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THE PRESENT ERA: MANAGING CHANGE IN THE INFORMATION AGE 35 3 The Present Era: Managing Change in the Information Age POSTWAR CHANGES IN SCOPE After World War II the United States found itself in the role of "leader of the Free World." Its far-flung interests and commitments led it to export funds and technology to encourage development in the ravaged nations of Europe and elsewhere. (The Marshall Plan was the most extensive program of international assistance ever mounted.) The Cold War brought a continuing emphasis on national security, which had ramifications for space and nuclear technology as well as for "conventional" weapons systemsâthe latter growing more sophisticated each year. At home, the baby boom and a burgeoning economy fueled a massive increase in consumption of goods of every kind, while the continuing expansion of business brought about an accelerating flow of information in the workplace. The concept of changeârapid, even revolutionary changeâincreasingly dominated domestic and international reality. The time scale of events seemed to become shorter. In this context of increasing complexity and rapid change, four factors seem to stand out in their importance for the engineering profession: A great expansion of the role of government; a rapid increase in the amount of information present in daily life and work; the accelerating rate of technology development; and the internationalization of business and the marketplace.
