The Challenge of the 21st Century: Managing Technology and Ourselves in a Shrinking World

Harold A. Linstone · Ian I. Mitroff

Jul 1994 · State University of New York Press

About this ebook

The population and technology explosions are shrinking the world to a system in which everything is interactive, forcing us to transcend traditional modes of thinking. In this book, the authors set forth the concept of multiple perspectives: technical, organizational, and personal. They begin the book with a multiple-perspective examination of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, a case that foreshadows the intensifying problem of managing hazardous technology in the coming decades. They then apply this approach, on a much larger scale, to the United States in the evolving global setting. Included in the discussion are issues such as the balance between short-term and long-term concerns and between individual and societal responsibilities. The interdependence and inseparability of the three perspectives is reflected in the focus on technological superiority, organizational rethinking, and imaginative personal leadership.

This book will help managers and students in business, engineering, science, and policymaking break away from exclusive concern with the technical perspective and thus help prepare them for the challenges of a new era.

About the author

Harold A. Linstone is University Professor Emeritus of Systems Science at Portland State University and editor-in-chief of Technological Forecasting and Social Change. He is the author or co-author of a number of books, including Multiple Perspectives for Decision Making and The Unbounded Mind: New Approaches to Business Thinking. Ian I. Mitroff is the Harold Quinton Distinguished Professor of Business Policy and Director of the Center for Crisis Management in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Southern California. He is the author of The Subjective Side of Science and co-author of five other books.