Introduction

We live in a world where the history of technological innovation and change (and its organisational equivalent) has been nothing short of remarkable. Indeed, it has long been recognised that these two forms of innovation sit at the core of capitalism and largely account for the ‘success’ of capitalist societies over other forms of economic and social relations (Harvey, 2010). Approaching this issue from entirely different ideological perspectives, Karl Marx in the nineteenth century and Joseph Schumpeter in the mid twentienth century both recognised technological and organisational innovation as a fundamental feature of the ‘creative-destructive’ tendencies of capitalism, although the extent to which the costs of the destructive aspect of this phenomenon are considered acceptable is a subject that divides opinion to this day.

This free course, Technology, innovation and managment, introduces you to a range of related concepts, ideas and debates that will enable you to develop a critical understanding of technological innovation and management.

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course T848 Managing technological innovation.