Service Systems Research (SSR) - Service Practices

Jeanette Blomberg manages the Service Practices group at the IBM Almaden Research Center. Jeanette's research focuses on the interplay between people, technology and organizational practices. Since joining IBM Research she has led projects focused on interactions among IT service providers and their clients, collaboration practices among globally distributed sales teams, and new approaches for designing work-based learning interventions. Prior to assuming her current position at IBM, Jeanette was Director of Experience Modeling Research at Sapient Corporation where she helped establish the Experience Modeling practice and managed Sapient's San Francisco Experience Modeling group. Jeanette was also a founding member of the pioneering Work Practice and Technology group at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Over the years her research has explored issues in social aspects of technology production and use, ethnographically-informed organizational interventions, participatory design, case-based prototyping, and work practice studies. She has published on these topics, given numerous invited talks, and offered workshops in the U.S. and Europe on the topic of aligning ethnography with product and service design. Jeanette is an active member of the Participatory Design community, serving as Program Co-Chair for 2006 conference. Jeanette received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of California, Davis where she taught courses in cultural anthropology and sociolinguistics.

John Bailey is a research scientist at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA, where he does service systems research and development. Since joining IBM, John has also held several positions within the Software Group, both managerial and technical. The most recent was as lead user experience architect for WebSphere Application Server, developing product experiences and strategies. Prior to joining IBM, John was a Consortium Research Fellow, conducting research in simulation, training, and virtual reality at the US Army Research Institute. He has published in the areas of virtual reality, human-computer interaction, automation, simulation and training, and systems administration. John has a PhD. in Human Factors Psychology from the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida.

Christopher S Campbell joined the Services Research group in 2003 to explore how people coordinate with one another and use technology to create service systems. Chris' research leverages his expertise in cognitive modeling and simulation to study the development, dynamics, and design of service systems---systems that integrate people, tools, and technology. His research is also focuses on informal coordination and collaboration in organizations, how individuals and teams use tools and technology to perform work, language and communication in work, and learning and training. Chris received his Masters in Experimental Psychology (1998) and Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology (2000) from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Melissa Cefkin is a member of the Service Practices group of Almaden Services Research. A Fulbright award grantee with a PhD in anthropology from Rice University, she is a business and design anthropologist with experience in research, management, teaching and consulting specializing in workplace ethnography, services research, product and service design and deployment, organizational change management, and learning research and program development. At IBM (since 2004) she has researched the work and collaboration practices of teams of sales professionals as well as on service relationships between local IT providers and small and medium businesses and she played a key role in the development of a practice-oriented methodology for application to varying business issues. She is dedicated to pursuing a critical understanding of the intersections of anthropological practice within business and organizational settings. Melissa was previously a Director of User Experience and member of the Advanced Research group at Sapient Corporation where she managed Sapient's New York office Experience Modeling team. Prior to that, she was a Senior Research Scientist at Institute for Research on Learning (IRL). Melissa has conducted research in Turkey, Germany, Spain, the UK and throughout the US. She is currently serving as the co-chair of the Ethnographic Praxis in Corporations 2007 conference, on the editorial board for Cultural Anthropology, and on the Committee for the Future of Print and Electronic Publishing for the American Anthropology Assoication, and is regularly contributor at conferences, on university campuses, on review boards, and for other professional association matters.

Cheryl Kieliszewski has been with IBM since November 2000, having most recently joined Services Research at the IBM Almaden Research Center in 2006, previously having worked in the IBM Systems and Technology Group. She is currently a Research Staff Member with a focus in understanding the impact of work practices on technological and organizational design to inform decision-making for human-system relationship definition within service systems. Prior to IBM, Cheryl was responsible for the technical research management of a multi-year FWHA project at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute investigating driver error, which also contributed to her Ph.D. research. Cheryl has over 10 years of research and applied human factors engineering experience investigating human behavior, investigating the implication of human behaviors and expectations on technology design and implementation, and designing technology in support of human behavior and expectations. She received her Ph.D. from Virginia Tech in Industrial and Systems Engineering with an emphasis in Human Factors Engineering.

Lisa Kreeger is a is a member of the Service Practices group of Almaden Services Research. Lisa's research focuses on interorganizational relationships and relational work in complex service systems. Since joining IBM Research she has led or participated in projects focused on relationship formation among IT service providers, and collaboration practices among globally distributed teams. Lisa came to IBM Research with over 10 years of management consulting experience focused on the dynamics of enabling change through collaborative leadership and teaming practices. Lisa holds a Ph.D. in Leadership and Change from Antioch University where she teaches Qualitative Research Methods and Leadership Studies. She holds a MBA from Seattle University and a dual Bachelor of Science (Nursing and Psychology) from DePaul University.

Rajesh Manjrekar is a Software Engineer at the IBM, ARC, since 2001. Rajesh's interests include data-mining and data-analysis using statistical methods. He has over 7 years of experience in design and development of software components in large scale distributed architecture. Rajesh received his Ph.D in Mathematics from the University of Ohio, Columbus.

Sara Moulton Reger is a member of the Service Practices group within IBM Almaden Service Research. Her current research seeks to overcome the challenges of organizational culture (www.TangibleCulture.com) and complexity in the workplace. Presently, Sara is applying her research to IBM's transformation and acquisition activities, and to companies seeking to transform and merge effectively. Before joining IBM Research, Sara was a practice executive in IBM's consulting services group and a management consultant since 1988, specializing in organizational change, culture transformation, governance and leadership at IBM and other leading consulting firms. Sara has published on a variety of topics including business culture, business complexity, change management, governance, e-business, communications, risk management, quality, and financial management. She is a Certified Management Accountant and holds an MBA in finance and management.

Jakita O. Thomas is a Research Staff Member at the IBM Almaden Research Center. Jakita's research focuses on understanding the development of complex cognitive skills, learning from experience/cases, and the role of coaching and mentoring. Her research also explores how technology can be integrated into learning environments of all kinds to promote deeper, more flexible learning. Since joining IBM Research, she has participated in projects focused on collaboration practices among large globally distributed teams, new approaches for identifying work practices that have the greatest impact on the business, and exploring the formation of intra-organizational relationships. Prior to assuming her current position at IBM, Jakita's research focused on understanding how middle-school science students in project-based inquiry classrooms developed their ability to understand and apply lessons learned from narrative cases of the experiences of experts to solve design problems. She has published in many different forums including the Handbook of Research for Education Communications and Technology, 2nd Edition, International Conference of the Learning Sciences, Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, Cognitive Science Conference, and the American Education Research Association Conference. She has also given numerous talks and workshops on Service Science, Management and Engineering (SSME), and has been instrumental in the development of SSME programs at several colleges and universities. Jakita received a B.S. in Computer Science from Spelman College and a Ph.D. in Computer Science with a concentration in Learning Sciences and Technology and a minor in Educational Research and Cognitive Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology.