Practical manifestations of the systems approach 

 to organization are seen in the variety of integra- 

 ted structures and new associational forms linking 

 research, development, and production activities that 

 have arisen in recent years. Research and production 

 complexes have indeed become a phenomenon of the 

 times. Regional R&D centers, modeled somewhat after 

 American research and industrial parks, have sprung 

 up in a number of areas and join industry and educa- 

 tional institutions or academy institutes and exper- 

 imental production facilities. 



Wrestling with the problems of innovation, Kremlin 

 authorities have become increasingly aware of the im- 

 portance of linkage and of the need to structure more 

 explicitly and effectively the vital interfaces in 

 the transfer process. Accordingly, linkage is a prom- 

 inent feature in the designing of new structures or 

 modification of established arrangements. The search 

 for more effective and flexible designs has also led 

 to rising interest in project and matrix forms of or- 

 ganization and management. Indeed, the matrix model 

 is seen by some analysts to be the ideal structure 

 for R&D in the future. It is regarded as an effec- 

 tive way of institutionalizing flexibility and sta- 

 bility. 42 At present, however, matrix organization 

 is still used on a limited and experimental basis in 

 civilian R&D. Nonetheless, current organizational 

 thought, at least in some prominent Soviet circles, 

 points to an expansion of the matrix and of other 

 shapes for R&D management in the 1980s. 



In sum, a new and more sophisticated style of 

 thinking about organization and the structural re- 

 quirements of technical progress has recently devel- 

 oped in the USSR. New attitudes and approaches are 

 emerging as the leadership begins to address some of 

 the fundamental structural problems impeding S&T per- 

 formance and capacity. Both foreign and domestic ex- 

 perience have convinced some segments of the ruling 

 elite that "the management structure of economic or- 

 ganizations should be designed no less carefully than 

 new technology," according to Georgy Arbatov, Direc- 

 tor of the Institute for the Study of the USA and Can- 





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