Technology Management vs. Traditional Management - Essay Example

In contrast to technology management, traditional management concerns managing those resources of an enterprise that are required to produce the goods or services to be sold to consumers or other organizations. The balance of power has undoubtedly shifted to traditional management who now has more choice over how it conducts relationships with its employees and process. The main functions of traditional management in industrial relations objectives are: control the work process; secure cost-effectiveness; reassert managerial authority; move towards a more unitary and individualistic approach (Boone, Kurtz, 1992).

Technological management deals with the technology of products able to consumers and businesses, the quality of the products, and their functionality. Technological management pays particular attention to production processes and innovations in his field. This has speeded up design processes, transformed working practices, and increased the efficiency of production. Interestingly, it is in the technological environment that it is sometimes possible for large organizations to actually exert influence rather than be the recipients of it (Johnston, 2003).

And for this reason, "Because all industry sectors will be more technology-driven in the future, it will be increasingly important for organizations to recognize the need and value of technology managers" (Article,)The similarity between technology and traditional management is that they examine influences of the environment and perspectives of further development on the macro-and microeconomic level. For instance, chemists work with chemical technologies that lead to the development of new medicines, plastics, etc.

, engineers use different technologies to optimize the designs of everything from roads to buildings to aircraft. As a consequence, it is important that traditional management monitors changes in the economic situation and markets while technological management monitors technologies that can affect their operations to achieve the strategic goals of the organization. According to both approaches, organizations must be flexible and be ready to innovate and to adopt new technologies as they come along.

The way in which organizations do employ the latest technology can be an important determinant of their competitive advantage (Vonderembse, White, 2003). As well as traditional management, technology management is concerned with those activities involved in recruiting professional staff, training, and development within the organization and infrastructure, namely the systems of technology planning, finance, quality control, etc. which are crucially important to an organization's strategic capability in all primary activities.

It is strongly influenced by resources outside the organization which are an integral part of the chain of activities between the product or service design, through production and marketing to the use of the product or service by consumers. In this case, detailed resource planning and deployment are important ingredients in the successful implementation of technology management. Technology and traditional management infrastructure also consist of the structures and routines of the organization which sustains its culture.