At a recent dinner party I attended, the conversation was abuzz with personal strife and national calamities: the death of a mutual friend, a newly discovered cancerous tumor, and a hellacious divorce, as well as the stock market crisis, high school shootings, and weather storms of biblical proportions. Eight of us sat around the table, sharing moments of our lives, perceptions of the global village, and our visions of the next decade. With each new topic of the conversation, we tried to make sense of the rapidly changing world we live in, as well as determine our best course of action while individually navigating the shoals of impending disaster. It didn’t take long for us to realize that stress was a recurring theme in every aspect of our lives. In the midst of our apparent abundance and prosperity was the inherent knowledge that things were terribly amiss.
Technology, its Uses and the Institutions of the Market Economy
The very term ‘technology’ implies usefulness of some kind, for someone, most obvious at the level of the artefact, an object by definition given form by humankind and whose creation necessarily implies some human purpose, some human use. Innovation in its widest sense is then some change in the way technology relates to its uses. The questions this formulation begs are of social context – useful how and to whom? This book begins by following the convention that ‘management studies’ should be concerned with organisations operating within the market economy and in recent periods of time, a convention that follows the incessant demands for the subject to be immediately relevant to management practice. There is nothing wrong with such a demand in itself, but it does risk that we take the organisation and performance of the market economy for granted and forget that this is only one way of organising society and technology. One of the standard economics texts defines a market economy as one in which ‘people specialise in productive activities and meet most of their material wants through exchanges voluntarily agreed upon by the contracting parties’ (Lipsey 1989: 786). This clarifies the nature of the economic motivation for technology development for those directly dependent on the market economy for their financial resources – to improve, or to add to the stock of market tradable goods and services. Yet it ignores the institutional arrangements that are essential to a functioning market economy.
Regarding Contract
Contract Forms
The agreement (contract) is the written document, signed by the client and contractor, which is the legal instrument binding the two parties. This contract defines the relationships and obligations that exist between the client and contractor. It incorporates other contract documents by reference. The contract may require a construction performance bond for financial protection of the client in the event the contractor is unable to complete the work in accordance with the contract.The contract usually requires a contractor payment bond from the contractor to ensure that a surety will pay the labor force and material suppliers should the contractor fail to pay them. The use of this bond precludes the need for the labor force or suppliers to seek payment directly from the client, through liens or otherwise, because of nonpayment by the contractor. Certificates include those project forms that may be required for insurance, certificate of compliance, guarantees or warranties, or compliance with applicable project.
Contract Conditions
These define the rights, responsibilities, and relationships of the various parties involved in the construction process. Two types of contract conditions exist, General Conditions and Supplementary Conditions. The General Conditions have general clauses that establish how the project is to be administered. They normally contain provisions that are common practice. Definitions of project terms, temporary provisions, site security, and management process required, and warranties and guarantees are among those items addressed in the General Conditions. The Supplementary Conditions modify or supplement the general conditions to provide for requirements unique to a specific project and not normally found in standard General Conditions.
The agreement (contract) is the written document, signed by the client and contractor, which is the legal instrument binding the two parties. This contract defines the relationships and obligations that exist between the client and contractor. It incorporates other contract documents by reference. The contract may require a construction performance bond for financial protection of the client in the event the contractor is unable to complete the work in accordance with the contract.The contract usually requires a contractor payment bond from the contractor to ensure that a surety will pay the labor force and material suppliers should the contractor fail to pay them. The use of this bond precludes the need for the labor force or suppliers to seek payment directly from the client, through liens or otherwise, because of nonpayment by the contractor. Certificates include those project forms that may be required for insurance, certificate of compliance, guarantees or warranties, or compliance with applicable project.
Contract Conditions
These define the rights, responsibilities, and relationships of the various parties involved in the construction process. Two types of contract conditions exist, General Conditions and Supplementary Conditions. The General Conditions have general clauses that establish how the project is to be administered. They normally contain provisions that are common practice. Definitions of project terms, temporary provisions, site security, and management process required, and warranties and guarantees are among those items addressed in the General Conditions. The Supplementary Conditions modify or supplement the general conditions to provide for requirements unique to a specific project and not normally found in standard General Conditions.
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