phillip j. ayoub

Welcome

I am a PhD candidate in Information Sciences & Technology at the Pennsylvania State University, where my research and work focus on the intersection of work, organization, and technology. I hold a B.S. in psychology from the University of Wisconsin and an M.S. in industrial & manufacturing engineering from the Pennsylvania State University. I've also spent time working at Boeing, Steelcase, Intel, and as a management consultant in areas of innovation, strategic thinking, organizational design, and knowledge management. While at Penn State, I've taught courses in IT Project Management and Organizational Informatics, and I worked as an outdoor guide and rock climbing instructor/supervisor for the Penn State Adventure Recreation Program. Outside of work and studies, you can find me training for triathlons, climbing mountains, or pretty much anywhere outdoors. If you can't find me there, try the local coffee house.

Research

My research revolves around the sociotechnical organization of complex work, where I focus on the intersection of people and technology in the workplace, particularly in uncertain, high-stakes, and turbulent conditions. My experiences and interests cover a broad and multidisciplinary landscape of scholarship and practice, which I attempt to diagram below. Some of my past studies include examining information and decision making flow in healthcare settings; group sense-making in emergency and crisis management; cognitive tasks & sense-making in intelligence analysts; and creativity and innovation in advanced product development groups. Currently, I am interested in the emergence of novelty, meaning and value and how new sociotechnical forms of organization and work (i.e. new technologies and changing social structures) are reshaping modern production environments... and how all of this is changing the way we live and work. Here is a list of my publications.

While trained in multiple methods, I am extensively practiced with ethnographies, where I observe the daily routines and culture of people at work, the technologies they use to organize themselves and collaborate with others, and the broader processes by which work is organized. As part of my dissertation research, I spent 2010 conducting a year-long immersive study at Intel Corporation that examined how the assumptions, expectations and knowledge of the established organization shapes the conflict between its exploration and exploitation processes - what I term "managing the invisible obvious" - and how by managing this invisible obvious, organizations can create the opportunity for what is often termed blue ocean strategies, value innovation,, or disruptive innovation.

Here are a few titles of my working papers:

• Managing the Invisible Obvious (Dissertation)
• Innovation Frames: Managing the Tensions of Exploitation-Exploration (Dissertation)
• Rethinking Time in the Emergence of Innovation (Dissertation)
• Organizatinal Challenges in User Experience Driven Innovation (with Intel)
• User-Centered Innovation: Best Practices (with Intel)

If you are interested in further information about my research or consulting practices, please feel free to contact me.