Publications by year
2020
White L, Lockett A, Currie G, Hayton J (2020). HYBRID CONTEXT, MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE: a CONFIGURATIONAL APPROACH.
Journal of Management Studies,
NA, NA-NA.
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White L, Lockett A, Currie G (2020). How does the availability and use of flexible leave influence the employer-employee relationship?.
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT,
59(5), 445-461.
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2019
White L, Kunc M, Malpass J, Burger K (2019).
Behavioral Operational Research: a Capabilities Approach.Abstract:
Behavioral Operational Research: a Capabilities Approach
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White L (2019). Conjoined capability, collective behavior and collaborative action: What's the connection?. In (Ed)
Behavioral Operational Research: a Capabilities Approach, 299-319.
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Burger K, White L, Yearworth M (2019). Developing a Smart Operational Research with Hybrid Practice Theories.
European Journal of Operational ResearchAbstract:
Developing a Smart Operational Research with Hybrid Practice Theories
The growth of technology-rich data-driven decision environments is seen by some as a challenge to the future relevance of Operational Research. Extant research remains unspecific about the distinct contribution that Operational Research can make in environments that are influenced by big data, data science and analytics. This paper explores the possibility that these environments hold the potential for a new integrative Operational Research offering, which we conceptualise as Smart Operational Research. In developing this proposal, we combine automated co-occurrence analysis of a corpus of literature with human-driven data interpretation to identify instantiations of hybrid decision-making. We then bring theory and practice together to outline the Smart Operational Research framework with the overall aim to enhance actionable insight and positive results for Operational Research practitioners.
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White L, Kunc M, Malpass J, Burger K (2019). Preface.
2018
White L (2018). A Cook's tour: Towards a framework for measuring the social impact of social purpose organisations.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH,
268(3), 784-797.
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Yearworth M, White L (2018). Spontaneous emergence of Community OR: self-initiating, self-organising problem structuring mediated by social media.
European Journal of Operational Research, 809-824.
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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.
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2017
Yearworth M, White L (2017). Demystifying facilitation: a new approach to investigating the role of facilitation in group decision support processes. In (Ed)
, 69-86.
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Demystifying facilitation: a new approach to investigating the role of facilitation in group decision support processes
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2016
Kunc M, Malpass J, White L (2016).
Behavioral operational research: Theory, methodology and practice.Abstract:
Behavioral operational research: Theory, methodology and practice
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White L (2016). Behavioural operational research: Towards a framework for understanding behaviour in OR interventions.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH,
249(3), 827-841.
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White L, Currie G, Lockett A (2016). Pluralized leadership in complex organizations: Exploring the cross network effects between formal and informal leadership relations.
LEADERSHIP QUARTERLY,
27(2), 280-297.
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White L, Burger K, Yearworth M (2016). Understanding behaviour in problem structuring methods interventions with activity theory.
European Journal of Operational Research,
249(3), 983-1004.
Abstract:
Understanding behaviour in problem structuring methods interventions with activity theory
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. and Association of European Operational Research Societies (EURO) within the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS). All rights reserved. This article argues that OR interventions, particularly problem structuring methods (PSM), are complex events that cannot be understood by conventional methods alone. In this paper an alternative approach is introduced, where the units of analysis are the activity systems constituted by and constitutive of PSM interventions. The paper outlines the main theoretical and methodological concerns that need to be appreciated in studying PSM interventions. The paper then explores activity theory as an approach to study them. A case study describing the use of this approach is provided.
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2015
Wang X, White L, Chen X (2015). Big data research for the knowledge economy: past, present, and future.
INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT & DATA SYSTEMS,
115(9).
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2014
Ackermann F, Franco LA, Rouwette E, White L (2014). Special issue on problem structuring research and practice.
EURO Journal on Decision Processes,
2(3-4), 165-172.
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White L, Currie G, Lockett A (2014). The enactment of plural leadership in a health and social care network: the influence of institutional context.
LEADERSHIP QUARTERLY,
25(4), 730-745.
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Yearworth M, White L (2014). The non-codified use of problem structuring methods and the need for a generic constitutive definition.
European Journal of Operational Research,
237(3), 932-945.
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The non-codified use of problem structuring methods and the need for a generic constitutive definition
When we use a PSM what is it we are actually doing? an answer to this question would enable the PSM community to considerably enlarge the available source of case studies by the inclusion of examples of non-codified PSM use. We start from Checkland's own proposal for a "constitutive definition" of SSM, which originated from trying to answer the question of knowing when a claim of SSM use was legitimate. By extending this idea to a generic constitutive definition for all PSMs leads us to propose a self-consistent labelling schema for observed phenomena arising from PSMs in action. This consists of a set of testable propositions, which, through observation of putative PSM use, can be used to assess validity of claims of PSM use. Such evidential support for the propositions as may be found in putative PSM use can then make it back into a broader axiomatic formulation of PSMs through the use of a set-Theoretic approach, which enables our method to scale to large data sets. The theoretical underpinning to our work is in causal realism and middle range theory. We illustrate our approach through the analysis of three case studies drawn from engineering organisations, a rich source of possible non-codified PSM use. The combination of a method for judging cases of non-codified PSM use, sound theoretical underpinning, and scalability to large data sets, we believe leads to a demystification of PSMs and should encourage their wider use. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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2012
Currie G, White L (2012). Inter-professional Barriers and Knowledge Brokering in an Organizational Context: the Case of Healthcare.
ORGANIZATION STUDIES,
33(10), 1333-1361.
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2011
White L, Smith H, Currie C (2011). OR in developing countries: a review.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH,
208(1), 1-11.
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2010
Mingers J, White L (2010). A review of the recent contribution of systems thinking to operational research and management science.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH,
207(3), 1147-1161.
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2009
White L (2009). Challenge of Research Ethics Committees to the nature of operations research.
OMEGA-INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCE,
37(6), 1083-1088.
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