Technology,organizations and incrementalism:high rise system building in the UK

Since th problems of inflexible technologies are well known, we may ask why they are selected. The case study here agree with others in a wider research programme in that there was a great deal of pain surrounding the inflexible innovation of high rise system built flats; there were technical alternatives which were more flexible; the technology was supported by a centralized bureaucracy whose perception of risk was distored; and there were organizaional alternatives which were less centralized. Lessons are drawn about the problems of developing inflexible technology and the degreee of organizational centralization appropriate for technological innovation. These are restated in terms of incrementalism. A good technology is one which can be developed incrementally, by a relatively decentralized organization.