Management of Technology

The term "management of technology" is so overused that I have serious reservations about using it here. In teaching about technology , I prefer to focus on the interaction between technology and management. Thus it includes a wide range of increasingly common situations:

Examples of MOT

Managers manage the creation of technological innovations and new products - e.g., managing R and D, managing new product development
Managers manage the adoption and use of new technologies - e.g., managing the adoption of information technology, making large process technology changes, managing MIS implementation projects
Managers manage people who are being confronted by new technology - e.g., change and conflict management in reengineered and downsized companies
Managers use new technology to solve current business problems - e.g., using innovative products or process to decrease dependence on traditional suppliers, using EDI and similar new technologies to forge new types of business arrangements with suppliers and customers, using the Internet to create new customer relationships
Managers use their business skills to solve technological problems - e.g., using negotiation skills to set up strategic technology alliances, building reward systems that motivate technologically sophisticated employees

Breaking MOT Down for Students

With so many different facets of MOT to consider, the challenge is for universities and companies to decide which aspect they will try to cover in their curriculum. In order to break the problem down into manageable components, I use three typologies to describe what I believe are the most coherent and internally consistent packages of MOT information.

The MOT Challenge Typology

This typology suggests that MOT can be divided into four generic challenges. These are defined by the speed of technological advance and whether the dominant issue is creating or using the technology.

The MOT Response Skills Typology

The differing nature of the challenges in the challenge typology argues that for the position that graduates need different "baskets" of skills if they are to be productive in meeting the different challenges.

MOT Curriculum Opportunities Typology

From the challenges and the requirements, this typology identifies six possible packagings of business school preparation. I have added the additional category of entrepreneurship because it tends to change the magnitude and scope of the challenge. The four quadrant model at the top is appropriate for medium to large, established companies. However, the situation with very small companies is different enough to justify its own approach. In addition, small, startup companies are under so much stress that most changes look as if they are happening too fast.

Curriculum Design

With this analysis as a guide, I have tried to formulate my course content so that it focuses on the area shown above. If you click on the MN673 oval, it will take you to the syllabus for that course.

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