BBA605 – TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT

SET – I

Q1 Technology has spawned the growth of modern society and has largely influenced every
aspect of living. Explain the impact of Technology on Society.

Answer:-

Explanation of the impact of Technology on Society:

• Easy life- If we want to prepare coffee it can be done by just pressing one switch, cleaning of
clothes, washing dishes, sending mails has become so easy, preparing food is again so easy—all
credit goes to technology. Life is so easy with all kinds of technologies available. We are now no
more exerting ourselves like our earlier generations used to exert for their living.

• Luxurious life-With the developments in technology, we are able to enjoy all the pricey
luxuries in life for e.g. cars, air conditioners, refrigerator, microwave, washing machines and
many more.

• Communication is fast – Mobiles phones have made it possible for us to communicate over
wireless media. The communication industry is rapidly changing and doing wonders.

• Distances are short- With the development of transport technology such as electronic trains,
jets, airplanes, the far-distance journeys can be done in a few hours which ultimately helps us in
meeting our near and dear ones as and when required and also allows us to work from different
geographical locations.

• Speedy long distance communication through emails and fax- Now we do not have to worry
about the lost letters or miscommunications. With the help of Internet, e-mails can be accessed
anywhere and everywhere in the world, since we are connected through the internet.

The economy of a country influences how the people of the county live. One of the major force
which is driving us is technology. Our generation is hugely impacted by it. It has transformed our
lives so much and we will see many more advancement in the years to come.
Q2. Explain the Delphi Method. Identify its characteristics, steps, application, advantages
& disadvantages.

a) Explanation of Delphi method, b) Characteristics, c) Steps, d) Application, e)

Advantages & Disadvantages

Answer:-

a) Explanation of Delphi method:

This method is the intuitive type of method and is subjective in nature. Though statistical or
model-based forecasting techniques are preferred over expert opinion techniques, there are some
scenarios where intuitive methods are found to be relevant.

• When historical data is not available - mostly in the case of new technology forecasting where
expert opinion is the only possible source of forecasting.

• In the situations where the impact of factors which were previously considered to be relevant
have lost their strength.

• In those instances where ethical issues are more important than technical and economical
issues.

Delphi is a programmed, sequential questionnaire approach. Instead of an individual, a group of

individuals make a forecast. The group prepares a forecast with certain characteristics.

b) Characteristics

• Anonymity: During the Delphi procedure, a member does not know the specific contributions
of the other members.

• Iteration with controlled feedback: The survey coordinator extracts responses which are
deemed relevant to the topic and these are sent back to the group, which ensures that biased
opinions are not pushed by restatement.

• Statistical group response: In the Delphi method, for every item the responses are depicted
with statistics that describe both the dominant view as well as the degree of spread.
c) Steps

Step 1: Identify the subject on which the Delphi survey is to be conducted.

Step 2: Recruit a group of experienced people who can prepare the questionnaire for forecasting
the technological, developments.

Step 3: During the first round the participants are asked to forecast events or predict trends
regarding the issue. The responses are collected and all opinions including the extreme ones are
taken into cognizance. The questionnaire is distributed among experts to address all possible
aspects of the issues.

Step 4: In the second round, results of the first round are sent back to the participants and it
contains a consolidated list of all the responses. The participants are then asked to forecast the
possible occurrences enlisted in each of the responses.

Step 5: In the third round, all the responses are sent back to the participants. This time, along
with the inclusion of statistical details, they are also asked to reevaluate their responses. After the
end of the third round, the moderator processes the response by combining it with similar
responses, summarizing lengthy ones.

Step 6: The questionnaire for the fourth round contains the responses, the statistical information
and the summary of points for modifying the forecasts, if any. Here, the participants are required
to provide reasons for any change in a given forecast value.

Step 7: At the end of the fourth round, the moderator collects and summarizes the results and
comes out with forecasts, the degree of disagreement and a summary of critical issues for each
forecast.

d) Application

Following are the context where Delphi method is used:

• Identification of factors which may impact the development of technology.

• Forecasting of statistical estimates over a specified duration on the progress of a particular

technology.
• When forecasting cannot be made using other methods.

• To evaluate the chance of a particular event occurring under given conditions.

e) Advantages & Disadvantages

Advantages

• Delphi is a useful technique for obtaining forecasts when there is a limited or nil amount of
historical data.

• Delphi is a useful technique for fields which are highly interactive and interdisciplinary
involving diverse parameters such as social, economic, technical, political and managerial.

Disadvantages

• Forecasting is usually based on intuition and not on hard data-backed logic.

• It produces high degree of convergence but not high degree of reliability.

Q3 What is technology Diffusion. List and explain the different perspectives of innovation
diffusion process.

Answer:-

a) Explanation of Technology Diffusion.

The term ‘diffusion’ refers to the spread of a new idea which can be product, technology, service
or method from the time of its invention to the creation of its ultimate adoption by an increasing
number of users in different circumstances.

According to Rogers, ‘Diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through

certain channels over time among the members of a social system and by which alteration occurs
in the structure and function of a social system as a kind of social change’.

The process of adopting the new technology by the customers who come to know about the
technology from other customers is called technology diffusion. It can also be defined as a
process of closing the gap between what people do not know and what they can effectively put to
use.

Diffusion plays a pivotal role in helping the adopters take full advantage of an innovation and to
modify that innovation. It consists of four key elements:

• Innovation

• Communication channels

• Time

• Social system

Diffusion occurs within a social system, and the social system constitutes a boundary within
which an innovation is diffused. The social system has structure, giving stability and regularity to
individual behaviour in a system. The change agent also needs to understand the social system
for planning the diffusion process effectively and efficiently.

b) Explanation of the different perspectives

Listing the different perspectives:

 Traditional perspective
 Adoption perspective
 Technological perspective
 Infrastructure perspective
 Regulatory/Societal perspective
 Models perspective
 Comprehensive perspective

Explanation:

• Traditional perspective: The traditional approach considers innovation and diffusion as

separate entities. This approach prevents the management from perceiving the contribution an
employee can place in the technology development process.
• Adoption perspective: This perspective focuses on how the various channels and modes of
communication (media, interpersonal etc.) can be used to influence a diverse group of potential
customers to adopt a technological innovation.

• Technological perspective: This perspective focuses on the technical skills and tools required
to implement/use the technological innovation. It looks at how well the provider of technological
innovation understands the environment of the user and the user’s ability to apply the
technology.

• Infrastructure perspective: Infrastructure perspective is an important factor for diffusion as

the area in which technological innovation is targeted. The various infrastructure aspects that
affect diffusion are: transportation, terrain, weather, availability of energy, communication, etc.
The necessary infrastructure helps in diffusion.

• Regulatory/Societal perspective: This perspective focuses on the effects of government

policies, regulatory requirements, and bureaucratic processes, and the development stage of the
area in which the technology is to be used.

• Models perspective: In this perspective, models are developed for the management to predict
the behaviour pattern of potential users of a technological innovation and finally develop
strategies for diffusing an innovation. To model a diffusion process, an analyst works with a few
variables to fit a curve that describes the spread of innovation over time, the variables represent
the size of the population, number of alternative technologies in use.

• Comprehensive perspective: The comprehensive perspective uses all the perspectives

mentioned above in developing a diffusion strategy. It views the diffusion process as part of a
total innovation process, where many people are involved and requires that each person involved
with technological innovation must maintain interest in it.
 SET – II

Q 1 Elucidate the channels of Technology Transfer.

Answer:-

Explanation of the channels of Technology Transfer:

1. General channels: In this channel, information is made available in the public domain with
limited or no restrictions on its usage. Channels of this type of transfer include training,
conferences, publications, education etc.

2. Reverse engineering: In this channel, a host or receiver of technology is capable of breaking

the code of technology and duplicating it in some fashion without violating the Intellectual
Property Rights laws.

3. Planned channels: In this channel, technology is transferred intentionally to a planned

process with the consent of the owner. There are several types of agreements that are used to
implement planned transfers.

(a) Licensing: In this type of channel, receiver purchases the right to utilize someone else’s
technology by payment of initial lump sum amount plus a percentage of sales.

(b) Franchise: This is a form of licensing with some continual support to the receiver.

(c) Joint venture: Here, two or more entities combine their interest in a business enterprise in
which they can share knowledge and resources to develop a technology and/or produce a
product. They also share the reward obtained from the venture.

(d) Turnkey project: Here, project is purchased from an outside source and is designed,
implemented and delivered in a ‘ready-to-operate’ mode.

(e) Foreign Direct Investment: In this channel, the organization decides to produce its product
or invests some of its resources overseas where transfer of technology remains within the
boundaries of the firm.
Q2 List and explain the types of Innovation along with Examples.

Answer:- Explanation of the types of innovation with examples:

Depending upon the impact they create, innovations can be broadly classified as:

(i) Incremental innovation

(ii) Modular innovation

(iii) Architectural innovation

(iv) Radical innovation

Incremental Innovation: These innovations are evolutionary in nature. These are small but
important improvements in a product, process or service. Such innovations are associated with
enhanced customer satisfaction. Example: Intel Pentium III to Pentium I etc.

Modular Innovation: These innovations do not alter the overall product structure, but change can
occur in the component technology. Example: change in engine technology will not change any
other features of the car.

Architectural Innovation: These innovations take existing technologies and link new
technologies in novel ways; they are built not on new technological breakthroughs but also on
integrating competencies.

Radical Innovation: These innovations are revolutionary in nature. Railroads, electricity,

computers, and the internet can be termed as breakthrough innovations. Radical innovations are
also known as breakthrough innovations and discontinuous innovations. Example: digital
imaging and quartz watches.

Incremental, modular, architectural and radical innovations require fundamentally different

organizational structures.

Disruptive and sustained technology: A disruptive technology is one that unexpectedly displaces
an established technology. In contrast to disruptive technology, sustained technology relies on
incremental improvements to an already existing technology.
Q3 Explain Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Intelligent Agents.

Answer:-

a) Explanation of ASR

The Automatic Speech Recognition technology works on seemingly very simple logic. It merely
converts the sound waves produced by a person into text content. So, for the process, speech is
the input and text is the output. This process involves the computer memory and fast processors
and works in the following manner:

1. First of all, the microphone receives the sound waves and feeds them into a digital converter.

2. Then the converter selects multiple samples at very high speed, similar to how a camera takes
a snapshot, at the speed of nearly 20,000 times a second.

3. The selected samples are put up for comparison with a vast number of stored sounds, in the
form of a template. These sounds match particular words. The system goes on to indicate the
matching template text to the nearest available match in the newly captured sound waves.

b) Explanation of Intelligent Agents

Intelligent Agents (IA), also called ‘bots’ by many people, is a technology which is used to
achieve tricky or recurrent tasks for an individual. Either through direct commands or by
working on a fixed schedule, the IA’s carry out a list of commands, which are collectively called
a script. IA technology is programmed to utilize the capabilities of other AI techniques,
particularly for conducting a search. A simple script checks the information for updates about,
let’s say, the stock market and when a piece of news that may be of interest comes up, alerts the
user through an e-mail automatically.