Technology Management

Unit 14

Unit 14

Human Aspects in Technology Management

Structure: 14.1 Introduction Objectives 14.2 Integration of People and Technology 14.3 Factors Considered in Technology Management Organisational factors Psychological factors 14.4 Organisational Structure and Technology 14.5 Summary 14.6 Glossary 14.7 Terminal Questions 14.8 Answers 14.9 Case Study

14.1 Introduction
In the previous unit, we studied about the knowledge based technologies, the role of artificial intelligence techniques, and knowledge management. In this unit we will study about integration of people and technology, wherein we will study the relationship between people and technology. We will also discuss about some factors considered in technology management, wherein we will discuss about some organisational and some psychological factors. We will also see how an organisational structure affects technology management or you can say how an organisational structure is related to technology management. This unit will enable us to understand the relation of people and technology. Objectives: After studying this unit, you should be able to: Explain integration of people and technology. Describe factors affecting technology management, organisational factors and psychological factors. Explain organisational structure.

including

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14.2 Integration of People and Technology

Let us start our discussion with the relation between people and technology, that is, integration of people and technology. We all are familiar with the term technology. We also know that technology is playing an important role in all the spheres of our lives. There is a close relation between us and the technology. It is us who apply knowledge to create goods, offer services, and improve our duties of precious and finite resources. The use of technology depends on us, that is, whether we use the technology constructively or destructively. The technology management is an interdisciplinary field that brings together science, engineering, and management knowledge and practice as shown in figure 14.1.

Figure 14.1: Representation of Interdisciplinary Technology Management

In our daily lives, technology has become very common and important. We do not even see it often. Thus people have become less interested in knowing the technology or not even ready to look below the surface of technology. All the modern technologies are designed in such a way that we do not have to acquaint ourselves with their working in order to operate them. Centuries ago, horse drawn wagon was a family vehicle, which was simple and straightforward enough that anyone who saw it could easily understand how it worked. The present family vehicle, that is, the car, is so complicated
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that its parts can only be analysed and serviced with the support of diagnostic equipments that are computer-operated, and other specialised devices. Because of this complicated understanding, most of us do not even try to understand the working of the technology. More specialisation of society has taken place because of the complexity of technologies. As a result of this, all of us know more about fewer things. People turn into plumbers, electricians, appliance repairmen, cable TV installers, telephone workers, and other specialists. They provide service or repair our technical devices, because we do not have enough time to learn everything we need to know, to take care of them. A doctor or a professor or an engineer or a bus driver, all of us have some specialised knowledge, but even we tend to learn only as much about technology as we need, to do our jobs, and may be to maintain a reduced level of technical skill in our personal lives. There has been a drastic shifting of the population from rural to urban areas and sub-urban areas, gradually people have become less technologically self-sufficient. Increase in the computerisation and automation at the workplace have made it possible for less workers to manage more machines, thus reducing the number of people who work with machines, in actual. The tools and other tangible objects existing in our environment are not just the objects we work with and upon, because they have meaning for us, including emotional importance. We respond intellectually and emotionally to the meaning physical objects such as cars, clothes, mobile phones, hills, mountains, and others, have for us. For example, car is a tangible object, that is, a social object, which has a generalised tendency (that could take the form of respecting those who own big cars), to act which is common to a number of people. Self Assessment Questions 1. The technology management is an interdisciplinary field that brings together ________, _________, _________, and _________. 2. All the modern technologies are designed in such a way that we have to acquaint ourselves with their working in order to operate them. (True/False)? 3. More specialisation of society has taken place because of the _______.
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Activity 1: Consider yourself as a manager of an organisation. List out the points what according to you are appropriate which link the workers and available technology, at your organisation.

14.3 Factors Considered in Technology Management

In the previous section, we studied about integration of people and technology; let us now discuss about some factors that are considered in the technology management. Let us first have a look at some crucial factors affecting technology management. Factor 1 Presence of resources: Highly qualified staffs are the available resources of a company who are like sophisticated equipment. Financial resources and available raw material should be exploited properly by an organisation so that is has competitive advantage over its competitors. Akio Morita1 said There is nothing special about success of Japanese Companies. In Japanese Companies, workers are treated as Gods. This shows that workers should be kept contented with regards to salary, facilities like workers quarters, hospitals, schools for children of workers, transport facilities, and others. Factor 2 - Maintain good relation with competitors: Fierce competition for superior market share is not the only way to earn profit. Sometimes friendship or alliance can be made with competitors, to start a new joint venture. They can put their resources together and good quality work can be done. For example, France and England entered into a joint venture to produce Concorde super aeroplane. Factor 3 - Maintain business environment: There should always be a favourable business environment. There should be good social, political, economic and legal environment. The environment has the capability to make or spoil the business. Public interests should be safeguarded. For example, a proposal by India Uranium Union was made to build Uranium mines in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh. Since uranium is radioactive element and exposure to uranium can cause cancer, people

Founder of Sony

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opposed the proposed uranium project and sought the courts interference. The court ordered Government not to build uranium mines. Factor 4 Management and project planning: A new product is produced by the joint efforts of several scientists, engineers, lot of raw materials, lot of funds, and so on. For example, a dam construction needs joint efforts of many people and many organisations. A lot of money has to be invested. Hence, we have to correctly plan the projects. We can save crores of rupees, even if one day is saved. Hence, we have to optimise resource utilisation techniques and apply operation research techniques. Factor 5 Development and training of workers: There are so many engineers who do not know the recent advances in computers, communications and numerically controlled machines. The Japan has established an award to signify the business quality called the Deming award. This award is given every year by Japanese company which delivered quality products and to encourage the business people. There are Indian awards associated with business quality similar to Japanese award, such as, IMC Ramakrishna Bajaj National Quality Award, Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award, and Golden Peacock National Quality Award.

14.3.1 Organisational factors Let us now analyse the organisational factors, one of the main factors affecting the technology management. We can classify organisational factors into two types, which are: Internal organisational factors: The internal organisational factors include organisational structures, policies, financial practices, political and managerial leadership style, the effect of unions on the employee and the employer, the increased use of technology, other kinds of analytical and managerial tools. External organisational factors: The external organisational factors refer to intergovernmental relations, judicial systems, citizen involvement, private and absolute interests, the media, and other external elements of the organisation.

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14.3.2 Psychological factors In the previous section, we discussed about organisational factors; let us now discuss about psychological factors. The answers to the questions about technology how often the technology is used, who uses technology, when is the technology used, how do users interact with it when it is available, and what factors such as physical, social, psychological, and others influence the use of technology are still not completely known. The personality systems describe how we are likely to behave and react in our daily lives. The degree of difference in experiences with technology can create barrier that emphasises differences among the people. Technology is often underused and poorly integrated. The type and amount of technology use differs among organisations all over the world. Hence the psychological factors such as attitude, confidence level, and motivation influence participation, interaction with technology helps an individual to overcome the issues related to technology. Self Assessment Questions 4. Who are the available resources of a company who are like sophisticated equipment? 5. The two types of organisational factors are _______, and _______. 6. The main psychological factors are ________, _______, and ________. Activity 2: Assume that you are an employee of a software company. Maintain a diary to write down every-days work style especially the psychological effects. Also, prepare a list of organisational factors affecting technology management.

14.4 Organisational Structure and Technology

In the previous section, we studied about factors affecting technology management; let us now discuss about organisational structure. We can define an organisational structure as the hierarchy of an organisation and how the component of this hierarchy works together, to accomplish the organisations objectives. We identify the manner and limit to
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which roles, authority, and responsibilities are delegated, managed, and co-ordinated, and how information passes between levels of management, by organisational structure. For example, there are staffs reporting to their manager, few staffs reporting to another manager other than their manager, or few staffs who directly report to CEO. This depends on the complexity of the structure of the organisation. All these groups of people have their own assigned unique duties to perform, which contribute to main goals of the organisation. The organisational structure depends on the objectives of the organisation, and the strategy that is selected to achieve them. Generally, we illustrate the organisational structure with the help of organisational chart. The organisational chart is nothing, but a visual depiction of how an organisation plans for responsibility, authority, and information to flow within its structure. The organisational structure dates back to the beginning of commerce. During that time, merchants declared structure, an important aspect in distinguishing talents among workers in order to promote talented individuals. The idea of organisational structure has progressed into a range of divisions to enhance organisation functions through co-operation. The significance of organisational structure is to make employees understand their responsibility and tasks to achieve goals of the company by creating a clear outline of functions. Every structure provides a unique reporting method to manage an organisations functions by influencing employees to work at their best. The organisation owners should consider the purpose of the organisation and determine what matters most, which positions are important for success and which positions are not so important for the organisation growth. After evaluation, the organisation structure should be reconfigured for better results. Organisational structure establishes how functional a company is in developing, pursuing, and executing goals required for growth. Without the right organisational structure or a series of commands, a company loses its foundation through organisational disagreement.

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The process where the managers alter the organisational structure is said to be, that the managers are involved in organisation design. Let us have a look at the elements of organisation design, which are: Work specialisation: It is the degree to which the jobs in an organisation are classified into individual tasks. It is related to the division of labour concept. The employees perform the tasks that are relevant to their specialised function. If the work is less, then it can be done efficiently. Chain of command: It is the consecutive line of authority, which links top level to low levels of the organisation, and shows who reports to whom. It is associated with two principles unity of command, and scalar principle. Departmentalisation: It is the basis, by which we group the tasks together. Centralisation: In centralised organisational structure, only the top layer management has the power of decision making, and all the departments and division are controlled by the top-level management. Decentralisation: In decentralised organisational structure, the decision making power is given to managers who are close to action and the divisions have altering levels of self-rule. Span of control: It refers to the number of employees who can be efficiently administered by a manager. According to the traditional view, the number of employees was seven per manager; but nowadays, the number has increased to thirty per manager. Formalisation: It is the degree to which we standardise the tasks within an organisation, to the extent to which rules and behaviour guides the employee behaviour.

In technologically active organisations, the installation of gate-keepers, the encouragement of internal entrepreneurship, and the increase of joint ventures in both research and development, and production have significant consequences for organisational structure. We should address all of them sensibly. The organisational structure should not be a barrier to communicate with top-level management, but it should be flexible. The
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organisational structure interacts closely with the technological pasture of an organisation and gives a collection of topics for reflection by modern managers. Technology is given the top priority in any corporate environment. An old organisational structure is refreshed or changed by the companies which are interested in re-engineering. Organisational structure which has the ability to foster innovation is very much necessary by the management of technology. The organisational structure should also ensure the effective use of technological assets. Impact of information technology on organisational structure A firm may use any type of organisational structure. Technology assists the progress in communication among the different job positions throughout that organisational structure. Technology is used by all the parts of the firm, and there are many departments in an organisation, where there are many technology experts working as employees. Information technologies have reduced the costs incurred in managing the information in an organisation, which in some cases has decreased the management of intra firms, and performance of tasks, such as, research. Advancement of technology has taken place, videoconferencing permit members of different teams from various departments to work together irrespective of their departments. Thus, we can say that technology makes departments able to communicate easily. Self Assessment Questions 7. Define organisational structure. 8. When managers alter the structure they are engaged in what is called ___________. 9. In decentralised structure only the top layer management has decision making power. (True/False)? 10. What is formalisation? 11. The organisational structure is developed to create a barrier to communicate with the top level management. (True/False)? 12. Work specialisation is related to the _______ concept.

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Activity 3: Suppose you are appointed as a manager in a software company. Prepare a pictorial representation of organisational structure for your organisation indicating the hierarchy. Hint: The top level tasks includes MDs task of the organisation.

14.5 Summary
This unit familiarised us with the concepts of integration of people and technology which shows the relation of humans and technology. We analysed that technology and people are related to each other, and the technology is affecting our lives positively. We also analysed that there was a time when most of the functions required many workers, but today due to the advancement of technology, the same functions can be performed by few workers. We also studied the factors which affect the technology management, wherein we studied about the organisational and psychological factors which affect the technology management. We analysed that the organisational factors should be well-maintained, as they are entirely dependent on the organisational policies, practices, relations between staff and other important links; else if the organisational factors are not good it may hinder the growth of the organisation. We also analysed that the psychological factors, especially the psychological factors related to staff should be observed. And it is the top level managements duty to expose the staffs into a good learning and motivating environment, and also provide favourable facilities. This helps to build the staffs mentally well. Thus, they will perform well and their good performance will lead to the achievement of organisations goals. We also discussed about organisational structure, which is a formal system of job relationship, and which helps us to co-ordinate employees to achieve organisations goals effective tool to manage operations. We analysed that it is the duty of the management of an organisation to establish a good organisational structure which helps the organisation to grow higher. We also analysed that the technology influences the organisational structure. If the technology is of high quality, ultimately the organisational structure is of good quality.
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14.6 Glossary
Term Labour of concept Definition According to this concept, the work is divided and subdivided into separate jobs, and later assigned to specific individuals. It is the management principle which states that subordinates at each and every level should follow the chain of command and should interact with their seniors only through the immediate or intermediate senior. It is the management principle which states that each person should report to only one manager.

Scalar principle

Unity of command

14.7 Terminal Questions

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Briefly discuss about integration of people and technology. Explain the factors affecting technology management. What are organisational factors? Briefly explain psychological factors. Explain organisational structure.

14.8 Answers
Self Assessment Questions 1. Science, engineering, management knowledge, and management practice. 2. False. 3. Complexity of technologies. 4. Highly qualified staffs are the available resources of a company who are like sophisticated equipment. 5. Internal organisational factors, external organisational factors. 6. Attitude, confidence level, motivation. 7. The hierarchy of an organisation and how the component of this hierarchy works together, to accomplish the organisations objectives is called organisational structure. 8. Organisation design. 9. False. 10. It is the degree to which the tasks within an organisation are standardised to the extent to which employee behaviour is guided by rules and procedures.
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11. False. 12. Division of labour. Terminal Questions 1. Refer section 14.2 Integration of People and Technology. 2. Refer section 14.3 Factors Affecting Technology Management. 3. Refer sub-section 14.3.1 Organisational factors. 4. Refer sub-section 14.3.2 Psychological factors. 5. Refer section 14.4 Organisational Structure and Technology.

14.9 Case Study

ABC Company is an organisation, which offers parcel delivery service. The organisation grew as one of the largest operators of transport, to become a successful provider of health care products and services. The company improved its visibility in the marketplace to reflect its broad, national health care and logistics operations. A series of problems occurred after the appointment of a new manager. The manager was replaced by another new manager, because of wrong review and misguided strategy the company became poor. And the company became worse as the problems were not fixed, and due to bad performance. The company sold the hospital business and could concentrate on its main business without diverting. Issues: The problems are mainly due to wrong management structure implementation. The First major issue was centralised management, where the decision making is focussed on a single point in the organisation, which is usually the top-level management. Though the centralised management is vital, the results of centralisation are secluded which makes the employees to feel separated. The second problem was that the company planned to cut costs. This resulted in a negative public reaction, and therefore the public avoided going to the companys hospital. Hence the revenues obtained by the company reduced to a great extent. And also negative relationships grew, even with the staff.

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The third problem was due to cultural clash that was present in the company. The cultural clash created many problems. The fourth problem occurred because the manager focussed more on the interest of companys stakeholders. The company should have focussed both on stakeholders and the employees. Significance of balancing centralisation and decentralisation: With respect to the issues associated to management of hospitals, the manager observed the significance of balancing centralisation and decentralisation. There should be a balance of centralisation and decentralisation, which is vital to the effects of the people care and the efficiency of its methods as in the management of hospitals. Some studies suggest that there are two different notions enclosed in the decentralisation concept. The first notion refers to the hierarchical levels at which decisions are made. The second notion refers to the extent to which various levels take part in the decision making process. Path analysis exhibited that the decentralisation produced good positive impacts on autonomy, organisational commitment, and satisfaction of job, and affected commitment through autonomy and job satisfaction. Though the decentralisation of hospital management would incur additional cost, it relates to the effectiveness of the hospital. This also relates to the fulfilment of hospital staff that directly interacts with patients. Thus decentralisation adds cost and increases companys profits at the same time. Both centralisation and decentralisation have some advantages and disadvantages. Hence the balance of centralisation and decentralisation level should be maintained though they are both multidimensional concepts. Importance of structure and culture in the field of organisational effectiveness: The organisational effectiveness means that the company is capable to successfully operate and produce profit, by using any available resource. Yet, the organisation effectiveness is a complex problem, as it is not easy to describe effectiveness. It cannot be described, since effectiveness can have various meanings and it has no definite definition. The four
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approaches provided to assess organisations effectiveness are approach to achieve goal, approach to systems, approach to strategic constituencies, and scorecard to be balanced. The structural features of the organisation sometimes include the extent to which the organisation is centralised or decentralised, which can be calculated either as the stage at which decisions are taken, or by the number of stages in the hierarchy. The organisational processes, like innovative human resource management practices and methods to help communication, conflict resolution, and participation are also important. Both the structural features of company, and organisational that is the companys processes are at the organisational level of analysis, because both of these can be reduced to the behaviour of individuals. Both are logically prior to the social psychological variables that describe the experience of working in a specific area. The structural features of the company and the processes together employs partially, identify the experiences of staffs such as job content and morale, and contribute to organisational results, such as difficulties in hiring and keeping workers. We should observe and note an organisational culture, which receives change and good working relationships among key staffs easily and nicely. Clinical governance requires changes that are cultural approaching directness, involvement, strengthen the staff economically, partnership, and association. The organisational arrangements in hospitals generally restrict processes, instead of improving them. Also, the divisions were ragged apart because of their difference in opinions. The companys effectiveness could enhance if the companys culture is linked with the organisations strategy, environment and technology. The companys culture will also help the company to cope with the frequently changing environment that the company is in. Thus all the companies should focus on constantly changing their culture to adapt to their environmental changes. ABC Company understood that they should be more people-oriented than profit-oriented, because profitoriented culture creates many problems that affect the company and people-oriented culture which emphasises care and quality as they are in the hospital division.
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Inference: This study found out the problems and reasons for the ABC Companys present problems, analysed the importance of balancing centralisation and decentralisation within the companies and we also saw the importance of structure and culture to organisational effectiveness. The problems that the company faced were due to the incorrect structure and strategies of the company due to the managers wrong diagnosis. The failure to implement an ideal organisational structure and culture caused the company problems like staff separation, reduced effectiveness levels and also the drastic drop in its share price. All these problems would keep bothering the company until correct restructure of the company is being implemented. Questions 1. What are the challenges faced by the company? 2. What is the significance of balancing centralisation and decentralisation structure? 3. Briefly explain the contribution of structural features of the company. 4. Explain the role of organisational processes. References Tarek Khalil, Management of Technology. http://www.members.nae.edu/nae/techlithome.nsf/weblinks/KGRG55SQ9K?OpenDocument

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