Initial Crisis Agent-Response Impact Syndrome (ICARIS)
Along with a long-time colleague of mine, Tobin Hensgen, I have co-authored a paper on informational issues faced by first-responders to crises.

Hensgen, T., Desouza, K.C., and Durland, M. “Initial Crisis Agent-Response Impact Syndrome (ICARIS),” Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 14 (4), 2006, 190-198.

Abstract:
There has been a dramatic shift in attitude among organizations regarding the probabilities of crisis occurring. Once crises were considered the domain of the contingency management team that sought the fastest means to recovery, now the entire organization is compelled to take steps intended to mitigate conditions leading to a crisis. In this paper, the authors consider the organization’s ‘first responders’ i.e., those who become involuntarily placed in the decision making process because they are the first to become aware of the conditions which indicate impending crisis simply because they are ‘on scene.’ As agents of the organization, these persons will make initial decisions well before the implementation of any formal contingency plan and because their decisions will be based on incomplete assumptions, they are likely to be in error. The impact of these initial crisis-agent responses can cause irreparable damage to the organization, to the individuals within the organization, and to the surrounding environment. This tendency toward error is referred to as the initial crisis-agent response impact syndrome: ICARIS. Exercising a program that prepares all employees for the initial decisions that need to be made at the moment of crisis can mitigate problems related to this issue.

Managing Knowledge in Strategic Alliances

The Malaysian Management Review has printed portions of my chapter, managing knowledge in strategic alliances, from my co-authored book – Engaged Knowledge Management (Palgrave, 2005).

Desouza, K.C., and Awazu, Y. “Engaging Knowledge Management in Strategic Alliances – Part 2,” Malaysian Management Magazine, January-March, 42 (1), 2007, 64-69.
Desouza, K.C., and Awazu, Y. “Engaging Knowledge Management in Strategic Alliances – Part 1,” Malaysian Management Magazine, October-December, 41 (4), 2006, 54-59.

I am currently teaching two courses at the Information School of the University of Washington. The graduate course is titled, Management of Information Organizations. Here is the course description:

The management of information organizations (e.g. software organizations, crisis management centers, libraries, consulting organizations, government intelligence and national security centers, etc) represents a critical challenge. Even though most managers take a deterministic approach to management, the current operating and competitive environments can be characterized as emergent, complex, incomplete. Moreover, it is imperative for organizations to operate in an agile manner if they are to compete (or even survive). In this class, we will study the management of information organizations from the perspective of building agility throughout the organization. In order to build agile information organizations, we must account for how organizations are conceptualized, created, and managed. At the completion of the course, students should be able to:
• Describe the characteristics of agile information organizations
• Appreciate the complex nature of information flows in organizations
• Assess organizational readiness for information systems
• Conceptualize agile information systems
• Construct agile information systems
• Manage information systems
• Evaluate the contribution of information systems to business objectives

The undergraduate course is titled, Intellectual Foundations of Informatics. Here is the course description:

This course will examine the concepts of ‘information’ and ‘information systems’. We begin by discussing the concept of information. In particular, we will focus on the following issues: what information is, what the characteristics of information are, how information is different from knowledge, and how to management information. Next, we address the topic of ‘information systems’. Here we will focus on: describing information systems, designing information systems, and managing information systems. In addition, we will survey emerging issues such as the role of ethics in the management of information, knowledge management, government information policy, etc.

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I will be giving a talk on Innovation at the Airplane Product Development 2007 Offsite for Boeing (Jan 3-4, 2007). My talk will focus on the common innovation challenges organizations face, and the strategies leading organizations have implemented to overcome these challenges. My talk will draw heavily on my ongoing research projects (Leveraging Ideas into Organizational Innovation; Demystifying the Link between Innovation and Business Value). Other speakers at this event include Joe Sutter (author of 747; Joe led the team of engineers who created the Boeing 747), Horikiri Toshio (CEO, Toyota Engineering Corporation).