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In Canada, one in five people doesn’t have a family doctor they see regularly. Emergency wait times can be as high as 22 hours. An ageing population threatens to strain an already burdened healthcare system. And while these numbers cover the situation in Canada, countries around the world face similar challenges. How did we get here? And what can be done about it? Samer Faraj, a professor at the Desautels Faculty of Management and an expert on healthcare reform. He gives his thoughts on the latest episode of the McGill Delve podcast.

Professor Samer Faraj sits down with McGill Delve’s managing editor Eric Dicaire. They begin with an overview of the major healthcare challenges that have emerged over the past 10 years. Then they discuss whether healthcare institutions are capable of meeting these challenges and why they often struggle to adapt. Eric and Samer conclude the podcast by discussing potential healthcare solutions through technology like AI or telemedicine.

TODAY’S GUEST

Samer Faraj holds the Canada Research Chair in Technology, Innovation & Organizing at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University. He is head of the research group on Complex Collaboration and was the former Director of the Faculty’s PhD program. Previously, he was an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. His current research focuses on complex collaboration in settings as diverse as health care organizations, knowledge teams, and online communities. He is also interested in how emergent social technologies are transforming organizations and allowing new forms of coordination and organizing to emerge. He has published over 130 journal articles, refereed proceedings, and book chapters in outlets such as: Academy of Management Journal, Management Science, Organization Science, MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, Journal of Applied Psychology, Business Horizon, OMICS, and Annals of Emergency Medicine. He has served as Senior Editor at both Organization Science and Information Systems Research. He currently serves on the editorial boards of Organization Science and Information and Organization.

ABOUT THE HOST

Eric Dicaire is the managing editor for McGill Delve, the thought-leadership publication of the Desautels Faculty of Management. He oversees the production of the Delve podcast, from the generation of content ideas to the final mix of the audio. Eric specializes in making complex information accessible to all audiences – a skill he honed as a journalist, health science communicator, and consultant in marketing and government relations. He holds an MA in Communication from the University of Ottawa and a Graduate Diploma in Journalism from Concordia University.

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CREDITS

This episode of the podcast was produced, hosted, and edited by Eric Dicaire. Professor Saku Mantere is McGill Delve’s editor-in-chief and produced all the original music.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Creativity is a joyous rage

Once upon a time, creativity was your superpower. Your ambition to succeed was unmatched and your creative drive was your guiding light. But now, after years of navigating deadlines, expectations, and maybe even a few hard-won successes, you find yourself wondering: Where did that creative spark go?

When creativity feels distant—lost to routine, burnout, or the sheer weight of responsibilities and expectations—how do you find your way back to it? For Ann-Marie MacDonald, acclaimed novelist, actor, and playwright, the secret lies in curiosity.

In this episode of the Delve podcast, host and managing editor Eric Dicaire sits down Ann-Marie MacDonald to talk creativity. Ann-Marie shares her take on the creative act, and how it changed from youthful rage and zealousness to a skilled craft. She also shares how she approaches her work and incorporates curiosity into everything she does. Ann-Marie and Eric then apply her insights to entrepreneurial and managerial contexts, so that you too can bring more creativity into your life.

Ann-Marie MacDonald is a renowned novelist, playwright, and actor, known for such works as Fayne (2022), The Way the Crow Flies (2003), and Fall on Your Knees (1996). She has also performed in several plays and films, and has written a few of her own. She was also the Richler Artist in Residence at the McGill University English Department in 2024. Learn more at https://annmariemacdonald.com/

RELATED CONTENT

The six pillars of creativity, with Saku Mantere

What modern art tells us about creativity, with Mitali Banerjee

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Email: delve@mcgill.ca

YouTube: @McGillDelve

Instagram: McGillDelve

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Visit us at Delve.mcgill.ca

McGill Delve is the official thought leadership platform of the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University. Eric Dicaire is Delve’s managing editor and hosted this episode. Professor Saku Mantere is Delve’s editor-in-chief and produced all the original music in this episode.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sometimes it’s difficult to do the right thing. What if managers made it easier?

Rob Glew is an assistant professor of Operations Management at McGill University. In this podcast interview, pulling on his own research and other cornerstone studies, he shares how small management choices can impact people’s motivations to do good.

Eric Dicaire interviews Rob Glew in this podcast episode. They begin by defining pro-social behaviour and how it breaks conventional economic wisdom. Then they discuss one of Glew’s studies, where he identified the impact of a small operational change on COVID-19 self-testing in the UK. They wrap the conversation with more examples of pro-social behaviour, how managers can encourage them, and why paying people isn’t enough to make them do good.

READ

Rob Glew and Claire Senot (2023). Hold Me Accountable: Anonymity and prosocial behavior in services. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4583322

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Email: delve@mcgill.ca

YouTube: @McGillDelve

Instagram: McGillDelve

Facebook: DelveMcGill

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Visit us at Delve.mcgill.ca

McGill Delve is the official thought leadership platform of the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University. This episode of the podcast was hosted and edited by Eric Dicaire. Saku Mantere is McGill Delve’s editor-in-chief and produced all the original music.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on the McGill Delve podcast, our editor-in-chief is in the hot seat. Saku Mantere is a professor of Organizational Behaviour at the Desautels Faculty of Management. Over the course of his career, he’s identified six ways to understand creativity. These frameworks can help you unlock the creativity that’s within you and your organization.

We begin this episode with an overview of Professor Mantere’s six pillars of creativity. Then, he and interviewer Eric Dicaire explore how Mantere teaches creativity to undergraduate students. In the second half of the conversation, they dive into what creativity can look like in the workplace and how different organizations might encourage different kinds of creativity, citing examples from X and Google.

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McGill Delve is the official thought leadership platform of the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University. This episode of the podcast was hosted and edited by Eric Dicaire. Saku Mantere is McGill Delve’s editor-in-chief and produced all the original music.

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STAY IN TOUCH

Email: delve@mcgill.ca

YouTube: @McGillDelve

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Are unions for everyone?

Tony Masi is a Professor of Industrial Relations and Organizational Behaviour at McGill University. In this podcast interview, he shows us unions attach themselves to social movements that benefit both their members and society as a whole, which has led to some of the biggest social changes of the 20th century. But this kind of work isn’t easy. If they want to win, union leaders need vision, political acumen, and a lot of friends.

In this podcast interview, Professor Tony Masi joins Eric Dicaire to discuss unions, social ties, and how they impact society. They begin by talking about the role of unions in some of the major victories of the past century. Then they get into how unions align themselves with other social organizations, and what kind of tensions this can cause for union leaders. They conclude the conversation with a look at the current state of union membership and behaviour in North America.

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READ

From Unwoven Societal Relationships to a Broad-Based Movement? Union Power in Societal Networks in Quebec (Canada), by Lorenzo Frangi, Anthony Masi, and Bénédicte Poirier.

In the interest of everyone? Support for social movement unionism among union officials in Quebec (Canada), by Lorenzo Frangi, Sinisa Hadziabdic, and Anthoni Masi.

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McGill Delve is the official thought leadership platform of the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University. Eric Dicaire hosted, produced, and edited this episode. Saku Mantere is McGill Delve’s editor-in-chief and produced all the original music.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the McGill Delve podcast, Professor Lisa Cohen talks about the fascinating and crucial process of job designing in startups. She explains how job creation impacts startups, the numerous challenges managers and founders face when hiring, and how startups differ from larger, more established firms.

Read Professor Cohen's paper: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5212434_Routines_and_Incentives_The_Role_of_Communities_in_the_Firm

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Email: delve@mcgill.ca

YouTube: @McGillDelve

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McGill Delve is the official thought leadership platform of the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University. This is episode of the podcast was hosted, produced, and edited by Eric Dicaire. Saku Mantere produced all the original music. He is also McGill Delve's editor-in-chief.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special edition of the McGill Delve podcast, editor-in-chief Saku Mantere sits down with Antoni Cimolino, artistic director of the Stratford Festival. Together they unpack leadership lessons from one of the most influential artists of all time: William Shakespeare.

Shakespeare was not only a fantastic playwright, but he was also an entrepreneur. And his life and work have much to say about leadership and the perils of greed, power, and corruption – insights that are as relevant today as they were in the 16th century.

Learn more about Antoni Cimolino and the Stratford Festival: https://bit.ly/3WNMNO8

McGill Delve is the official thought leadership platform of the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University. This episode of the McGill Delve podcast was hosted by Saku Mantere. He is a professor of strategy and organization at McGill University and McGill Delve’s editor-in-chief. He also produced all the original music. Eric Dicaire produced and edited this episode.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the McGill Delve podcast, Professor Rim Hariss talks price strategies. Supply and demand, manufacturing costs, and other operational factors are important determinants of a product’s price. But beyond that, retailers can manipulate prices to tell a story about their brand.

Professor Hariss explains how price skimming affects relationships with consumers, how price anchoring influences consumer behaviour, and the opportunities and risks of putting your products on sale.

Rim Harris is an Assistant Professor of Operations Management at the Desautels Faculty of Management. This episode was inspired by her paper titled “Markdown Pricing with Quality Perception.” Read it here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3634129

STAY IN TOUCH

Email: delve@mcgill.ca

YouTube: @McGillDelve

Instagram: McGillDelve

Facebook: DelveMcGill

LinkedIn: McGillDelve

McGill Delve is the official thought leadership platform for the Desautels Faculty at Management of McGill University. Eric Dicaire hosted, edited, and mixed this episode. Saku Mantere composed the original music and is Delve’s Editor-in-Chief.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.