Lockheed Martin Corporation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Lockheed Martin Corporation - Essay Example The operations of the corporation are divided into different segments comprising electronic systems (27%), aeronautics (27%), information systems and global solutions (27%) and space systems (19%). Today, US government contracts account for much of the corporation’s revenue while foreign government contracts also make up a substantial share of the revenue. On the other hand, orders from commercial clients only make up a mere 2 % of the total revenue the corporation nets in a year. In 1996, the corporation finalized the plans to acquire Lorad Corporation which subsequently became part of the Corporation at a cost of $9.1 billion. Like any other global corporation engaging thousands of employees across the world, Lockheed is certainly faced with a myriad of challenges that normally define business operations in the present world. One of the greatest challenges facing the corporation is the need to address employee concerns and effectively tackle the aspects of employee and indus trial relations without many problems like is always the case. On certain instances the corporation has had to face the challenge of striking workers and go slow as employees complained about various aspects relating to their operations in the organization (Terris, 2010). In that regard, the aspect of dealing with these employee concerns has been one of the greatest employee challenges affecting the organization. Like most workers in the industry, most of Lockheed’s workers are unionized under the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace workers and are always part and parcel of the activities steered by the association. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers is a worker organization which draws its origin in 1888 when a group of nineteen machinists came together and formed the Order of the United Machinists and Mechanical Engineers. With time, the small organization grew up in membership and adopted the present name. The organization h as had a turbulent history characterized by the growth of labor movements in the twentieth century. The growth of the union went in tandem with the development of the transport industry throughout the years as more and more workers became employed in the industry. During its formation, the organization was generally a secret affair given that employers of the time were very critical and hostile toward organized labor movements. However, the Order rapidly spread beyond its formation zone of Georgia and was soon a recognized affair in the United States. Much of the growth in the membership of the union was mostly evidenced during the World Wars when workers in the transport industry increased owing to the increased demand of vehicles and airplanes. In the course of the 1970s, the union was segmented into several divisions dealing with specific issues affecting the members. These included civil right, organizing, older workers and retired workers and women. At a convection held in 1984 in Seattle, Washington, the delegates voted and decided to use the Placid Harbor Education Center in order to train and educate the members of the union. In 1998, the center was renamed to the Winpisinger Education and Technology Center in order to recognize and honor the late President of the union. Throughout history, the union has always addressed the issues affecting

Science Fiction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Science Fiction - Essay Example The man-machine characters and events must blend so that even if either the character or event or both are grotesque they appear credible to the audience. The levels of consciousness and intelligence of the man-machines must also blend with those of the audience. The highlights of this consciousness and intelligence, or the lack of these, must be intelligible to the audience. The action of the man-machines and their characteristics often lead to their ultimate survival or extermination. The man-machine is guided by his extra-ordinary senses, or sometimes lack of sense in certain areas such as inability to hear. In this scheme, the man-machine makes up for the weakness in one area with extra strength in another. This additional strength comes from the machine part of the man comprising chips and boards elevating the man's physical resources manifold and even to timelessness. The man-machine thing has awareness about his environment and when this awareness is interrupted it creates an element of surprise. This leads to examination and analysis. The man-machine does all this. He has tremendous physical strength. He has the capacity to bounce back from destructive encounters. He has the capacity for self-cure and self-rectification. With the advancement of technology, his powers have increased (Neme: Prosthetic Head). The perfection of the human spirit is not in the man-machine. Technology will have to advance much more for this status. The loose ends of the man-machine will be covered up as technology advances. As of now, the process is very long. It consists of perfecting the behavior of man-machine to those of man himself. Knowledge and self-realization will have to be perfected. Frankenstein's monster The... This essay discusses the science fiction, that has led to many inventions and discoveries. Before the advent of rockets, fiction abounded with stories of man firing projectiles. Subsequently, there were stories of man himself flying, either with the help of machines or by his own efforts with prosthetic wings or wings growing out of his body. The mingling of man and machine or the creation of a being, most of the time a malevolent being that was only partly man began with Frankenstein’s monster. The creation of the monster is by far the most intriguing and fascinating expression of the man-machine theme that has seen the character of Frankenstein’s monster adapt and evolve with the advancement of technology. The character of the monster is successfully used before large audiences to project the tendencies and capabilities of science. Firstly, will science accept the theory of the soul and the spirit? There is plenty of debate on this issue. The man-machine has to deal w ith this question to capably solve the riddle of creating a being that is equivalent to a machine with living emotions. Or will it be possible to create a man-machine with intelligence and information that can be equivalent to the dogma of emotions? Once man has created a machine with enough intelligent and information inputs to correspond to human emotions, he will have crossed the bridge to accept and discuss machines as living beings. Then he will have created a machine that is as alive and tangible as human beings.