Cognitive processes in technology management and transfer

Ideological conflict often emerges in the joint efforts of less-developed country (LDC) planners and multinational corporation (MNC) executives to bring about change through technology transfer. Managing conflict in such situations is a task of extreme complexity and ambiguity. A number of heuristic biases sometimes lead to severe and systematic errors in the decision-making process. Influence diagramming (ID) can be used to clarify opposing worldviews and to help LDC planners and MNC executives deal with cognitive simplification processes. A specific example from the technology transfer literature illustrates the possibility of transforming, through ID, the ‘vicious circle of lack of technology and underdevelopment’ into a ‘virtuous circle’ of technological development. Technology’s fundamental tension between stability and social change is examined within the dialectical-materialism inquiry system (DMIS) and the change-resilience control (CRC) frameworks. The integration of these models brings the distinction between high technology, technology, and appropriate technology into a sharper operational focus.