Research goals and approach

My research explores how boundedly rational policies interact with characteristics of operational processes to determine long-term productivity, quality, and profitability. In a way, my work can be though as taking the behavioral concepts of Cyert and March (A behavioral theory of the firm, 1963) down to the production floor. My core premise is that to understand operations we require an integrated understanding of the social systems that produce and consume products and services, as well as the technological characteristics of the systems that delivery them. My research is phenomenon driven, thus I spend a great deal of time working with managers, doing fieldwork, and collecting data. Methodologically, I am quite eclectic, having done work through the spectrum from qualitative research to ground theoretical developments to analytical models to derive operational insights from empirically grounded assumptions. I often use simulation models to formalize the representation of the behavioral and technological complexity of the situations I study. Through my carrer, I've made an effort to turn fieldwork findings into best-practice research papers or into pedagogical cases.

Current research projects

Major research domains