Shedding light on complex business management

How social science research methods are shedding light on complex business management practices.

There is an increasing demand for more defined ways of understanding management practices and a growing need to use innovative social science research techniques to draw new insights from complex management phenomena.

David Alemna, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Portsmouth, has developed an innovative, data-driven case-based method that can help make these business practices clearer. Dynamic Pattern Synthesis (DPS) combines cluster analysis, configurational modelling and text analytics to explore how systems change over time, taking into account various explanatory factors that may determine the outcomes. The technique can be used to develop

“Applying innovative mixed-method techniques provides a multidimensional perspective to observing a phenomena understudy. Such methodological approaches can also be utilised in assessing and enhancing business management practices.”

Dr David Alemna

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Area Studies, History, Politics and Literature, University of Portsmouth

a better understanding of complex management phenomena, as it combines qualitative investigation with quantitative analysis. By aligning strategies, structure and environmental conditions, this can lead to improved decision-making. The DPS method has recently been included in advice on policy evaluation methods submitted to the Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus (CECAN), a centre bringing together expert policymakers, practitioners and researchers to promote evidence based policymaking.