Chris Goldspink

Research Fellow

Department of Sociology, University of Surrey,
Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH, UK

Tel: 01483 686988
Fax: 01483 689551
email: c.goldspink@surrey.ac.uk
Room: 09 AD 03

Dr Chris Goldspink has fifteen years experience as an internal and external consultant in organization and management improvement. His background is diverse and includes experience with information technology, education, organizational management and public sector reform. He has senior and middle management experience and maintains an interest in practical management in both the public and private sectors, teaching and consulting in both. It was his work as a management practitioner that first led him to the study of organizations as complex systems and this now constitutes a core focus of his theoretical and practical work. Chris has joined Surrey University to work on the Emergence in the Loop project (EMIL) (http://emil.istc.cnr.it/) which is concerned to develop our understanding of the relationship between micro and macro order in self-organizing social systems using a combination of empirical research and computer simulation.

Teaching.

Chris has taught at post-graduate level in Australia, New Zealand and throughout South East Asia in subjects including.

• Strategic management.
• Leadership.
• International marketing.
• Public management reform.
• Systems theory and related research methodologies.

Research

His personal research interests include:

• Applicability of complex systems theory to social and organizational analysis.
• The micro-macro problem of social science.
• Computer simulation of social phenomena.
• Issues in cross cultural education.
• Education reform and measurement of student involvement and wellbeing.
• Corporate innovation and knowledge management.
  

He has supervised doctoral candidates in a range of management disciplines. Chris has a Graduate Diploma in Social Ecology and a PhD, both gained at the University of Western Sydney. Recent publications include:

• Goldspink C. 2007, ‘Rethinking Educational Reform – A Loosely Coupled and Complex Systems Perspective’, Vol 35 No 1, International Journal of Educational Management, Administration and Leadership. Lincoln UK
• Goldspink, C & Kay R. 2004, Bridging the Micro-Macro Divide: a new basis for social science. Human Relations, Vol 57 (5).
• Goldspink C & Kay R, 2003, Organizations as Self Organizing and Sustaining Systems: A Complex and Autopoietic Systems Perspective, International Journal of General Systems Vol. 32, No 5, pages 459-474 .
• Goldspink C 2002, Methodological Implications of Complex Systems Approaches to Sociality: Simulation as a foundation for knowledge, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Vol 5 No 1 http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/5/1/3.html
• Goldspink C. 2000, ‘Modeling social systems as complex: Towards A social simulation meta-model’, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Vol 3 No 2, http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/JASSS / 3/2.1.html

Weblinks

Centre for Research in Social Simulation (CRESS): http://cress.soc.surrey.ac.uk/projects.html

Emergence in the Loop: EMIL: http://emil.istc.cnr.it/

Learning to Learn: http://www.learningtolearn.sa.edu.au/colleagues/