Adrian Wolfberg presents his research at a conference of national security professionals

I presented my qualitative research at an academic/practitioner conference of national security professionals. My research was on challenges to information flow between knowledge producers and decision makers as mediated through the function of a “briefer,” someone whose job it is to be the conduit between technical information production and policy-level decision making. My context was the U.S. national security system. A political science professor told me that there is nothing in the national security literature that discusses the role of the “briefer” to high level policy makers and this research opened up an area of inquiry never known to exist. An educator from a U.S. intelligence agency said that their job was to train analysts to think and write using evidence-based reasoning yet how surprising it was to find out from the research that “narrative,” as opposed to analytic discourse, was the mechanism through which knowledge was transferred to policy makers. An intelligence officer from an allied country, during an “aha” moment after the presentation, was able to apply the “knowledge producer-briefer-decision maker” model to their own context (after stating during the presentation that the findings did not generalize across contexts) and I was able to help generate four strategies to fill specific gaps in their information flow context. It was very interesting and exciting to see how others applied the research to their own contexts.

Adrian Wolfberg is a Department of Defense employee working in the Pentagon. He is a student in the Ph.D. in Management program at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University and can be reached atawolfberg@gmail.com.  His research examines the nexus between information systems and organizational behavior to understand how technical knowledge is communicated to non-technical decision-makers.

DM Student Observations After Fifth and Sixth Residency

I learned something new about myself after the fifth residency. One of my classmates suggested that since we were ahead of others in our cohort in completing the research work that we should reach out to our cohort and see how they are doing and help them in whatever way we could. I learned two things. One is emotional and the other is intellectual.

The emotional learning has two parts. First, I cared for everyone in my cohort. I want everyone in the cohort to succeed and we were willing to do whatever we could to help for anyone who wanted help. Second, helping our classmates is a good thing. I could have sat on the sidelines content that I had my stuff done. What I really learned was something far more emotional than the rational analysis above. I found that I felt good helping others.

Upon reflection, what I found we were doing is very much in line with Boyatzis'el al 2006 theory on emotional sustainment through coaching and compassion. His idea is that by listening and helping others, we literally feel better, in a real sense get our batteries recharged.

More than all this was the recognition of what it means that we are a cohort and that we learn from each other.  I suppose we interpret "learn from each other" in different ways. What I have learned so far from my cohort also has an intellectual side. For me, learning from each other means that by being observant or mindful, things become clear in my mind. For example, I am aware of what is hindering some of my cohorts from grasping and using some of the key benefits of the program.

I feel that the cohort relationship has really changed for the better in the second semester compared to the first semester. This second semester is a quicker pace and I think that has let us realize we are all in the same boat. It is sink or swim time and I want to do whatever I can do to keep classmates from sinking.

Adrian Wolfberg
DM Class of 2013

The DM Cohort – Reflections on the 4th Residency Session

With the first semester now over, I thought I would reflect upon the non-academic part of the Doctor of Management experience. I had come into the program not knowing exactly how the transition from work to academia would take. Everything I read and everyone I talked with provided me with knowledge but since I did not have the experience of a doctorate program under my belt, there was no ability for me to absorb what I was reading and hearing prior to the start of the program. This phenomenon is called “absorptive capacity,” the ability a person has of internalizing something new is dependent upon prior experience that lets one grab the newness and make it concrete. I would say that our cohort had little to no absorptive capacity as to accurately predicting and planning for the nature and extent of the workload. My comment is not limited to the quantity of the workload, no, what I am saying is the lack of an initial absorptive capacity to accommodate the shift in orientation from a practitioner to a scholar.

For me, the first semester was mostly adapting to the workload and the shift in orientation. What I had not initially focused on, but later in the semester did, was finding the time and the desire to get to know my cohort peers.

It is amazing how stereotyping or quick, initial assessments get in the way of how we see people. That limitation really hit home for me during the semester. But I learned a lot about many of my cohort peers and now see them in a human way, much more tactile and dynamic than at the start. I guess that is a natural enough evolution one goes through in personal relationships but in a group, that progression often takes a long time. In the cohort, opportunities for understanding each other are sped up and my eyes have really been awakened.

One of my favorite Star Trek – The Next Generation episodes is when Picard and an alien (a commander of a ship like Picard) are unwillingly placed on a deserted planet by an “advanced” civilization to test these two individuals. They spoke different languages, of course, but haven’t you always seen an entertainment show where everyone speaks and converses on the same language (either English or subtitled to a language)? This episode attempted to be more realistic. Meaning was transmitted back and forth between Picard and the alien in English (so the audience could understand the words) but the structure of the words spoken by the alien was like a Thomas Pynchon novel. The alien spoke in metaphors from the history of his world. These metaphors produced inferences for the alien about what he and Picard should or should not do but Picard had no idea about how the inferences connected to reality. This created a tremendous amount of a different type of phenomenon, “uncertainty absorption” for Picard, he had no idea what the alien meant through the stories told because the alien did not provide the data at the level Picard needed to understand. Picard therefore had to fill in, or absorb, a lack of understanding with guesses.

The alien kept telling Picard that “your eyes are not wide open” meaning Picard did not understand. Eventually through experimentation in interpretation, Picard eventually built a small vocabulary to understand the metaphors; he discovered the primer that allowed him to understand meaning. Finally, Picard’s “eyes were wide open,” as the alien said to Picard, like my eyes have become.

Adrian “Zeke” Wolfberg, DM Class of 2013

Getting Situated: Thoughts after the 3rd Residency Session

The comedian, Steven Colbert, has a segment on his comedy show called “Word of the Day.” I would like to talk about a few words that came up this session that really had an impact for me.

The Doctor of Management program places an emphasis during the first semester on getting one’s research question in focus. As my topic has moved from very broad and integrative to something narrow and manageable, all of us have been advised that when we tell the story of our research interest we need to “situate the research within the academic literature.”

I know what all the words mean in this phrase except for “situate” within the context of this phrase. Situate has a physical dimensionality to it. “My chair” is situated amongst all the other chairs in the classroom such that it is close to the front of the room. So, how are ideas situated? I recall during the first two sessions of the program of the need to situate our idea within the research literature but until this third session I really had no concrete idea what “situate” meant in the academic sense.

Our research methods professor, Tony Lingham, asked us to describe our research topic in a few sentences. He then replayed our topic back to us but in a way that showed explicitly how the specific topic was embedded within a larger, simpler set of concepts and how, in kind of a story-telling fashion, one moves from framing a broad category and eventually drilling down to the specific issue of one’s interest. This may seem obvious to me now but it was anything but obvious until Tony turned our language into academic language.

Another word or phrase is “tipping point.” In the mainstream literature, we have read Malcolm Gladwell’s book, The Tipping Point. Our theory professor, Richard Boyatzis, uses tipping point as an element within his Intentional Change Theory, a theory about sustaining change at any level of human organization. One of the key issues is how one moves from a negative to a positive emotional orientation. This is where tipping point is situated. I finally understood the mechanics of tipping points in Richard’s context: to move from a highly charged emotional state (or any heavily committed state whether technology or intellectual or emotional) the leverage to make that move has to be something neutral, not highly charged in either direction and something that people can use to swing in the opposite direction.

Lastly, another word is “democracy.” Our culture and world politics professor, Eileen Doherty, asked the class to reflect on the readings for the 3^rd session. Our team came up with a very interesting observation: people from different countries have different perspectives of what democracy means. This observation served as an exemplar for other concepts, that everything political or cultural is relative depending on the context of situation, that is, how the issue like democracy is situated within the broader set of complex historical and present conditions.

And like Steven Colbert says, “situated,” and that’s the “word of the day.”

Adrian (Zeke) Wolfberg
DM Class of 2013
23 Oct 2010

Residency 2 - The Train Has Left the Station

At the close of my second residency as a student in the Doctorate of Management program, just three weeks since the first, I barely see the person I was then. The train has left the station. Bon voyage, I say to myself!

 So what is different? For one, my language is changing. Now, I can see what a theory looks like and understand its value. A simple statement perhaps yet now I know how to find them. They are gold.

 I feel like a gardener at harvest time, perhaps in the spirit of Andy Van de Ven's Engaged Scholarship. Every conversation with faculty and upper class students is a "listen for" precious theories about the world that these colleagues find dear to their hearts that might be relevant to my research topic, asking who is that researcher who developed the theory and what is the title of their work. Everything I read, same thing.

For another, my cohort class, my peers who are on the same train, is helping me feel at home with being myself and I am learning how to appreciate them as they go through their journey. I am coming to believe that we are providing each other a psychologically safe space as we venture into new territory.

To the group of students from the non-profit/public sector, our gathering continues to feel special to me. Our language and values are a bit different than for-profit management and this venue provides me with additional touch points with experienced gardeners in the program.

 All the support staff from the computer technicians, to the library staff, and the program staff seem to cater to every need as if they can anticipate and respond in the subtlest of ways, like what I would image it would be like riding in the train's first-class cabin. I greatly appreciate their service.

 The train has indeed left the station.

Adrian (Zeke) Wolfberg, D.M. Class of 2013, 11 September 2010

Adrian (Zeke) Wolfberg is a Supervisory Intelligence Officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, D.C. He is interested in exploring what creates the underlying orientation (the propensity) in the individual mental and organizational collective consciousness that allows us to be responsive to situations, make shifts to see things differently, to synthesize, to be mindful of what is going on.

First Residency Reflections of a First Year DM Student

I have begun the journey to earn a Doctorate of Management at Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management and have just completed my first residency in Cleveland, Ohio.  It is difficult to find the words to express myself. If I were a poet I would be able to convey the range and intensity of my observations and feelings. Because I am not a poet I need to borrow a metaphor to convey what I feel.

I read a science fiction story by Ray Bradbury a long time ago and have seen the movie many times.  The story, called Fahrenheit 451, is about a society that bans books; no one is allowed to read.  I ask you not to dwell on the literalness or darkness of the story, that's not the point I am trying to share.

At the very end of the movie the protagonist - Montag - has gone through a journey from darkness into light. By creating this dichotomy Bradbury is able to set up Montag's explosive discovery of freedom. This feeling of exhilaration is beyond his expectations. He feels at home ready to carry on a tradition of passionate intellectual pursuit with those around him. It is a full and unexpected breath of fresh air.

 Adrian (Zeke) Wolfberg

D.M. Class of 2013

 Cleveland, Ohio

21 August 2010