Although the examples we cite are all computer related and come from the experience of large manufacturers, the issues raised and strategies proposed apply every bit as well to small businesses, to service operations-in fact, to any organization where technological innovation flourishes. We also suggest strategies managers can use to address these difficulties. In the following pages, we describe some of the challenges managers must overcome if companies are to absorb new technologies efficiently.
Frequently, however, the managers responsible for shepherding a technical innovation into routine use are much better equipped by education and experience to guide that innovation’s development than to manage its implementation. Introducing technological change into an organization presents a different set of challenges to management than does the work of competent project administration. Drawing on their long study of the difficulties managers have had in closing this gap, the authors identify half a dozen key challenges that managers responsible for implementing new technology must surmount: their inescapably dual role, the variety of internal markets to be served, legitimate resistance to change, the right degree of promotion, the choice of implementation site, and the need for one person to take overall responsibility. At a time of fierce global competition, the distance between technical promise and genuine achievement is a matter of especially grave concern. For all the dollars spent by American companies on R&D, there often remains a persistent and troubling gap between the inherent value of the technology they develop and their ability to put it to work effectively.
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