Working Styles

 The uses of IT in working styles have changed dramatically because of how technology has evolved through the years. all of of jobs require a certain knowledge of IT because of how this informational age is moving with technology. The main jobs that used to be in the primary sector was mainly farming, due to technology most jobs have come from the tertiary sector where careers such as accounting are involved, so the way people work and they way they work has changed. but there are also various other ways in which IT has affected the way people work.  

Many jobs somewhat require some forms of IT because of the amount of work that IT has been put into the workplace. Some examples of this would be accounting, before programmes such as Excel were made the accountants and shop owners would use books to record their information and, using a calculator to work out any calculations. Excel has made it a lot easier for people in this area to do this kind of work because it is less time consuming and Excel has its own formulas to help work out any hard calculations, instead of a calculator. If a business is on the Stock Exchange where accounts need to be updated very often Excel is a programme which makes it easier for information needs to be updated and well as stored. The good thing about this programme is that it is accessible and it isn't one of those programmes that not many people can have, Excel can be bought which means that it is very easy to have this software. In addition to that because the worker has Excel, this means that any work that they have to do, they can easily do it at home and finish it at home rather than in the office. Moreover the worker can have his business at home; all they need are the right programmes on their laptop or home computer. jobs such as consults do not need an office, because all they need is at home, therefore IT has made a lot of entrepreneurs save money on getting an office for their business when they can easily make an office at home to make it more convenient for customers to come into the house.  

One of the main devices that uses IT in retailers or shops have a computerised EPOS system (Electronic Point of Sale), this is used when the customer is checking out of the store and is buying the good that they came to buy. On the products there is a bar code which gets scanned, this then sends a message to the main computer, which then identifies which product it is and removed it from the stock that it has. If there is a shortage of stock the main computer automatically sends a message to the warehouse letting it know if they have a shortage, and there is no need for anyone to check for stock because the computer does it automatically. There is also the EFTPOS (Electrical Funds Transfer at Point of Sale), system which allows the customers to pay with their credit or debit card, it makes it easier for the customer not to carry a lot of money, and easier for the business to get the money into the business, and make better transactions. Having this kind of IT has made transactions in this informational age much easier, for example if a retailer’s warehouse was outside of the country, it would take a long time to send a message to them. However because of the EPOS system this process doesn’t take a long time to do, because the computer has already been programmed to send a message to the warehouse to notify them of their low stock. The development of IT has made such transaction possible, and trading could follow in the same shoes as the EPOS, because they do not need to be face to face to perform the trade.

The main thing which has transformed in the informational age would be computers. The only way people used to type would be using a type writer, and using a type writer required quite a lot of skill because no mistakes could be made. But now since technology has evolved, computers have done nothing but upgrade into a device that people and business can't live without. Without computers, programmes such as Excel, Outlook, Microsoft Word or any other programme would not be invented, and this would make the lives of many people hard especially for businesses. Businesses would use all these programmes for numerous things such as Outlook Access would be used for storing databases, such as names of customers who shop online, Excel as mentioned would be used for calculations, Word used for a number of things like memos, letters, written documents etc. This is why in this informational age we rely on technology because it makes the lives of many people easier, and less stressful. computer are not only for working class adults but aslo for kids as well, in some scenarios kids are told to find out infomtation from the internet becuase it is a fast way of getting infromation as well as there being different sources from different websites which they can choose from. The previous point on how poeple follow technology is how much poeople have relied on computers, therefore generation after generation, more people will rely on diiferent devices to help in their working life.



Apple Mac 2006



Typewriter 1864

Information taken from the book "understanding information and communication technology pg. 38"
the opportunity to work from home.
People who work using conputers need only a telephone and a personal computer, or a terminal, to gain acess to their company's database. this has enabled more people to work from home.

Advantages of Working Styles
The good thing about working styles is that they have made the lives of so many people easy because of the way technology has evolved through the years. The computers that have been built have enabled many people to work a lot faster and have many programmes that suit the way they work,therefore making it a lot more efficient to do work, and to do it to a much greater standard. one of the advantages of a computer than can work a lot faster is that these kind of devices are portable, so as well as the computer being efficient there are laptops which perform the same job, and it make it a lot more convenient for the worker who can be sorting out a presentation whilst on the bus or even on the train. so in term of working styles, many people can now take their work with them where ever they go. on the topic of programmes it is very easy do work because of the programmes that have been made specifically for many organisations as well as people to use. programmes such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, all these programmes were made for a specific reason and that was for to make it easier for the businessmen/women, students, or any ordinary person, to do their work more effectively and without having to struggle to use the programme. another advantage of working styles is that because of IT many countries do not need to worry about checking stock manually since the computers can easily do it for them. computers in this informational age has changed the way people work, there are certain things such as the EPOS system that helps look after stock as well as inform the warehouse that they have run out stock.     

Disadvantages of Working Styles
one of the disadvantages of working style is that because of the way technology has evolved through the years 

many workers, students have become very reliant on computers, as technology keeps upgrading many users find computers very easy to store data as well as any documents. many people do not back their work onto a disk or onto a USB because their computer is the main source of keeping their data, the disadvantage of this is that their data can be lost because the computer can break down or a virus can affect the computer functioning and it may loose all the data on it, if it needs fixing. another reason why working styles has disadvantages is that the for some companies, they need to change their computers every couple of years to stop any problems occurring with it, the only problem with this is, if its a big company many computers would need to be replaced, which would cost a lot of money and many setting will need to be redone again as well as putting the data back very carefully without loosing anything, this can be very crucial for the business. 

system can break down or someone can put the wrong settings.

News stories relating to Working Styles

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3205080.stm
this news story is about how a new software by Microsoft allows users to send emails that will expire after a certain amount of time. this is suppose to create new security measures because no one can access the emails once they have been expired. there are various features on this software such as the user being able to restrict who they are allowed to read certain emails, this is a good idea because of the fact that some emails can't come back to haunt them if the are gone for good.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-11119488
This news story is about how a lot of equipment being stolen or are reported missing, which contains a lot of data from the public sectors. The Police, NHS, councils recorded some of the missing items, such as computers, Blackberries, USB sticks etc. this is showing that there if such data is lost it cannot be retrieved and all the information is gone.