Industrial Culture and Design Methodology

The debate on industrial culture emerges, both academically and practically, from the increasing awareness that design and use of technology reflects beliefs, priorities and orientations in the industrial communities which cannot be reduced to simple means-ends relationships. The evidence stems as much from the appearance of a new plurality in product design on such traditional core-areas of industry as machine tools, as from the fact that close examination of comparable production systems producing similar products, shows significant differences in terms of technical complexity, labour relations and innovative strategies.