Em P Helga Drummond B.A., Ph. D.

Professor drummond's main research interests centre upon decision-making in complex organizations. She is particularly interested in why organization allow some projects to become "black holes" - forever consuming resources but nothing useful ever emerges - a phenomenon known as escalation of commitment.

Professor Drummond has also researched IT and risk management. She is particularly interested in how and why some IT systems not only implode on themselves, but actually threaten to destroy the host organization. Another interest concerns how and why IT based systems of risk-management can become self-defeating.

Professor Drummond's research has also focussed on theory building - including how and why organizations may err in the opposite direction to escalation and abandon a project that has almost succeeded. Her current projects include the role of symbols and symbolic action in deluding organizations - stimulated by the Nimrod disaster and an evaluation of a parsimonious theory of escalation. Can escalation really be prevented by keeping costs firmly in view?