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Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), developed by Peter Checkland and colleagues at Lancaster University, has been adopted worldwide for tackling complex problems in both private and public sectors. It is used widely in consulting practice, leading to major business and economic impacts. In examples 1 and 2 we report major impacts, including a reshaped multi-national business and extra profits of RMB 50M in a Chinese company. In addition, SSM has helped effect major cultural change within multinational business as described in example 3 and has been adopted as part of mainstream business analysis (examples 4, 5 and 6). This has been achieved through a deliberate policy of action research and post-experience education, supported by academic and practitioner-oriented books.
The Change Management Consortium (CMC) is a collaborative network of academics and organizations seeking to improve knowledge and practice on staff engagement in the strategic implementation of change. Research done at the University of Bath has helped organizational members of the CMC internally to improve employee trust and to build commitment to change. The CMC provides member organizations (including: Aviva, Ernst & Young, GKN, GlaxoSmithKline, Kraft Foods, the Ministry of Defence and T-Mobile) with opportunities to utilise highly relevant research findings in order to create cross-organizational dialogues on improving practice. The broad aim of the research is to move from strategies for change based on alignment with management requirements, to strategies for change informed by employee engagement. One of the CMC members, Her Majesty's Revenue and Custom's (HMRC) provides a specific case example of the benefits of this research, which led to acknowledged improvements in trust and employee engagement.
Research at the University of Manchester, focusing on process systems in advanced architecture for large systems, has enabled the development and successful implementation of the Salford Process Reengineering Involving New Technology (SPRINT) method within Salford City Council. SPRINT is a change and innovation method tailored to the needs of the public sector. Having been adopted as the standard for all Local Authorities in 2004, the SPRINT methodology aided Salford City Council in achieving savings of £20M by 2011. It has been further used in projects in Education and Housing where it has delivered cost savings of £0.5M.
This case study focuses on the impact of a significant body of empirical, evidence-based research on managing electronic records (ERM) which involved global participation. The impact relates primarily to the behaviour change of information and records professionals in terms of their practice (e.g. strategic planning, service delivery, advice, and education), ways of thinking/decision-making, and their engagement with and/or conduct of research. It is both incremental and transformative in nature. The beneficiaries are practitioners in the UK and internationally. Specific examples are the Chief of Archives and Records Management, United Nations, and those receiving training in six countries.
For the last two decades, sociologists at Lancaster have demonstrated the centrality of social organisation and practice for climate change policy. This case study focuses on the impact of Elizabeth Shove's research in particular. Shove's work challenges the prevailing emphasis on individual attitudes and behaviours and shows that the consumption of energy, water and other natural resources is an outcome of shared social practices. Through innovative forms of interaction and collaboration ("working parties"; exhibitions, etc.) Shove has inspired organisations such as WWF, the Environment Agency, DECC, DCLG, DEFRA, the Scottish Government and the International Energy Agency to take social practices seriously as topics of policy, planning and intervention. Individual behavioural models are no longer the only point of reference in policy design.
Research undertaken by Dr Barr and colleagues at Exeter has examined pro-environmental behaviour policy and notions of behavioural change for environmental sustainability. This body of research has resulted in three main types of impact: it has informed public policy making, it has promoted product development, and it has informed public debate on the issue of sustainability. These impacts have been achieved through: reports for DEFRA that relate to UK behaviour change policy, collaboration with social marketing businesses that has resulted in mobile application development for UK and EU travellers, and informed public debate around issues of consumer behavioural change and flying. The latter has been achieved through citation by journalists and the instigation of debate in national (UK) and international media outlets.
The impact derives from research and development which led to the creation of i) a system and ii) methodology used for strategic problem solving, strategy making, and developing effective collaboration. Specifically, the impact results from the application of the developed Group Decision Support System (GDSS) and accompanying methodology that improves group negotiation and the quality of agreements in organisational settings. The GDSS is innovative computer software (`Group Explorer') reflecting a multi-disciplinary approach that enables effective parallel and anonymous communication between group members to construct a visual interactive model. Direct, and anonymous, communication with the model facilitates the management of messy and complex qualitative views. Use of the GDSS has improved the effectiveness of collaboration, strategic problem solving and strategy making by senior teams in the NHS, DECC, Balfour Beatty, EdF, Land Engineering, Strathclyde Police, and Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), Scottish and Southern Energy, among others within and outside the UK.
Research carried out at Cardiff University refined an addiction counselling method, motivational interviewing, co-founded previously by Rollnick, to improve the consultation for changing health behaviour (e.g. diet, exercise, smoking and drinking). Their published findings and resulting method are now used in health care worldwide, with good evidence for effectiveness. The impact of this work has been described as `immeasurable' and is reflected in industry guidelines and policy documents, and diverse clinical efforts that include the treatment of children with HIV-AIDS in Africa.
`The best thing I've ever done', `It has changed my life' — just two comments from users of Do Something Different, a behaviour-change technique developed by Professor Fletcher and colleagues at the university's Psychology Department. Do Something Different is having significant commercial impact in companies and communities worldwide. Health professionals in deprived communities report that it has successfully tackled unhealthy behaviours such as overeating, stress or smoking. It has also been used in large organisations, including professional services companies, law firms and health insurance bodies, where it has demonstrably improved workplace welfare in connection with bias, wellbeing and stress.
The UKCIP Adaptation Wizard is an accessible decision-support resource that enables adaptation planning in the context of climate change within the UK, Europe and internationally at national, sub-national and organisational levels. The Wizard stems directly from research carried out by UKCIP researchers in Oxford. The Wizard is being promoted by the UK Climate Ready programme, is the basis of the European Climate-ADAPT adaptation support tool, and has inspired the development of decision-support tools in Australia, Germany and Slovenia. The impact of, and desire for, the Wizard stems from its basis in credible science and practical experiences of a wide spectrum of policy and practice users, as well as the co-production of its delivery through the UKCIP website.