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MIT SDM Systems Thinking Webinar Series

Eric S. Rebentisch, PhD, George Roth, PhD, and Victor Tang, PhD

Eric S. Rebentisch, PhD, Lead researcher, MIT Consortium for Engineering Program Excellence

George Roth, PhD, Research Scientist, MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society

Victor Tang, PhD, Former Vice President, IBM China

Date: Friday, April 13, 2018


Slides available here.

About the Presentation

Turning strategy into results is challenging, and most organizations admit they don’t do it very well. The Strategy Implementation Research Project at MIT aims to identify ways to bridge the gap between strategy formulation and implementation by drawing on organizational learning methods and sociotechnical systems theory.

In this webinar, MIT researchers will summarize current research in this area and illustrate their points with a case study. Attendees will learn

  • the challenges of strategy formulation and implementation; and
  • how to bridge the strategy-to-implementation gap using a newly developed framework.

The webinar will also preview the SDM-sponsored “Characterizing the Gap 2018” symposium at MIT on April 30 and May 1. A Q&A will follow the presentation. We invite you to join us!

About the Speakers

Eric S. Rebentisch, PhD, is a research associate at MIT and lead researcher of MIT’s Consortium for Engineering Program Excellence. He holds a PhD in the management of technological innovation from MIT, a master’s degree in organizational behavior from Brigham Young University, and a BS in aerospace engineering from California State Polytechnic University.

George Roth is a research scientist at MIT’s Institute for Data, Systems and Society (IDSS).  His most recent book, Systemic Change Management: The Five Capabilities for Improving Enterprises, examines learning and change practices that are effective across organizations. He is a past Academy of Management Organizational Development and Change division chair, a founding member of the Society for Organizational Learning and a faculty member of the Academy for Systems Change. Roth has a PhD in organizational studies from MIT. He also has an MBA and a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of New Hampshire.

Victor Tang is the former vice president of IBM China. He also held executive roles at IBM in corporate strategy and systems development. He has coauthored three technology-management books, and his fourth, Executive Decision Synthesis, will be published by Springer, Heidelberg, this summer. He has a BSEE and an MS from Purdue, a MS from Columbia, and a PhD from MIT.

About the Series

Sponsored by the System Design & Management (SDM) program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the MIT SDM Systems Thinking Webinar Series features research conducted by SDM faculty, alumni, students, and industry partners. The series is designed to disseminate information on how to employ systems thinking to address engineering, management, and socio-political components of complex challenges. Recordings and slides from prior SDM webinars can be accessed here.