Impressions from IAMOT 96

Dr. Koty Lapid accounts what happened at the conference:

IAMOT Conference...

More than 300 university lecturers and industry experts heard Tarek M. Khalil, the Fifth International IAMOT Conference Cochairman, saying at the Awards Banquet of this conference, that at this event there were 36 countries being represented. Among the issues that were related to Management of Technology, was the topic of Organizational Learning.

Most of the papers presented on 'Organizational Learning' were based on the notion that Organizational Learning is perceived as the ability of economic units to screen, filter, and respond to data on threats and opportunities generated by external processes. The presenters agreed on the fact that change is occurring at rates that are increasingly rapid, fundamental, thus the competitive positions of economic units over time are increasingly dependent on the ability of the organizations to develop structures and systems which is more adaptable and responsive to change.

A. K Glasmeier, M.M. Mark, I. Feller and K. Fuellkart in their paper (Strategic Information, Firm Learning and Manufacturing Modernization: Three Concepts in Need of a Paradigm) presented the new types of learning at the small- and medium-sized manufacturing firms. They talked about 'new ways of thinking of production', 'shift from maximum utilization of machines and equipment to the concept of maximizing system utilization' and 'recognizing the long-term commitment needed to make total quality management and continuous improvement a part of the organization's culture.'

K. Lapid's paper 'Organizational Learning During Transition Period: A Study of Organizational Learning in Hungary', dealt with organizational learning that fostered the change of the rather inflexible industrial plants established under the communist system into modern factories during the first years of liberalization in Hungary. The organizational learning in the companies the author researched was so extensive that it crated a cultural change within the companies involved. The presentation also dealt with the issues: how the companies learned and adapted to the demands of rapidly changing markets, and how they learned to focus only on those areas where it had a degree of competence.

R. Mason from Case Western Reserve University, in his paper titled 'SMEs and the Information Superhighway', proposed a new type of organizational learning which emphases the benefits comes from the use of Information Superhighway.

A. Daghfous and M. Hottenstein in their presentation of their paper titled 'Technology Transfer and Organizational Learning: Insights for Industrial Modernization Centers', mainly centered on the review and linkage of the technology transfer and organizational learning literature from a theoretical standpoint. Besides that they derived new insights and propositions for modernization programs. They found that it is more effective to focus on the creation of learning organizations and on the development of learning capabilities and the individual and organizational levels, than to focus on the mere transfer of rather generic information, knowledge and technology.

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