Problem structuring without workshops?: experiences with distributed interaction within a PSM process

Problem structuring methods (PSMs) have been widely and successfully used in many organizations, but the reliance on face-to-face meetings and workshops makes a typical PSM project difficult and time-consuming to organize, and means that the process may only involve a narrow cross-section of the organization. Yet much interaction in organizations is neither face-to-face nor even synchronous. This research seeks to (1) explore how the issues that arise in moderating such distributed interaction differ from the issues involved in facilitating a workshop and (2) identify the circumstances under which it makes sense to consider using the distributed mode of interaction within a PSM process. Three pairs of action research case studies using a distributed variant on the strategic options development and analysis (SODA) process are described, together with our answers to the above questions

The innovation of Multiview3 for development professionals

The Multiview Methodology for Information Systems Development has never been a widely used or mass-market approach. It has always had a small user base, a localised approach to a global issue: coherent IS development. This paper concerns the underreported innovation of the Multiview3 methodology for Information systems analysis, design and development – specifically designed for non-specialists working in developing countries. The innovation emerged from the identification of a methodological ‘gap’ in support for non-specialists struggling with Information Systems problem structuring challenges. The Multiview3 story tells us how IS methodology can be innovated to address the needs of users. This version of Multiview is argued to be theoretically distinct from previous versions in terms of its focus (developing countries) and application (problem solving and co-learning in practice)

Facilitated post-model coding in discrete event simulation (DES): a case study in healthcare

Research on facilitated discrete event simulation (DES) is gathering pace but there is still a need to put forward real examples to explain the process to newcomers. This paper is part of a line of research on the methodology of facilitated DES. In this paper we explain in more detail the facilitation process and the tools used to support the experimentation and implementation stages in a DES study involving workshops with a group of stakeholders, after an initial simulation model has been coded on the computer. A real case study is used to describe the process followed and the interactions at the workshops. Extracts from the transcripts are also included, with the view to providing evidence of the stakeholders’ involvement and their mood during the workshops. We conclude with a discussion on the process and tools used to support the facilitation process. Future research directions are also put forward

Group Support Systems: experiments with an online system and implications for same-time/different places working

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer via the DOI in this recordWe present an analysis of the Group Explorer Group Support System (GSS) from the perspective of its implementation as technology that can support same-time/different-places group workshops. The purpose of the chapter is to report on our experiences with using a same-time/different places GSS, introduce issues that arise from these experiences, and discuss future prospects. The chapter commences by reviewing our current understanding of GSS and how they support the use of distributed Problem Structuring Methods (PSMs) in both single organization and multi-organization settings. The configuration and use of a cloud-based online version of the GSS is presented that highlights some of the key technological, organisational and facilitation issues involved in supporting distributed PSM workshops. The future development of such online GSS is discussed with a particular focus on two emerging research questions; the future role of the facilitator in online GSS, and the commonalities between online GSS and social media platforms as different-times/different-places group working, such as crowdsourcing, become prevalent in the context of increasing globalisation and the ongoing decentralisation of work environments.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)European Union FP7European Union Horizon 202

Spontaneous emergence of Community OR : self-initiating, self-organising problem structuring mediated by social media

We develop a new constitutive definition of Community OR as a self-initiating, self-organising community actor network emerging spontaneously in response to a triggering event and showing evidence of non-codified OR behaviours leading to action to improve the problem situation. From this new definition we have re-conceptualised Community OR as a construct that can be empirically observed emerging from suitable behavioural data. Social media play an instrumental role, acting as both the source of data and the enabling mechanism through which this form of Community OR occurs. Social media afford new possibilities for community empowerment and participation, with consequences for social enterprise and citizenship. We use Actor Network Theory, and specifically the language of translations, hybrid forums, and Callon's Co-production of Knowledge Model (CKM), as the methodological basis for our definition and analysis. The appearance of hybrid forums as a self-organising response to community needs after an event would seem to be a natural milieu for a range of OR competencies. However, unlike traditional practitioner-led engagements, here the OR practitioner's competency enters in a supportive rather than leading role. We support our argument through the analysis of social media data arising from the community response to a devastating flooding event – the Carlisle floods of December 2015

Discovering everyday problem structuring

This single-site study of problem structuring (PS) explores how people structure problems within an everyday workplace. The study focuses upon situations and participants, decentring Operational Research (OR) Problem Structuring Methods (PSMs) to ask what happens when OR practitioners are not there. A minimal group PS model is synthesised from existing literature and examined in relation to an empirical case of “everyday PS”. Everyday refers to commonplace activity, occurring during ordinary days (Ybema et al, 2009) and not labelled PS by those who nevertheless seek to comprehend wicked, messy, swampy situations, perceive choices available, and agree upon meaningful action. Everyday PS is found to be more fluid and flexible than the formally designed and facilitated interventions typical of OR PSMs (Rosenhead and Mingers, 2001a), firmly embedded within the organisation as participants respond to situations that might be managed but never resolved (Ackoff, 1979a/1981). Whilst PSM interventions are based upon artefacts that are typically similar in structure, everyday PS participants were seen to use a wide range of extant and non-templated artefacts. Drawing attention to the influence of wider organisational events and ideas challenges existing assumptions around the centrality of methods and models to PS achievement. A new model of everyday PS is developed, portraying activity based around wider organisational influences and existing artefacts rather than methods and facilitated modelling. The concept of a collective prior appreciation of wicked, messy, swampy situations is developed, an appreciation that is maintained and evolved through everyday PS participants’ acts of alignment with extant organisational artefacts. Implications and lessons for OR PSM practice and potential links to academic literature in the areas of practice and organisation studies are discussed

Ways of Seeing Wholes: Systemic Problem Structuring Methods for the Uninitiated

Softer forms of systems thinking and Soft-OR (Operational Research) provide the theory, the methodology and the methods by which managers can see the situations they are trying to manage as wholes. They facilitate what has become known as “bigger picture” thinking and are widely acknowledged as effective ways to manage complexity. But despite nearly 50 years of development, the extent to which these ideas have penetrated mainstream management thinking and practice is very limited. Existing research suggests that adoption of systemic problem structuring methods (systemic PSMs) is frustrated by a number of factors. But questions about the take-up of systemic PSMs remain under-theorised. This thesis aims to deepen our understanding of how managers receive and take-up, and sometimes repudiate, systemic PSMs. It uses a qualitative multiple case study design to report findings from four interventions using systemic PSMs in four organisations (two from the UK and two from Romania). The findings are interpreted through the lens of Luhmann’s complex social systems theory. Applications of softer forms of systems thinking are better received and are more likely to be taken-up in situations where an existing organisational decision premise is contested and no longer functions as a stable reference point for future decisions. In these circumstances, managers show greater curiosity in systemic PSMs and are more willing to adopt them to generate new “ways of seeing”. However, they also present managers with a paradox. Used as a means to explore an organisation’s future, and as a means of deciding what that future could be, managers are more reluctant to perform “bigger picture” analyses if the product of such thinking is perceived to over-specify plans for the future; plans which might well turn out to be ill-adapted to a “future” that is fundamentally unknown. This changes the way we think about interventions using systemic PSMs and leads to a theory that produces a more nuanced understanding of the circumstances in which they might be needed and effectively deployed. Existing theory tends to focus on ideal-type problem contexts. But the near-manifestation of such contexts in actual practice does not automatically guarantee that systems-inquiring methods will be taken-up, for existing theory underplays the inherent decision logic of the organisation in which the intervention takes place and underestimates the organisation’s ability to create its own “secondary complexity”. Systemic PSMs are more likely to be in demand when existing “ways of seeing” have been exhausted