Managers, Technology and Market Forces

The outcomes of major research, development, work organisation and training decisions arc very difficult to predict. Capitalist societies derive benefits from the use of the market mechanism to make many decisions more efficiently than they can be made by large armies of bureaucrats under centralised control. But markets can only select from those alternatives which are presented to them. The prevailing ideology encourages us to believe that, il' market forces are allowcd unfettered scope, wc shall arrive at the best of all possible worlds. This relics on the assumption that businesses compete to satisfy the population's needs and desires and that public bodies, whether central government, local authorities, nationalised industries, schools or universities, often fail to serve the public interest because they arc insensitive to their customers' needs and demands. Of cour3C, organisations which do not have to compete to satisfy customers' demands can be insensitive to the needs of their clients and customers. Although, for all their many imperfections, market forces play key roles in the economy, I shall try to show that the assumption that business always knows best is dangerous for the cconomy in rclation to innovation and education and training.