9.2.2 Improvement
Improvement is herein limited to focussed change undertaken on an existing or known entity, component, technique or idea that incrementally generates superior outcomes.
A process may undergo cumulative evolution where the end process or product adds value, relative to its immediate predecessors and constitutes a major change from the starting point (Dawkins, 1986: 43).
The completed innovation or improvement produces a complex source of change that does not stop with the alteration of an existing technical entity. It may also provide a conceptual basis for addressing problems that have a cumulative impact on both an organisation and even a society. Thus the wider technological environment - social, political, economic or organisational factors - may be influenced by technology change and in turn produce secondary effects that are far from apparent immediately after the original innovation's introduction (Kranzberg, 1986:545).
The impact of change may therefore be spread over an extended period of time with only minor incremental improvements to existing processes, technology or ideas (Lundstedt & Colglazier, 1982:xxiii). The impact and course of change may also be complicated by technical drift of the introduction of innovations from other countries or other organisations.
The incremental change to technology can be overtaken on occasions by radical or dynamic 'breakthroughs' in technology that quickly alter existing products or processes and may swiftly alter existing environmental conditions within which future technological innovation occurs (Hughes, 1982: 32 and Landau, 1982:54). The more radical a 'breakthrough', the wider is the base for new or novel innovative effort to accelerate technology change.
Because significant discoveries and technological change cannot be ordered or pre-ordained, the innovation that changes technology may be derived only long after the original 'breakthrough'. Hence great periods of innovation can then be followed by stagnation. However, as organisations recognise the competitive advantage in quickly identifying and adopting conceptual breakthroughs, cross-fertilisation of ideas and practical usage have seen a quantum leap in improvement and innovation at an organisational level. Unlike the late Industrial Age, in the Information or Knowledge Age the impact of a final innovation is occurring sooner as organisations realise that the speed of converting conceptual ideas into applied realities is in fact an area of competitive advantage.
The search for a better product, procedure or idea is on going. As correctly identified by Foster (1986:102) "... rarely does a single technology meet all customer needs".
In the area of competitive advantage in the Information Economy it is an organisation's capacity to search for, and apply innovations and improvements made by others to their own processes, that can accelerate effective change. Management of such incremental change has become a far more complex practice as not only the hardware (equipment), but the advancement of processes and practices have profoundly impacted how organisations are structured and controlled.
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