Tricks of the Trade: Questionable Theory and Practice in Family Therapy

Summary This paper looks at certain over-systematizing trends in familytherapy, and at a group of practices, connected with such systems-thinking,which espouse manipulation and deception. It is argued thatthese theories and methods, couched in a language of scientism,represent a questionable and cynical direction in therapeuticwork. This technocratic approach not only disfigures personaland social being, but erodes social work principles foundedmorally upon a respect for persons. An alternative view is advocatedin which the value of the person is considered as central toan adequate human science. This regards the nature of understandingas based upon the finitude of experience, and therefore offersan appreciation of the person not as an ‘object’fit for technocratic manipulation, but in terms of his subjectiveand historical being.     

PRACTICE‐FOCUSED RESEARCH ISSUES FOR SCHEDULING SYSTEMS*

Scheduling research has had relatively little impact on manufacturing practice, yet within the last several years, there has been an explosive growth in the development and implementation of computer‐based scheduling systems in industry. Changes in the environment have increased the stakes and the opportunities for the results of scheduling research to influence manufacturing competitiveness. This paper draws on field‐related experiences with the development and implementation of scheduling systems to propose high‐impact research topics.     

CAPACITATED REMANUFACTURING WITH SERVICE LEVEL CONSTRAINTS*

This research examines production planning and control for a remanufacturer that can sell returned items on a graded as‐is basis or remanufacture the returned items. Using a GI/G/1 queuing network, we model the firms decision to remanufacture an optimal product mix over the long run that maximizes profits while maintaining a desired service level. We further use simulation to explore dispatching heuristics that can be used at the shop‐floor level to achieve the desired optimal product mix, while meeting the service level constraint. Our research is grounded in actual practice and the results provide key insights into the decision‐making process required to maximize profits and minimize average flow times for remanufactured products.