Technology is a broad term that has been used—and abused—in many

contexts. We prefer to avoid it. For its broader meaning—essentially, the

knowledge base of the organization—we shall use the term complexity and
discuss it under environment. Here we shall focus on a narrower interpretation of
technology—namely, the instruments used in the operating
core to transform the inputs into outputs, which we shall call the technical
system of the organization. Note that the two concepts are distinct. Accountants,
for example, apply a relatively complex technology (that is, base of
knowledge), with a simple technical system—often no more than a sharp
pencil.