Managing Complexity in High Technology Organizations

January 4, 1994

Managing Complexity in High Technology OrganizationsMary Ann Von Glinow and Susan Albers Mohrman, (Oxford University Press, 1994)

With the rapid increase of high technology industry, new problems have arisen which challenge and confront managers throughout the world. These complex management problems faced by leaders in robotics, biochemicals and biogenetics, communications, aerospace, and instrumentation differ greatly from those encountered by traditional industries. Managing Complexity in High Technology Organizations provides an empirical study of high technology industries, systems, and people, demonstrating the changing needs of the industry and defining new organizational forms for global high technology management.

Propounding a revolutionary approach, these essays examine such topics as organizational phenomena – including top management teams, high velocity environments, and organizational structures — high technology marketing, and the realm of high reliability high technology organizations. Emphasizing technological methods of organizing, the essays discuss such specific people problems inherent in high technology firms as team interdependence, compensation strategies, and cultural differences.

A departure from traditional organizational prescriptions, this innovative book offers a new framework for dealing with the numerous complexities and challenges of managing high technology industries and organizations.