Intention in Intervention: A Philosophical, Theoretical and Empirical Exploration

This thesis seeks to explore the role of agent or 'user' intention in the fields of Management Science and Systems Thinking. Primarily through the use of various modelling approaches these fields seek to provide assistance to organisational stakeholders who are looking to intervene in situations with a view to dealing with problems and/or bringing about some form of 'improvement'. Although the literature acknowledges that the various methodologies, techniques and tools of MS/ST can be used flexibly depending upon user intention, to date, intention itself has not been the subject of detailed investigation. The thesis seeks to plug this gap in the literature. In exploring intention in some detail the thesis interlinks philosophy, theory and empirical work. The philosophical and theoretical components allow us to conceptualise intention and better understand how it might work in concrete settings. The empirical component, conducted with a team of action researchers, grounds the discussion in practice. The main proposition of the thesis is that intention is a dual-sided phenomenon, i.e. "we do things intentionally, and we intend to do things" (Bratman, 1997). Thus intention has a present and a future side. The research reported on through the thesis shows how, through language and actions, both sides of intention can significantly shape the nature of interventions. This being the case, the value of the work is that it provides new ways of accounting for and learning from interventions; in particular, it provides new frameworks for practitioners to better reflect on and guide their actions

Geoidal Model for the North Zone of Colombia: Methodological Proposal

La Asociación Internacional de Geodesia (IAG) y la Asamblea General Internacional de Geodesia y Geofísica (IUGG) publicaron en julio de 2015 una resolución bajo el consentimiento de United Nations Initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) para la definición y realización de un Sistema Internacional de Referencia de Alturas (IHRS) promoviendo la mejora y la compatibilidad de los sistemas espaciales de navegación y de determinación de la posición, incluidos los Sistemas Mundiales de Navegación por Satélite (GNSS), y el acceso universal a estos. De esta manera en Colombia, la determinación de un modelo geoidal actualizado con mayor precisión es necesario para la definición de un nuevo sistema vertical de referencia nacional, este permite definir parámetros locales que faculte la conexión entre sistemas verticales de países vecinos y su implementación al IHRS e IHRF. Por consiguiente, este trabajo de grado desarrolla una prueba piloto en el cálculo de un modelo cuasi-geoidal en la zona norte del país, aplicando la metodología de mínimos cuadrados por colocación (LSC 3D), incluyendo en su proceso datos de tipo marino y continental, presentando una diferencia de alturas observables frente a las estimadas de alrededor de 4 cm.The International Association of Geodesy (IAG) and The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) issued a resolution in July 2015, with the consent of the United Nations Initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) for the definition and implementation of an International Height Reference System (IHRS) promoting the enhancement and compatibility of space navigation and positioning systems, including Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), and universal access to them. In this way Colombia, the determination of an updated geoidal model with greater precision is necessary for the definition of a new national vertical reference system, this allows defining local parameters that enable the connection between vertical systems of neighbouring countries and their implementation to IHRS and IHRF. Therefore, this work develops a pilot test in the calculation of a quasi-geoidal model in the north of the country, applying the methodology of least squares by placement (LSC 3D), including in its process marine and continental data, presenting a difference of observable heights compared to the estimated ones of around 4 cm.Instituto Geográfico Agustin Codazzi, IGA

What is Community Operational Research?

Community Operational Research (Community OR) has been an explicit sub-domain of OR for more than 30 years. In this paper, we tackle the controversial issue of how it can be differentiated from other forms of OR. While it has been persuasively argued that Community OR cannot be defined by its clients, practitioners or methods, we argue that the common concern of all Community OR practice is the meaningful engagement of communities, whatever form that may take – and the legitimacy of different forms of engagement may be open to debate. We then move on to discuss four other controversies that have implications for the future development of Community OR and its relationship with its parent discipline: the desire for Community OR to be more explicitly political; claims that it should be grounded in the theory, methodology and practice of systems thinking; the similarities and differences between the UK and US traditions; and the extent to which Community OR offers an enhanced understanding of practice that could be useful to OR more generally. Our positions on these controversies all follow from our identification of ‘meaningful engagement’ as a central feature of Community OR

Why so serious? Theorising playful model-driven group decision support with situated affectivity

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer via the DOI in this record.An integrative approach to theorising behavioural, affective and cognitive processes in modeldriven group decision support (GDS) interventions is needed to gain insight into the (micro-)processes by which outcomes are accomplished. This paper proposes that the theoretical lens of situated affectivity, grounded in recent extensions of scaffolded mind models, is suitable to understand the performativity of affective micro-processes in model-driven GDS interventions. An illustrative vignette of a humorous micro-moment in a group decision workshop is presented to reveal the performativity of extended affective scaffolding processes for group decision development. The lens of situated affectivity constitutes a novel approach for the study of interventionist practice in the context of group decision making (and negotiation). An outlook with opportunities for future research is offered to facilitate an integrated approach to the study of cognitive-affective and behavioural micro-processes in model-driven GDS interventions.This work was supported in part by the EU FP7-ENERGY- SMARTCITIES-2012 (314277) project STEEP (Systems Thinking for Comprehensive City Efficient Energy Planning

Applying OR to problem situations within community organisations: a case in a Danish non-profit, member-driven food cooperative

This paper focuses on how the use of Community OR (COR), specifically Systems Thinking (ST) and the Viable System Model (VSM) can help in addressing complex and uncertain problem situations within community organisations, in particular Alternative Food Networks (AFNs). Literature has highlighted the importance and benefits of AFNs, but also the complexity and uncertainty underpinning the majority of AFN related problem situations that limit decision making and strategic planning and threaten the long-term sustainability of AFNs. To address this issue, we discuss the use of ST via a VSM intervention within a member-driven food cooperative in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the changes in decision making and the organisational structure of the cooperative. We illustrate the application of the VSM and in particular the methodology for organisational self-transformation within ‘localist green communitarianism’ and ‘nonprofit management’ to tackle issues, enhance democratic and participative decision making, and changes in the organisational structure that foster coordination and cohesion. The implications for COR and Soft OR, limitations and future research directions are also provided

Facets of trust in simulation studies

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordThe purpose of a modelling and simulation (M&S) study for real-world operations management applications is to support decision-making and inform potential action, therefore investigating the aspects of the modelling process which influence trust is important. Previous work has considered the question of trust through the lens of model validation. However, whilst a simulation model may be technically well executed, stakeholders’ trust in the results may also depend upon intangible factors such as interpersonal relationships. Existing literature has also focused on the credibility of the simulation practitioner, however the credibility attribute belongs to the stakeholder, and it ignores the trust aspects that may exist between the stakeholders and the model itself. In this paper, we argue that different facets of trust emerge throughout the stages of a simulation study, and both influence, and are influenced by, the interaction between the model, the modeller and the stakeholders of the study. We present a synthesis of existing literature and extend it by proposing a formative model of trust which presents a conceptualisation of this tripartite relationship. Our contribution is the identification of the different facets of trust in the lifecycle of a modelling and simulation study. We argue that these interacting facets converge via the three-way relationship between modeller, model and stakeholders toward epistemic trust in the knowledge generated by the simulation study and ultimately model acceptability and implementation. To the best of our knowledge, ours is the first study that focuses solely on the question of trust in an M&S study.Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC

Uso de Metodologías de Intervención: Una Forma de Organización en donde se desconoce el poder

Es posible encontrar muchas propuestas de metodologías para la intervención en un contexto organizacional, y aún así, es extraño que la mayor parte de ellas no se refieran de ninguna manera al fenómeno del poder; fenómeno que pensadores tan disímiles..

Entrevista al doctor José Rodrigo Córdoba Pachón, profesor de la Universidad de Hull. Inglaterra

AD-minister is a biannual publication and manuscripts may be submitted at any time. Manuscripts for publication in AD-minister must be submitted in accordance with the guidelines set out in this document. They must be of an appropriate standard in terms

Juegos del lenguaje para la intervención. Segunda parte: Acerca de las reglas

Intervention methodology use can be seen as a Wittgenstein´s Language Game, this equivalence allows flexibility at the moment of combining methodologies from different paradigms in problem ? solving. This is the argument developed on the first of thes