Current Projects
At the moment I am working on several interesting projects.
How thinking effects the way we frame complex problems
For the past eight years I have had the courage and sheer stupidity to be interested in how people think. I first got interested in this when I was studying Soft Systems Methodology. What fascinated me was how the way we think determines the way in which we frame or come to understand human problems. At the moment I am looking at some different projects on this super important (to me) topic:
- Looking at how healthcare workers frame the role technology plays in organisations
- The role framing plays in Strategy
- How students who are taught complex problem solving skills behave and thinking about how learning impacts the way complex problems are justified
- The role framing plays in social media strategy. In particular, I am looking at how trust, value exchange and other ‘cognitive’ things impact on how people both use social media to frame strategy, and how these problems can be part of a broader business development opportunity. This is a work in progress and I am still defining it. So far we have found trust and social equity to be the main reasons for participation in commercial projects. If you want to be involved contact me.
Workarounds or ‘Feral Systems’ in ERP Systems
A side project from my main PhD work was found when I was doing a case study. A large percentage of operational workers decided to use workarounds to navigate around a very expensive corporate ERP. Feral Systems (sometimes called ‘Shadow Systems’ or ‘Skunkworks’) are systems people make to workaround the shortfalls in expensive systems. You find them everywhere and I think it’s a worthwhile challenge to modular ERP systems.
Education projects
Another one of my side interests is using blended learning technologies in higher education. So far we have looked at using wikis to foster collaboration in a post graduate course. We also studied how critical thinking, if embedded in a course, can bring about deep learning in students studying technical courses.
