You, Me, Organization and Technology
By Ranadheer Patwardhan.
Management Consultant
Change is the only constant thing is the phrase that we all know and understood but still most of us, at personal level and at organization level, find it difficult to identify and adapt change that we need to do [sometimes] to succeed and [most of time] to survive. One such change is changing the technology that we put to use in our work or in our daily life, going through technological changes in more difficult because it needs frequent and sudden learning and unlearning
Though this weekly blog we would like to help you in adapting technology changes better and faster, we will share our experiences about how technology is getting adapted in various sectors of life and what purpose technology is put to use. To start with let’s brush up our knowledge about few words or concepts like technology and adaptation, we will also try to identify how society or organization responds to technology change
Technology literally means science of crafts, technology also can be called as the sum of techniques, tools, skills and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives. Based on aim to achieve, sector in which it is used, equipment it uses technology can be segregated in en number of groups . Segregating technology based on objective or aim it needs to achieve, is we found easiest . So technology can be segregated as
- Space reducing technology: technology with aim to reduced space that process needs to achieve set objective
- Material saving: technology with aim to reduce quantity of material that process needs to achieve set objective
- Time reducing technology : technology with aim to reduce cycle time that process needs to achieve set objective
- Human intervention reducing technology : technology with aim to reduce that human intervention process needs to achieve set objective [ Reducing human intervention mainly helps is avoiding human errors and skill dependability ]
Which technology we adapt but increasing efficiency quotient of process has to be the ultimate aim of using technology.
On the other hand , Adaptation is the evolutionary process where an organism or organization becomes better suited to its habitat.. It is one of the basic phenomena. When people speak about adaptation, they often mean a ‘feature’ (a trait) which helps an animal or plant or organization to survive
In modern and urbanized world, Human being to survive and thrive I society or organization, usually needs to adapt themselves to following changes
1 Environmental changes that occur around them [Technology comes under this change ]
2 Changes that are needed to protect from other species and to co habit with them
2 Changes needed to protect from same kind of species and to co habit with same kind of species
Persons who identify and adapt all three changes can survive and thrive in
Now lets understand how society or organization responds to technology change , Over years of research, Roger’s Research identified that Society can divided in five groups based on their approach towards technology adaptation
Innovators (In society this kind of persons are about 2.5%) – Innovators are the first individuals to adopt an innovation. Innovators are willing to take risks, youngest in age, have the highest social class, have great financial lucidity, very social and have closest contact to scientific sources and interaction with other innovators
Early Adopters (In society this kind of persons are about 13.5%) – This These individuals have the highest degree of opinion leadership among the other adopter categories. Early adopters are typically younger in age, have a higher social status, have more financial lucidity, advanced education, and are more socially forward than late adopters. More discrete in adoption choices than innovators. Realize judicious choice of adoption will help them maintain central communication position
Early Majority (In society this kind of persons are about 34%) –time of adoption of Individuals in this category is significantly longer than the innovators and early adopters. Early Majority tend to be slower in the adoption process, have above average social status, contact with early adopters, and seldom hold positions of opinion leadership in a system
Late Majority (In society this kind of persons are about 34%) – Individuals in this category will adopt an innovation after the average member of the society. These individuals approach an innovation with a high degree of skepticism and after the majority of society has adopted the innovation. Late Majority are typically skeptical about an innovation, have below average social status, very little financial lucidity, in contact with others in late majority and early majority, very little opinion leadership.
Laggards (In society this kind of persons are about 16%) – Individuals in this category are the last to adopt an innovation. Unlike some of the previous categories, individuals in this category show little to no opinion leadership. These individuals typically have an aversion to change-agents and tend to be advanced in age. Laggards typically tend to be focused on “traditions”, likely to have lowest social status, lowest financial fluidity, be oldest of all other adopters, in contact with only family and close friends, very little to no opinion leadership.
So far in this blog we discussed about words or concepts like technology and adaptation, we will also try to identify how society or organization responds to technology change, hope you find it interesting , in future , in this series of blog we will try o help you in adapting technology changes better and faster. We are sure it will edutaining to read this blog series. By for now , interact with you soon
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