Principles of Technology

Management – (FUS-CC-623)

Department of Futures Studies

University of Kerala
 STRATEGIC, OPERATIONAL AND
MANAGEMENT ISSUES
• The underlying elements of any organization include ,
• Its Purpose or Purposes, Its Vision,
• Its Objectives, Its Strategies,
• Its Operations (doing the work to achieve its purposes,
vision, and objectives) and
• Its Management of the process from purposes to customer
satisfaction.
• A view of MOT from the perspective of Strategy,
Operations and Management shows, the extent to which
MOT in reality is congruent with managing the
enterprise.
Strategic Issues
• The strategic issues of MOT require greater attention by managers involved in developing business unit
strategy.
• Consider the following strategic issues:
 Understanding the scope of managing technology
 Managing technology-different levels
 Technology managers-who manages technology?
 Adding value with technology
 Developing a technology policy
 Bridging the gap between technology policy and results
 Precursors to technology strategy
 Including technology in business strategy
 Rationalizing strategy and operations
 Managing the decision-making processes
 Systems thinking-the imperative
 Negative impact of single-issue management
 The role of technology in achieving competitive advantage
 Managing technology in a dynamic environment
Strategic Issues – Sub Elements
Strategic Issues(Contd...)
• The degree to which each item in Fig affects performance will
depend on the Organization's purpose(s), Industry linkage, and
Current Competitive Position and the Activities required to
attain the Objectives.
• One point is certain-technology cannot be ignored and cannot
be given short shrift.
• That strategy begins with an understanding of the Basics of
MOT and the Role of technology in the business enterprise.
• This list of strategic issues may be considered too extensive
and too difficult to consider or implement, you also must make
a decision as to which elements are not important.
Operational Issues
• The Operational Issues of MOT present a similar vast array of
topics that must be defined in the context of the business.
• It is even more extensive than the List of Strategic Issues.
• Figure shows the major operational issues randomly with
many subcategories but without attempting to prioritize their
importance.
• The relative importance or priority of the topics depends on
the particular business problem and opportunity.
Operational Issues-Part I
Part1 Part1 ( Cont..)
Operational Issues-Part II
Part2
Part2 (Contd..)
Management Issues
• The Management Issues include the fundamentals associated with managing any
organization.
• The Following List provides some Broad Categories:
 People related
 Developing Competent Personnel
 Overcoming Objections and Resistance to change
 Competencies and Capabilities
 Productivity and Performance
 Specialization and Segmentation
 Providing a Balanced Environment
 Educating the Organization
 Focussing the Organization
 Integrating Business Functions
 Achieving gains from Technology Management
 Facing Realities
Management Issues(Contd..)
• Too often managers at all levels fail to consider these
issues in Formal or at least conscious manner.
• For an Example : “Identifying the Required
Knowledge” for a particular project cannot be
ignored.
• Yet too often, assumptions are made about the
required knowledge that are inconsistent with the
requirements.
• As a Result, Wrong people are assigned.
Conclusion
• Now consider linking these operational issues with the strategic issues and
subsequently with the management issues.
• What results is a continuum from strategic to operational to management,
to strategic or operational, and so on in a continuous feedback loop.
• A change in one requires a change in the other.
• You may argue that strategy is a management issue.
• It may have been at one time, but people at low levels in the organization
make strategic technology decisions.
• A relatively young engineer can make some major technology strategic
decisions in the product or process development area.
• A young marketing or sales representative may provide creative input for
future market development, new-product requirements, or needs of
customers.
CLASSIFICATION OF TECHNOLOGIES
• Managing technologies requires some delineation of the technologies into categories.
• There are no agreed-on approaches for classification.
• Technologies can be classified according to any of the following categories:
 State-of-the-art-technologies: Those technologies that equal or surpass the competitors
 Proprietary technologies: Those technologies protected by patents or secrecy agreements that provide a
measurable competitive advantage
 Known technologies: Those technologies that may be common to many organizations but are used in
unique ways
 Core technologies: Those technologies that are essential to maintain a competitive position
 Leveraging technologies: Those technologies that support several products, product ,lines, or classes of
products
 Supporting technologies: Technologies that support the core technologies
 Pacing technologies: Technologies whose rate of development controls the rate of product or process
development
 Emerging technologies: Technologies that are currently under consideration for future products or
processes
 Scouting technologies: Formal tracking of potential product and process technologies for future study or
application
 Idealized unknown basic technologies: Technologies that, if available, would provide a significant benefit
in some aspect of life
Contd....
• It is not important that an organization use this classification.
• It is important, however , to develop some format for classifying technologies in a
manner that is meaningful to the specific organization.
• Management seldom faces up to the realities of technology classification.
• Too often technologies used by competitors are considered as proprietary,
• The list of supporting technologies is limited because they are known,
• Every technology seems to be a leveraging one, the list is too long, the list is too
short and so on.
• In reality, most organizations depend totally on known technologies and may only
be combining them in creative ways.
• Some realism must be applied to this classification process.
• Every technology is not a proprietary technology.
• Every technology is not a core technology.
• Many commonly known technologies are not leveraging technologies.
• This classification of technologies must be rationalized in some way.
Contd....
• As an example, is there a proper ratio for these technologies: State-of-the-
art,Proprietary,Known,Core,Leveraging,Supporting,Pacing,Emerging,Scouting
• There is some ratio of these technology classes which determines where organizations invest their
resources.
• Those percentages will vary significantly not only within organizations but also within organizations
in the same industry.
• The purpose for identifying these classes is to recognize where those resources are being applied.
For example,
• Some resources must be applied to Scouting new technologies, but a relatively Small %.
• Yet many organizations fail to recognize the need to allocate some resources to this class.
• The classification allows putting technologies into perspective. While the core technologies may be
considered the most important, the other classes cannot be ignored.
• Competence in supporting technologies may be just as important as the core technologies.
• Work on emerging technologies must be planned on the basis of business unit strategy.
• Scouting technologies that flow into the emerging technologies and then into other categories
represent future technological opportunities.
• The future demands consideration of the long-term technology needs.
• Technology classification can also be viewed from the perspective of proprietary technology that
provides competitive advantage and state-of-the-art technology which may be available to
competitors
Contd....
• Technology classification will also be modified by
the Type of product or process under consideration.
• As an example, new products and processes can be
classified as
 "Me, too" products or processes
 Minor product or process improvement
 Major product or process improvement
 New-to-the-market products or processes
 Breakthrough products or processes
Contd....
• Of course, each organization must describe just exactly what terms such as
"me, too," "minor," "major," "new to the market," and
breakthrough" really mean.
• It is difficult for organizations to acknowledge that their products fall into
the me, too category.
• There are no generalized rules that describe the relation between types of
technologies and their application to different types of products or
processes.
• At one end of the technology continuum, a breakthrough product or
process could involve State-of-the art or Proprietary technologies.
• But a similar breakthrough product or process could involve Known
technologies but combined in a unique way.