Signs of American Life (McDonald's Restaurants) Essay

Signs of American Life (McDonald's Restaurants) - Essay Example A country's culture can be judged by many things, such as its language, films, drama, literature and of course, its cuisine. Although there are many regional variations of its cuisine, the single most visible form of American culture as exemplified by its cuisine is its fast foods. Fast food service restaurants are invented in America and McDonald's is its foremost example that combines the can-do spirit, its stringent individualistic attitudes towards life in general; a hurried pace of life, such that even eating is hurried and harried. In old Europe, eating is done in a leisurely manner as shown in its fine dining establishments but in America, it is different. A general mood is do things quickly in order to achieve material things in life and get ahead. Alexis de Tocqueville hit it on the right spot to have observed this restlessness in Americans; a general tendency to acquire material things that lead to disillusionment, disquiet, unhappiness and an unstated feeling of getting le ft behind by the faster, next fellow. (Tocqueville 1). Long before the term â€Å"keeping up with the Joneses† was coined or invented, Alexis de Tocqueville had already put it succinctly what one single trait to describe the Americans. In his statement, â€Å"it is strange to see with what feverish ardor the Americans pursue their own welfare; and to watch the vague dread that constantly torments them lest they should not have chosen the shortest path which may lead to it† in which an observer gets the impression most Americans are always outdoing each other, not wasting even a single moment by eating fast. Instant coffee, instant meals and instant gratification are exemplified by McDonald's Restaurants in which a customer can order a quick bite and have it within a matter of minutes. McDonald's has been immensely successful because it catered to this American trait of having everything at once, not a minute longer than necessary. People who are always on the go who ne ed a quick bite can hop into any McDonald's outlet and expect to be served very

Definition of Design Thinking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Definition of Design Thinking - Essay Example For example, in engineering, education is geared towards the creation of engineers who can think and create designs (Pourdehnead, et.al, 2011). However, design thinking is a complex subject and one of the approaches used in teaching engineers design is the project-based learning approach (Dym, et.al, 2005). Engineering design thoughts involve a divergence-convergence thought process and a systems perspective. It encompasses several levels of interaction with system components that may be interconnected to other systems (Frisk, et.al, 2014). Few studies have demonstrated thought processes and strategies involved in the engineering design process. One such study investigated engineering design thinking among K-12 learners (Lammi, & Becker, 2013). The research analyzed how the high school learners engaged design thinking in systems processes never before viewed or understood (Bruton, 2010). The students’ cognitive capabilities were analysed by use of an investigative triangulation mixed technique (Lammi, & Becker, 2013). Their cognitive abilities and mental processes during collaborative engineering design were studied with the aid of a Function-Behaviour-Structure cognitive analysis mechanism (Lammi, & Becker, 2013). While other forms of data were collected, the research had to be guided by a set of two issues: Design thinking has also generated interest within business circles. The interest was directed towards understanding how the design thinking process impacts business in creating fads or contemporary phenomena (Hanttu, 2013). Design thinking focused on how designers thought and the tools and methods they used in their profession. Peter G. Rowe published Design Thinking in 1987 where he studied the design process and the intellectual activity of designing architects (Cross, 2011). Business publications such as the Bloomberg’s Business Week and Harvard Business Review have also printed articles on