The paradox of adoption and routinization in technology management

The management of technology is based on a crucial paradox. On the one hand, there is a need for adoption of new technology, possibly with the objective to innovate. This change in technology requires a certain amount of instability in an organization. On the other hand, there is a need for using technology in the most efficient way possible. The technology has to be standardized or routinized, which requires a certain amount of stability in an organziation. The paradox between adoption of new technology and routinization of technology is central to the management of all types of technology. Based on this paradox, it is possible to identify different ways of coping with technology. In this paper the paradox will be discussed in detail, and how it can be used to identify these different ways of coping with technology. Computer-Aided Systems Engineering, CASE, is used as an example. Different ways of coping with CASE-technology are identified and compared with practice.