10 Tenets of MOT and the IT Organization Essay Example for Free

10 Tenets of MOT and the IT Organization Essay A tenet is a principle based on observation, intuition, experience, and in some cases, empirical analysis. Based on a study presented in the Handbook of Technology Management by Gerard Gaynor, Ten tenets are proposed as guiding principles for an organization to operate within a technology cycle framework. These are: 1. Value diversification is a poor substitute for MOT. 2. Manufacturability must keep pace with inventiveness and marketability. 3. Quality and total productivity are inseparable concepts in managing technology. 4.  It is management’s responsibility to bring about technological change and job security for long term competitiveness. 5. Technology must be the ‘servant’ not the ‘master’; the master is still the human being. 6. The consequences of technology selection can be more serious than expected because of systematic effects. 7. Continuous education and training in a constantly changing workplace is a necessity, not a luxury. 8. Technology gradient is a dynamic component of the technology management process, to be monitored for strategic advantage. 9.  The RTC factor must be carefully analyzed and meticulously monitored for gaining the most out of any technology, particularly a new one. 10. Information linkage must keep pace with technology growth. See more: The Issues Concerning Identity Theft Essay In the case of an IT Organization, the essence of the management several factors of technology are realized based on the above specified MOT principles. The following may be derived: †¢ Importance of Core Technologies and Core Competencies. Analysis of the competencies and technological capability of an IT Organization will provide information on the inherent competitive ability of the organization, or the absence of such. This is a step towards active management of technology. †¢ Inventiveness versus Market Drive. For an IT Organization, this translates to building an output-driven innovative culture versus customizing products and processes based on Market-demand. †¢ Total Quality Management. Quality Assurance and Quality Control procedures are essential to monitor processes and the process improvement practice within an organization. †¢ Initiation and Management of Technological Change. Conscious effort to improve current technology should e a consistent activity in an IT Organization. This may be a result of observed updates in the industry or an internal effort to innovate and update according to changing business needs. †¢ Security for Competitiveness. As an industry with established processes, functions and professional track, job security through skills-based retention and promotion should be encouraged. This will invite constructive competitiveness and improve the industryà ¢â‚¬â„¢s workforce. †¢ Technology is the medium and the tool, it is not the solution.  The main product for an organization that offers Information Technology as a service is the solution. The technology is the enabler, while the process is the company-specific activity that adds value to the solution. †¢ Organizational Systems and the Effect of Technology. The effect of information technology to the organization encompasses structures and organization systems. As processes and needs are updated, technologies or the manner that it is implemented should be revised complementarily. The reverse does not always follow. The Essence of Training and Education in an IT Organization. With the Human Resource as the main and sole source value and new service introduction, investment in further education is essential to an IT Organization. Technology managemet assessment: TA is the study and evaluation of new technologies. It is based on the conviction that new developments within, and discoveries by, t he scientific community are relevant for the world at large rather than just for the scientific experts themselves, and that technological progress can never be free of ethical implications. Also, technology assessment recognizes the fact that scientists normally are not trained ethicists themselves and accordingly ought to be very careful when passing ethical judgement on their own, or their colleagues, new findings, projects, or work in progress. Technology assessment assumes a global perspective and is future-oriented, not anti-technological. TA considers its task as interdisciplinary approach to solving already existing problems and preventing potential damage caused by the uncritical application and the commercialization of new technologies. Therefore any results of technology assessment studies must be published, and particular consideration must be given to communication with political decision-makers. An important problem, TA has to deal with it, is the so-called Collingridge dilemma: on the one hand, impacts of new technologies cannot be easily predicted until the technology is extensively developed and widely used; on the other hand, control or change of a technology is difficult as soon as it is widely used. Some of the major fields of TA are: information technology, hydrogen technologies, nuclear technology, molecular nanotechnology, pharmacology, organ transplants, gene technology, artificial intelligence, the Internet and many more. Health technology assessment is related, but profoundly different, despite the similarity in the name. Forms and concepts of technology assessment The following types of concepts of TA are those that are most visible and practiced. There are, however, a number of further TA forms that are only proposed as concepts in the literature or are the label used by a particular TA institution. 2] †¢ Parliamentary TA (PTA): TA activities of various kinds whose addressee is a parliament. PTA may be performed directly by members of those parliaments (e. g. in France and Finland) or on their behalf by related TA institutions (such as in the UK, in Germany and Denmark) or by organisations not directly linked to a Parliament (such as in the Netherlands and Switzerland). [3] †¢ Expert TA (often also referred to as the classical TA or traditional TA concept): TA activities carried out by (a team of) TA and technical experts. Input from stakeholders and other actors is included only via written statements, documents and interviews, but not as in participatory TA. †¢ Participatory TA (pTA): TA activities which actively, systematically and methodologically involve various kinds of social actors as assessors and discussants, such as different kinds of civil society organisations, representatives of the state systems, but characteristically also individual stakeholders and citizens (lay persons), technical scientists and technical experts. Standard pTA methods include consensus conferences, focus groups, scenario workshops etc. [4] Sometimes pTA is further divided into expert-stakeholder pTA and public pTA (including lay persons). [5] †¢ Constructive TA (CTA): This concept of TA, developed in the Netherlands, but also applied and discussed elsewhere[6] attempts to broaden the design of new technology through feedback of TA activities into the actual construction of technology. Contrary to other forms of TA, CTA is not directed toward influencing regulatory practices by assessing the impacts of technology. Instead, CTA wants to address social issues around technology by influencing design practices. †¢ Discursive TA or Argumentative TA: This type of TA wants to deepen the political and normative debate about science, technology and society. It is inspired by ethics, policy discourse analysis and the sociology of expectations in science and technology. This mode of TA aims to clarify and bring under public and political scrutiny the normative assumptions and visions that drive the actors who are socially shaping science and technology. Accordingly, argumentative TA not only addresses the side effects of technological change, but deals with both broader impacts of science and technology and the fundamental normative question of why developing a certain technology is legitimate and desirable. [7] †¢ Health TA (HTA): A specialised type of expert TA informing policy makers about efficacy, safety and cost effectiveness issues of pharmaceuticals and medical treatments, see health technology assessment.