INTRODUCTION TO ALIGNING TECHNOLOGICAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

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INTRODUCTION

The installation of new technology, especially technology involving computers or microprocessors, virtually always involves some change to the organization and its members. Thus, the effective management of technological change must include the effective management of organizational change as well.

In this chapter, conclusions are presented from the literature and recent work by the authors concerning effective management of simultaneous change in technology and organizational design. The objective of this chapter is to impart to the practicing engineer the following four points:

1. There are clear relationships between technological and organizational changes.

2. Introduction of technological change is tantamount to introduction of a technological, orga- nizational, and people (TOP) change.

3. In order to ensure that the full range of TOP options available to any organization is considered in the selection of any single set of TOP changes, the engineer as technology planner must strive to understand the entire set of anticipated TOP changes prior to implementing new technology.

4. Planned change strategies must be thoughtfully applied to facilitate successful progress through the TOP changes.

Technologies of primary interest here are computer-automated production and information tech- nologies because these have received the most research attention in the last decade. Production technologies include computer-automated manufacturing (CAM) and computer-integrated manufac- turing (CIM) and their component technologies such as flexible manufacturing cells (FMC), auto- mated guided vehicles, and computer numerical control (CNC) machines. Information technologies include manufacturing resource planning (MRP), computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided en- gineering analysis, electronic mail, collaborative technologies, transaction processing technologies such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, supply chain management systems, and elec- tronic commerce.

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