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The Idealization of Technology: Power Relations in an Engineering Department

Case Western Reserve University

The management of technological development involves a dilemma; the manager must strive to understand the diverse specializations required to develop new technology, but he must focus on integrating these specializations. The former requires knowledge, the latter power. It is my contention, however, that in technologically-oriented work groups, there is a tendency for the importance of technology to be exaggerated while power issues are ignored. This process is referred to as the idealization of technology. The result is an inattention to organizational goals and cooperative processes. In this essay, the interpretive concept of culture and the psychoanalytic theory of idealization is used to investigate this problem. The framework is applied to an engineering department whose primary work is the development of advanced technological products. The process of idealization distorts organizational reality in such a way that continual distortions are needed, is a cultural mechanism that is used to mediate the conflict between the exercise of power and the fear of power, integrates the individual into the organizational culture while simultaneously undermining cooperative relations, and encourages conformity while undermining power relations.

Human Relations, Vol. 42, No. 7, 575-592 (1989)
DOI: 10.1177/001872678904200702


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