with these new management modes. These design con- 

 cepts are also being applied at higher levels of the 

 administrative structure as part of the process of 

 ministerial restructuring. The radio, chemical, and 

 electrical engineering industries are on the frontier 

 of experimentation in this area. 



Nonetheless, it is difficult at present to assess 

 the impact and future of these changes. Detailed in- 

 formation is lacking about the actual practice of pro- 

 ject and matrix management. Evidence suggests, how- 

 ever, that these organizational innovations are not 

 easily or rapidly assimilated. They challenge the 

 way organizations are structured and the way people 

 are managed. 70 The conversion to matrix management 

 and more sophisticated administrative arrangements 

 will necessarily be slow and difficult, as has also 

 been the transition to new management forms in the 

 United States. 



Finally, it is important to mention the growing 

 recognition in the Soviet Union of the need to make 

 R&D management a distinct and separate form of man- 

 agerial action and specialization. In the past inno- 

 vation was not made a managerial responsibility. Both 

 the researcher and manager have been characterized 

 by non-innovative role definitions. The introduction 

 of new technology fell entirely outside the normal 

 duties of enterprise executives and workers. Manage- 

 ment was geared to repetitive and unchanging produc- 

 tion operations. 71 To accommodate a more rapid rate 

 of technological growth, however, Prof. Popov and 

 others argue that a new kind of management is needed 

 that is oriented to innovation. The management of 

 R&D must be developed and included as an integral 

 part of the system of managing the enterprise, the 

 branch, and the economy as a whole. In addition, 

 this new managerial function must be put on a par 

 with the management of production, of finance, and 

 of supply. 7 More and more, then, Soviet specialists 

 appear to be coming around to the view shared by nu- 

 merous American analysts that innovation cannot be a 

 subordinate and part-time task. The problems are too 

 obstinate to yield to only occasional attention and 

 half-hearted action. 



280 



