technology management essay

• Data, AI, & Machine Learning
• Managing Technology
• Social Responsibility
• Workplace, Teams, & Culture
• AI & Machine Learning
• Diversity & Inclusion
• Big ideas Research Projects
• Artificial Intelligence and Business Strategy
• Responsible AI
• Future of the Workforce
• Future of Leadership
• All Research Projects
• AI in Action
• Most Popular
• The Truth Behind the Nursing Crisis
• Work/23: The Big Shift
• Coaching for the Future-Forward Leader
• Measuring Culture

The spring 2024 issue’s special report looks at how to take advantage of market opportunities in the digital space, and provides advice on building culture and friendships at work; maximizing the benefits of LLMs, corporate venture capital initiatives, and innovation contests; and scaling automation and digital health platform.

• Past Issues
• Upcoming Events
• Video Archive
• Me, Myself, and AI
• Three Big Points

Managing Technology as a Business Strategy

THE PRESSURE ON today’s corporate managers to maximize short-term profits often seems at odds with the need for a research and development program that will sustain company value over the long term. The solution to this apparent dilemma starts with the recognition that a business enterprise’s value depends on the level and rate of growth of its cash flow. A firm’s ability to maintain an advantage in market value depends on whether investors perceive that the rate of cash flow growth will be sustained.

The goal of strategic technology management is to contribute to the value of the enterprise by helping assure that the cash flow on which this value depends will be sustained and will continue to grow. Effective management of this kind can help a firm gain and sustain competitive advantages, ranging from incremental improvements in product quality or cost to major breakthroughs that create new market opportunities. Management of technology must, however, be purposeful rather than hopeful or “hands off’ and must always be connected with the firm’s overall business strategy.

Five sets of questions are useful in systematically examining the relationship of a company’s program of managing technology to its business strategy:

• Does the company have a clear product and market strategy? What markets does it want to attack? How? What markets does it intend to defend? What product and service attributes will accomplish these goals?
• What technologies support the product and market strategy? Which ones produce competitive advantage in existing markets by adding value or lowering costs? Which ones promise to support new market initiatives or to define a new plateau of product performance?
• What technological successes can the company support or exploit?
• Does the R&D program focus on developing capability in technologies that will, or may, support its product and market strategy? Are options for technology acquisition (in-house development, licensing, academic support, etc.) being examined in relation to the company’s immediate product and market strategy as well as its future vision?
• Does the company have the means to answer, and keep reviewing the answers to, these questions? Does the R&D staff have access to the firm’s key customers? Do the R&D staff, manufacturing engineers, and marketing people work together to ensure that R&D ideas can be made into high-quality, low-cost products that will meet customers’ needs?

These questions cannot be answered in a facile or casual way. Answering them requires work, understanding, and realism. Corporate leadership that presses for answers can, however, help to assure itself and its stakeholders that the R&D program will sustain growth in company value.

Approaches to Managing Technology

The meaning of technology is straightforward: knowing how to do something well. Here’s a more elaborate definition: the ability to create a reproducible way to generate improved products, processes, and services. In fact, a modern manufacturing business must have a substantial portfolio of individual technologies. The management of technology should ensure that the firm maintains command of the technologies relevant to its purposes and that these technologies support the firm’s business strategy and shareholder value.

Technology management for strategic advantage is difficult and often frustrating. The central issue is the need to reconcile the unpredictability of discovery with the desire to fit technical programs into orderly management of the business. The traditional approach to managing technology has been largely intuitive. Research and development is treated as an overhead item, with budgets set in relation to some business measure (for example, sales) and at a level deemed reasonable by industry practice. Budgets may be projected several years ahead, but are usually set annually. Within this budget framework, decisions about areas of concentration and project continuations may be left largely to R&D management. There is no assurance that the R&D organization, left to its own devices, will pursue programs related to corporate strategy, either in focus or in degree of innovation and risk.

In response to this unsatisfactory situation, many firms have become somewhat more sophisticated. Managers outside the technology area participate in suggesting or reviewing projects, but the connection to company strategy is still casual or haphazard. Some firms subject R&D programs to a rigorous financial justification process based on net present value. Arguing that research and development projects are investments—as in a sense they are—corporate management seeks justification based on rate of return or payout. But it is difficult to project financial returns on an R&D project, especially if the project is focused on achieving a significant innovation. As a result, the program may be pushed toward conservative, incremental projects; the results will be more predictable, but the program will have limited strategic impact.

Clearly, then, there is a need for a measured, genuinely sophisticated approach to R&D management. Interest in a better approach has been stimulated by various developments. First, many corporate leaders have moved beyond the financially driven planning characteristic of the 1970s. Second, the success of entrepreneurial, high-technology companies has excited interest in the potential of technology to build company value. Third, firms have seen that industry leaders give high priority to technology management. Fourth, quality and manufacturing capability are now considered strategic business weapons. Together these developments have helped to create a desire to manage technology in a way that is congruent with business strategy.

Linking Technology Management to Strategy

We believe that a firm’s development and use of technology can be managed so that it effectively supports the firm’s business strategy. Think for a moment about managing financial investments. The effective investment manager must first help the client think through appropriate investment goals, such as a stable income, security, or accumulation of wealth. The investment manager then selects a portfolio of investments with the best chance of accomplishing those goals in the face of future uncertainties. The manager seeks balance among such characteristics as current yield, growth in value or yield, and safety, and tries to manage risk through diversity. Investments are changed to reflect changes in the client’s goals and to take advantage of new investment opportunities that are appropriate. The investment manager can be judged on two bases. First, are the type, balance, and diversity of investments appropriate to the client’s goals? Second, is the program well executed with respect to the particular choices made, including the changes in the portfolio, and the results achieved? This assessment process should be interactive; that is, it should look not just at results, but also at whether changes in the financial markets dictate changes in strategies to achieve the investor’s goals.

The management of technology is analogous to the management of investment. The development and use of technology must be guided explicitly by the business strategy of the firm; at the same time, technological developments should help define the opportunities and threats to which the strategy should then respond. Thus, the strategic management of technology involves a dialogue—a process through which both the strategic targets of the enterprise and the goals of its technology program are regularly reviewed and revised.

In looking more thoroughly at that process, it is important to clarify what “management of technology” really entails. The management of technology encompasses the management of research, product and process development, and manufacturing engineering. Put simply, research expands the firm’s grasp of science and engineering skills. Development makes this knowledge relevant to part of the firm’s business. Engineering translates technology into products that are useful or desirable to customers. It is important, however, to think of these functions as forming a spectrum. In fact, one pitfall in managing technology is to see these as separate functions to be managed in a compartmental fashion. Many Japanese companies have shown the power of integrating all phases of the product creation process. By contrast, some U.S. manufacturers have suffered because they separate product development from manufacturing engineering; this results in poor manufacturability, with cost and quality problems and delays in product introduction. Effective management requires integrating these phases of the product creation process.

Product and Market Strategies

To manage an R&D program effectively, a firm must have a coherent product and market strategy. One way of thinking about such a strategy is suggested by the matrix shown in Table 1 . The words in each cell characterize the appropriate technology focus for that product-market mix.

The degree of strategic concentration in one or another product-market area will help to indicate the balance of a firm’s technical programs. At the same time, the findings from the technical programs will suggest which product and market possibilities show promise.

The strategic focus in sector A is to achieve incremental improvements in value—quality and performance—and cost. Allied-Signal, for example, says one element of its strategy is to be the high-value, low-cost producer in its markets. Both objectives help sustain market share and margins, and thus cash flow, in a particular competitive context.

A sector B strategy could be implemented by either a new product whose function is already filled by an existing product, or a new product that complements existing products. The first could substantially improve functionality, lower cost, or both. Examples include the substitution of the electronic typewriter for the electric typewriter, radial tires for bias-ply tires, and slow release antihistamine tablets for conventional pills.

A sector C strategy is one that adapts existing products or the technologies that support them to the needs of new markets. Together with technological development, this focus of strategy requires understanding the idiosyncrasies and needs of new target customers and the distribution channels needed to reach them. 3M is well known for finding ways to adapt its product technology to the needs of new customers.

Sector D must be approached with great caution; it can be a strategic trap baited by technological hubris. A new technology, perhaps in composite materials or genetically engineered drugs, shows exciting promise of yielding new products. For some firms, pursuing such technologies makes sense; these may become their pacing technologies, as explained in the next section. Other firms, however, will respond to the enthusiasm of the moment. Sometimes this push to get on the bandwagon comes from the R&D leadership, but often it comes from top management. The danger is that resources committed to a sector D strategy will disrupt support from other R&D projects that are more relevant to the firm’s overall strategy. Moreover, these programs, once started, are hard to stop; they become “sacred cows.” But perhaps the most embarrassing and frustrating outcome occurs when the technical development program succeeds, but the company lacks the management skills, resources, or market knowledge needed to exploit the success.

The first step in the strategic management of technology is to answer this question: For our firm, what mix of products and markets will best sustain and enhance our cash flow? The next step is to test how well the firm’s technologies support the ideal product and market mix. (The next two sections look at that question.) The third step is to focus technology investments so that they better support the firm’s strategy.

We find it useful to examine a firm’s technologies in light of two questions:

• What is the significance of the technologies in the firm’s portfolio, as measured by their competitive impact and maturity?
• In each product area or business, how strong is the firm’s technological competitive position?

Classification of Technologies by Competitive Impact

We identify three broad classes of technologies in a typical firm’s technological portfolio.

Base Technologies.

These are technologies that a firm must master to be an effective competitor in its chosen product-market mix. They are necessary, but not sufficient, to achieve competitive advantage. These technologies are widely known and readily available. Electronic ignition technology for automobiles is an example.

The trick for R&D management is to invest enough—but only enough—effort to maintain competence in these technologies. The danger is that inertia will sustain programs in these technologies longer and at greater scale than they deserve, perhaps because these are the traditional areas where the research and development organization feels at home. The U.S. auto industry in the 1960s and 1970s, for example, invested too heavily in familiar areas of product technology rather than in new, less comfortable areas where opportunities to develop new process technology existed.

Key Technologies.

These technologies provide competitive advantage. They may permit the producer to embed differentiating features or functions in the product or to attain greater efficiencies in the production process. An example is food-packaging technology that enables the purchaser to use microwave cooking.

The primary focus of industrial research and development is on extending and applying the key technologies at the firm’s disposal; they should be given the highest priority among the firm’s investments in technology. Unwilling to invest in key process technologies in the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S. steel industry paid the price in the 1970s; foreign competitors, whose development the U.S. industry had benignly encouraged, far outstripped it in productivity.

Pacing Technologies.

These technologies could become tomorrow’s key technologies. Not every participant in an industry can afford to invest in pacing technologies; this is typically what differentiates the leaders (who do) from the followers (who do not). The critical issue in technology management is balancing support of key technologies to sustain current competitive position and support of pacing technologies to create future vitality. Commitments to pacing technologies or potential breakthroughs are hard to justify in conventional, return-on-investment terms. Indeed, these commitments can be thought of more accurately as buying options on opportunity. Relatively modest commitments—and thus, modest downside risk—can give the potential for large upside advantage. Realizing that potential depends on still-unresolved technical and market contingencies. If the option is not pursued, the potential does not exist. Smith, Kline & French supported pursuit of receptor modeling technology in the 1960s, a pacing technology in the pharmaceutical industry at that time. This work led ultimately to the development of TAGAMET and the establishment of the company as a leading pharmaceutical firm (later SmithKline Beckman and, more recently, SmithKline Beecham, p.l.c). Receptor modeling technology is now a recognized key technology in pharmaceuticals.

An effective research and development program must include some investment to build a core of competence in pacing technologies and some effort to gain intelligence from sources such as customers, universities, and scientific literature to help identify and evaluate these technologies. At the same time, disciplined judgments about commitments to pacing technologies are necessary; enthusiastic overspending on advanced technology can undercut essential support of key technologies.

Exploiting Mature Technologies

Technologies mature, just as industries and product lines do. The younger the technology, the greater the potential for further development, but the less certain the benefits. However, a mature technology can often be a key technology. Many Japanese firms use mature technologies as a major competitive weapon. The Sony Walkman, for example, was a wildly successful new product based on comparatively mature technologies. The Walkman fortuitously combined Sony’s work on the miniaturization of its tape recorder line and its work on lightweight headphones. Sony engineers were trying to make a miniature stereo tape player-recorder, but they could not fit the recording mechanism into the target package size. A senior officer realized that combining headphones with a non-recording tape “player” would eliminate the need for speakers, reduce battery requirements, and result in a small stereo tape player with outstanding sound. 1

Sometimes a mature technology becomes a key technology when it is applied in a new context. Empire Pencil gained a major cost and quality advantage by using mature plastic extrusion technology as the basis of a new way to manufacture lead pencils. Conventional lead pencil manufacturing requires the use of fine-grained, high-quality wood, such as cedar, and a good deal of hand labor for assembly. Materials are becoming more expensive, and damage to the graphite core during the assembly process causes quality problems. A development team was confronted with this question: How can we improve quality and cut costs? The team realized that wood powder in a plastic binder could simulate the fine-grained wood. From there it was a straightforward step to produce pencil stock in a continuous extrusion process, with wood powder and a core of graphite powder in a plastic binder.

Other mature technologies may be protected (for example, by patents or proprietary treatment) and thus give their owners a key competitive advantage. A Japanese grinding machine manufacturer successfully diversified into the manufacture of integrated circuit wafer equipment. A critical factor in its success was its proprietary mature machine technology. Examples like the latter one may tempt a firm in a mature line of business to diversify into new products and markets where its proprietary but mature technology could have a key competitive impact, but this sector D strategy is risky. The better alternative is to look, as Empire Pencil did, for new technology to invigorate a mature or aging product line.

A business or product line whose key technologies are mature faces a serious threat of being blind-sided by a competitor employing new key technologies. This is what Xerox did to the established copier manufacturers and what word processing did to the typewriter industry.

As an industry or product sector matures, the key technologies often become manufacturing process technologies rather than product feature technologies. This is the case in many mature industries, including chemicals, machine tools, consumer appliances, and food products.

Measuring Technological Strength

The technological strength of a business reflects the degree to which it has competence in, or proprietary control of, key product and process technologies. It also reflects the level of investment to sustain key technologies and to invest in pacing technologies.

Competitive technological strength can be characterized as follows:

• Dominant. The business is a technological leader and recognized as such. It has a demonstrable commitment to technology and to creativity.
• Strong. The level of technological support and effectiveness in managing technology allows the business to set independent technical directions.
• Favorable. The business has the technological capacity to remain competitive. It can manage continued improvement in technology to sustain its position, but it does not have the capability to take technological leadership on a sustained basis.
• Tenable. The business is a technological follower. It must frequently catch up with stronger competitors.
• Weak. The technical competence of the business is comparatively low, and most technical efforts are short-term, firefighting efforts to improve products or processes.

An objective analysis of the competitive technical strength of each of the firm’s strategic business units helps to answer three questions: Do we have the technological capacity to support our product and market strategy in each business? Are our strategies realistic? What do we need to accomplish to build the technological strength our strategies require?

Classification of R&D Programs

There are three broad types of R&D programs designed to build strength in technologies.

• Incremental Research and Development. These programs have well-defined commercial objectives. The likelihood of technical success is relatively high. Thus, the costs and benefits of the program can be defined rather explicitly. Modifying temperature and pressure settings to improve yields of a chemical process is an example. Most technologies used in these programs are key technologies; the remainder are base technologies.
• Radical Research. These programs take bold steps forward in applying particular, often pacing, technologies. A new technology may be brought to bear in a product: for example, a grammar-correcting routine in word-processing software. Established technology may be used in a radically different way: plastic extrusion technology used to manufacture “conventional” lead pencils, or electronic sensing and control technologies in a cooking device.
• Fundamental Research. These programs are designed to build a new dimension of competence or to investigate the potential usefulness of an area of scientific knowledge. The development of ceramic materials suitable for high-temperature applications might be investigated, for example. Such programs must pass two important screens: First, are the results potentially relevant to the company’s product and market strategy—that is, could a successful result help the firm get where it wants to go? Second, is an internal project the most effective way to acquire the potential technology?

Keeping Technology Relevant

The answers to the questions posed at the beginning of this article need to be reviewed regularly if they are to remain relevant to the business strategy. The frequency of review must fit the business’s rate of technological change, the evolution of product and market strategy, and the time it takes to get results in R&D. Projects should not run on un-challenged for years; nor should a constantly changing R&D staff be allowed to unleash an undisciplined stream of new but unfulfilled ideas. Each firm must find the optimal R&D review cycle to develop the key and pacing technologies critical to its success.

A few simple principles bear review:

• Keep R&D personnel in touch with potential customers and markets. Good R&D requires sensitivity to potential market opportunity, but this will not be achieved by secondary access via the sales organization, or even by conventional market research.
• Foster open communications among R&D staff, manufacturing engineers, and the marketing force. Joint teams help assure that product and process developments can move into implementation smoothly and on schedule.
• Hold to time commitments and schedules. If a development cannot be completed in a timely fashion, it probably is not worth pursuing.
• Avoid fads. These become distractions. Also avoid nurturing “white elephant” programs—often yesterday’s fads.
• Understand the reason for outside linkages. In cooperative programs, understand who your allies are and who may be potential competitors. Use academic links as a window on emerging science that may support pacing technologies of the future. Do not use academic sponsorship to develop key, or even pacing, technologies unless there is very close physical proximity and open communication.

Managing technology effectively means setting and communicating strategic priorities, managing projects to get timely results, and effectively using linkage inside and outside the firm. With the globalization of technology, links with the outside have become imperative. These include links with customers and vendors, as well as with other sources of technology, such as universities. While outside connections can help a firm identify new opportunities and avoid unpleasant competitive surprises, links within the firm must also be carefully managed.

About the Authors

Tamara J. Erickson is a corporate vice president and managing director of the Industry Management Section of Arthur D. Little. Mrs. Erickson received the A.B. degree in biological sciences from the University of Chicago and the M.B.A. degree at the Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University. Her primary area of professional interest is the management of technology and innovation. She serves on the Board of Advisors of Decision Resources and is a member of the Industrial Research Institute and the Commercial Development Association. John F. Magee is Chairman of the Board of Arthur D. Little. Mr. Magee holds the B.A. degree from Bowdoin College, the M.B.A. degree from the Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University, and the M.A. degree in mathematics and economics from the University of Maine. His areas of expertise include marketing research, production planning and inventory control, financial analysis, and economic regulation. He is the author of Production Planning and Inventory Control, Physical Distribution Systems, and Industrial Logistics: Analysis and Management of Physical Supply and Distribution Systems. Philip A. Roussel is a director of Management Counseling with Arthur D Little. Dr. Roussel holds the Ph.D. degree in organic chemistry from Tulane University. His areas of expertise include R&D strategic planning and management, integrating R&D plans into business and corporate plans, and defining new contributions that R&D can make to the growth and profitability of a company. He is coauthor of a book on third generation R&D management to be published this year. Kamal N. Saad is a European director and corporate vice president of Arthur D. Little. Based in Brussels, he is also a Visiting Adjunct Professor of Technology Management at the Arthur D. Little Management Education Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and at IMD, the international business school in Lausanne, Switzerland. Mr. Saad studied chemistry at the American University of Beirut and at Birmingham University in England, chemical engineering at Imperial College in London, and business administration at the Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University.

1 P.R. Nayak and J.M. Ketteringham, Breakthroughs! (New York: Rawson, 1986), pp. 130 ff.

More Like This

Add a comment cancel reply.

You must sign in to post a comment. First time here? Sign up for a free account : Comment on articles and get access to many more articles.

What the Digital Future Holds : 20 Groundbreaking Essays on How Technology Is Reshaping the Practice of Management

The relationship between management and digital technology: experts present a new agenda for the practice of management.

Digital technology has profoundly affected the ways that businesses design and produce goods, manage internal communication, and connect with customers. But the next phase of the digital revolution raises a new set of questions about the relationship between technology and the practice of management. Managers in the digital era must consider how big data can inform hiring decisions, whether new communication technologies are empowering workers or unleashing organizational chaos, what role algorithms will play in corporate strategy, and even how to give performance feedback to a robot. This collection of short, pithy essays from MIT Sloan Management Review , written by both practitioners and academic experts, explores technology's foundational impact on management.

Much of the conversation around these topics centers on the evolving relationship between humans and cognitive technologies, and the essays reflect this—considering, for example, not only how to manage a bot but how cognitive systems will enhance business decision making, how AI delivers value, and the ethics of algorithms.

Contributors Ajay Agrawal, Robert D. Austin, David H. Autor, Andrew Burgert, Paul R. Daugherty, Thomas H. Davenport, R. Edward Freeman, Joshua S. Gans, Avi Goldfarb, Lynda Gratton, Reid Hoffman, Bala Iyer, Gerald C. Kane, Frieda Klotz, Rita Gunther McGrath, Paul Michelman, Andrew W. Moore, Nicola Morini-Bianzino, Tim O'Reilly, Bidhan L. Parmar, Ginni Rometty, Bernd Schmitt, Alex Tapscott, Don Tapscott, Monideepa Tarafdar, Catherine J. Turco, George Westerman, H. James Wilson, Andrew S. Winston

• Permissions
• Cite Icon Cite

What the Digital Future Holds : 20 Groundbreaking Essays on How Technology Is Reshaping the Practice of Management By: MIT Sloan Management Review https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.001.0001 ISBN (electronic): 9780262345354 Publisher: The MIT Press Published: 2018

Download citation file:

• Ris (Zotero)
• Reference Manager

Table of Contents

• [ Front Matter ] Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0025 Open the PDF Link PDF for [ Front Matter ] in another window
• Series Foreword By Paul Michelman Paul Michelman Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0001 Open the PDF Link PDF for Series Foreword in another window
• Introduction: Tales from the Digital Frontier By Paul Michelman Paul Michelman Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0002 Open the PDF Link PDF for Introduction: Tales from the Digital Frontier in another window
• 1: Managing the Bots That Are Managing the Business By Tim O'Reilly Tim O'Reilly Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0003 Open the PDF Link PDF for 1: Managing the Bots That Are Managing the Business in another window
• 2: Digital Today, Cognitive Tomorrow By Ginni Rometty Ginni Rometty Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0004 Open the PDF Link PDF for 2: Digital Today, Cognitive Tomorrow in another window
• 3: Rise of the Strategy Machines By Thomas H. Davenport Thomas H. Davenport Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0005 Open the PDF Link PDF for 3: Rise of the Strategy Machines in another window
• 4: Predicting a Future Where the Future Is Routinely Predicted By Andrew W. Moore Andrew W. Moore Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0006 Open the PDF Link PDF for 4: Predicting a Future Where the Future Is Routinely Predicted in another window
• 5: Using Artificial Intelligence to Set Information Free By Reid Hoffman Reid Hoffman Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0007 Open the PDF Link PDF for 5: Using Artificial Intelligence to Set Information Free in another window
• 6: What to Expect from Artificial Intelligence Technology By Ajay Agrawal , Ajay Agrawal Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Joshua S. Gans , Joshua S. Gans Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Avi Goldfarb Avi Goldfarb Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0008 Open the PDF Link PDF for 6: What to Expect from Artificial Intelligence Technology in another window
• 7: The Shifts—Great and Small—in Workplace Automation By David H. Autor David H. Autor Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0009 Open the PDF Link PDF for 7: The Shifts—Great and Small—in Workplace Automation in another window
• 8: How Blockchain Will Change Organizations By Don Tapscott , Don Tapscott Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Alex Tapscott Alex Tapscott Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0010 Open the PDF Link PDF for 8: How Blockchain Will Change Organizations in another window
• 9: Is Your Company Ready to Operate as a Market? By Rita Gunther McGrath Rita Gunther McGrath Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0011 Open the PDF Link PDF for 9: Is Your Company Ready to Operate as a Market? in another window
• 10: The End of Corporate Culture as We Know It By Paul Michelman Paul Michelman Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0012 Open the PDF Link PDF for 10: The End of Corporate Culture as We Know It in another window
• 11: Do You Have a Conversational Interface? By Bala Iyer , Bala Iyer Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Andrew Burgert , Andrew Burgert Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Gerald C. Kane Gerald C. Kane Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0013 Open the PDF Link PDF for 11: Do You Have a Conversational Interface? in another window
• 12: Unleashing Creativity with Digital Technology By Robert D. Austin Robert D. Austin Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0014 Open the PDF Link PDF for 12: Unleashing Creativity with Digital Technology in another window
• 13: Rethinking the Manager’s Role By Lynda Gratton Lynda Gratton Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0015 Open the PDF Link PDF for 13: Rethinking the Manager’s Role in another window
• 14: The Three New Skills Managers Need By Monideepa Tarafdar Monideepa Tarafdar Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0016 Open the PDF Link PDF for 14: The Three New Skills Managers Need in another window
• 15: A New Era of Corporate Conversation By Catherine J. Turco Catherine J. Turco Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0017 Open the PDF Link PDF for 15: A New Era of Corporate Conversation in another window
• 16: Ethics and the Algorithm By Bidhan L. Parmar , Bidhan L. Parmar Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar R. Edward Freeman R. Edward Freeman Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0018 Open the PDF Link PDF for 16: Ethics and the Algorithm in another window
• 17: Why Digital Transformation Needs a Heart By George Westerman George Westerman Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0019 Open the PDF Link PDF for 17: Why Digital Transformation Needs a Heart in another window
• 18: The Jobs That Artificial Intelligence Will Create By H. James Wilson , H. James Wilson Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Paul R. Daugherty , Paul R. Daugherty Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Nicola Morini-Bianzino Nicola Morini-Bianzino Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0020 Open the PDF Link PDF for 18: The Jobs That Artificial Intelligence Will Create in another window
• 19: Tackling the World’s Challenges with Technology By Andrew S. Winston Andrew S. Winston Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0021 Open the PDF Link PDF for 19: Tackling the World’s Challenges with Technology in another window
• 20: Are You Ready for Robot Colleagues? By Bernd Schmitt , Bernd Schmitt Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Frieda Klotz Frieda Klotz Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0022 Open the PDF Link PDF for 20: Are You Ready for Robot Colleagues? in another window
• Contributors Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0023 Open the PDF Link PDF for Contributors in another window
• Index Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0024 Open the PDF Link PDF for Index in another window
• Open Access

A product of The MIT Press

Mit press direct.

• About MIT Press Direct

Information

• Accessibility
• For Authors
• For Customers
• For Librarians
• Direct to Open
• Media Inquiries
• Rights and Permissions
• For Advertisers
• About the MIT Press
• The MIT Press Reader
• MIT Press Blog
• Seasonal Catalogs
• MIT Press Home
• Give to the MIT Press
• Direct Service Desk
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Statement
• Crossref Member
• COUNTER Member  
• The MIT Press colophon is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Effective Technology Management Essays

Harmony in the tech age: navigating the imperative of effective technology management in the 21st century, popular essay topics.

• American Dream
• Artificial Intelligence
• Black Lives Matter
• Bullying Essay
• Career Goals Essay
• Causes of the Civil War
• Child Abusing
• Civil Rights Movement
• Community Service
• Cultural Identity
• Cyber Bullying
• Death Penalty
• Depression Essay
• Domestic Violence
• Freedom of Speech
• Global Warming
• Gun Control
• Human Trafficking
• I Believe Essay
• Immigration
• Importance of Education
• Israel and Palestine Conflict
• Leadership Essay
• Legalizing Marijuanas
• Mental Health
• National Honor Society
• Police Brutality
• Pollution Essay
• Racism Essay
• Romeo and Juliet
• Same Sex Marriages
• Social Media
• The Great Gatsby
• The Yellow Wallpaper
• Time Management
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Violent Video Games
• What Makes You Unique
• Why I Want to Be a Nurse
• Send us an e-mail

Home Essay Examples Management Change Management

Technology Change And Innovation Management

• Category Management
• Subcategory Types of Management
• Topic Change Management

Introduction

“Innovation is the multi-stage process whereby organizations transform ideas into new/improved products, service or processes, in order to advance, compete and differentiate themselves successfully in their marketplace.” (Baregheh, Rowley, & Sambrook, 2009, p. 1334)

“Innovation is not a single action but a total process of inter-related sub-processes. It is not just the conception of a new idea, nor the invention of a new device, nor the development of a new market. The process is all these things acting in an integrated fashion.” (Myers and Marquis, 1969)

Our writers can write you a new plagiarism-free essay on any topic

Innovation is derived from the Latin word “Innovare” which means to make something new. It is a process of up-gradation of a product or service being prevalent in the society so that the new product or service which was created after innovating it can be of advance use to the users. There are 2 types of innovation – incremental and radical innovation.

By elaborating on the topic whether user inputs are of any help or not, this paper will deal with the pros and cons of the users input in the process of innovation. It will clear the mind process of the reader whether how important is it to take in the review by the user before innovating the product or whether after innovating the product, reviews of the user shall be taken.

Usage of various models and theories would be seen all over the paper to answer the question of essay. Literature like linear models of ‘technology push’ & ‘demand pull’, interactive models, closed innovation principles and open innovation principles would be the main points of focus to describe this question counterfeiting each other.

Background of Innovation

From the legal dictionary, the term ‘Novation’ referred to as “renewing the clauses by changing a contract for a new one in favour of the debtor”. In the same way in the field of science and technology, any up-gradation to a product or service for the better experience of the user is termed as ‘innovation’. (Rothwell and Zegveld (1995)

In the 19th century there were various discoveries and inventions done, so the 19th Century was termed as “Invention Era”. On the same platform, 20th century was all about making the prevailing things better and upgrading them to a better usable manner which was done by the process of innovation.

The 20th century saw the term innovation used by some scholars to explain technological advancement as well as being the subject body of the literature assessing the processes behind the innovation. Preceding theories briefed about the psychological aspects associated with innovation, process models, the development of linear and the creative dimension of innovation was recognised. Slowly, towards the end of the 20th century, innovation had become various advancements developmental, social & technological change.

Pros of Having User Inputs in Innovation

Benoit Godin has written extensively on the intellectual history of innovation. This helps us place users as innovators within the innovation literature. His work provides a detailed account of the development of the category of innovation. The European tradition saw invention as part of the innovation process and introduced the function of market uncertainty. This begins to shift the focus to product development and the role of users in the testing of such products.

In his seminal and often cited work, von Hippel was first to identify and evidence the role of users as innovators. In this study of medical equipment manufacturers in the 1970s he claimed that 80% of innovations were developed by users (von Hippel, 1976; 1977). In these papers, he argued that users were the major source of innovation. Following this ground breaking work other studies have identified different types of user innovations for example: ̳consumer users‘ and ̳intermediate users‘. Von Hippel (1988) argues that users in general and ̳lead-users‘ in particular are a source of innovation and he considers the notion that companies (i.e., product manufacturers) innovate is a ―basic assumption (that) is often wrong which reflects a ―manufacturer-as-innovator bias, but is nevertheless ―conventional wisdom (idem. p.117). The lead-user school sees a (predictable) distributed innovation process of which the sources vary greatly and in which users play a very important but overlooked role. There have been several studies that provide strong evidence to support lead users as innovators.

When it comes to explaining why users innovate it is argued that they possess the distinctive knowledge and expertise necessary. For example, the development of kite surfing was only possible because of the expertise gained from years of experience of windsurfing (Franke & Shah, 2003). Indeed, in his more recent research, Von Hippel (2005) argues that when one compares innovations from producers with those of users frequently those from users are distinctive because of the unique tacit knowledge they have gained from extensive use of the products (Bogers et al., 2010).

The lead-user school further contends that while many users modify products for their own use, for example, computer hardware and software for industrial processes and high-end sports equipment, these innovations are concentrated among the ―lead-users. A group of surfers as an illustration, who developed an experimental surf board with foot- straps that enabled them to leverage the energy of waves to make controlled flights. Lead- users, are characterised as ahead of the majority of users with respect to an important market trend, and they expect to gain relatively high benefits from the solution to the needs they have encountered. Further, it is argued that by focusing on working with lead-users, companies can increase the probability that they will discover innovative solutions that they can leverage and sell to their other customers. For companies seeking to increase their capacity to innovate, the lead-user school argues that it provides a firm foundation for a strategy of innovating with selective customers; and that it is a much more effective basis for an innovation strategy than the more traditional technology-centered approach, where scientific exploration and technology development lead to opportunities for firms to exploit. This approach led to the growth of a whole new sport, ̳kite-surfing‘: ―Clearly this had little to do with surfboard manufacturers who did not discover this innovation; rather it was innovative surfers― (Franke et al., 2006).

The lead-user school recognizes users (both consumers and companies) as an essential knowledge source for the innovation process.

The development of commercially successful new products has consistently shown the need for accurate understanding of the needs of the user. Within the marketing literature, this is firmly established (see Deshpande‘, Farley, and Webster, 1993; Kohli and Jaworski, 1990). Although Von Hippel, discusses the limitations of market research in The sources of Innovation (first section of Chapter 8), it is from this premise that Von Hippel builds his arguments for the role of lead-users. According to Von Hippel lead-users are familiar with conditions that lie in the future for others, they can serve as a need-forecasting laboratory for marketing research (1988, p.107). Significantly it is their activities at attempting to fill their needs, which Von Hippel identifies as providing opportunities for firms wishing to develop new products. Much of the work on the users as innovators has centred on how firms should identify lead-users and how firms can incorporate their perceptions into new products. This has tended to focus on technology-intensive industries and products.

Cons of Having User Inputs in Innovation

Hence, it distinguishes between ordinary users and lead users. It argues that ordinary users have difficulties in providing fresh and relevant insights into the product development process since their familiarity with existing products ―interferes with their ability to conceive of novel products and uses when invited to do so‖ (Von Hippel, 1988, p.103). This is rooted in their inability to come up with new solutions because they are not creative enough and they have difficulties in evaluating new and (thus) unfamiliar products that fall outside their real-world.

In the previous section we described how users can contribute to innovation processes and how lead-users can be a valuable source of innovation.

1 – Conceptual: invention is not innovation

One major problem with the lead user school is that even though the word ̳innovation‘ appears so many times, Von Hippel does not provide the reader with a definition of innovation. For example, a sample of tractor shovel innovations in two categories: ̳major improvements‘ and ̳significant special-purpose accessories‘. Adding power steering to a tractor shovel can be considered a major improvement, but is it an innovation? Von Hippel claims that in both the process equipment industry and the electronics industry ―the innovators are most often users.

In general, innovation is understood to mean much more than having an idea that could lead to the development of a new product or service (Garcia & Calantone, 2002). Innovation encompasses the entire process of developing an idea through to a new product or service that is implemented in a market and which consists of activities such as R&D, technology transfer, knowledge management, market research, futures research, technology intelligence, product development, and many more. In that respect, the lead-user school distinguishes four different stages in this (innovation) process: 1) identify a need, 2) research/development, 3) build prototype, 4) apply to commercialize and diffuse innovation; of which the user is carrying out the first three and the manufacturer only the last step (Von Hippel, 1988, p.25). The lead- user school does not explain why the first three roles are only played by users and not by manufacturers. Consequently, the lead-user school portrays lead-users as a source of ideas (which is undoubtedly true) but then overstates their role within the innovation process by underestimating the amount of ̳innovation resources‘ (money, time, risk) other actors (i.e., not-users) spend in carrying out that part of the innovation process.

The limited role of the user in the innovation process is also clearly illustrated in the theories of ̳innovation systems‘ (e.g., Carlsson, 2002) and ̳open innovation‘ (Chesbrough, 2003). Both views on innovation are based on the notion that nowadays knowledge has become widely distributed and every actor involved in the innovation process should be aware that most of the required knowledge for innovation can be found elsewhere. Not only are there more sources of innovation (than just the user) but also that ̳modern innovation is about how these different actors are related to each other and are capable of sharing information and knowledge. Indeed, much empirical research on finding success factors for innovation show that there can be many different sources of innovation, often depending on the type of industry in which the innovation is being developed (see e.g., Miller & Blais, 1993; Pavitt, 1983).

So, we conclude that the lead-user school‘s emphasis on the large or even dominant role of users in the innovation process is based on an old fashioned definition of innovation. Because of this it has understated the activities of the other actors that play such a vital role in the entire innovation process most notably the firm. As a consequence, what the lead-user school label as innovations are predominantly inventions.

2 – Methodological: case studies are difficult to generalize

The lead-user school is almost entirely based on the case-study research methodology. In general, this methodology is applied when no theory is available and the researcher carries out an exploratory study to establish the first cornerstones of a theory that later-on can be tested and validated (Yin, 1994).

Strictly speaking, one can argue that the lead-user school is not really doing case studies. The case-study method attempts to discover (causal) mechanisms and processes that relate different found concepts or empirical phenomena. The case study method is mainly qualitative by nature and holds a process view on the units of analysis under investigation. In the lead-user school cases are innovations that have been developed either by users or by producers. As such, the lead-user school is merely looking at the outcomes of innovation processes and listing who was the main source of the innovation. Its main concern is not to go deep into how these innovations are being developed, but to decide which part of the innovation is developed by users and which part by producers. The descriptions of the user-developed innovations is limited and does not provide an understanding of how specifically these user-centred innovations are being developed.

Furthermore, the difficulty of extending the conclusions of a few cases to other non- researched cases also presents a methodological problem of a temporal nature. That is, the lead-users in one case (i.e., an industry at a certain time) do not necessarily have to be the future lead users in that industry. Lead users might be good predictors of future demand in that industry, but that does not imply that they will also be the right forecasters of the next generation of new products and services in that industry. For instance, because of their special relationship with a new product they might be more locked-in to that product and have many more difficulties to switch to new products than non-lead users might have since they are less (emotionally and functionally) attached to the former new product. So, for companies listening to former lead users in developing new products and services this is certainly not without any risks. And from a research perspective it means that the predictive power of case-studies should be seriously questioned.

Another methodological weakness is that the lead-user school puts lead users and companies within the same research population while they are two different empirical categories. Users are, in principle all the inhabitants of a certain geographical area and surely will outnumber the amount of companies which are institutional constructions. Stating that users innovate more than companies is comparing apples with oranges; especially because the role of the user and the company are so different in the innovation process: you simply cannot consider them as one research population.

3 – Empirical: most radical innovations are of technological origin

When we consider some of the most significant technological developments over the past twenty years such as the World Wide Web (1990); gene therapy (1990); or the Hubble telescope (1990) it seems these were the result of scientific curiosity, unfettered by the demands of the market. So, if users are the predominant source of innovation, the list of the recently most important (radical) innovation should contain many innovations that were based on ideas developed by users.

This study shows that there is a process connected with innovation and that there are different definitions within the academic literature about innovation. Innovation can be considered as being product or process that is new or is existing but has been improved. There are different models regarding the process of in- novation and from these it can be identified that there is a strong link to creativ- ity as part of the innovation process. In looking at the application of innovation in social housing as part of the public sector this study has focused on two aca- demic studies which looked at Housing Associations and Innovation and these identified that innovations can be seen with a typology as new products or ser- vices or improvements on existing products and services. Further research could be undertaken to look at innovation within the social housing sector within the United Kingdom within the twenty-first century.

• Baregheh, A., Rowley, J., & Sambrook, S. (2009). Towards a multidisciplinary definition of innovation. Management Decision, 47, 1323-1339.
• Drucker, P. (2007) Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Elsevier, Butterworth-Heinemann, Burlington, Mass, USA
• Porter, M.E. (1998) Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. Simon and Schuster
• Slater, S.F. and Narver, J.C. (1995) Market orientation and the learning organization. Journal of Marketing, 59(3): 63-74
• Kraaijenbrink, J., Spender, J-C., and Groen, A.J. (2010) The Resource-Based View: A Review and Assessment of its Critiques, Journal of Management, 36 (1): 349-372
• Norman, P (2004). Knowledge acquisition, knowledge loss, and satisfaction in high technology alliances. Journal of Business Research, 57(6), 610–9.
• Shah, S. and Tripsas, M. (2007) ‘The accidental entrepreneur: The emergent & collective process of user entrepreneurship ‘ Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal 1(1): 123-140
• Tietz, R. Morrison, P.D. and Lüthje, C. and Herstatt, C. (2005) “The Process of User-Innovation: A Case Study in a Consumer Goods Setting”, International Journal of Product Development, 2 (4), 321-338
• Verganti, R. (2010) User-CenteredInnovation Is Not Sustainable. Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2010/03/user-centered-innovation-is-no19 March 2010
• Von Hippel, E. (2005) Democratizing innovation: The evolving phenomenon of user innovation MIT Press, Cambridge MA
• Cooke, P. Uranga, M.G. and Etxebarria, G. (1998) Regional systems of innovation: an evolutionary perspective. Environment and Planning A, 30: 1563 –1584
• David, P. and Greenstein, S. (1990) The economics of compatibility standards: An introduction to recent research. Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 1: 3–41.

We have 98 writers available online to start working on your essay just NOW!

Related Topics

Related essays.

By clicking "Send essay" you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

By clicking "Receive essay" you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

We can edit this one and make it plagiarism-free in no time

We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Call to +1 844 889-9952

Information Technology Management

Information technology encompasses the full range of production, distribution, and consumption of information across all media from TV, radio, internet, and satellite. The recent phenomenon in the field of IT is a rapid advancement in the speed and power of computers and the digitization of information. This has led to a convergence of several sectors in the industry to a combination of industries involved in production distribution and consumption activities.

Changes in technologies involving the information and communication systems in the world play a major role in the way issues related to society are developing. Information technology does not only involve hardware and software, it also involves the human being as a major component. The human being has been able to develop systems that have allowed him to find solutions not only involved with the information and communication industry but also social, economic, and political problems. The last decade has witnessed a change from analog to digital systems. There has also been an eruption of interconnectivity between the tools of communication that has led to the formation of a complex information environment.

Mercy Corps (2006) indicates a recent phenomenon of globalization of information technology where he demonstrates it as a flow of information contained in form of radio broadcasts, compact discs, computers, satellite communications, and videotapes among other contents and also as the flows of the systems (hardware) both locally and internationally to produce, distribute and consume information.

The aspect of globalization of IT has yielded both positive and negative fruits most importantly in its role in conflict resolution. Globalization has made the world to be more or less a global village where an issue affecting one society draws attention from all parts of the world. At this point, it would be difficult to precisely determine whether globalization has to lead to technological advancement or vice versa.

The spread of information and communication networks across national borders has enabled people from overseas to contribute to conflict issues affecting a given part of the world. In addition, the advancement in IT has enabled more access to information regarding other countries and the methods of conflict resolution they apply whenever similar conflicts occur. The revolution of the IT industry to the current digital world is projected to play a major role in the promotion of democracy which is the cornerstone of conflict resolution. According to Hattotuwa (2004), the peacebuilding process and conflict resolution can be greatly strengthened if organizations, states, and people, in general, are connected in multi-sectoral and peace-building networks while being provided with accessible knowledge banks. IT has great potential in unifying governments, local authorities, political stakeholders, civil society, and other international institutions to foster a working peacebuilding and conflict resolution. This applies not only to political scenes but also in conflict resolution relating to economic, environmental religious, and other social issues.

The rapid eruption of IT interconnectivity across regional and international boundaries has also enhanced conflict resolution measures where conflicting parties have a chance to learn from best practices from other parts of the world where similar conflict has ever occurred. This has been made possible by the access of information courtesy of the advanced IT systems across the globe.

Knowledge can be described broadly as a form of intangible resource that accounts for an organization’s intellectual asset. Hawamdeh, Stauss and Barachini (2009: p 275). The intangible assets include employees’ competence, internal structure, models, concepts and processes, administrative systems and IT infrastructure, external structure, etc. Knowledge as an asset resides with the workers. However, it can be extracted, utilized or coded, and stored for future use. Knowledge management on the other hand refers to identifying and organizing the intellectual assets of an organization. Knowledge management also includes generating new knowledge, making the information accessible, sharing the best practices which encompass the technology that makes it available. Most organizations have embraced the need to use IT systems in knowledge management. Electronic databases, audio and video recordings, interactive tools, and multimedia presentations have been availed to enable organizations to share and disseminate knowledge. Organizations that require to effectively manage their knowledge as recourse must therefore invest in the most effective IT systems that will be able to handle information as required.

Business problems occur due to aspects related to knowledge and information. Therefore to achieve the goals of investment which include savings, improvement in human performance, and competitive market share, knowledge management is a key consideration (Christensen, 2003, p 7). Knowledge management involves the management of information as well as the management of people. The development of advanced information handling systems has enabled organizations to capture, store, distribute and disseminate knowledge. Similarly, the human resource has who are the custodians of this knowledge are properly managed by improving the knowledge through the use of IT.

As mentioned earlier, knowledge management includes the need to increase knowledge. Currently, organizations are using the vast opportunity offered by IT advancement in tapping resources from other parts of the world. Information technology globalization has enabled organizations to recruit in their workforce the best brains by making online advertisements available to people across regions. Similarly, experienced people have been provided with the opportunity of making online job applications. This has been made easy and cheap through the proper use of IT systems. An organization that is conscious to manage its intellectual capacity can not ignore this opportunity to tap into fresh and energetic human resources through the utilization of the now simplified and cheap online advertisement, application, and recruitment procedures.

Career planning means setting career objectives for the future and taking the steps to reach the desired career. In the world today many aspects have been computerized such that, the knowledge of IT will be an important prerequisite as far as employment and careers are concerned. Many organizations that have embraced information and communication technologies are currently using online recruitment procedures. A professional with IT knowledge can thus utilize the vast career opportunity to search for a job in any organization across the globe that will satisfy his/ her career objectives. A professional with IT knowledge has been rendered free to move from one organization to another unlike in the past where professionals were rather restricted to specific organizations due to lack of information on the existence of other more career fulfilling opportunities; The globalization of IT can now enable professionals with IT knowledge to search for better jobs.

As the world evolves courtesy of innovations and discoveries managers in different organizations are faced with the challenge of integrating individuals into an effective whole and adapting effectively to the external environment to sustain its operations in the market to compete with other players in the market. According to Yeganeh (n.d: p 3), organizational culture entails an objective entity of an organization consisting of behavioral and cognitive characteristics which include the values, assumptions, norms signs of organization members as well as their behaviors. As the world changes in terms of technology and innovations, the cultures of organizations must also change to adapt well to the emerging environments. Despite the well-rooted organization cultures the change in technology renders the managers to constantly seek organizational changes that include not only changing the structures of the organization but also changing the cultures as well.

Due to the rapid changes in the industry courtesy of innovations the decisions by IT managers must constantly take dynamic stands to rhyme well with the current trends in technology especially regarding the IT industry. Innovation is leading to new technology that is rapidly rendering most of the current technologies obsolete or ineffective. IT managers should consider the relationships between new IT initiatives and the way they will interact with organization cultures to successfully address the current problems (Utley, 2001, p. 8). For successful decision-making by IT managers, they must evaluate the attributes of existing organizational cultures to identify those attributes that hinder efforts to successfully implement new IT innovations and abolish them. In addition, the decisions by IT managers should be aimed at establishing an organizational culture that will enable and encourage adopting new technologies to support IT implementation.

Globalization has increased completion in the market where the other producers have gained access to the world market. Organizations aiming at competing at world levels must use management strategies that will favor their survival in the market. The management teams in these organizations are thus charged with the responsibility of exploring new methods of organization, implementation, production, and management of resources to ensure they remain competitive in the market.

In modern economies, IT managers should take advantage of the vast opportunity that is offered by IT in knowledge management. Utilization of this opportunity will enhance employee competency in transferring and using information that is directed towards customer satisfaction. As a management strategy, the IT managers should work together with other managers in implementing an organizational culture that promotes the use of IT designed for knowledge creation, capturing, and storage, and distribution of knowledge. Schein (2004: p 275). However, for effective competition with other players in the market, the organization must adjust some strategies to incorporate new information and communication technologies

The technological advances witnessed currently especially in the IT industry offers the organization an opportunity to have a direct connection with the consumers of their products. It is, therefore, possible for the organization to apply this technology to improve its operations by having views from the consumers.

Globalization aided by information and communication interconnectivity has led to interactions between countries and organizations such that it is easier to access information regarding other organizations readily at a low cost. An organization can therefore learn from the best practices of other companies in the world to apply them in solving of day to day challenges. This also includes the organization outsourcing for the most qualified workforce from outside their regional boundaries through online advertisements and recruitments. This strategy may also prove to be effective where the organization can reach the consumers of its products through overseas online advertisements. This can significantly increase the market share and competitiveness of the organization against other organizations in a similar business.

In any organization, as managers strive to empower their workforce by educating them to acquire the best and relevant skills, they need to focus also on the IT infrastructure in their organizations. The organizations should move to adopt the IT-based organization culture. According to Joia (2003, p. 11), IT has changed the way organizations work therefore if the potential offered by IT is to be utilized to the capacity, the managers and those responsible for the development of the infrastructure must first analyze the organization’s capabilities in adopting the systems and also get fully involved in its development. Join (2003, p. 11) also acknowledges that the long-term competitive advantages of any organization are vested in its capacity to implement the information and communication technologies both internally and externally.

Christensen, p. H. (2003). Knowledge management: perspectives and pitfalls . Copenhagen, Business School Press DK.

Hawamdeh, S. et al. (2009 ). Knowledge management: competences and professionalism . NJ, World Scientific.

Hottotuwa, S. (2004). Untying the Gordian knot: ICT for conflict transformation and peace building . Web.

Joia, L.A. (2003). IT-based management: challenges and solutions . Hershey, Idea Group Inc.

Mercy corps. (2006). Information technology and globalization, Global envision. Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS).

Schein, E.H. (2004). Organization culture and leadership . San Francisco, John Wiley and sons.

Utley, D. R. (2001). Organizational culture and successful information technology implementation. Engineering management journal, 2001 . Web.

Yeganeh, M. E. (n.d). The impact of national and organizational culture on information technology (IT) . Web.

Cite this paper

Select style

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

BusinessEssay. (2022, November 27). Information Technology Management. https://business-essay.com/information-technology-management/

"Information Technology Management." BusinessEssay , 27 Nov. 2022, business-essay.com/information-technology-management/.

BusinessEssay . (2022) 'Information Technology Management'. 27 November.

BusinessEssay . 2022. "Information Technology Management." November 27, 2022. https://business-essay.com/information-technology-management/.

1. BusinessEssay . "Information Technology Management." November 27, 2022. https://business-essay.com/information-technology-management/.

Bibliography

BusinessEssay . "Information Technology Management." November 27, 2022. https://business-essay.com/information-technology-management/.

• “The Ideal Team Player” Book by Patrick Lencioni
• Assessing Past Performance of Security or Assets
• Total Quality Management in the UAE’s Ministry of Finance
• Revenue Management Trends in Hospitality Industry
• Fashion Merchandise Management
• Contemporary Workplace Leadership as an Organizational Change Driver
• Managing Work Priorities and Professional Development
• Maryland Technology Consultants Case Study: Business Analysis and System Recommendation
• The Difference Between Incident Management and Problem Management
• Project Management Body of Knowledge: The Essential Elements of Project Management

Engineering and Technology Management Essay

Introduction, divisions of engineering and technology management, conferences associated with engineering and technology management, reference list.

Engineering and technology management is a form of management that specializes in the application of engineering ideology into business practice. Engineering management aims at integrating the technological principles of solving problems with the organizational planning abilities to manage complex enterprises rather than the fiction way of management. Successful engineering managers require adequate skills as well as experience to better manage and balance business and engineering principles. Generally, incompetent managers lack enough support from the technical team in their field of work. Similarly, managers who lack commercial values do not have significant insightfulness to run organizations. This is the reason why engineering management was introduced to bring together entrepreneurial and technical skills towards improving market delivery.

In most cases, engineering managers perform the duty of managing nonentrepreneurial engineers who need skilled managers to coach and mentor them. However, many engineering professionals who venture into manufacturing industries find themselves in managerial positions from where they should learn management skills through practice (Inside, mines 2011, p. 1). This is not an effective way of developing managerial skills and may cause great losses to the firm especially when the person involved has no motivation towards management. Engineering management has various programs such as economics, human resource management, system engineering, and accounting among others. Engineering and technology management group is aimed at encouraging the coordination of engineering and technology to management technicalities which has divisions for national and international conference participation.

This discipline has several divisions amongst which is the management division which deals with management roles of all levels of the engineering process. This includes management programs especially on applied projects on both national and international levels. Other concerns under this division are technological innovation, employee motivation, managerial communication skills, organization and planning skills, technology assessment, and forecasting. Marketing and product analysis which is very essential in management practice is also emphasized. Technology transfer especially in finance and economic development is also included in the management division. Another very important aspect of the management division is the management of information systems, especially those involving computer applications such as data banks and other programs. Management of small businesses as well education programs also forms part of the management division. Lastly, this division employs the measurement of performance through the use of quality and productivity tools as well as personal growth in the firms.

The other division is that of safety and risk analysis (SERA) which employs the implementation of safety and other related health risk technologies. The main function of this division is to disseminate safety analysis regarding technical engineering. According to this division, safety is the reduction of risks achieved through the successful application of engineering technology by controlling hazards (Inside, mines 2011, p. 1). Under this division, risks are identified by previous experience and are reduced through the application of conservative designs. To promote maximum safety, this division works alongside relevant professionals such as regulatory organizations that promote improved occupational environments through the reduction of risks. The importance of this division is to reduce interruptions in organizations as well as to reduce insurance costs for the business. To execute these duties effectively, the associated work with this division includes researching consumer product safety, safety manufacturing, and transport improvements all to prevent occurrences of liabilities.

The technology and society division concerns the actions that engineers should take to build a better society for today’s generation and the future. This division responds to the impacts that engineering technologies are having on the environment and society at large. It aims at helping engineers build professional networks and promote change in our society. This is achieved by the identification and development of technical information, formulation of policies and public statements as well as creating awareness on social responsibility. This division has objectives that aim at striving to create understanding between engineering technology and the society/environment (NetFORUM. 2011, p. 1). It provides information related to energy which has economic impacts on engineering and society as well. It also focuses on offering professional programs on engineering development and information on protection and management. Most importantly, this division identifies possible ethical issues related to society and formulates ways of solving them.

Engineering and technology management is associated with several conferences which aim at promoting the discipline of engineering in our society. One of the most important conferences is the International Conference on Engineering and Technology Management (ICETM). It aims at incorporating professionals from various aspects of the scientific world including leading engineers, academic scientists, scholar students, and scientific researchers to share their experiences as well as the challenges encountered in different aspects of engineering and technology management (Ourglocal.com 2011, p. 1). Another conference is the International Conference on Engineering Education and Management (ICEM) whose main purpose is to provide high-quality forums for international engineers and other scientists (ResearchBib.com. 2011, p. 1). The third conference is the International Conference on Information Technology, Computer Engineering and Management Science (ICM). It aims at integrating innovative academics as well as experts in information technology and computer and software engineering. Others are the International Conference on Information Technology & Management Issues (ICITMI) and the International Conference on Advances in Civil Engineering – 2011 (ACE – 2011).

Inside,mines. (2011). Engineering and technology management. Web.

NetFORUM. (2011). The American society for engineering management. Web.

Ourglocal.com. (2011). International conference on engineering and technology management. Web.

ResearchBib.com. (2011). International conference on engineering education and management. Web.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, April 3). Engineering and Technology Management. https://ivypanda.com/essays/engineering-and-technology-management/

"Engineering and Technology Management." IvyPanda , 3 Apr. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/engineering-and-technology-management/.

IvyPanda . (2024) 'Engineering and Technology Management'. 3 April.

IvyPanda . 2024. "Engineering and Technology Management." April 3, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/engineering-and-technology-management/.

1. IvyPanda . "Engineering and Technology Management." April 3, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/engineering-and-technology-management/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Engineering and Technology Management." April 3, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/engineering-and-technology-management/.

• Parent-Teacher Conferences and Their Forms
• Parents Conferences Role in Education
• TED Conferences and Their Significance for Society
• Engineering: Technological Discipline
• Regional ‘Reacting to the Past’ Conference
• Software Engineering Online Learning Center
• Business Knowledge Management About Journal Ranking and It Conferences
• Between Discipline and Profession
• Safety Engineering
• Technology and Impact of Engineering Funding
• Artificial Limbs and Organs Future of Application
• Organic-Led Technology Application
• Systems Engineering Advances and Competition
• Analysis of Design Engineering and Its Faults
• The Importance of System Engineering

We use cookies to enhance our website for you. Proceed if you agree to this policy or learn more about it.

• Essay Database >
• Essay Examples >
• Essays Topics >
• Essay on Internet

Free Technology Management Essay Example

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Internet , Company , Security , Traffic , Food , Software , Information , Operating System

Published: 02/25/2020

ORDER PAPER LIKE THIS

Internet security is an important factor that needs to be put into consideration in protecting company information from malicious threats and software. Most computer software threats and malicious programs come from the internet includes information gathering where an organizations network can be discovered profiled the same way other systems have been profiled. After the ports have been identified, a banner will be used in grabbing and enumerating to detect the types of devices hence determine the operating system and application versions. Sniffing is another threat and it involves acts of monitoring network traffic for data that include plaintext passwords and information on configuration (Roman and Lopez, 2009, p. 247). An attacker uses packet sniffer to read plaintext traffic, crack packets that are encrypted through lightweight hashing of algorithms as well as decipher payload that is considered to be safe. There are various strategies that can be used to counter threats relates to system networks, for instance, the issue of information gathering will require configuration of the routers which will assist in restricting responses to footprint requests. Strong physical security together with proper network segmentation prevents the problem of sniffing or traffic from being collected at a local level (Supriyanto et al, 2013, p. 65). When dealing with host threats, there are several measures that can be put in place which include ensuring the systems are current with the latest operating system service packs and software patches, ensure all necessary ports are blocked both at the firewall and the host, un used functionalities should be disabled and this will include protocols and services, and ensure weak, default configurations are hardened. Arbitrary code execution can be prevented by locking down the systems commands and utilities using restricted ACLs and ensuring the entire company systems stay current with updates and patches so that buffers that are newly discovered will be speedily patched.

Roman, R., & Lopez, J. (2009). Integrating wireless sensor networks and the internet: A security analysis. Internet Research, 19(2), 246-259. Supriyanto, Hasbullah, I., Murugesan, R., & Ramadass, S. (2013). Survey of internet protocol version 6 link local communication security vulnerability and mitigation methods. IETE Technical Review, 30(1), 64-71.

Cite this page

Share with friends using:

Removal Request

Finished papers: 1407

This paper is created by writer with

ID 280586379

If you want your paper to be:

Well-researched, fact-checked, and accurate

Original, fresh, based on current data

Eloquently written and immaculately formatted

275 words = 1 page double-spaced

Get your papers done by pros!

Other Pages

A destructive symbiosis overpopulation and poverty in brazil research paper, example of book notes essay, albrecht discount research paper example, free critical thinking on globalization and its impact on individual and communal identity, family and culture movie review sample, chocolate can be good for your health outline research paper example, example of essay on responce, car driving simulator report examples, example of comparing qualitative designs research paper, example of essay on california politics, employment society essay examples, hamlet and the glass menagerie in context essay, risk assessment of the national electronic disease surveillance system of the center case study sample, essay on social networking site, free essay on special opportunities to excel sox, contemporary cultural diversity issues research paper, free essay on long term care hospital reimbursement case study, research paper on unicef tap project, buddhist deity essay, free regeneration of nerve fibers essay sample, good example of thesis proposal on women in leadership positions in private organizations, essay on transformational leadership, sample research paper on the christology debate, photoshop reports, chemical reaction reports, ego reports, baboons college essays, binaries college essays, accommodates college essays, condemns college essays, dwelt college essays, annas college essays, green revolution essays, scuba essays, scurry essays, transmigration essays, destitution essays, imprint essays, peonage essays, conv essays, dripped essays, antitheses essays.

Password recovery email has been sent to [email protected]

Use your new password to log in

You are not register!

By clicking Register, you agree to our Terms of Service and that you have read our Privacy Policy .

Now you can download documents directly to your device!

Check your email! An email with your password has already been sent to you! Now you can download documents directly to your device.

or Use the QR code to Save this Paper to Your Phone

The sample is NOT original!

Short on a deadline?

Don't waste time. Get help with 11% off using code - GETWOWED

No, thanks! I'm fine with missing my deadline

• MyU : For Students, Faculty, and Staff

Fall 2024 CSCI Special Topics Courses

Cloud computing.

Meeting Time: 09:45 AM‑11:00 AM TTh  Instructor: Ali Anwar Course Description: Cloud computing serves many large-scale applications ranging from search engines like Google to social networking websites like Facebook to online stores like Amazon. More recently, cloud computing has emerged as an essential technology to enable emerging fields such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and Machine Learning. The exponential growth of data availability and demands for security and speed has made the cloud computing paradigm necessary for reliable, financially economical, and scalable computation. The dynamicity and flexibility of Cloud computing have opened up many new forms of deploying applications on infrastructure that cloud service providers offer, such as renting of computation resources and serverless computing.    This course will cover the fundamentals of cloud services management and cloud software development, including but not limited to design patterns, application programming interfaces, and underlying middleware technologies. More specifically, we will cover the topics of cloud computing service models, data centers resource management, task scheduling, resource virtualization, SLAs, cloud security, software defined networks and storage, cloud storage, and programming models. We will also discuss data center design and management strategies, which enable the economic and technological benefits of cloud computing. Lastly, we will study cloud storage concepts like data distribution, durability, consistency, and redundancy. Registration Prerequisites: CS upper div, CompE upper div., EE upper div., EE grad, ITI upper div., Univ. honors student, or dept. permission; no cr for grads in CSci. Complete the following Google form to request a permission number from the instructor ( https://forms.gle/6BvbUwEkBK41tPJ17 ).

CSCI 5980/8980 

Machine learning for healthcare: concepts and applications.

Meeting Time: 11:15 AM‑12:30 PM TTh  Instructor: Yogatheesan Varatharajah Course Description: Machine Learning is transforming healthcare. This course will introduce students to a range of healthcare problems that can be tackled using machine learning, different health data modalities, relevant machine learning paradigms, and the unique challenges presented by healthcare applications. Applications we will cover include risk stratification, disease progression modeling, precision medicine, diagnosis, prognosis, subtype discovery, and improving clinical workflows. We will also cover research topics such as explainability, causality, trust, robustness, and fairness.

Registration Prerequisites: CSCI 5521 or equivalent. Complete the following Google form to request a permission number from the instructor ( https://forms.gle/z8X9pVZfCWMpQQ6o6  ).

Visualization with AI

Meeting Time: 04:00 PM‑05:15 PM TTh  Instructor: Qianwen Wang Course Description: This course aims to investigate how visualization techniques and AI technologies work together to enhance understanding, insights, or outcomes.

This is a seminar style course consisting of lectures, paper presentation, and interactive discussion of the selected papers. Students will also work on a group project where they propose a research idea, survey related studies, and present initial results.

This course will cover the application of visualization to better understand AI models and data, and the use of AI to improve visualization processes. Readings for the course cover papers from the top venues of AI, Visualization, and HCI, topics including AI explainability, reliability, and Human-AI collaboration.    This course is designed for PhD students, Masters students, and advanced undergraduates who want to dig into research.

Registration Prerequisites: Complete the following Google form to request a permission number from the instructor ( https://forms.gle/YTF5EZFUbQRJhHBYA  ). Although the class is primarily intended for PhD students, motivated juniors/seniors and MS students who are interested in this topic are welcome to apply, ensuring they detail their qualifications for the course.

Visualizations for Intelligent AR Systems

Meeting Time: 04:00 PM‑05:15 PM MW  Instructor: Zhu-Tian Chen Course Description: This course aims to explore the role of Data Visualization as a pivotal interface for enhancing human-data and human-AI interactions within Augmented Reality (AR) systems, thereby transforming a broad spectrum of activities in both professional and daily contexts. Structured as a seminar, the course consists of two main components: the theoretical and conceptual foundations delivered through lectures, paper readings, and discussions; and the hands-on experience gained through small assignments and group projects. This class is designed to be highly interactive, and AR devices will be provided to facilitate hands-on learning.    Participants will have the opportunity to experience AR systems, develop cutting-edge AR interfaces, explore AI integration, and apply human-centric design principles. The course is designed to advance students' technical skills in AR and AI, as well as their understanding of how these technologies can be leveraged to enrich human experiences across various domains. Students will be encouraged to create innovative projects with the potential for submission to research conferences.

Registration Prerequisites: Complete the following Google form to request a permission number from the instructor ( https://forms.gle/Y81FGaJivoqMQYtq5 ). Students are expected to have a solid foundation in either data visualization, computer graphics, computer vision, or HCI. Having expertise in all would be perfect! However, a robust interest and eagerness to delve into these subjects can be equally valuable, even though it means you need to learn some basic concepts independently.

Sustainable Computing: A Systems View

Meeting Time: 09:45 AM‑11:00 AM  Instructor: Abhishek Chandra Course Description: In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the pervasiveness, scale, and distribution of computing infrastructure: ranging from cloud, HPC systems, and data centers to edge computing and pervasive computing in the form of micro-data centers, mobile phones, sensors, and IoT devices embedded in the environment around us. The growing amount of computing, storage, and networking demand leads to increased energy usage, carbon emissions, and natural resource consumption. To reduce their environmental impact, there is a growing need to make computing systems sustainable. In this course, we will examine sustainable computing from a systems perspective. We will examine a number of questions:   • How can we design and build sustainable computing systems?   • How can we manage resources efficiently?   • What system software and algorithms can reduce computational needs?    Topics of interest would include:   • Sustainable system design and architectures   • Sustainability-aware systems software and management   • Sustainability in large-scale distributed computing (clouds, data centers, HPC)   • Sustainability in dispersed computing (edge, mobile computing, sensors/IoT)

Registration Prerequisites: This course is targeted towards students with a strong interest in computer systems (Operating Systems, Distributed Systems, Networking, Databases, etc.). Background in Operating Systems (Equivalent of CSCI 5103) and basic understanding of Computer Networking (Equivalent of CSCI 4211) is required.

• Future undergraduate students
• Future transfer students
• Future graduate students
• Future international students
• Diversity and Inclusion Opportunities
• Learn abroad
• Living Learning Communities
• Mentor programs
• Programs for women
• Student groups
• Visit, Apply & Next Steps
• Information for current students
• Departments and majors overview
• Departments
• Undergraduate majors
• Graduate programs
• Integrated Degree Programs
• Additional degree-granting programs
• Online learning
• Academic Advising overview
• Academic Advising FAQ
• Academic Advising Blog
• Appointments and drop-ins
• Academic support
• Commencement
• Four-year plans
• Honors advising
• Policies, procedures, and forms
• Career Services overview
• Resumes and cover letters
• Jobs and internships
• Interviews and job offers
• CSE Career Fair
• Major and career exploration
• Graduate school
• Collegiate Life overview
• Scholarships
• Diversity & Inclusivity Alliance
• Anderson Student Innovation Labs
• Information for alumni
• Get engaged with CSE
• Upcoming events
• CSE Alumni Society Board
• Alumni volunteer interest form
• Golden Medallion Society Reunion
• 50-Year Reunion
• Alumni honors and awards
• Outstanding Achievement
• Alumni Service
• Distinguished Leadership
• Honorary Doctorate Degrees
• Nobel Laureates
• Alumni resources
• Alumni career resources
• Alumni news outlets
• CSE branded clothing
• International alumni resources
• Inventing Tomorrow magazine
• Update your info
• CSE giving overview
• Why give to CSE?
• College priorities
• Give online now
• External relations
• Giving priorities
• Donor stories
• Impact of giving
• Ways to give to CSE
• Matching gifts
• CSE directories
• Invest in your company and the future
• Recruit our students
• Connect with researchers
• K-12 initiatives
• Diversity initiatives
• Research news
• Give to CSE
• CSE priorities
• Corporate relations
• Information for faculty and staff
• Administrative offices overview
• Office of the Dean
• Academic affairs
• Finance and Operations
• Communications
• Human resources
• Undergraduate programs and student services
• CSE Committees
• CSE policies overview
• Academic policies
• Faculty hiring and tenure policies
• Finance policies and information
• Graduate education policies
• Human resources policies
• Research policies
• Research overview
• Research centers and facilities
• Research proposal submission process
• Research safety
• Award-winning CSE faculty
• National academies
• University awards
• Honorary professorships
• Collegiate awards
• Other CSE honors and awards
• Staff awards
• Performance Management Process
• Work. With Flexibility in CSE
• K-12 outreach overview
• Summer camps
• Outreach events
• Enrichment programs
• Field trips and tours
• CSE K-12 Virtual Classroom Resources
• Educator development
• Sponsor an event