Alberto Franco
- Associate Professor of Operational Research & Systems
BSc (Catolica), MBA (Pacifico), MSc (Lancaster), PhD (London School of Economics)
Biography
Worked as a civil engineer before moving to academia. Held research positions at LSE and Strathclyde prior to joining Warwick. Holds visiting positions at IE Business School (Spain) and Universidad del Pacifico (Peru). Teaches at masters level in areas of managing complexity and uncertainty, planning under pressure and decision analysis. Has been awarded the WBS MBA Best Teaching Award for the past six years. Expertise in strategic issue management; value-focused thinking; resource allocation, budget prioritisation; and value-for-money assessments. Consultancy experience in the construction, transport, hospitality, health, legal services, higher education, and government sectors.
Research interests
The effectiveness of facilitated modelling approaches to support managers' strategy practices; decision making in multi-organisational settings; the mediating role of cognitive style in individual and group decision making processes; the development of interface protocols between problem structuring and multi-criteria decision analysis approaches; Micro-level analyses of group decision making.
Research projects
- ESRC Case Studentship: Exploring the impact of problem structuring methods on the Quality of Group Dialogue during strategic development: ESRC & KOIOS Group Ltd, January 2005 - September 2008.
Publications
Journal articles
- Facilitated Modelling in Operational Research (Invited Review) European Journal Of Operational Research (2009) (in press).
- Problem Structuring Methods as Intervention Tools: reflections from their use with multi-organizational teams. Omega 37 (2009): 193-203.
- Facilitating Collaboration with Problem Structuring Methods: a case study of an inter-organisational construction partnership. Group Decision and Negotiation 17 (2008): 267-286.
- Exploring New Directions for Research in Problem Structuring Methods: on the role of cognitive style. Journal Of The Operational Research Society 58 (2007): 1621-1629.
- Forms of Conversation and Problem Structuring Methods: a conceptual development. Journal Of The Operational Research Society 57 (2006): 813-821.
Book chapters
- Facilitated Problem Structuring for e-Democracy. E-Participation: a group decision and negotiation perspective. Ed. Rios, D. & French, S. Springer, 2009 (forthcoming).
- Problem Structuring for Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Interventions. Encyclopedia of Operations Research and Management Science: Decision Analysis Volume. Ed. Abbas, A. John Wiley & Sons, 2009 (forthcoming).
- Multi-criteria Decision Analysis for Strategic Decision Making: content and process. Handbook of Multi-Criteria Analysis. Ed. Zopounidis, C. & Pardalos, P.M. Berlin: Springer, 2009 (forthcoming).
- Evaluating Strategic Options with Decision and Risk analysis. Supporting Strategy: frameworks, models and methods. Ed. O'Brien, F and Dyson, R. Chichester: Wiley, 2007. Chapter 10. 251-284.
- Problem Structuring and the Building and Negotiation of Strategic Agendas. Supporting Strategy: frameworks, models and methods. Ed. O'Brien, F and Dyson, R. Chichester: Wiley, 2007. Chapter 4. 87-113.
- Cross-organisational Learning: sharing insights from managing major construction projects. Planning Under Pressure: the strategic choice approach. Ed. Friend, J. and Hickling, A. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, 2005. Chapter 13. 340-344.
- Problem Structuring Methods for Cross-Organizational Learning. Understanding Collaboration: international perspectives on theory method and practice. Ed. M. Stewart and D. Purdue. Bristol: Faculty of the Built Environment, University of West England, 2002. 45-51.
