Sasin Researchers Run Research Workshop “Next Leap” to Push Technology Application

The rapid changes in technologies affect the lives of people all over the world in terms of work, daily life, medicine, education, business, etc., leading to a necessity for proper adaptation to such development. Realizing this need, the Research Unit in Finance and Sustainability in the Disruption Era of Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration, Chulalongkorn University, initiated the “Next Leap” research workshop to drive application of technology.  

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Piyachart Phiromswad, Head of Research Unit in Finance and Sustainability in the Disruption Era, Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration, Chulalongkorn University, who initiated the research project said that “At present, technology, especially emerging technology, be it automated technology like ChatGPT that will revolutionize work, blockchain technology that will revolutionize the trusted 3rd parties, or virtual world technology like Metaverse that will revolutionize human interaction, all changes rapidly and drastically. These technologies are highly likely to have a huge impact on many organizations in Thailand, whether large, medium and small, which exist in their ripples of change. Nevertheless, the “appropriate” and “timely” application of these technologies is a very challenging matter, which inspired the research team to conduct this project.  

The highlights of this project, according to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Piyachart Phiromswad, are the following.  

The first is the use of Action Research instead of a conventional research method. Action Research focuses on problem solving at the same time as conducting research studies. It creates an actual impact, not simply doing research, writing textbooks, or publishing in academic journals. The research team will work with organizations to help these organizations apply emerging technologies (or at least start the application) appropriately and in a timely manner. 

The second is this project employs the design of activities to effect change in the organization based on Behavioral Economics concepts represented by the acronym “ACT,” which stands for “Assessing,” “Co-Creating,” and “Targeting.” 

The first aspect, Assessing, is an assessment (via an online questionnaire) to determine the level of technology adoption in an organization compared to other organizations in the same industry, which can be done at the department or personnel level. Currently, there is no database that organizations can use to compare whether they are using too much technology (possibly creating unnecessary costs) or too little (possibly causing the organization to lose its competitiveness). To put it simply, the assessment is similar to a person’s regular health checkup and can be called “an organizational checkup.” As we all know, a checkup helps maintain good health as the awareness of the risk will trigger an adjustment of behavior to reduce that particular risk, which is much better than a treatment. Therefore, an organizational checkup on technology adoption will be the key in motivating (from being compared to the social norm) the organization, department, and personnel to make the necessary changes.  

Secondly, Co-Creating involves activities for personnel in the organization to participate in the design of organizational changes, instead of taking orders from the executives, through brainstorming in groups to suggest ideas or projects to create change for the organization. Currently, many organizations are suffering from employees being resistant to change. However, through motivational interviewing, an important trait emerges, which shows that people like to do things that they consider to be “their own idea” rather than other people’s (despite the idea being good). Hence, engaging employees in change making will reduce the resistance and provide the organization with new ideas or projects designed by the personnel who are familiar with the nature of the organization. Finally, this process will create socially responsible transformation because instead of letting go of resistant personnel (by any methods or techniques) as a way to deal with resistance to change, pushing the burden onto society, these valuable human resources are allowed to adapt and continue developing the organization amid the winds of change.  

The third aspect, Targeting, refers to setting appropriate goals of change for timely and sustainable transformation. After employees have presented their guidelines or projects, the research team will assist in setting appropriate goals and indicators of change, along with continuously monitoring the results. A good way of setting goals must regard change as a “journey” consisting of small wins that will render change measurable and trackable. This view also lets personnel celebrate multiple small victories, thus motivating other personnel to want to experience the same thing.  

In the past year, the research team has paid special attention to the application of technology in hospitals. The team has collaborated with Siriraj Hospital and Ramathibodi Hospital, which are known for seeing large numbers of patients each day. In the impending aging society, the number of patients will significantly increase, while doctors and nurses will decline. This poses a good opportunity for the team to offer suggestions for change through the adoption of technology.  

The participants in this program were executives, doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. After the participants were informed about the important technologies and the conceptual framework for applying these technologies, the participants then brainstormed and presented their ideas for applying technology appropriately for each department to the executives and the research team. An interesting idea arising from this project was an application that allows users to know the status of their appointment with a doctor in real time, including how long is the wait time or how many people are in line to see a doctor, pay, or receive medication They can then efficiently manage their time and do not need to wait in front of the examining room or the medicine dispensing rooms. Another example is the use of AI software in the preliminary screening of patients to efficiently differentiate patients who need urgent treatment and help them get help faster.  

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Piyachart Phiromswad also added that this project is a new research method that emphasizes real impact besides creating new knowledge. At present, the research team welcomes collaboration with organizations of all sizes. Organizations that are interested can contact [email protected] for more information.