Global Health Working Group (NUFICH)

What do you get when you put together practicing and academic MDs, an engineer, a political scientist, an economist, a lawyer, a management professor, an anthropologist and several students (from undergraduate to doctoral) in a task-oriented discussion? While this may sound like a joke, the actual result will be new perspectives and critical reframing of pressing, highly complex and very difficult problems. These are the very issues that Kellogg professor of Management and Organizations, Michael Radnor, and director of industry programs Jeffrey Strauss tackle in a new Buffett Center working group on Global Health.

The worlds of healthcare present “wicked problems” in the face of needed change. As defined by H.J. Rittel, M.M. Webber and others, “wicked problems” are those which have strong moral, political and cultural dimensions; involve stakeholders and organizations with disparate orientations; contain highly interdependent variables; and hold the potential for severe repercussions of wrong decisions. The Global Health Working Group addresses the “wicked problems” that complicate efforts to change and enhance healthcare services delivery in both developing and developed societies. The group intends to focus on the shift away from traditional institution-based curative medicine and toward point-of-care maintenance services received in small clinics and at home. In addition, members will consider related organizational, cultural, infrastructure and technological transformations. Radnor and Strauss intend to capture the working group’s progress in one or more publications.

Meetings take place 2-3 times per quarter on the Evanston and Chicago campuses.

For more information, contact Michael Radnor (m-radnor@kellogg.northwestern.edu) or Jeffrey Strauss (int-dev@kellogg.northwestern.edu).