ابزار مدیریت فناوری: مفهوم، توسعه و کاربرد

Effective systems for managing technology in complex business environments require integrated sets of management tools and processes, underpinned by well-founded conceptual frameworks. Understanding how such systems operate, and how best to implement them, represents an ongoing challenge, especially considering the multidisciplinary and multifunctional nature of technology management. This paper describes the development of a technology and general management tool catalogue, which focuses on the ‘matrix’ class of tools, classified into four generic types. The practical development and application of such tools is discussed, illustrated by two case examples.

Industrial and academic interest in how to more effectively manage technology is growing as the complexity, cost and rate of technological innovation increase, at a time of increasing organisational and industrial change on a global scale. Emerging technologies, such as nanotechnology, biotechnology and information and communications technology provide significant opportunities for enabling innovation, profit and growth, but also present a potential threat to firms' existing activities. Technology management is a challenging topic, in terms of both theory and practice, owing to its multidisciplinary and multifunctional nature. A number of disciplines are relevant from the academic perspective, such as science, engineering, economics, sociology and psychology. In business, contributions from both the commercial and technological functions are critical if innovative and successful products and services are to be delivered to the market. The implementation of effective technology management solutions requires a number of elements to be in place. Firstly, practical tools are needed for supporting management decisions and action, together with techniques for their application. Secondly, management processes are required for combining tools and techniques to address specific business problems. Finally, conceptual frameworks are needed to guide thinking about technology management, based on well-founded theoretical principles. It is important that the tools, processes and frameworks that are implemented to support technology management should aim to be robust (theoretically sound and reliable); economic and practical to implement (not too complex or resource intensive); integrated (work together, and link to other frameworks, processes and tools deployed in the business); and flexible (adapt to suit the particular context, in terms of business purpose, market environment, available resources and information, and corporate culture).

This paper describes the development of a management tool catalogue, which contains more than 850 examples of the ‘matrix’ class. Collection of these tools has enabled a classification system to be developed, which identifies four generic types of matrix tool: matrices, grids, tables and scored profiles. The development of integrated, well-founded and useful tools, processes and frameworks presents a challenge to managers, consultants and researchers, and an iterative ‘process approach’ is recommended, which has been illustrated by means of two short case examples. The development of practical and well-founded tools and frameworks requires active collaboration with industry, working together on ‘live’ management problems and challenges. The effective management of technology for business benefit typically requires engagement of both the technological and commercial functions in the firm. Management tools such as the R&D project selection and technology roadmapping approach described in this paper incorporate both technical and commercial aspects explicitly, and it is considered that this is a key attribute for such approaches. Both of these tools require multifunctional workshops to be used effectively, providing a mechanism for bringing these technical and commercial stakeholders together, stimulating communication and mutual understanding. The importance of linking the commercial and technical perspectives is a key theme of the conceptual framework that was developed in parallel with the fast-start technology roadmapping approach (Phaal et al., 2001a), ensuring that an appropriate balance is struck between market ‘pull’ and technology ‘push’. Future work will focus on expanding the content and functionality of the management tool catalogue, to provide a resource to academics and managers in industry. Research is planned to explore further the theoretical and practical aspects of tool development and application, with the aim of improved understanding of the principles of good tool design, including integration and customisation.