Resume

• 2012

  Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

  Management Science

  University of Warwick

• 2009

  The Rural Media Company

  Aston University

  The University of Manchester

  HSBC

  Intel

  Warwick Business School

  Leading a consultancy project at Warwickshire Police to reduce cost without effecting service deliver into the Customer Contact Department. \n• Project identified and implemented savings totalling £819

  000 per annum during the 2 years with this expected to rise to savings of £850

  000 per annum within 3 years.\n• Improving information based decision making in politically sensitive area of cost reduction within policing. \n• Project elements include - Shift pattern review

  Front Office Network redesign

  Controllers resourcing

  Customer Contact Survey and post implementation reviews. \n• Engaging with stakeholders from the Police Authority

  Chief Officers

  Public

  County Council

  District Council

  police staff and police officers.

  Aston University

  The Rural Media Company

  Doctoral Researcher

  I am developing a qualitative methodology that helps to understand ambiguity within a complex system. I am leading a project with a case partner

  UK police force

  implementing the methodology within their Force Control Room and Crime Desk.

  Warwick Business School

  Undergraduate 1st Class (Hons)

  I received a First Class Honours degree in Business and Management specialising in Management Science and Marketing. \n\nThe module Effective Management Consultancy taught me a number of Problem Structuring Methods such as Soft Systems Methodology and Journey Making.\n\nMy dissertation project was to design and build a linear programming model in Microsoft Excel using a CPLEX add-in to allocate students to coursework groups evenly distributing identified traits. My overall grade for this project was 91% and I was paid to build a similar model for use in the undergraduate office which is still being used. During this project I taught myself Macros to ensure a simple user interface.

  Aston University

  The University of Manchester

  UK

  Lecturer in Critical Systems and Operations

  HSBC

  Associate Lecturer

  Sole responsibility for design and delivery of BSc Project Management course for circa 300 students. \n\nResponsibility for design and delivery of 30% of the MSc Project Management course for circa 80 students. The course was delivered using the flipped classroom method.

  Warwick Business School

  The University of Manchester

  Manchester

  England

  United Kingdom

  Senior Lecturer in Critical Systems

  Operations and Supply Chains

  Reporting to Head of Department I analysed sales figures and market trends to produce sales plans

  forecasts and information that could be used to make strategic business decisions. \nWorking of several projects to raise the profile of my team I project managed a number of events including Intel’s appearance at the Telco 2.0 Executive Brainstorm Event in London and the first Telco Web Jam.

  Intel

  Warwick Business School

  Research Assistant

  London

  United Kingdom

• 2006

  Bachelor’s Degree

  Management Science with Marketing

  Men's Basketball Chairman

  Aston Auntie 2007.

  First

• Qualitative Research

  Mathematical Modeling

  Analysis

  Forecasting

  Management Consulting

  Statistics

  Eviews

  University Teaching

  Data Analysis

  Digital Marketing

  Strategy

  Operations Research

  Research

  Quantitative Research

  SPSS

  Problem Solving

  Business Development

  Market Research

  Decision Support

  Strategy Facilitation

  Why did Brexit happen? Using causal mapping to analyse secondary

  longitudinal data

  The outcome of the UK's referendum on whether the UK should leave or remain in the European Union (so-called Brexit) came as a jolt to many across Europe. In this paper

  we use causal mapping from soft OR to analyse longitudinal data from nine televised Brexit debates spread across the 4 weeks leading up to the referendum. We analyse these causal maps to build one view on why Brexit happened. The maps are analysed for the breadth

  depth and consistency of arguments in the debate and

  broadly

  finds that the Leave campaign focused more consistently on a smaller set of campaign themes

  contributed more detail to those themes

  and focused on their own core issues rather than being diverted onto Remain strongholds. In contrast

  Remain shared more information but across a broader range of themes (meaning they were less consistent)

  and followed Leave into themes that were clearly not their core battleground. The novelties for soft OR in this paper include: the difficulties of building and validating causal maps from secondary data; new techniques for analysing a group of causal maps to uncover the properties of arguments that spread longitudinally through a campaign; a methodology for a teaching case using publicly availability data; linking the paper

  philosophically

  to critical realism given the unique dataset. Finally

  we identify differences in the Leave and Remain debate campaigns to offer one answer to the question ‘Why did Brexit happen?’

  Why did Brexit happen? Using causal mapping to analyse secondary

  longitudinal data

  The UK’s journey from the Brexit referendum on 24th June 2016 until activating Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon on 29th March 2017 was turbulent. Through applying soft Operational Research (OR) tools within a Critical Realist (CR) philosophy we analyse 86 televised interviews with leading politicians conducted during these nine months

  this study uses causal mapping to theorise the changing national narrative. We theorise that

  compared to pre-referendum debates

  the period was characterised by an inconsistent national narrative where the large volume of information shared did not create a clear message. The study used the philosophy and methodological creativity of CR to justify our development and analysis of causal maps without recourse to interviewees. We apply CR principles of DREI(C) to describe (D) the Brexit and data context

  explain the causal mapping process and identify (I) causal generative mechanisms through a process of retroduction (R) to facilitate thematic analysis and develop our theory of the Brexit journey. This combination provides the framework to eliminate (E) and identify corrections (C) to the emerging theory through iterative abstraction. The contribution to soft OR is threefold. First

  it shows how CR can justify a soft OR study where researcher creativity is central

  thereby differing from interpretivist causal mapping where respondents are central. Second

  it shows how DREI(C) can help conceptualise the process of analysing causal maps. Third

  it shows how CR can provide a consistent philosophy for OR studies such as those which use researcher creativity to bridge hard and soft OR.

  From Brexit to Article 50: Applying Critical Realism to the design and analysis of a longitudinal causal mapping study

  This article focuses on the involvement and management of spontaneous volunteers (SVs). It develops a new theory—which we call the “involvement/exclusion” paradox—about a situation which is frequently manifested when SVs converge in times of disaster. After reviewing research and policy guidance relating to spontaneous volunteering

  we present findings from a study of responses to winter flood episodes in England. Taking together the empirical findings and the literature

  the article analyzes elements inherent in the involvement/exclusion paradox and develops a conceptual model to illustrate and explain the paradox. Implications for managers and future research are discussed.

  The Involvement/Exclusion Paradox of Spontaneous Volunteering: New Lessons and Theory From Winter Flood Episodes in England

  Problem structuring methods (PSMs) are a class of qualitative operational research (OR) modelling approaches that were first developed approximately 40 years ago. Different definitions of PSMs have been proposed

  some focusing on the types of problems that PSMs typically address

  others on how they address these problems. Despite this

  there is no clear framework for what characteristics need to be present in an approach to warrant it being regarded as a PSM. This presents a challenge to understanding what constitutes a PSM and the acceptance of new PSMs. This exploratory paper develops a framework from a literature review to identify similarities between PSMs. The framework reflects that PSMs hold different philosophical assumptions to traditional OR and

  thus

  the framework is structured according to the four pillars of ontological

  epistemological

  axiological and methodological assumptions an approach makes. Across these assumptions

  the framework poses 13 questions to determine if an approach could be a PSM. The effectiveness of the framework is understood by applying it to eight OR approaches to see if it successfully identifies PSMs.

  The characteristics of problem structuring methods: A litrature review

  In operational research (OR)

  the concept of recursion explains particular relationships between modelled systems. It clarifies how the same system properties are replicated vertically across hierarchically interdependent units

  meaning these units should be amenable to the same analytical conventions. OR views recursion as hierarchical and therefore does not consider these properties in a horizontal sense. This paper uses theory from other disciplines to develop criteria that define recursive modelling for soft OR as vertical or horizontal. Empirical data was captured using WASAN to improve efficiency in a police force customer contact department. Four units were modelled using WASAN

  and additional analysis using recursion was conducted to understand the horizontal interdependence across these four units. Feedback from participants suggests the horizontal recursion analysis provided valuable insights beyond that of individual models.

  Horizontal recursion in soft OR

  Chris M.