Anand Bhardwaj

Education

PhD (Candidate) in Management. Strategy and Organization area, Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University, Montreal

Estimated Graduation: 2025

Area: Strategy and Organization Theory 

Proposed Thesis: Artificial Intelligence and the Operating Room Schedule: Entangling knowledge and emerging technology development in healthcare

Based on a comparative qualitative field study, this study examines how differences in local expertise arrangements and coordination practices lead to divergences in how an AI is conceived, developed onsite by a common technology developer, and enrolled in the scheduling of operating rooms (ORs) at two comparable ultra-specialty hospitals in the same public healthcare system .

PhD in Population Biology, Ecology & Evolution. Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Laney Graduate School, Emory University, Atlanta

Graduated December 2013

Thesis: The Impact of Demographics and Life History Characteristics on RNA Virus Evolution and Extinction

This dissertation contributed to disease ecology, population genetics, and computational systems biology by developing a branching-process based theoretical model of RNA viral "repeated bottleneck" travel and survival over a realistic rugged evolutionary fitness landscape. For this study, I wrote a multilevel agent-based simulation model to explore dynamics of viral survival strategies, implemented in R, and conducted empirical analyses of genetic data from 1000+ global viral populations to verify and extend theory using classical and Bayesian statistical methods.

Bachelor of Science. College of Arts and Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta

Biology Major. Graduated December 2007

Publications

Refereed Papers

Faraj, S.; Renno, W.; Bhardwaj, A. (2021) Unto the breach: What the COVID-19 pandemic exposes about digitalization. Information & Organization, 31 (1),  [doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2021.100337]

Refereed Book Chapters

Faraj, S.; Renno, W.; Bhardwaj, A. (2022) AI and Uncertainty in Organizing. in  Mark A. Griffin & Gudela Grote (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Uncertainty Management in Work Organizations. Oxford Academic.

Working Papers

Faraj, S.; Bhardwaj, A. Coordinating improvisation or improvising coordination? Navigating multiple frontlines during the COVID-19 crisis 

Bhardwaj, A., Faraj, S., Malas, K., Brunet, F. From Command to Commanding: Beyond the Command Center Approach to Crisis Management 

Bhardwaj, A. The knowing that matters: Entangling expertise during healthcare AI development

Bhardwaj, A. Faraj, S. AI of the beholder: How expertise arrangements shape AI for OR scheduling 

Bhardwaj, A. Towards an ecology of knowledge: Inheritance and innovation in knowledge communities

Conference Papers, Symposia, and Presentations

Bhardwaj, A.; Faraj, S. (2024) Artificial Intelligence in the Operating Room: Doing expertise and expert systems in healthcare. Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2024 Showcase Symposium  (Organized by Bhardwaj, A. and Karacic, T.): Entangling Expertise and AI at work: Tales from the Field. Chicago, Illinois

Bhardwaj, A.; Faraj, S. (2024) Leading from the Frontline: Autonomy and Improvisation in a hospital during times of crisis. Academy of Managment Annual Meeting 2024 Paper Session (Healthcare Management). Chicago Illinois

Bhardwaj, A; Faraj, S. (2024) AI and the OR schedule: Entangling artificial intelligence and expertise in healthcare coordination. European Group on Organizational Studies Colloquium 2023: Sub-theme 63: Rethinking Organizational Knowledge in Unsettling Times: People, Technology, and Knowing. Hosted by University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy

Bhardwaj, A; Faraj, S. (2024)  The AI of the Beholder: How local expertise arrangements shape AI. Administrative Sciences Association of Canada Conference 2024. Hosted by Universite de Sherbrooke, Montreal

Bhardwaj, A; Faraj, S. (2024)  Entangling Expertise and AI in the OR. Montreal Business Schools PhD Symposium 2024. Hosted by John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Montreal

Bhardwaj, A.; Faraj, S. (2023). The AI of the Beholder: How explanations of AI produce AI. European Group on Organizational Studies Colloquium 2023: Sub-theme 11: Explaining AI in the context of organizations. Hosted by University of Cagliari, Italy

Faraj, S.; Bhardwaj, A.; Malas, K.; Brunet; F. (2023). Marching to Many Beats: Plural temporality in a hospital's COVID-19 response. European Group on Organizational Studies Colloquium 2023: Sub-theme 11: The Role Institutions, Networks, and Communities in Extreme Contexts. Hosted by University of Cagliari, Italy

Faraj, S.; Bhardwaj, A. (2023) A quality of mercy is not trained: The entanglement of AI and ethics in operating room scheduling. Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2023 Presenter Symposium: Navigating the ethical terrain of AI technologies: A practice based view. Boston, Massachusets 

Bhardwaj, A. (2023) Improvising Coordination and Coordinating Improvisations during the COVID pandemic. Montreal Business Schools PhD Symposium 2023. Hosted by l'Ecole des Sciences de la Gestion, Université de Québec à Montréal.

Pearman, E. ; Faraj, S.; Bhardwaj, A.; Samad, H. (2023) Waiting for Go, Doc: Navigating the datascape of healthcare access in Quebec. Desautels Integrated Management Fellowship Annual Showcase, McGill University

Faraj, S.; Bhardwaj, A; Malas. K (2022) How a Major Canadian Tertiary Care Center Responded to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2022 Presenter Symposium: Relationships and Resilience in the COVID-19 Pandemic. Seattle, Washington

Bhardwaj, A. (2022) A Rudderless Ship: How Leadership Transitions can affect Organizational Innovation. Montreal Business Schools PhD Symposium 2022. Hosted by HEC Montreal 

PDW (2021) Supporting Non-Traditional Research Career Paths in the Academy. PDW Facilitator. Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2021.

Bhardwaj, A.; Faraj, S. (2021) Triaging Breaches: A hospital’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. European Group on Organizational Studies Colloquium 2021: Sub-theme 14: The Role of Temporality and Coordination in Extreme Contexts. Hosted by Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam

Bhardwaj, A.; Faraj, S. (2020 - Accepted) The flow and evolution of knowledge across academic collaboration networks. European Group on Organizational Studies Colloquium 2020: Sub-theme 34: New Approaches to Organizing Collaborative Knowledge Creation. Hosted by University of Hamburg 

Other, Misc.

Bhardwaj, A. (2013) Effects of Life History and Genome Architecture on ssRNA Virus Evolution and Extinction. Three Essay Doctoral Dissertation. Emory University. 

Bhardwaj, A. (2013) Demographic and Adaptive Evolution of RNA Viral Populations. Conference Presentation, Society for the Study of Evolution Conference. Snowbird, UT

Bhardwaj, A. (2013) Dynamics of Replication & RNA Viral Sensitivity to Demographic Extinction. Conference Poster. Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases Conference at Penn State University, University Park, PA

Bhardwaj, A. (2012) Is RNA Virus Evolution Regulated by Threshold-like Phenomena? Conference Poster. Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases Conference at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Bhardwaj, A. (2011) Evolution in RNA Viruses along a Latitudinal Gradient. Conference Poster. Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases Conference at UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA

Academic Experience

McGill University, Desautels Faculty of Management, Montreal: 2019 - Present

Lecturer: Emerging Technologies: Organizing and Societal Stakes, Winter 2023

• Co-designed and delivered 400-level undergraduate elective

• Enrolled local organization as sponsor for term impact project

• Course rating 4.9/5.0 | Instructor rating 5.0/5.0

Research Supervisor: Marcel Desautels Integrated Management Student Fellowship Program: 2021 - Present

• Supervised seven undergraduate research fellows.

• Aided fellows in study design, qualitative and quantitative data collection, and producing deliverables (Research poster and analytical essays)

• Trained fellows in exploratory quantitative data analysis of numerical data,  qualitative analysis of interviews and texts, and machine-assisted interpretive analysis of large organizational text archives.

Guest Lecturer: Developing AI in Organizations; for Emerging Technologies: Organizing and Societal Stakes - Offered by Prof. Samer Faraj: 2022, 2023, 2024

Guest Lecturer: Demystifying Simulations; for Systems Thinking and Sustainability- Offered by Prof. Anna Kim:  2021, 2024

Guest Lecturer: Causal Loops and Dynamic Models; for Social Context of Business - Offered by Ms. Hanieh Mohammedi: 2022, 2023

Teaching Assistant: Emerging Technologies: Organizing and Societal Stakes - Offered by Prof. Samer Faraj: Winter 2022

• Co-designed and facilitated all lectures

• Research/Project design support

• Grading and in-class moderation and support

Teaching Assistant: Systems Thinking for Sustainability  - Offered by Prof. Anna Kim: Fall 2021

• Grading and in-class moderation and support

Research Assistant: Social Network Analysis for Social Science Research - Offered by Prof. Brian Rubineau: Winter 2022, 2024

• Assisted students in executing analyses in R programming language for weekly assignments and term projects.

• Reinforced in-class materials on social network concepts

• Guided students in data science and data management principles

Research Assistant: Group on Complex Collaboration, lead by Prof. Samer Faraj

• Helped establish two qualitative research field sites for research group, built durable local relationships. Successfully helped insert one peer graduate student each into the field sites.

• Coordinated research meeting series for two years.

• Wrote and published natural language processing (NLP) tools for systematic literature reviews, actively used by PhD students and faculty members.

Emory University, Laney Graduate School, Atlanta: 2008-2013

Graduate Teaching/Research Assistant for Prof. Leslie A Real

• Designed and delivered guest lectures on ecological strategies for competition and survival, co-evolution, community and niche development

• Moderated weekly primary literature discussion and data analysis sessions

Academic Service

Division Editor: Administrative Sciences Association of Canada (ASAC), Technology and Innovation Management Division (TIM) 2024-Present

Student Representative-at-Large: Academy of Management Communications, Digital Technology, and Organizations Division (CTO) 2022-2024

Organizer/Volunteer: The Montreal Business Schools PhD Symposium 2023

Vice President (Academic): Desautels Doctoral Students Society, McGill 2021-2022

Peer Reviews: Reviewed 24 manuscripts for AOM annual meetings, 5 for ISIS annual meetings, 2 for ECIS annual meetings 2020-2024

Academic Awards

Desautels Doctoral Student Society 2024 Teaching Excellence Award

Montreal Business Schools PhD Symposium 2024 Best Research Paper: AI of the Beholder: How expertise arrangements produce AI. Hosted by John Molson School of Business, Concordia University

McGill Centre for Strategy Studies in Organizations 2024 Dissertation Award: AI in the OR: Construction and Consequences 

Montreal Business Schools PhD Symposium 2022 Best Research Paper:  A Rudderless Ship: How Leadership Transitions can affect Organizational Innovation. Hosted by HEC Montreal

Professional Experience

Accenture Digital, Atlanta: 2014-2019

High Value Clients, North America Communications, High-Tech, and Telecommunications Verticals. Customer Sales and Service Analyics, Applied AI.

Architect & Delivery Lead; Analytics Center Of Excellence - National Telecoms Client: 2018-2019

• Co-developed analytics strategy, organizational design and operating model for new analytics organization

• Led analytics team; services include process mapping and optimization, forecasting, simulation, and behavior modeling

• Executed new organizational design by assisting client HR with hiring, training client teams and transitioning capabilities

Customer Behavior Subject Matter Advisor (SMA); Various Clients: 2016-2019

• B2B Customer Behavior SMA for the North America Applied Intelligence practice

• Participated in deal shaping, project proposal development, client orals, and project quality assurance for 27 projects at 16 telecommunications, entertainment and high-tech industry clients

Data Science Lead; Enterprise Analytics as a Service - Global Telecoms Client: 2015-2017

• Led a multinational team that analyzed customer behavior to drive client's $10B+ annual global sales and marketing operations

• Key activities include market segmentation, sales and marketing treatment strategy, customer targeting for acqusition, growth and retention campaigns, product rationalization, and sales resource allocation

Innovation Manager; Various Clients: 2015-2017

• Designed and produced reusable analytics assets (algorithms, best practices, visualization standards) for Accenture Digital

• Worked with C-Suite, Executive/Manager, and Rep-level clients to understand how they make data-driven decisions and designed dashboards with interfaces and user experiences specific to their decision processes

Data Scientist; Small/Medium Business Customer Retention - Regional Telecoms Client: 2014

• Designed and implemented a predictive model to identify high-risk customers in the client's B2B customer base

 The Emory University Library, Atlanta: 2006-2007

Reference and Technology Assistant

 The Emory Wheel, Atlanta: 2006-2007

Editorials Illustrator for college weekly paper