Teaching the Global Dimensions of Technology Management: A Framework for Course Development

Technology management education emerged in order to enable technology- driven firms link strategic management goals to their technological capabilities and requirements. Technology in the broadest sense has become a driver for individual firms and entire industries, as well as being the key component for the increasingly complex global economy. It is therefore a given that technology management programs need to provide a thorough understanding of how technology impacts the global economy, and vice versa, how to manage globalized technology. This paper provides a framework for the development of courses that address this requirement. In particular, the framework focuses on study-abroad courses, which allow integrative, cross-cultural learning while being exposed on-site to the effects of globalization. Two methodologies are combined to build the framework. As part of a vision-driven approach to program development, program and basic course learning objectives are defined. Second, a systems perspective is used to identify the relationships between business, society, and governments, for which technology management education is playing the role as mediator. Course learning objectives are mapped to the identified relationships. Based on these refined learning objectives, the detailed visits and activities for a study-abroad trip are developed. This process is exemplified with the case of a study-abroad trip to China, which is a mandatory course in an existing technology management program. The paper concludes with recommendations to educators on how the framework can be applied in order to customize such courses for visits to different countries or regions.