Problem Solving in Organizations

Joan Ernst van Aken worked for many years in practice as a management consultant and as a manager of management consultants before joining Eindhoven University of Technology as a Professor of Organization Science in 1990. Hans Berend is Professor of Innovation and Organization at the Knowledge, Information and Innovation (KIN) Research Group, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Scope and nature of this handbook; 2. Types of student projects; 3. Problem-solving projects; Part II. The Problem-Solving Project: 4. Intake and problem definition; 5. Theory-informed diagnosis of business problems; 6. Solution design; 7. Change plan design and the change process; 8. Evaluation, learning and project termination; Part III. Methods: 9. Qualitative research methods; 10. Searching and using scholarly literature; 11. Quality criteria for research; Part IV. Designs, Designing and Design Science Research: 12. Designs and designing; 13. Design science research: developing generic solutions for field problems; Part V. Cases: 14. Cases.