ORGANIZATIONAL PEtEPAREDNOSS
AKHILESH K.B.
AND
MQIAN T.R.
W O W INSTITUTE Qp
SCIENCE6 BANGALORE
Abstract
process,
exploratory
qualitative
methods a r e t h e b e s t way t o a r r i v e a t a
comprehensive view o f t h e t e c h n o l o g i c a l
change process a t f i r m l e v e l .
This
article,
based on several case s t u d i e s
and a n a l y s i s o f over 200 f i r m s , presents
what
organizational
mechanisms
f o s t e r / i n h i b i t t h e t e c h n o l o g i c a l change
process a t v a r i o u s stages - adoption,
adaptation and innovation.
Effective
technology
management
depends mostly on t h e emphasis l a i d by
the o r g a n i z a t i o n on l e a r n i n g a t a l l
l e v e l s . This paper based on several c.ase
s t u d i e s and e m p i r i c a l a n a l y s i s o f over
2GG
organizations
describes
the
organizational
issues
involved
in
successful t e c h n o l o g i c a l t r a n s f o r m a t i o n .
Flexibility,
planning,
emphasis , on
t r a i n i n g and development and
unique
experiments
such
as
gang-planks
(gatekeepers) f a c i l i t a t e
technological
innov'at ion.
Dominant F a c t o r s
The case a n a l y s i s and
empirical
ananlysis o f the organizations o f f e r e d
quite interesting insights i n t o
th4
dynamics o f t e c h n o l o g i c a l t r a n s f o r m a t i o n
in I n d i a n manufacturing f i r m s . The most
important
factors
influencing
the
t e c h n o l o g i c a i t r a n s f o r m a t i o n process i n
Indian
manufacturing
organizations
werepl anni ng , t o p management support,
donor
characteristics,
training
and
development, vendor management, n a t i o n a l
p l a n p r i o r i t i e s , and u n i v e r s i t y - i n d u s t r y
linkages.
F o l l o w i n g paragraphs p r o v i d e
a
d e s c r i p t i v e account
of
critical
elements.
I.I n t r o d u c t i o n
Technological
change i n
capita?
sector has been recognised as
the
most
powerful
and
important
instrument t o b r i n g about
r a p i d and
extensilve economic growth i!
fi].This
sector
employing both
both
market
and
non-market
i informal i
(formal )
information
promotes
capital-saving
t e c h n i c a l changes which have cascading
e f f e c t s , on t h e economy [ 2 ] .
Previous
s t u d i e s o f t e c h n o l o g i c a l change have
d e a l t w i t h industry l e v e i variables f o r
a n a l y s i g [3,5,71. These s t u d i e s assume
d i f f r e n c e s among f i r m s t o be t r a n s i t o r y
o r unimportant unless based on economic
o f scale.
However,
recent
research
contends
that
f i rm-market
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s p l a y a dominant r o l e i n
t h e t e c h n o l o g i c a l change i n t h e s e c t o r
[3,4,8].
Recently t h e focus o f a n a l y s i s
has
shifted
to
investigate
what
mechanisms f o s t e r i i n h i b i t t h e process.
goods
~
The
management o f
technological
t r a n s f o r m a t i o n depends upon
rational
decision-making behavior. The d e c i s i o n s
made a t t h e technology s e l e c t i o n has
cascading e f f e c t on t h e t e c h n o l o g i c a l
e f f o r t s a f i r m undertakes.
ApDropriate
selection
mechanisms
1ike
formal
s t r u c t u r e s represented from d i f f e r e n t
f u n c t i o n s can e f f e c t i v e l y search and
scan f o r any t e c h n o l o g i c a l o p p o r t u n i t i e s
and t h r e a t s .
involvement o f S 8 T
personnel i n t h e technology s e l e c t i o n
n o t o n l y i n f l u e n c e d e a r i y adoption b u t
a l s o a more r a t i o n a l technology content
selection.
The f i r m s thus b e n e f i t from
paying f o r t h e r i g h t mode o f technology
t r a n s f e r when formal groups i n c l u s i v e o f
S & T personnel s e l e c t a technology f o r
absorption
and
development.
Hence,
Previous s t u d i e s have focused
on
c e r t a i n aspects o f t h e transformation
process. K i m and associates C5,6,7j
on
t h e b a s i s o f t h e i r a n a l y s i s o f Korean
f i rms
observe,
that
management
c a p a b i l i t y and technology p o l i c y o f a
f i r m are .important f o r i t s long term
development.
I n view o f t h e fragmentary
knowledge about %he dynamics o f t h e
143
ORGANIZATIONAL
PREPAREDNESS
INSTITUTE OF RURAL
MANAGEI4ENT, ANIJLEID
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF
SCIENCE, BiiNGALORE
setting up of formal structures
monitor,
select
technoiogies
important.
to
is
Adcption was dominated, especially
during the early stages, by technical
o r engineering considerations.
Human
aspects
and
implications are
not
eiplicitly considered, or only in so
far as certain effects might be seen
here as a result of the decision
to
upon,
invest i n new technology, based
financial , idministrative. sr technical
project.ions. The only explicit way the
amployee
issues
formed part of the
early adoption i.e., selection was in
financial or economic terms, that is to
cost
say, in t.erms of labour as a
9f
producticn.
More
strictly
qualitative issues and implications of
t.he technology, such as j o b design and
rroi-hing practices,
were
typically
tgnored or
not considered
at
a11
until the later stages of the adoption
process
ior early stages of
the
adaptation process) and the selection
was
total 7 y i n a sense tecknol ogi cal
deterministic way. The
t.echnologica1
.determinism was
largely
jnfluenced
when the committee had a engineering
personnel
involved in the selection
af
the process.
The
staff
and
emplcyee involvement.per se was large?y
superficial
throughout the selection
process.
In the later stages
of
adoption
industrial engineering, and
training specialists carved into the
process
of
adopti an
establ i shi ng
production and normalizing the structure
of
the
firm.
Thus,
technology
se:ection i s technology-detereministic.
The
success
of
technological
is
transformation process in a firm
dependent
upon. productive structure
which
allow
for a
more effect.ive
expl.oit.ation
of
the
resources.
Development and sustenance of mechanisms
fostering effective
utilization
of
resources',
such as quality circles,
kink groups, Value engineering groups
fosters successful learning effects.
The effectiveness of technological
transformation prccess depends
upon
exploiting the complementarities between
research and the production activit.ies.
The
effectiveness
depends
upon
integrative
efforts and
structural
differentiations with in the
firm.
Hence, the development of mechanisms t.0
integrate techno?ogy efforts with other
funttions, i s necessary to rat'ona7ise
both resource allocat.ion and utilization.
Continuous professional
technical
and
managerial
trai r,i ng
and
development enbanci ng
orqani iati oial
skills were found to be hallmarks o f
innovative firms. Emphasis on effective
HRD
practices
foster
creative
organizationa!
climate
triggeriqg
inventive ideas. Hence there 1 % a ne&
to promote HRG Dractices to deveicp and
exploit the potential of employees as a
means to ensure creative climnte.
Adaptation, unlihe-adoption,did riot
usually
invoive formal systems and
budgetary
allocations. Th6
adaptive
efforts were found t.o be significantly
related to the effectiveness
of
tne
Most
firms
differentiated units.
adopted a as and wtieii require.? strat.egj
for adaotive efforts.
The
adaptive
efforts were carried out by the R ?* i;
and
production personnel mostly
as
corrective
and improvement irieasur'~~
i.e., process adaptations and tc
;
i
The
linkages between
industry,
university whether formal or informal
prove to be of great importance in the
industrial
research system.
These
linkages are generally informal, most of
the time person to person contact which
can be developed at no additional cost.
The firms need to resort to promotion of
internal mechanisms to encourage formal
or
informal
links with
external
technology sources'.
2
144
ORGANIZATIONAL
INDIHN INSTITUTE.OP
ACIWCE,
BANGALORE
PREPAREDNESS
INSTITUTE OF A h A L
ANAND
MANAGPlENT,
{ e s s e r e x t e n t i n product. The product
a d a p t a t i m s were found i n f i r m s w i t h
hign
importations
or
when
scale
v a r i a t i o n s were r e q u i r e d o r the improved
product
parameters
incorporated
to
combat and achieve a ' n i c h e ' .
Hence, i n
I n d i a n manufactuting f i r m s ,
adaptation
e f f o r t s are d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n a c t i v i t i e s .
considerable
influence
over
the
technological
activities
bf
the
firm.
The
repeated
technological
agreements were found t o be
common,
many
a time f o r a s c a l e v a r i a n t ,
in
ventures wherein t h e s e l l e r f i r m had
r e p r e s e n t a t i o n on t h e board.
It
was
found,
t o a l i m i t e d extent, t h a t there
were
conscientious e f f o r t s from
the
representatives o f the
collaborating
f i r m discouraging backward engineering
and experimentation f e a r i n g swaying away
Thus,
suppl ie r
from
dependency.
dominance
has long-term
impact
on
t e c h n o l o g i c a l tranformation,
On
questions
of
adaptation,
involvement o f employees and s t a f f
by
p r o v i d i n g encouragement f o r a l t e r n a t e
designs
and
material/manufacturing
forms was imperative.
The acceptance
o f f a i l u r e s i n experimentation and t h e
?.OF management's r e a l i z a t i o n o f
longterm
b e n e f i t s were found necessary t o
trigger
off
product
adaptations.
Support for ' st-reet smartness' by shop?Toor s t a f f
and
an
emphasis
on
qual it y
engineer ing
was
found
to
be i n f l u e n c i n g
process
adaptations.
The
personnel
functions
such
as
training,
team-buildicg
exercises
were
found
in
process
adaptive
firms.
The
existence
of
employee
suggestion
and reward systems
were
seen as t h e e f f e c t i v e v e h i c l e s s p u r r i n g
emplcyee involvement and r e s p o n s i b i l i t y
i n successful process adapters.
Thus,
importantly,
top-mamagetvent, support i s
c r u c i a l f o r successful t r a n s f o r m a t i o n .
The product focused manufacturing
s t r a t e g y w i t h general purpose machines
provided the f i r m s t h e p l a n t f l e x i b i l i t y
r e q u i r e d t o meet variances i n customer
demand. Customer focused manufacturing
coupled w i t h m u l t i - s k i l l e d
workforce
helps t h e f i r m i n attempting product
variants
or addition
of
features.
Hence, i m p o r t a n t l y focused manufacturing
f o s t e r s e f f e c t i v e product management.
Lack: o f a
long-term
leadership
influences
t h e emergence o f
profit
maximization c u l t u r e which may i n h i b i t
innovative
efforts.
Indiscriminate
t r a n s f e r and lack o f managerial s k i l l s
seem t o be a f f e c t i n g t r u n c a t i o n
of
technological transformation i n p u b l i c
firms.
Continuous focused leadership
i n f l u e n c e s t h e t e c h n o l o g i c a l transformat i o n process.
The s u p p l i e r who c o u l d access t h e
control
of
f ir m
through
the
collaboration
contentcan
largely
i n f l u e n c e t h e technology adoption and
development.
The e a r l y adoption
was
smoothly
operated i n v o l v i n g hands on
training
o f personnel a t t h e mother
plant,
tips
in
selection
and
c o n f i g u r a t i o n o f machines and on s i t e
t r a i n i n g by s k i l l e d t e c h n i c i a n s
flown
from
, the collaborator
firm.
The
transfer o f R &
D in'formation,
a
clause i n t h e i r agreement,
was found
n o t t o be honored by many c o l l a b o r a tors.
Another i n t e r e s t i n g p o i n t
which
needs more r i g o r o u s a n a l y s i s was t h a t
ventures
i n which t h e c o l l a b o r a t i o n
was
financial,
the
seller
had
F a i l u r e t o recognise vendors
as
nodes
of
product
improvement
and
i n n o v a t i o n seem t o have an impact
on
t h e technological transformation o f the
firm.
E f f e c t i v e management o f vendors
and i n s t i t u t e s o f l e a r n i n g p r o v i d e t h e
f irms
capabi 1i t i e s
to
exploit
technological opportunities.
Linkages
influences
successful
technological
t r a n s f o r m a t i o n process.
3
145
ORGANIZATIONAL PREPAREUNESS
INSTITUTE OF RUiiAL
ANAND
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF
MANAGEMENT,
SCIPJCE, BANGALORE
Conclusions
8.
Effective
technology
management
depends mostly on how much emphasis t h e
organization
places
on
technology
development.
The r o l e o f f l e x i b i l i t y ,
top
management
support,
interd i s c i p l i n a r y teams are q u i n t e s s e n t i a l
f o r technology t r a n s f o r m a t i o n a t f i r m
level.
-
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