The innovation of innovation

The functions or roles of management in our inevitably changing environment are discussed. The evolution of management's role is traced, from that of a programmer of an inanimate, already existing system to that of a system engineer concerned with the process of innovation. This process is the perception, creation, and transformation of relevant science into new and improved products and services. It is suggested that a new view may be appropriate — that of a manager as the selective agent of change — using as an analogy the ecological management of innovation, in which the manager's role is to increase the probability that the adaptive response of the system will succeed.