Benefits Of McDonaldization Of The Banking Sector - Assignment Example

Benefits Of McDonaldization Of The Banking Sector A1a Efficiency is an issue that closely relate to the university of Phoenix and other higher education institutions. It is defined as optimum method for getting from one point to another (Stehle class 2 notes). This makes it possible and easy for the customer or persons requiring any form of service without experiencing any problems that may make him/her detest the service. This has been mostly significant in higher education. Higher education has been recently changing in pursuit of efficiency. In the United States, rationalization has been evident in several ways. The focus has been towards achieving certain goals. These goals have been outlined to meet the needs of higher education. The most significant needs have been on increasing productivity and efficiency because of the constraints of money gotten by these institutions. One example of rationalization has been on continuous evaluation of faculty. This is most significantly done through the measure of students and lecturers performance as evidenced in Phoenix. The other example of rationalization has been through standardization of the course content. This is because most of the thing we study such as textbooks have been accredited and deemed worthy in various areas of our specialization. For example, in sociology there are standardized book for the course content in class. There has also been a rise in number of campuses and universities as more students seek higher education. This is geared to make it efficient to meet increased cultural and social rationalization. This is meant to meet the requirements and wants of the industrial-bureaucratic society or industrial economy (Scaff 1). A1b The other dimension is on calculability. This is defined as an emphasis on quantitative aspects of products sold and services offered rather than emphasis on quality (Stehle class 2 notes). People think that they are getting worth the value of their money as they supersize that products and services offered. This notion has been well demonstrated in the higher education sector. For example, in the high education, there has been an emphasis on degree programs and choices that are considered to be paying well in the outside world. As a result, the students and colleges have emphasized in an increased number of programs that are preferred by the students due to increased job prospect. The rationalization in the area has led to increased enrolment of students in such fields. This has also led to the perception of the student as a consumer. This has led to engagement in a promotion that ensures enlisting of an increasing number of students. The increasing number of students makes it difficult for most of the universities to provide quality education. Moreover, such focus allows colleges to sell the notion of what the universities achieves instead of focusing the attention and resources on academics. Additionally, funding in most of the institutions has been based on a number of enrollments. As a result, in pursuit of money, most of the institutions have devised ways of increasing enrolments with total disregard to the quality of education. A2a The focus on Portland State University (PSU) and University of Phoenix (UP) highlights different issue. In PSU mission, the focus is on intellectual, social, cultural and economic qualities of urban life (Portland State University (PSU) 1). This is possible as education is provided to people of all ages. The professional and graduate programs are deemed relevant to metropolitan areas. There is also a focus on research and community service. On the other hand, PU mission is to provide access to higher education opportunities (University of Phoenix (UP) 1). This helps student to develop knowledge and skills necessary for their professional goals (University of Phoenix (UP) 1). A2b The mission portrays some advantage and disadvantage. The advantage of PSU is the focus on research and community service. Moreover, it offers education to people of all age. The disadvantage is that PSU focus more on satisfying the demands of the region and hence lacks focus on other fields and areas. Hence, the graduates from this college lack flexibility. On the other hand, UP, helps in improving skills towards professionalism. However, the disadvantage of PU is the focus on just professionalism in disregard of other aspects required of ones in the community. In my opinion, I believe the solution to challenges facing college student lies in offering alternative and cheaper education. This is seen to work out through the provision of online education. This will help reduce challenges of students unable to pay education loans after school. Hence, I support the 10K-B. A system (Brooks 1). Therefore, criticism of this process should stop. (B1) McDonaldization has had a profound impact on the banking system. It has been a reasonable thing to have ever happened in the banking sector. It has made it more efficient to carry out significant activities related to the services in the banks. This has been possible through the replacement of activities previously done by a human with the machines such as ATM. This has offered a myriad of benefits through McDonaldization of the banking sector. This has been possible through greater control of employees and customers. For example, consumers are able to get services more quickly and easily. Hence, they seek the system as it offers greater efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control using non-human technology in the banks (Gottdiener 36). The McDonaldization has made it possible for consumers to have a variety of options in the banks. This is as compared in the past when there were limited options in the banks. For example, in the past there were no ATM and credit cards. However, in the recent, these are mostly used for easy access of money. This meant that cash could not be accessed from bank at any time as it is now. People access to money was limited to the banking hours that usually lasted approximately six hours a day (Gottdiener 36). The only way to access money round the clock was by cheque (Gottdiener 36). Today, through MacDonaldization there has been efficiency in getting money. Cash is now available in most placed in the country and other parts of the world (Gottdiener 36). This has been possible through adoption of technology that required less human intervention. This is possible using ATM and other forms of credit cards. This makes it possible to access money 24 hours and seven Days in a week. In fact, in this century, credit cards have become universally acceptable in the modernized world. Bank transactions are also carried out with telephone and computer. In fact, most of the banks have engages in promotion activities towards online banking. This has made it possible for the customer to access various services at the comfort of their homes at any time of the day or night (Gottdiener 36). Hence, it is undeniable that increased services to the consumer have been possible through McDonaldization of the banking industry. (B2) McDonaldization has also not been good to the ordinary Americans in the banking sector. One of the challenges is that the ordinary citizen is required to do the work that previously belonged to the bank and at the same time pay for the service. For example, when one is withdrawing cash from ATM, one is required to fill various details such as amount, denominations, and currency. This indicated that there is so much paperwork and is supposed to be done by the teller. This means one acts as one of the banks teller and ends up paying for the service. On the other hand, there is no human interaction as one is using non-human services in the banking industry. This means that when one is faced by a problem, it is difficult to get an instant solution. This may be challenging when one requires such services at night as most of the banks do not give human services at night. This makes the system inefficient to the common people. As the article indicates, “consumers are forced to deal with computers and not people” (McDonaldization 2). The other challenge has been increased number of customers in the sector. As a result, people always experience immense lines, and this leads to dissatisfaction of customer. Moreover, some of the services have been employed for efficiency has been costly to the common citizens. The banks have also focused on attracting a huge number of customers at the expense of quality service. This is evident through various lines of people waiting to be served through the non-human technology. Through predictability, it makes it possible for the consumer to move from one ATM to the next as all the services are the same (McDonaldization 4). This is because one does not expect to get a different service at the next stop as there has been standardization of the technology. Research all indicates that there has been reliance on contract workers and hence no job security for workers (Dumbili 350). (B3) There are various solutions cited by the expert over MacDonaldization of the sector. Some experts call for resistance some aspects of this process especially those that lead to replacement of human with non-human technology (Dumbili 350). Banks are also urged to adopt pragmatic ways of doing business that is not wholly focused on cost cutting and profit maximization (Dumbili 350). There is a proposal of legislation on laws that will alter the use of graduates on contract and causal bias as well as the use of ladies in promotional exercise to attract deposit (Dumbili 350). C 1 It is essential that students learn about agriculture, food production and diet related diseases. This will help them to learn of food source, agricultural basics, and makes them future farmers. 2 The story relates to food production and challenges of food in the country. The family goal on what they ate is to ensure that it is from home area. The other goal is to know of the person that grow such food and ensure they produce most of their food. 3 The story of Malcolm illustrates a lack of insight and knowledge on food production. It also indicates that there has been little done on disseminating knowledge on food production. 4 A lot of money is given to the processors, marketers and transporters. In fact, 85 cents of every food dollar is given to them (Kingsolver 13). 5 Other countries have not seen enormous caloric excess as in United States for various reasons. One is that they have ways of controlling excesses through culture and customs. They also have a strong food culture. What I have learnt is that, in this country, there is few regulation on the food taken. This has been due to the politicization of the process meant to regulate food production and consumption. 6 The author defines food culture as a property of the privileged in the society (Kingsolver 16). The food culture in the north is that of promoting tastiness in food. There is some improvement as some people have begun producing their own food (Kingsolver 18). 7 I believe that the future of North American eating and food production shed some light. This is because most of people have begun to realize that the food culture they have been following is not suitable for their general well-being. As a result, people have realized improvement can only be possible by changing the food culture currently in place. In fact, some people have begun to adopt sustainable and safest way of producing food. Moreover, others have joined groups calling for the adoption of safe food culture. Works Cited Brooks, Arthur. “My Valuable, Cheap College Degree.” Nytimes.com. Web. 07 May 2014. < http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/opinion/my-valuable-cheap-college-degree.html?_r=0>. Dumbili, Emeka. “McDonaldization of Nigerian Banking Industry in the Post-consolidated Era: An Exploration of the Unavoidable Consequences.” Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 4.1(2013): 343-352. Print Gottdiener, Mark. “New Forms of Consumption: Consumers, Culture, and Commodification.” New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000. Print. Kingsolver, Barbara. “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life”. McDonaldization. “What Is McDonaldization?” Mcdonaldization.com. Web. 07 May 2014. < http://www.mcdonaldization.com/whatisit.shtml>. Portland State University. “Portland State University Mission.” Pdx.edu. Web. 07 May 2014. < http://www.pdx.edu/portland-state-university-mission>. Scaff, Lawrence. “Rationalization.” DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412952552.n235. Print pages: 625-629. Stehle class 2 notes. University of Phoenix. “Mission and Purpose.” Phoenix.edu. Web. 07 May 2014. < http://www.phoenix.edu/about_us/about_university_of_phoenix/mission_and_purpose.html>. Read More