PSU Magazine Winter 1995

'New Era- NewChallenge' WE ARE ON THE BR! KOFA NEW ERA, one in which info rmat ion technology reign supreme, and the challenges are immense, ays Haro ld Linstone, professor emeritus of ystem Science. The impact of overpopulation and fas t-paced techno logica l adva nce led by information proces ing are shrinking the world to a "globa l megalopolis." ational boundaries are becoming transparent-stretched by the force of economic , communications, corporate enterprise, and environmental and hea lth issues. We are facing a wo rld of complex systems where eve rything interacts with eve rything. In the fo llowing exce rpt Linstone purposes the concept of multiple perspectives-technical, organi zational, and personal-as a means to dea l with the problem and management of these complex systems. The full article originally appeared in the 25th anniversary issue of Teclmological Forecasting and Social Changes. Linstone has served as editor-in-chief of thi international journal for it entire existence. The publicat ion is distributed to librarie and institutions in more than 40 countries. The journal article was adapted from Linstone's new book, The Challenge of the 2 lst Century: Managing Technology and Ourselves in a Shrinking World, written with Ian Mitroff, a University of Southern California professor. The book, published by tate Univer ity of ew Yo rk Pre , begins with a multiple-perspective examination of the Exxon Valdez oil pill in Ala ka, a ca e that foreshadows the inten ifying problem of managing hazardous technology in the coming decades. The approach i then applied on a much larger scale to the United States in the evo lving globa l etting. The book is geared for corporate planners and managers, engineering admini trator , and policy analysts. Linstone, who rece ived hi doctorate in mathematics, wo rked in the aero pace industry for Hughe Aircraft and Lockheed Corporation before joining the faculty at Portland State in 1970. He fo unded the graduate program in Systems Science at PSU where his students, armed with an apprec iation of the multiple-perspect ive approach, have gone on to such organization a Tektronix, Portland General Electric, US West Communication , Bonn ville Power Administrati on, and ho pita! perinatal health care. 12 PSU Magazine h challenge of balanced co-evo lution of technology, institutions, and the individual in the coming decades is an awesome one. onsider first the imbalance between technological and institutional/per onal rate of change. There are two obv ious alternative path ': l . Acceleration.of in titutional and personal change to match the izz ling pace of technolog ica l change, or 2. Slowdown of technolog ica l change to match the more placid pace of institutiona l and personal change. In the private ector, option one is the only possible path to success; a private ente rprise does not have the luxury of option two in a globa l village where compet itors abound and everything i connected. A stodgy corpora ti on that ignores the technological-institutional linkage is a candidate fo r bankruptcy, a poss ibility that c ncentrates the executive mind powerfully. In the public ector, option one is uncomfo rtable fo r the many who dread change. Haml et mused: "we rather bear those ills we have than fl y to others that we know not of." Thi approach requ ires bold political leadership and decis ion making under intensified pre ures of time and greater uncer– ta inty. lt be omes enormou ly difficu lt in a democratic soc iety where many ee technology in terms of \'anishing industries and job , threat rather than opportun i tie~.