Short description:

This book is dedicated to technological challenges and management with special emphasis on new advances and challenges that today's organizations are facing, resulting from the continuous and highly complex changes in technological resources. Technological innovation in the management and engineering area, worldwide, is facing enormous challenges by sweeping political, social, and economic changes. This book helps managers, engineers, policy makers, strategists, practitioners, and researchers understand and develop effective responses to meet these new challenges.

Long description:

Today?s organizations find themselves in a race to adopt new technologies in order to keep up with their competition. However, two questions must be answered: Are these organizations ready for new technological advancements, and are these new technologies appropriate for every organization? Technological Challenges and Management: Matching Human and Business Needs focuses on the new advances and challenges that today?s organizations face in the areas of human resources and business, resulting from continuous and highly complex changes in technological resources.

Organizations need to implement a more proactive and flexible management, matching their human and business needs. Due to this reality, it is important to study and understand varied contributions made by researchers, academics, and practitioners in this field of study worldwide. With the focus of this reality, this book exchanges experiences and perspectives about the state of technological challenges and management research, and future directions for this field of study. It also takes into account the deep implications that these challenges have in the organization of human resources.

The authors support academics and researchers and those operating in the management field in dealing with different challenges that organizations face today. This is especially true concerning the relationship between technological changes, human resources management, and business. They propose the sharing of knowledge, through debate and information exchange, about technological challenges and management, matching the critical items of human and business needs. The book is divided into seven chapters that span from evaluating new technologies to finding the perfect fit.

"The book is filled with practical knowledge that can be applied to real-world, modern day management practices that aim to change the culture and identity of an organization with a global presence. The book provides an innovative look at how organizations can use electronic methods and internet technologies to effect change management that is in line with global aspirations of technology driven organizations. The book is very well written for the practicing manager with proven leadership abilities."
? Professor Mark J. Jackson, Kansas State University

Table of Contents:

Fashion or adoption? Harmonization of new technologies with strategy, structure, and culture. Technological and organizational changes: Challenges for HRM. The concept of e-HRM, its evolution and effects on organizational outcomes. Organizational change success as a communicational agency effect: Structuration, textualizing, and networking. Electronic human resource management in SMEs: An exploratory study in a Portuguese municipality. Collaboration in processes supported by Web 2.0: The emergence of interactivity. Enhancing online fashion retail: The quest for the perfect fit.