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Ethnography
A fieldwork-based approach to understanding human social phenomena. It aims to build a descriptive understanding of the social phenomena from the perspective of those who participate in it. A central tenet of ethnography is that multiple aspects of a phenomena must be considered in relation to each other and that parts cannot be understood in isolation.
Dimensional and situational analysis
A methodological approach to interpret complex social phenomenon by addressing a situations parts, attributes, interconnections, context, processes, and consequences. Embedded in the assumptions that human understanding is constructed, contextual, and grounded. Views individuals as concurrently personal and social.
Tangible culture
A method for handling culture challenges in a variety of business initiatives including mergers and acquisitions, business alliances, business transformation and organizational restructuring. The tangible culture approach provides concepts that can be configured in multiple ways and makes culture a workable business topic for business leaders and employees.
Human-centered design
An approach to discover the characteristics of human beings that are applicable to the design of systems and inventions of all kinds. It advocates the systematic use of knowledge to achieve compatibility in the design of interactive systems of people, machines, and environments to ensure their effectiveness, safety, and performance.
The objective is to identify (or discover) the human characteristics of the intended audience for the design, and to create a design that fulfills them as completely and elegantly as possible within relative constraints.
Practice-based design
Practice-based design is an approach to the design of organizational interventions (technologies, processes, organizational design, and methods) that builds from an initial understanding of practice and then through a series of iterations refines the design and the understanding of the practice with the participation of practitioners. Through this process we are able to translate understanding of work practices into recommendations for organizational change. This 'translation work' involves working with employees, managers and other stakeholders in "opportunity mapping sessions" where various solutions or interventions are explored, prioritized and an action plan developed.
Explanatory modeling
Explanatory modeling involves the development of models that provide explanations (as compared to predictions) of phenomenon. We focus particularly on developing models from the point of view of those involved in activities of interest, sometimes referred to as the insider accounts. Explanatory models enable the mapping of conceptual relationships among elements of a "system" and utilizing this understanding to recommend changes and anticipate troubles.
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