Blogs in the Workplace

Sometimes people feel freer to express themselves and the opinions that they hold when the lines of communication are not so formal. The use of blogs in organizations could help in reducing the formality of communication. People may feel that they are able to say more on a blog then they would be able to say in a meeting or even in a one on one conversation. A blog would also be a good place for people in the workplace to go to get updates on what is going on in and around the company. A boss could go into a blog and see what is happening rather than running around trying to find out information which may take a long time. The more time managers and employees can save the more work they can get done. It could also be helpful for each department to have their own blog where they could go to find out or add to information about what is going on that is specific to them. Although there are advantages that could result, disadvantages may be seen as well. Perhaps employees may want to use a blog to complain about certain issues or other employees. This could get out of hand. Employees and managers should have enough sense to know what is appropriate and and what should be dealth with in a more formal way. People using the blog need to be conscious that there are limits to what should and should not be said. People should not feel that they can abuse the right to say what they want if there is a chance that people could get hurt. I think that as long as people know that the blog is part of the organization and that organizations have a reputation to uphold, the potential of these blogs could be great.

Disadvantages

Continuing with the airline industry, even though there are many advantages to using RFID, there are also some drawbacks that come into play. For instance, using RFID to keep track of the lifespan of certain products means that the RFID tags will need to be replaced every few years because they do not have an unlimited amount of space for storing information and also, in the case of active of RFID tags, which require batteries, these tags will not last forever because the battery will eventually run out (Al-Kassab, Rumsch, 2008).

Organizations are not contained in one single space; buildings may be situated all over a country and in many cases an organization may be stationed in more than one country. RFID readers can be expensive to buy and install and if an organization needs to install these readers to cover all of the areas where they may be situated, this can get expensive (2004).

Another issue is security. If someone has the proper reader to get the signal from an RFID tag, then the tag may be read by a party other than the one that the information contained in the tag is intended for (2008, July 10). Also, if organizations are not using the same systems to read RFID tags then information contained on the tag will not be able to be read by both companies (2004). Products move from place to place and company to company, and in order for RFID to be worth the cost, systems need to be integrated so that tags can be read by both parties (2004).

(2004). FAQ. Retrieved November 16, 2008, from More RFID Web site: http://www.morerfid.com/index.php?do=faq&topic=Introduction-7&display=RFID

(2008, July 10). RFID's advantages & disadvantages explained. Retrieved November 16, 2008, from Using RFID Web site: http://www.usingrfid.com/news/read.asp?lc=s44325nx1433zg

Al-Kassab, J, & Rumsch, W. B. (2008). Challenges for RFID Cross-Industry Standardization. IEEE Systems Journal, 2, Retrieved November 17, 2008, from http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=04489903.

Advantages

In the aerospace industry there are many potential advantages of implementing RFID systems. Included in the advantages are the areas of aircraft maintenance systems, aircraft warehouse systems and anti-counterfeiting. It can also be quite helpful in terms of its ability to track the baggage of the airline clients, saving lots of time, stress and money (Jessup, Valacich, and Wade, 2006; RFID and airline). In terms of aircraft maintenance systems and aircraft warehouse systems, RFID tags can be placed on various storage containers making it easier to know what is available for use and what maybe be out of stock or running low (Al-Kassab, Rumsch, 2008). In the area of anti-counterfeiting, there are certain aircraft parts that can be used and reused and it is important to make sure that only parts that still have a life will be reused (Al-Kassab, Rumsch, 2008). RFID tags could help this process because information could be contained on them that would specify how much of a certain product’s lifespan is used and how much is remaining (Al-Kassab, Rumsch, 2008). Also, there is a great amount of paperwork that has to be done to keep track of these spare parts and with the introduction of RFID, paperwork could be minimized considerably and even eliminated (Al-Kassab, Rumsch, 2008)
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Advantages of RFID can also be seen in the Consumer Goods and Retail Industry. Its use can be seen in the supply chain of products to track their movements from start point to end point (Al-Kassab, Rumsch, 2008). More advantages will be seen when each product will have an RFID tag. This will help to prevent theft and also make checking out much faster (Al-Kassab, Rumsch, 2008). People would be saving the time of having to scan each item because RFID does not require a person to scan anything, and with RFID technology more than one RFID tag can be read at a time, eliminating the need to scan each item one by one (2002, RFID Technology). Also, in terms of Supply Chain Management there is a lot of time and money involved in moving items from place to place and with the help of RFID, much of this time and cost can be reduced; instead of having to remove items individually from packages for scanning, RFID tags can be placed on packages to identify the contents inside (Jessup, Valacich, and Wade, 2006, p. 251).

The medical industry is another in which the introduction of RFID has many potential advantages. RFID technology would help to keep track of “patients, staff, charts and equipment” which could serve to keep things running smoothly; there would be increased knowledge of the location of people and objects necessary for completing jobs (RFID Technology). Also, RFID would be able to facilitate ordering supplies as they are needed, since it would be able to keep track of what is on hand (2008).

(2002). RFID Business Applications. Retrieved November 15, 2008, from RFID Journal: The World's RFID Authority Web site: http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/1334/1/129/

(2008). It's underway. Retrieved November 23, 2008, from RFID Revolution Web site: http://www.rfidrevolution.com/underway.htm

Al-Kassab, J, & Rumsch, W. B. (2008). Challenges for RFID Cross-Industry Standardization. IEEE Systems Journal, 2, Retrieved November 17, 2008, from http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=04489903.

Jessup, L. M., Valacich, J. S., & Wade, M. R. (2006). Information systems today: why IS matters. New Jersey: Pearson.

RFID and airline. Retrieved November 23, 2008, from AIM Global Web site: http://www.aimglobal.org/members/news/templates/template.aspx?articleid=2936&zoneid=45

RFID Technology. Retrieved November 17, 2008, from FILE Technology Web site: http://www.filetech.com.au/rfid.htm

What will it replace?

The most talked about technology that RFID has the potential to replace is barcode technology. In many areas, rather than replacing bar code technology, the main thought is that the two technologies will work together, each having their own advantages and reasons operate simultaneously (RFID Technology). RFID wins out over barcodes in a few areas of operation. The main ways in which RFID is better is that it can handle extreme weather conditions, whereas barcode technology cannot, it does not require the RFID reader and RFID tag to be close to each other in order for information to be transferred, information can be added to and changed in RFID tags, while the information on barcodes cannot be changed, and RFID technology does not need line of sight in order to function properly, whereas the barcode and barcode reader does (2007). RFID tags can also hold larger amounts of data than barcodes and do not require a person to scan items, which can save time (Jessup, Valacich, and Wade, 2006, p. 172).

As mentioned in the section on the advantages of RFID, this technology will be able to reduce the amount of paperwork, and maybe even replace paperwork as a means for keeping track of spare parts in the aerospace industry. This reduction, and in some cases replacement of paperwork, could also be seen in the medical industry where great amounts of paper is used for patients charts. There are already hospitals that have begun to utilize RFID technology for the purpose of keeping track of charts and who are benefitting (Swedberg, 2006).

(2008, July 8)

(2007). Technology: RFID Advantages. Retrieved November 17, 2008, from Active Wave Web site: http://www.activewaveinc.com/technology_rfid_advantage.php

(2008, July 8). RFID News: RFID Versus Bar Codes On the Shop Floor – Who’s Ready for a “Smackdown?”. Retrieved November 17, 2008, from Supply Chain Digest Web site: http://www.scdigest.com/assets/On_Target/08-07-08-1.php?cid=1784&ctype=content

Jessup, L. M., Valacich, J. S., & Wade, M. R. (2006). Information systems today: why IS matters. New Jersey: Pearson.

RFID Technology. Retrieved November 17, 2008, from FILE Technology Web site: http://www.filetech.com.au/rfid.htm

Swedberg, C (2006, December 28). Wisconsin Clinic Opts for RFID Solution. Retrieved November 25, 2008, from RFID Journal: The World's RFID Authority Web site: http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/view/2937/

What is it?

Radio Frequency Identification, most commonly referred to as RFID, is a type of automatic identification that enables the recognition of people and objects, one or many at a time, through the use of radio waves (2006). RFID can be traced back to World War II where different counties, including the United States and Germany, were using radar systems to track oncoming planes, the difficulty being that these systems were unable to distinguish one country’s plane from another (2002, 2006). Since then, RFID systems have become much more effective. An RFID system contains an RFID tag and an RFID reader. The RFIF reader sends radio waves to the RFID tag, also known as a transponder, which in turn sends information back to the RFID reader, which can then be sent to a computer system containing software that can process the information from the RFID tag (2006). The RFID tag, which can be either Read-Only or Read-Write, can be very small and is essentially a microchip, used for storing information, and an antenna used to receive signals (2006). Read-Only tags contain information that cannot be changed while Read-Write tags allow for information to be added or modified but cost more (2006). There are two types of RFID tags including passive RFID tags, which do not need batteries to operate, and active RFID tags, which require the use of a battery that can last up to 10 years as opposed to the passive RFID tags that can last indefinitely (How RFID Works).









(2008, June 6)

(2006, February 23). Fact Sheet: RFID Technology. Retrieved November 14, 2008, from Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada Web site: http://www.privcom.gc.ca/fs-fi/02_05_d_28_e.asp

How RFID Works. Retrieved November 15, 2008, from Technovelgy.com: where science meets fiction Web site: http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Technology-Article.asp?ArtNum=2

(2002). The History of RFID Technology. Retrieved November 15, 2008, from RFID Journal: The World's RFID Authority Web site: http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/view/1338/1/129

(2008, June 6). Radio Frequency Identification System. Retrieved November 15, 2008, from Traze Web site: http://www.traze.in/about_rfid.asp