Technology Planning Process Research Articles

The impact of employee attitudes on the implementation of expert system technology

Guidelines for technology managers on how to introduce expert systems technology are provided by the results of this research. The study examines the relationship between perception of company plans toward expert systems technology (EST) and threat to job security as felt by the programmer/analyst (P/A). The moderating effects of knowledge of EST, usage of the technology, and attitudes are also examined. Both company plans and (P/A) attitudes were found to have significant main effects on perceived threat to job security. No interaction was found between attitudes and company plans. Knowledge and usage of EST were found to be low and were not correlated with attitudes toward EST. The results suggest that technical employees are likely to exhibit severe implementation resistance to expert systems technology unless managers (1) provide for training and education on EST, and (2) extensively involve traditional programmers and analysts in the technology planning process.

Scientific and technical planning in the People's Republic of China

At a time when Western market economies are struggling with ways of directing and stimulating technological innovation, China, with a highly centralized system for the planning and coordination of science and technology, offers an unusual perspective on the feasibility and operations of a large-scale, national organization of scientific and technical resources. This paper describes the mechanics of the science and technology planning process in the Chinese system and then draws conclusions on a variety of pertinent issues, such as: whether or not planning is actually conducted at a macrolevel; what are the useful sources of information for scientific and technical decision making within the system; what are the motivations for doing research in China's planned economy and how do they affect the research that is done; and, in summation, does the Chinese attempt at macroscience and technology planning really work?