Task Force on
Learning from Case Studies in Decision Making and Decision Support
Chair of the task force: Fergal Carton, University College Cork Ireland
Email: F.Carton@ucc.ie
The 2010 meeting of the IFIP 8.3 Task Force
takes place in
Lund University in Sweden
on April 20th and 21st, 2010.
The principal theme of the meeting will be the role of information technologies in decision support. Through the discussion and presentation of current member research, we would like to explore the potential for information systems to be used to develop and implement decision models in today’s organisations. Decision making scenarios from a wide variety of contexts are welcome. A secondary theme would be the use of frameworks to understand and communicate the complexity of teaching cases, in terms of their business context and setting, as against the complexity of the underlying theories being taught. As an example, please see the Case complexity framework presented by Frederic Adam at the London 09 meeting of the task force. Using such a framework could help to build a portfolio of cases with purposeful gradation in complexity depending on intended audience or utilisation. The application of such a framework to the cases presented in Lund will provide presenters with an opportunity for publication.
You don’t have to be an existing member of the task force to attend, so please pass this invitation on to friends and colleagues. Membership of the task force is automatic once two events have been attended, so coming to this meeting gets a new participant halfway there. For the moment I would just need an indication that you intend to come to the meeting. No need to submit a paper,you will be asked to submit a title of your presentation as we get closer to the date (Watch this space). There is no registration fee, the only costs relate to food and refreshments over the two days, with an evening meal being planned for the Tuesday. For your information you can download Useful information about visiting Lundhere.
An Agenda for Research
The task force's research activities focus on: learning from case studies of decision making and decision support.
Our interest is primarily in a mode of research which focuses on single instances of phenomena, such that n = 1. This however, is not sufficient as this focus on single cases has sometimes been associated with (or criticised for) excessively descriptive types of research. Our aim therefore is to carry out such studies of single cases in a way that ensures that conceptualisation is always achieved at the end and that specific, observable and useable research findings are derived.
The accumulation of cases carried out can then be used to build up theories and frameworks of broad applicability to our field.
In this context, members of the task force have expressed interest in using the case study approach in a number of directions:
1. Decision Support and teaching / learning
2. Support for Interdisciplinary Teams
3. Physical environments for Decision Making
4. Information and Communication Technologies for Decision Support
5. Decision Making in the Adaptive organisation
6. Knowledge embeddedness in Decision Systems / Impact on organisational agility
Whilst it was noted that such a diversity of domains cannot possibly be researched by a small group of researchers, the existence of rich future perspectives within the group was an encouraging sign. Individuals have expressed interest in seeking to collaborate towards at least 3 of these directions and this will provide a springboard for the longer term future of the task force. These directions may find a home on the task force’s web site assuming that moderators come forward for them.
Publication of Task Force Work
The work of the group was published in a special issue of the Journal of Decision Systems: Vol 17. No1, 2008. It featured some of the best papers from the Paris, London, Budapest and Samos meetings of the task force The specia issue was edited by David Sammon and Patrick Humphreys.
Additionally, a book is being prepared on the specific topic of learning from case studies in decision making and decision support. This book will be in two parts: a first methodological part which will present a number of key chapters on how to research and write rich case studies and a second part with a selection of cases provided by task force members. Each case will be designed to demonstrate particular aspects of case study research and case study use in teaching. Many such cases are already available within the task force. Frederic Adam is leading this project. He has approached two major editors with this project and the feed back is good. The detailed call for chapters will be issued as soon as the contract with the publisher is signed.
Meetings of the task force
This task force was set up at the WG8.3 Cork conference in 2002.
Meetings of the task force were held in Paris 2003, London, 2004, Budapest, 2005, Cork, 2007 and London 2009.
Membership of the Task Force
Membership of the Task Force is open to all Members and Friends of WG8.3 who are interested in developing, comparing and publishing case studies in decision Making and Decision Support. For further information, please contact the Chair of the Task Force.
Current members of the task force are: Fred Adam, Marco Bohanec, Patrick Brezillon, Sven Carlsson, Fergal Carton, Joao Climaco, Eidi Cruz-Valdivieso, Jozsef Csicsman, Mary Daly, Guisseppi Forgione, Peter Gelleri, Rien Hamers, Patrick Humphreys, Garrick Jones, Peter Keenan, Piero Migliarese, Manuel Mora, Karen Neville, Peter O’Donnell. Dan O’Leary, Zita Paprika, David Paradice, Daniel Power, Ana Respicio, Simon Woodworth.
