What do women scientists need to know for career advancement into senior level positions? Our declining economic conditions have been the cause for major political and technological changes. The U.S. Congress is turning toward technology to increase our competitive edge in the world. Allowing women scientists, and women engineers in particular, more voice in the decision making process may be an innovative alternative for the diversity and flexibility needed for the unknown technological problems of the future. But first women scientists need to know how the system measures scientific achievement and how to identify the processes needed to increase our technological capability in order for them to formidably compete and win higher ranking positions

Marlaire, Ruth Dasso

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

N94- 35966
WOMEN AS A RESOURCE FOR THE FLEXIBILITY REQUIRED
FOR HIGH TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION
RUTH DASSO MARLAIRE
SYRE, Inc.
Mountain View, California
Summary
What do women scientists need to know for career
advancement into senior level positions? Our declining
economic conditions have been the cause for major politi-
cal and technological changes. The U.S. Congress is
turning toward technology to increase our competitive
edge in the world. Allowing women scientists, and
women engineers in particular, more voice in the decision
making process may be an innovative alternative for the
diversity and flexibility needed for the unknown techno-
logical problems of the future. But first women scientists
need to know how the system measures scientific achieve-
ment and how to identify the processes needed to increase
our technological capability in order for them to formi-
dably compete and win higher ranking positions.
Introduction
The United States is in the midst of an economic change
that most would agree is comparable to the Industrial
Revolution. It is the threat of losing our dominant position
in the world market that has caused deep concern and
action by legislators and businesses. Foreign competition
and the decay and dislocation of our manufacturing
industries has caused a nation to look toward high tech-
nology for new economic growth. When the economy
was growing rapidly, it was a concomitant belief, albeit
an unchallenged belief that research fueled this expan-
sion. The country is undergoing major transformations in
order to reclaim its hegemonous position in the world
economy. While we are still at a formative stage in this
process, serious issues need to be addressed. Some of the
key questions to be asked are: Can science and technol-
ogy research assure us a dominant position as a world
leader? How much money should be spent on science and
technology research, and what should it be spent on? Who
are the true beneficiaries, and will this change only
perpetuate women's subordinate place in society or
provide new possibilities for them? It is the purpose of
this paper to investigate the revolutionary changes being
made in our society and their impact on women in
general, and women engineers in particular, as well as
their work.
A nation's share in world trade in high-technology
manufactured products is often used as a measure of its
technological capacity (ref. 1). When considering the
cause of our current economic crisis, the finger of blame
points to our past technological performance. Since the
1980s, one of the most obvious and significant changes
that has occurred is a trade imbalance between the num-
ber of manufactured products we exported and imported,
particularly in the high-tech areas. Upon further examina-
tion, it becomes apparent that it was less of a deficiency
in our own capabilities than it was a coordinated effort by
our competitors at developing capabilities that manufac-
ture goods of higher performance, a better quality, or a
better price. When other nations, led by Japan, began to
develop capabilities for synthetic innovation focusing on
commercial products the U.S. started to lose its dominant
position in the world market.
The U.S. economy has arrived at a point where other war
ravaged foreign industries are now in a position to
formidably compete with the U.S. for a larger portion of
the world market. Between 1985 and 1987, the United
States showed an increase in total national assets from
$30.6 trillion to $36.2 trillion, while Japan's total national
assets rose from $19.6 trillion in 1985, to an unimaginable
$43.7 trillion in 1987 (ref. 2). The importance of this time
frame is that it shows Japan, a small island with few
natural resources, surpassing the U.S. in national wealth.
This has resulted in shrunken profits and thus fewer
resources to be allocated. The remedy became a short-
term fix that borrowed heavily from foreign countries. By
1989, America's loss of economic power was reflected by
a major decline in comparative world assets and purchas-
ing power. This enormous transfer of wealth resulted in
the U.S. being transformed from the world's largest
creditor nation into the world's largest debtor nation. This
economic decline has created doubts about not only the
nation's ability to retain its influence and standing in the
world, but its ability to retain its political and military
power that ultimately depend on our economic strength
and vitality.
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https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19940031459 2020-06-16T10:48:06+00:00Z
What Can We Reasonably Expect from
Science and Technology Research?
In 1983, Congress proposed over two hundred pieces of
legislation to make science education and high technol-
ogy a national priority. This consensus affirms the general
belief that by strengthening our scientific and technologi-
cal enterprises, we will revitalize our competitiveness in
the global market which is now seen as crucial to both our
country's well-being and military security. It is this
understanding of technological innovation that suggests
innovations are solely the product of research develop-
ment. Although the evidence suggests otherwise, the U.S.
has established a mechanism for systematically funding
science while neglecting to establish a comparable system
that promotes a technological process of innovation. The
development of a science policy was assumed to carry
within it an adequate technology policy.
It is difficult to demonstrate any clear correlation between
research spending and the state of the economy. However,
a frequently used indicator of a country's relative strength
in science and technological capabilities is the number of
Nobel Prizes awarded to its scientists. It is believed that
the awarded Nobel Prize reflects the quality of an indi-
vidual's contribution to science and if there are a number
of Nobel Prizes awarded to individuals from a particular
country, then that country would have greater potential or
likelihood at being the world's leader in technological
innovation and capability. Such a study was conducted to
test the correlation between science achievement and
industrial leadership. The national patterns of Nobel Prize
winning were plotted against the rate of _owth of either
gross domestic product or manufacturing labor produc-
tivity. The results showed that among the countries that
have hosted Nobel Prize winning science in chemistry
and physics since 1945, the nations that have hosted
fewer Prizes per capita have better economic perfor-
mance, thus a negative correlation was identified (ref. 1).
The cash squeeze caused by our economic decline led to
the development of "performance indicators" that not
only assesses our national strength in science, but also its
estimated relevance, effectiveness, productivity and
investment return. What has become one of the most
frequently-used indicators for estimating the quality of
research is a statistical tool called bibliometrics. This
approach uses the number of scientific publications and
patents in a field that are authored by a nation's scientists
as a measure of the quantity of that nation's contributions
to that field. Some of the explicit assumptions of biblio-
metrics are that scientific research publications and
U.S. patent records are legitimate measures of research
output and that their citations and influence weights can
be used to assess the relative importance of quality
research or its scientific impact. It would seem that high-
quality scientific publications are cited more frequently
by other scientists than other work. Bibliometric indica-
tors are being used to charter a comparative analysis of
international research productivity; investigate specific
topics for key patents and their leading researchers in the
field; monitor the research activity of key scientists; spot
technological trends; and provide hard data for business
firms for planning, acquisitions, partnerships, and overall
strategic direction.
Research and development (R&D) programs reflect our
government's role in determining the theoretically
possible activities in selected areas, sectors, or product
types. Creating an R&D institution for systemic innova-
tion is quite new. It is now generally accepted that basic
research is only one of the things a country needs in order
to be successful in commercializing new technology.
If our national goal is to increase our ability to compete
commercially in the world market, then we must develop
our strategies more carefully. To be successful innovators,
we must ask the question: How can we develop a better
product in order to make it commercially more competi-
tive? This information is not found in doing science, but
by talking to our customers. Surveying customers' needs
and listening to their desires is the first step. It should be
noted that upon listening to the concerns and information
being provided by the customer, it is the practical
problems that have been the source for identifying
fundamental questions and important innovations. If we
ask how to make a product less expensive, of higher
reliability, or a better match to our customer needs we are
improving the quality of the design, production, or pro-
cessing (ref. 3). By developing "total flexibility" within
production systems, we are combining the custom-
tailoring of products to the customers' needs and desires
with the power, precision, and economy of modern pro-
duction technology. The strategic goal witl be to deliver
high-quality products tailored to each customer at mass-
production prices (ref. 4).
Stephen J. Kline, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at
Stanford University, suggests that engineers need to be
taught not only the basics of manufacturing and how to
apply its principles, but also which forms of innovation
are important in commercial competition." We need to
teach some of our brightest engineers the basics of
manufacturing and encourage them to continue career
paths in this area. We also need to teach our engineers
about which forms of innovation are more or less
important in commercial competition, a topic we seldom
address in our schools. There is a category of information
called technological knowledge, which, although
38
consideredinferiortoscientificknowledge,onbalanceis
more relevant for success in commercial markets."
When examining the individual's role in innovation, we
realize that this includes a broader use of the concept of
technical knowledge. Technical knowledge includes not
only what we call the principles of science but also an
engineering analyses of problem solving not specifically
addressed by science. This includes codes, practices,
knowledge about controlling and trouble-shooting
specific processes and systems, and many forms of spe-
cialized skills using trained coordinated muscle responses.
For instance, operating machinery and instruments may
require eye-hand coordination or similar time-response
coordinated movements. This type of individual technical
knowledge does not appear in published materials as
much as in the coordinated reflexes of many working
technologists. Problems that arise in the technological
workplace exercise a major role in shaping the research
agenda of science. The workplace can be used as a plat-
form to observe the problems that arise in industry and
may be our best source for innovative improvements.
Workers' technical skills and experience are now an
integral part of the innovative process. No longer is it to
the advantage of management to treat their workers as a
cost to be controlled but should be seen as an asset to be
cultivated. The skills and experience developed by the
worker are important sources for identifying significant
innovative processes for greater productivity and future
commercial products.
Women's Role in High Technology
Innovation
The various skills and experiences the employee brings to
the job may be an important source for identifying alter-
native solutions for the unknown technological problems
of the future. The commercial market operates within an
international market that by its very nature is diversified.
When developing an innovative process that focuses on
our competitiveness in the world market, diversifying our
options, giving ourselves permission to view things
differently, may be our greatest strength. Women as a
group show this type of diversity in their skills, experi-
ences, and perspectives. No single person can be expected
to have the definitive answer for our future problems.
However, listening to a variety of suggestions may
provide the pieces needed to arrive at the best possible
solution. The greater the diversity in employee participa-
tion, the greater the potential for more alternatives.
Diversified alternatives will increase our options for the
unknown problems of the future.
The more significant changes that have occurred over the
past decade are the_ enormous increase in women's labor
participation and th6 Unprecedented rate at which change
is occurring. The wage-earning American and working
women in particular are experiencing the greatest impact
of these changes. Over the past decade, almost 7 out of
10 new entrants to the American work force have been
women. Between 1975 and 1985 alone, more than 13 mil-
lion women entered the workforce. By 1986, 55% of all
women over the age of 16 were working outside the home
(ref. 5). When many of the manufacturing jobs were lost
or relocated, American males lost their means to earning a
subsistence wage for their families. This resulted in
women leaving the home and moving into the labor force
in order to make up the differences in lost wages.
Today, in an economy where there is a "revolution" in
women's labor-force participation there has been very
little change in the conventional role structure of family
life. On the average men perform an estimated 15 hours
of household work per week while women perform 34.
As many as a 25% of American husbands do no house-
work other than some basic child care (ref. 5). American
motherhood has been transformed in less than a genera-
tion as well. In 1960, 20 percent of mothers with children
under 6 years old were in the labor force, that has
expanded to 58%, with most of them working full-time
(ref. 6). Women's life duties show her constantly tailoring
her work and abilities to fit the needs and demands of
those who are her responsibility. Restructuring job duties
on demand, broadening responsibilities, taking on new
tasks in regular job rotations both in and outside the home
produce a female work force with the potential for
responding more rapidly and creatively to new problems.
Skill and flexibility are the result of work experiences in a
variety of assignments.
According to the MIT Commission on Industrial
Productivity, innovative bench-marking includes a team
approach to product and process development, closer
relations with suppliers and customers, and a more demo-
cratic workplace that includes flatter organizations,
increased sharing of information, employee participation
in decision-making, profit sharing, increased job security,
a commitment to training, and continuous improvement.
Innovative factors such as these can only work to the
advantage of women who often get shut out of the scien-
tific and technological enterprises. Like the timeline of
any research program, there are only a few strategic
points at which input into the decision-making process is
feasible or effective. For instance, technological design is
at its most flexible during the initial stages of the process.
Other opportunities present themselves at the beginning
of each phase or subphase of production. The further
along in the process, the less of an impact later decisions
39
willhaveonthefinalproduct.Onceinmotion,the
possibilityofchangingorhaltingitsimplementations
unlikely(ref.7).Thesametimelinexistsforany
process;thewindowofopportunityoccursattheforma-
tivestage.It wouldseemmoreequitableandinnovative
tohavewomenbetterepresentedinthedecision-making
processwherechangeismostlikelytooccurwhetheron
committeesorthroughouttheproductionprocess.Women
asagroupshowauniquediversityintheirskills,experi-
ences,andperspectives.If weconsiderourplaceintime
andthediversityofourchallengesinfrontofus,it is
clearlythemomenttomoreseriouslyconsiderawoman's
pointofview.A traditional,one-dimensionalapproachto
innovationisself-defeatingtothewholeprocess.The
greaterthediversityinemployeeparticipationthegreater
thepotentialformorealternatives.A multi-dimensional
approachtoproblem-solvingcreasesouroptionsforthe
unknownproblemsofthefuture.
Conclusions
The rapid rate of technological change is expected to
continue. The U.S. is an integral l_art of the world market
and our economy will continue to reflect our relative
success at international commercial competition. The
long term solution to our economic problems is continu-
ous innovation which includes a better combination of
market forces, consumer preferences, and technological
opportunities. An era of "total flexibility" by production
systems will combine the custom-tailoring of products to
the customer needs and desires with the power, precision,
and economy of modern production technology. The
strategic goal will be to deliver high-quality products
tailored to each customer at mass-production prices.
Regardless of how much a company invests in capital
equipment, automation cannot replace human mastery of
modern technology and experiences. Innovative human-
resource policies promote participation, trust, flexibility,
employment security, and teamwork. The enormous
increase in women's labor force participation, an unfair
share of domestic duties, a subsequent newly structured
motherhood, and a lack of support by business and
government show women as having an enormous capacity
for flexibility and strength. Workers, managers, and
engineers will be continually and broadly trained in the
continuous innovation needed for a diverse international
market of which women me already showing an
enormous capacity.
References
1. Congressional Research Service: The Nobel-Prize
Awards in Science as a Measure of National
Strength in Science. Science Policy Study
Background Report No. 3. Washington, D.C.:
Congressional Research Service, Library of
Congress, 1986, pp. xiii, 42.
2. Phillips, K.: The Politics of the Rich and Poor:
Wealth and the American Electorate in the
Reagan Aftermath. New York: Random House,
1990, p. xii.
3. Kline, S.: Styles of Innovation and their Cultural
Basis. ChemTech, August, 1991, pp. 473-480;
September, 1991, pp. 525-535; November,
199t, pp. 654-659.
4. The MIT Commission on Industrial Productivity:
Made in America: Regaining the Productive
Edge. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1989.
5. Currie. E; and Skolwick, J.: America's Problems:
Social Issues and Public Policy. Glenview, I!1.:
Scott, Freeman, 1987, pp. 170, 225.
6. Chira, Susan: 90s Morns are Saddled with Myths of
the 50s. San Jose Mercury News, October 8,
1992, p. A-1.
7. Zimmerman, Jan: Once Upon the Future: A
Woman's Guide to Tomorrow's Technology.
New York: Pandora, 1986, pp. 147, 132.
Biography
The author has a B.A. in Biological Sciences and
Chemistry and an M.A. in Sociology. Her past work
experiences have been as a librarian in a major university
research library and at the Library of Congress. Today,
she is a librarian at the VMS Laboratory, NASA Ames
Research Center.
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Women as a resource for the flexibility required for high technology innovation

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