Profile information as a dissertation supervisor

I provide the following brief profile of myself as a dissertation supervisor:

My research interest is in applying contemporary systems thinking, notably critical systems thinking, to evaluate theories and approaches in various management disciplines, such as information systems management, management accounting, and supply chain management.

My favoured research method is case study research, though I am also interested in mixed research methods that combine qualitative and quantatitive research methods.


My current research topics are (a) e-coaching in management, synthesizing theories from coaching/ mentoring, management education and contemporary systems thinking, and (b) e-learning support to part-time business students in the social media ecosystem based on systems thinking.


The following 2 dissertation proposal samples are illustrative of my research interests:

Doc 1: http://josephkkhoworkdiary.blogspot.hk/2012/09/an-example-of-dissertation-proposal-in.html
Doc 2: http://josephkkhoworkdiary.blogspot.hk/2012/09/dissertation-project-proposal-sample-2.html



The following publications of mine indicate my research interests more clearly:

1.       Ho, J.K.K. (1994). "Is Total Systems Intervention (TSI) no better than common sense and not necessarily related to Critical Systems Thinking (CST)?: A Research Note", pp. 569-573, Systems Practice, Vol. 7, No. 5, Plenum Press.

2.       Ho, J.K.K. (1994). "Management Accounting and Operational Research", at the Fourth Conference of the Operational Research Society of Hong Kong Proceedings, pp. 198-206, Oct. 17.

3.       Ho, J.K.K. (1995). “An Example on the Operation of the MPSB Filter”, pp. 297-308, Systems Research, Vol. 12, No. 4, Wiley, Chichester.

4.       Ho, J.K.K. (1995). “MPSB Frameworks Explained”, in Ellis, K., Gregory, A., Mears-Young, B. and Ragsdell, G. (editors). Critical Issues in Systems Theory and Practice, pp. 487-492, Plenum Press.

5.       Ho, J.K.K. (1995). “Operational Research and the knowledge structure of management disciplines”, Management Research News, pp. 27-39, Vol. 18, No. 8/9, Barmarick Publications, Hull, UK.

6.       Ho, J.K.K. (1995). “The idea of scientific progress in the field of DSS”, pg. 655, The Proceedings of the Third International Society for Decision Support Systems Conference (ISDSS’95) at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, June-22-23.

7.       Ho, J.K.K. (1995). "Formulating MPSB Frameworks, using Logistics Management as an example: A Research Note", pp. 223-230, Systems Practice, Vol. 8.2, April, Plenum Press.

8.       Ho, J.K.K. (1996). “MPSB Research Explained”, pp. 843-852, Journal of the Operational Research Society, 47, Stockton.

9.       Ho, J.K.K. (1996). “The idea of Scientific Progress in the Field of Decision Support Systems”, pp. 59-69, International Journal of Information and Management Sciences, Vol. 7, No. 3, Graduate Institute of Management Sciences, Tamkang University, Taipei, The Republic of China.

10.    Ho, J.K.K. (1997) “MPSB Frameworks and Decision Support Systems studies”, pp. 287-293, Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Vol. 14, No. 4, Wiley, Chichester.

11.    Ho, J.K.K. (1997) “What can contemporary systems thinking offer to logistics management as a management discipline?” European Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, pp. 77-81, Vol. 3, No. 2, Pergamon.

12.    Ho, J.K.K. and Jackson, M.C. (1987). "Building a 'rich picture' and assessing a "quality management" program at Thornton Printing Company", Cybernetics and Systems 18:38

13.    Ho, J.K.K. and Sculli, D. (1992). "OR and the Design of Decision Support Systems", pp. 54-63, The Second Conference of the Operational Research Society of Hong Kong Proceedings, May 27

14.    Ho, J.K.K. and Sculli, D. (1993). "An overview of Operational Research Theories and Practices", pp. 149-158, The Third Conference of the Operational Research Society of Hong Kong Proceedings, May 2.

15.    Ho, J.K.K. and Sculli, D. (1993). "Critical Systems Thinking and Information Systems Design", pp. 685-688, the Conference Proceedings of the Second International Conference of Decision Sciences Institute, Seoul, Korea, June.

16.    Ho, J.K.K. and Sculli, D. (1995) “System Complexity and the Design of Decision Support Systems”, pp. 505-516, Systems Practice, Vol. 8, No. 5, Plenum Press.

17.    Ho, J.K.K. and Sculli, D. (1994) "A Multi-perspective, Systems-based Framework for Decision Support Systems Design", pp. 551-563, Systems Practice, Vol. 7, No. 5, Plenum Press.

18.    Ho, J.K.K. and Sculli, D. (1994). "Computer-based Logistics Management Methodologies", pp. 590-596, The Proceedings of the International Conference on Data and Knowledge Systems for Manufacturing and Engineering, May 2-4, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

19.    Ho, J.K.K. and Sculli, D. (1994). "Organizational Change and Soft Systems Methodologies", in Journal of Management Development, Vol. 13, No. 7, pp. 47-58, MCB University Press.

20.    Ho, J.K.K. and Sculli, D. (1995). “Organisational Learning and Decision Support Systems Studies”, pp. 585-593, the Proceedings of the Third International Society for Decision Support Systems Conference (ISDSS’95) at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, June-22-23.

21.    Ho, J.K.K. and Sculli, D. (1997). “The scientific approach to problem solving and decision support systems”, pp. 249-257, International Journal of Production Economics, 48, Elsevier Science.

22.    Ho, J.K.K., Partington, E.C. and Sculli, D. (1994). "A Meta-framework for Information Systems Design", pp. 592-597, the Conference Proceedings of the Twenty-Third Annual Meeting, Western Decisions Sciences Institute, Maui, Hawaii.

23.    Ho, J.K.K., Partington, E.C., and Sculli, D. (1996). “Soft Systems Methodologies in Organizational Change”, International Journal of Information and Management Sciences, Graduate Institute of Management Sciences, pp. 43-54, Vol. 7(4), December, Tamkang University, Taipei, The Republic of China.

24.    Ho, J.K.K. (2007) “Teaching information systems subjects to part-time accounting students in HK from an entertainer’s perspective” ppoceedings of Symposium on Hybrid Learning 2007, on July 9 at Open Univesity, HK, organized by HK Web Symposium Consortium, pp.66-77.

25.    Ho, J.K.K. (2008) "E-coaching for management development in Hong Kong: an  examination of market potential and business value from knowledge management perspective"  Hybrid Learning:  A new frontier, proceedings of 1^st International Conference on Hybrid Learning – ICHL 2008, Hong Kong, Fong, J., Kwan, R. and Wang F.L. (Eds) pp. 69-77, Aug 13-15, 2008

26.     J. Leon Zhao, Joseph K. K. Ho, Olivia R. Liu Sheng, and Kar Yan Tam, "Supporting Global Operations via Internet Workflow Technologies", Proceedings of the 1998 Asia Pacific Decision Sciences Institute Conference, Taipei, Taiwan, June 7-11, 1998.

27.     Ho, J.K.K. (2012) “A research paper: Providing e-learning support to part-time students in business disciplines using Facebook from the Multi-perspective, Systems-based (MPSB) perspective”, Systems Research and Behavioural Science (to be published).