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Audio Recording "You have got to have a system whereby the information is open to everybody."

"You have got to have a system whereby the information is open to everybody."

About this Item

Title

  • "You have got to have a system whereby the information is open to everybody."

Names

  • McLaughlin, Ian M. Watson (Narrator)
  • McCarl, Robert (Interviewer)

Created / Published

  • 1994-08-17

Headings

  • -  Interviews
  • -  Oral history
  • -  Sound recordings
  • -  Vocational education
  • -  Family-run businesses
  • -  Watson Machine International
  • -  Machinery industry
  • -  Ethnography
  • -  United States -- New Jersey -- Paterson

Genre

  • Ethnography
  • Interviews

Notes

  • -  Interview with Ian McLaughlin, CEO, Watson Machine International.
  • -  Summary of audio segment: "I view the old way of working that everybody kept to themselves what their knowledge was, because that was job security. It is a precept in this company now, a precept that is not always followed, but we try to make it at least known, you are known for your ability to spread the knowledge and to let everybody else know what you are doing. That you are interchangeable. That is the measure of doing a good job. If you keep it to yourself, you're history, you don't have the security. And that is a big switch. And that's managing things in the information age, because you got the ability not to have just experience, but you got the ability to run a system where you know where stuff is. I mean we still suffer under it. Because we got these old drawings that are out there. It's like the example of Stanley. You see Stanley over there in the corner, he knows where to find it. You can't have Stanleys any more. You have got to have a system whereby the information is open to everybody and everybody can use that to grow and not keep themselves on first base. You know what I am saying. And that is . . . that makes a difference. That's a precept here that's not always followed . . . there are still some of the old guard who say . . . yeah, yeah . . . because we haven't fully cleaned house . . . but things have evolved a lot here."

Medium

  • Analog Audio Cassette

Call Number/Physical Location

  • AFC 1995/028: WIP-RM-A011

Source Collection

  • Working in Paterson Project Collection (AFC 1995/028)

Repository

  • American Folklife Center

Digital Id

Online Format

  • audio

Rights & Access

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Credit line

Working in Paterson Project collection, 1993-2002 (AFC 1995/028), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Mclaughlin, Ian M. Watson, and Robert McCarl. "You have got to have a system whereby the information is open to everybody.". -08-17, 1994. Audio. https://www.loc.gov/item/afcwip003220/.

APA citation style:

McLaughlin, I. M. W. & McCarl, R. (1994) "You have got to have a system whereby the information is open to everybody.". -08-17. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afcwip003220/.

MLA citation style:

Mclaughlin, Ian M. Watson, and Robert McCarl. "You have got to have a system whereby the information is open to everybody.". -08-17, 1994. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afcwip003220/>.