Abstract

Technology and Know How arises from historical circumtances of tradition and part of man's experience. An individual's perception is the result of his experiences and traditions consisting of socio-cultures, economic values, and working habits. Therefore Technology and Know-How project a different mental picture to different people and their meanings are often clouded with ambiguity.

Implementing Technology and Know-How in a diverse society with a different experience and tradition is a complex process requiring the understanding of individual mental projections.

Implementation of this complex process is one of the many major problems that Indonesia is encountering in her efforts to transform into a Technology and Know-How oriented nation. Involment of foreign individuals and companies in the development of Indonesia's vast natural resources and technology infrastructures contributes to the people oriented problem.

The problems associated with differences in the individuals mental projections, negatively affects the working relationship between the Indonesians and foreign expatriates and thus reduces the effectiveness of the Technology and Know-How implementation process. This is a people orientation problem related to team-work, communication, motivation and idea generation. In addition it is the problem of top and middle management dealing with the interaction of people of different traditions and different perceptions.

This paper attempts to arrive at a common understanding, bring out the governing factors of the transformation process, assess the situation in Indonesia in conjunction with technology and know-how implementation, and outlines a workable approach that will make Technology and Know How implementation in Indonesia effective.

As an Indonesian educated in a technologically developed country and having been an expatriate himself working in both developed and developing countries, the author is a unique position to understand the mental projections of foreign expatriates as well as the Indonesians, and the development of Technology and Konw-How here in Indonesia and elsewhere.

In preparing this paper the author was assisted by an Indonesian who has worked with many expatriates, and an expatriate who has lived and worked in Indonesia for a number of years.