of Hewlett-Packard's success, Zell concludes that with top-level support and a high investment of resources at the outset, redesign can inspire relatively rapid change, especially suitable for organizations in fast-paced environments. As one HP manager commented, "Empowerment is no longer a nice thing to do. It is now a business imperative."

Library Journal

Zell (vice chancellor's office, UCLA), who based this work on her 1994 doctoral thesis, offers a detailed ethnographic case study of two sociotechnical systems (STS) redesigns at Hewlett-Packard. She begins with a brief, historical introduction to organizational change, including a summary of the rise and fall of mass production, the emergence of mass customization, and three current strategies for changeTQM, business process reengineering, and STS. She then launches into an ethnographic study that provides a rich, insider's view of the redesign process and how it actually works. Finally, she synthesizes her material into a set of recommendations and concepts for guiding others through the redesign process. A shorter description of this study appeared in Wellford W. Wilms's Restoring Prosperity (LJ 10/1/96). Recommended for academic business libraries.Michael R. Leach, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, Mass.