Seeks to highlight the potential role of consumer values as a guiding force to technology. Posits, in order to assess these values, that considering the field of futures research in consumer behaviour is warranted. Discusses several models of futures research advancing the Delphi technique as a most appropriate methodology for predicting the future behaviour and preferences of consumers. Focuses on the notion that consumers' values can play a more prominent role in guiding the use of technology insofar as it relates to the production of consumable goods and services. Contends that the information revealed and examined here is vital for anyone concerned with an integrated approach to futures research, in particular for those organisations concerned in this market.
In this article the authors explore Albert Speer's (Hitler's Minister of Armaments and War) theories of organizational change "with the specific purpose of framing and accentuating the anomaly that organizational change agents such as Albert Speer represent in technological societies. On the one hand, Speer was an exponent of some of the most advanced, participative, and 'humanistic'... management theories being endorsed today. At the same time, however, he utilized these theories and practices to promote the goals of one of the most inhumane societies in the history of mankind.. The crimes of the Third Reich are essentially modern crimes, made possible by 20th century technology, which holds within it both great promise and great danger for human values." The authors discuss the limitations of present forms of organizational change and suggest new directions and perspectives for an emerging theoretical base.
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