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HARVARD UNIVERSITY JOHN F. KENNEDY SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

MLD-601 SYLLABUS

Fall 2014

T/Th 8:40 a.m.—10:00 a.m.

Room: L-140

Recitation Options:

F 10:10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Room: T-275

F 11:40 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Room: RG-20

Instructor:

Mark Fagan, T-368, 617-947-2586, mark_fagan@hks.harvard.edu

Office Hours:

Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:15 to 11:30, 2:00 to 4:00

or by appointment

Faculty Assistant: Veronica Chapman

Email: veronica_chapman@hks.harvard.edu Version: 8/26/2014

Course Objectives and Overview

Have you noticed…the provision of inefficient and/or poor quality public services?

Have you thought…there must be a better way.

Then this is the course for you!

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This course is an introduction to Operations Management with a focus on the public sector. It

teaches how managers create public value by delivering services effectively and efficiently. We

will examine value considering public welfare and safety, social equity, and resource utilization

across a range of services from healthcare to education to transportation. Our examination of

effectiveness is based on the ‘rights’ – right service, right quality, right time and place. Efficiency

centers on lowest total cost – direct provider costs, direct recipient costs, indirect societal costs

and optimal use of resources.

The course begins with a look at value creation in the public sector. Next, quality service

delivery will be explored followed by techniques for efficient delivery of services. With this

foundation, performance measurement and management will be examined. The course continues

with a look at the role of technology and operations management in the developing world. At the

end of the course students will be able to:

1. See opportunities to improve operations.

2. Diagnose the problems and barriers to creating value.

3. Design effective and efficient solutions.

4. Apply concepts to solve client issues.

The course features experiential learning through a consulting project with a local government

agency or non-profit organization. Students work in teams of 4-6 classmates to tackle a real

operations management issue facing a client. Past clients have included the City of Cambridge,

Children’s Hospital, Massachusetts Department of Youth Services, and Rose Kennedy Greenway

Conservancy. The projects begin the second week of classes and culminate in a presentation to

the class and client as well as a formal report at the end of term.

The course will focus on the provision of services. As such it will be unlike traditional courses in

Operations Management that focus on manufacturing products. Rather students will learn how

organizations provide services and information to produce public value.

Course Outline The course will be taught using a blend of cases, theoretical and practical readings, and

interactive simulations exercises. The major topics covered in this course are:

Value Creation

We will begin the course by looking at how operations management creates public value.

Quality Service Delivery

This section covers key concepts for delivering quality services including TQM,

moments of truth, process mapping, quality via reengineering, and quality via employee

engagement.

Efficient Service Delivery

This section of the course shows you tools and techniques for greater efficiency in the

delivery of services: organizing workflows, managing

capacity/throughput/utilization/bottlenecks, addressing demand peaks, applying lean

concepts and delivering services through a supply chain.

Performance Measurement

How do you know you are improving operations? This section provides tools and

management techniques for assessing effectiveness and efficiency.

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Role of Technology

This section addresses the fundamental question all managers should ask when

introducing a new technology into their organization: What value does the technology

add? We examine this question through a number of cases, looking at the operational and

strategic benefits of IT.

Operations Management in the Developing World

Operations managers in developing counties often face issues that push the basic

concepts to the edge such as rapid response to disasters, scaling up and distributed

delivery of services. As we wrap up the class we will explore how managers can navigate

these challenges.

Audience The course will serve both general managers and consultants who want an understanding of how

to maintain, improve or change their organization’s operations, as well as managers with specific

responsibility for day-to-day operations. There is no formal course prerequisite but previous

exposure to management courses is recommended.

Friday Recitation Recitation class is held on most Fridays. Two sessions are offered: 10:10-11:30 and 11:40-1:00.

You can select either session to attend. (You can switch times as you wish.) The sessions are an

opportunity for students to apply the classroom concepts and tools to real world problems. A few

sessions are for special topics such as an overview of consulting prior to beginning the client

projects. Recitation attendance is not mandatory but highly recommended.

Student Assessment Reengineered Process -- 25%

Identify, analyze, and solve an operations management issue/problem you find interesting. Your

work will be communicated during a 15 minute 1-on-1 meeting with the instructor. You are

welcome to use visuals to help convey your story. Feedback and your grade will follow

immediately after the discussion.

Capacity Analysis Exam -- 20%

You will analyze a short case study to determine the capacity, throughput and resulting quality of

a service delivery process. You will then provide recommendations on how to improve the

efficiency and effectiveness of the delivery process. This is an open book, take home exam. The

exam may NOT be discussed with anyone. It will be handed out on a Friday October 24 at 2:00

PM and due no later than Sunday October 26 at 6:00 PM. (It should take 2-3 hours to complete.)

Client Project – 40%

You will work in a team of 4 to 6 people on one of the client projects. The projects will involve

real problems that government agencies and non-profit organizations need solved. Your task is to

significantly progress the client’s issue. The final output consists of two deliverables. First is a

work-in-progress presentation to the class and client which highlights the issue, your analysis

and your preliminarily ideas for resolving the challenge. The presentations are during class, two

weeks before the end of term. Second is a final paper that details your work. (The client might

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also request a briefing memo or internal presentation that you will work out with them directly.)

You will have bi-weekly status meetings with our CA or me to review progress.

Your grade may be adjusted up or down a ½ grade based on a 360-degree assessment of you by

your team and the client’s assessment of your team’s performance.

Class Participation -- 15%

Class participation is essential to the course since much of what you learn will come through

conversations with your colleagues. Your participation grade is based on in class

comments/discussion. You will be designated “discussion catalyst” for no more than two classes

during the semester. In this role you may be called upon to start, foster, and/or synthesize class

discussion that day.

Expectations of Professionalism

Note on Ethics: You are expected to abide by the University policies on academic honesty and

integrity. Violations of these policies will not be tolerated and are subject to severe sanctions up

to and including expulsion from the University.

Note on Attendance: Punctual attendance is also part of your overall grade. If you miss more

than 3 classes, your final grade will be reduced by half a letter grade; a full grade if you are

absent 5 or more times. You must provide a written response to the Discussion Questions for any

missed classes. If you are late more than 3 times, your final grade will be reduced by half a letter

grade.

Grading I will assign grades according to the following HKS-recommended distribution:

A: 10-15 percent

A- 20-25 percent

B+ 30- 40 percent

B 20-25 percent

B- or below 5-10 percent

Materials Total Quality Management in Human Service Organizations, Lawrence L. Martin.

Russell Sage, New York. (Book available on reserve at the HKS Library. Individual

chapters are on the course page.)

Course materials are available through the course page.

Pre-class videos: I will record some lectures for viewing prior to class. This will enable

us to maximize time devoted to problem solving. These will be posted on the course

page.

Class Ground Rules

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Start on time; end on time

If you can not be there…email me

Prepare and participate

I cold call

Expect polite pushback; you may do the same

No multitasking ergo No Electronics

Do not understand? Ask. Frustrated? Tell me.

I can not spel – no laughing

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CLASS SCHEDULE (PRELIMINARY, SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

1. Thursday September 4, 2014

Value Creation Through Operations Required Preparation:

TSA: Creating Public Value...at a Cost, Fagan, Mark, (Cambridge: 2011), pp. 1-18.

Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government – Moore, Mark, (Cambridge:

Harvard University Press 1995), Chapter 2 “Defining Public Value”, pp. 27-56.

Pre-class Video 1a: Creating Public Value

Pre-class Video 1b: Who/What Framework

Pre-class Video 1c: TSA Case Context

Supplementary Readings:

“The Accenture Public Sector Value Model”, http://www.issa.int/pdf/cracow04/2Annex-

Younger.pdf

Organizations: Rational, Natural and Open Systems, W. Richard, Scott, (Boston: Prentice-Hall,

Inc. 1987), pp. 20-24.

“Value of Improved Public Services: An Application of the Choice Experiment Method to

Estimate the Value of Improved Wastewater Treatment Infrastructure in India, Birol and Das”,

2010, http://www.mse.ac.in/pub/working%20paper%2051.pdf

Discussion Questions:

1. What value does TSA’s airport screening operations create? What are the associated costs? Is this

an attractive value proposition for the air traveler? The public?

2. How does the organization define and deliver quality service?

3. How efficiently does TSA screen passengers?

4. How does the agency utilize technology and human insight?

5. How does TSA measure its success?

6. Which of Scott’s organizational systems best describes the TSA? How does that characterization

impact the ability of TSA to create value?

Friday September 5, 2014 – Recitation #1: Calculating Public Value

*** Note: Special Time and Place 4:10-5:30 Bell Hall***

***Note: Bring laptops***

2. Tuesday September 9, 2014

Quality Operations Required Preparation:

Total Quality Management in Human Service Organizations, Martin, Lawrence L., (Thousand

Oaks: Sage Publications 1993), "Quality Management: The New Managerial Wave", pp. 1-9.

Total Quality Management in Human Service Organizations, Martin, Lawrence L., (Thousand

Oaks: Sage Publications 1993), "What is Total Quality Management (TQM)?", pp. 10-19.

Total Quality Management in Human Service Organizations, Martin, Lawrence L., (Thousand

Oaks: Sage Publications 1993), "TQM as a Philosophy of Management", pp. 20-25.

Total Quality Management in Human Service Organizations, Martin, Lawrence L., (Thousand

Oaks: Sage Publications 1993), "Quality as an Organizational Goal", pp. 26-35.

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Total Quality Management in Human Service Organizations, Martin, Lawrence L., (Thousand

Oaks: Sage Publications 1993), "Collecting and Using Customer Quality Data", pp. 36-52.

Service Operations Management: Strategy, Design, and Delivery, Hope, Christine and Alan

Muhlemann, (Danvers: Prentice Hall 1997), "Marketing Interface", pp. 99 - 110, 114 - 117.

Pre-class Video 2a: Total Quality Management -TQM

Pre-class Video 2b: The Ultimate Question

Pre-class Video 2c: Martin Redux (optional)

**Bring to class three examples of “quality” organizations. What are the attributes that make

them high quality?

Supplementary Readings:

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Pirsig, Robert, (New York: William Morrow and

Company 1974), “Chapter 17”, pp. 202-209.

“Summary: The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth by Fred Reichheld,”

Fagan, Mark.

Discussion Questions:

1. What is quality?

2. What characteristics describe quality service delivery?

3. Is quality free?

4. What are the requirements to create a quality culture?

5. How is quality measured when delivering public services? How does quality create value?

3. Thursday September 11, 2014

Process Mapping: Starting Point for Quality Required Preparation:

“Process Fundamentals”, HBS, 9-696-023, 1999.

Background Note, Business Process Mapping, Landel and Snyder, 2010.

Total Quality Management in Human Service Organizations, Martin, Lawrence L., (Thousand

Oaks: Sage Publications 1993), pp. 59-60, Figure 6.3 and Table 6.2.

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Supplementary Readings:

“Better Faster: Streamlining Recruitment in the APS”, Australian Public Service Commission,

Australian Government, 2007, http://www.apsc.gov.au/publications-and-media/current-

publications/streamlining-recruitment

Process mapping software example: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/visio/

Discussion Questions:

1. What is the value of mapping processes?

2. What is the difficulty of mapping processes?

3. Beyond the process steps what additional information can be incorporated into the map?

4. What does the TSA passenger screening process map look like? From the passengers

perspective? From TSA’s perspective?

September 12, 2014 – Recitation #2: “Consulting 101”, “Teams 102”

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4. Tuesday September 16, 2014

Mapping with Interrelationships and Feedback– System Dynamics Required Preparation:

Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World, Sterman, John, (New

York: Irwin McGraw-Hill, 2000), pp. 3-39.

Pre-class Video 4a: System Dynamics Basics

Pre-class Video 4b: System Dynamics Application to Slippery Rail (optional)

Supplementary Readings:

System Dynamics Methods: A Quick Introduction, Craig Kirkwood, Arizona State University,

1998. http://www.public.asu.edu/~kirkwood/sysdyn/SDIntro/SDIntro.htm

Discussion Questions:

1. What is the power of causal loop mapping?

2. What is an example of a virtuous cycle? Vicious cycle?

3. How could system dynamics modeling be used to understand the 2007/8 Great Recession?

5. Thursday September 18, 2014

Moments of Truth and Root Cause of Failure Required Preparation:

United Breaks Guitars, Deighton and Kornfeld, Harvard Business School, 2010.

NASA’s Moments of Truth, Fagan, 2011

At America’s Service: How Corporations Can Revolutionize the Way They Treat Their

Customers, Albrecht, Karl, (New York: Down Jones-Irwin 1988), “Service Management,” pp.

20-42

Total Quality Management in Human Service Organizations, Martin, Lawrence L., (Thousand

Oaks: Sage Publications 1993), pp. 74-76.

“Root Cause Analysis Using Five Whys”, NHS Institute for Innovation and Advancement,

http://www.institute.nhs.uk/quality_and_service_improvement_tools/quality_and_service_improv

ement_tools/identifying_problems_-_root_cause_analysis_using5_whys.html

Pre-class Video 5: Root Cause Analysis Techniques (optional)

Supplementary Readings:

Columbia Accident Investigation Board Report Excerpts at http://www.space.com/19475-space-

shuttle-columbia-disaster-investigation-report.html

Columbia Accident Investigation Board Final Report at:

http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/caib/news/report/pdf/vol1/full/caib_report_volume1.pdf

Discussion Questions:

1. What were the United and NASA’s moments of truth?

2. How well did the organization perform? (Consider the Zone of Tolerance)

3. What were the proximate and root causes of the broken guitar and the Columbia disaster? (Use

the 4Ps framework)

4. What are the 5 whys and answers that explain the why the Challenger disaster did not prevent the

Columbia accident?

5. Why is culture so hard to change? How can it be done?

Note: The Columbia material will be the focus for the Root Cause Analysis Recitation.

Friday September 19, 2014 – Recitation #3: Root Cause Analysis

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6. Tuesday September 23, 2014

Quality via Process Reengineering Required Preparation:

Preventing Another Madoff: Reengineering the SEC’s Investigation Process, Fagan, 2010

Testimony of Harry Markopolos before the U.S. House of representatives, Committee on

Financial Services, February 4, 2009.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/11622010/Markopolos-Testimony

“Leading Change: Why Transformations Efforts Fail”, Kotter, John, Best of HBR, reprint

Ro701J.

“Business Process Reengineering in the Public Sector: The Case of the Housing Development

Board in Singapore”, Thong, James Y. L. and Chee-Sing Yap et al, Journal of Management

Information Systems, 17(1), (Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, Inc, 2000), pp. 245-270.

Pre-class Video #6: Reengineering in the Public Sector

Supplementary Readings:

Text of Bernard Madoff’s court statement, March 12, 2009

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101816470

“Investigation of Failure of the SEC to uncover Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme”, Office of

Investigations, SEC, August 31, 2009. Executive Summary.

http://www.sec.gov/news/studies/2009/oig-509.pdf

Discussion Questions:

1. What was the SEC’s process for investigating allegations of misconduct?

2. What gaps in the process enabled Madoff to escape discovery?

3. What was the role of “culture” and human psychology in the process failure?

4. How would you re-engineer the SEC process to prevent another Madoff?

5. Do you agree with Thong et al that public sector reengineering is more challenging than in the

private sector? Why?

6. Why was the Singapore Housing reengineering effort so successful?

7. Thursday September 25, 2014

Quality via Employee Engagement Required Preparation:

"The 'Learning Bureaucracy': New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc.", Adler, Paul S., Research

in Organizational Behavior, 15, (Greenwich: JAI Press, Inc., © 1993), pp. 111-160.

Total Quality Management in Human Service Organizations, Martin, Lawrence L., (Thousand

Oaks: Sage Publications 1993), "Continuous Quality Improvement Through Teamwork", pp. 68-

79.

Total Quality Management in Human Service Organizations, Martin, Lawrence L., (Thousand

Oaks: Sage Publications 1993), "Top Management Commitment", pp. 80-88.

“Toyota’s Recall Crisis: What Have We Learned?” Liker, Jeffrey, February 11, 2011,

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/02/toyotas_recall_crisis_full_of.html

“Learning from Toyota’s Stumble”, Spear, Steven, January 28, 2010,

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/01/learning_from_toyotas_stumble.html

Supplementary Readings:

Competitive Advantage Through People, Unleashing the Power of the Workforce, Pfeffer,

Jeffrey, (Watertown: Harvard Business School Press 1994), “What Effective Firms do with

People”, pp. 27-65.

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Total Quality Management in Human Service Organizations, Martin, Lawrence L., (Thousand

Oaks: Sage Publications 1993), "A Plan for Implementing TQM", pp. 97-103.

Discussion Questions:

1. What are the core tenets of Toyota’s quality management? How are they operationalized?

2. Why was NUMMI successful in implementing the Toyota system at a former GM plant? What

barriers were overcome? Which were not?

3. What was the role of employee engagement? How was it built?

4. Why did NUMMI plant close?

5. Why did Toyota’s quality culture stumble in 2010?

6. What actions would you take to correct and then prevent quality failures?

Friday September 26, 2014 – Recitation #4: Project Team Preparation (self directed)

Sunday September 28, 2014, 10 AM – Make Up Session for Those Observing Rosh Hashanah

8. Tuesday September 30, 2014

Organizing Work Flows Required Preparation:

“Reading Rehabilitation Hospital: Implementing Patient-Focused Care”, HBS, 9-898-172, Rev.

2000.

Production and Operations Management, Starr, Martin K., (Belmont: Atomic Dog Publishing

2004), “Process Configuration Strategies”, pp. 142-167.

Pre-class Video 8: Work Flow Taxonomy

Discussion Questions:

1. What are the alternative ways to organize workflows?

2. When are each appropriate, especially in the public service context?

3. What do the performance measures at Reading indicate about efficiency and quality of current

patient services?

4. What are the disadvantages of the service line approach?

5. How would you change the Reading model to meet the CEO’s objective of “finding the balance

between mission and real world business practice…”?

6. How effectively did the CEO adopt the Deming Cycle?

9. Thursday October 2, 2014

Queuing Required Preparation:

Queuing That Makes Logan Airport’s Customers Smile

A Primer for Policy Analysis, Edith Stokey and Richard Zeckhauser, Norton. 1978, Chapter 5,

Queues. pp. 74-88.

Pre-class Video 9: An Introduction to Queuing Theory

Supplementary Readings:

Humans are not Machines: Impact of Queuing Design on Service Time, Shunko, Neideroff, and

Rosokha, Operations Management eJournal, 2014.

Discussion Questions:

1. What are the challenges of managing lines?

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2. Why is conventional optimization not optimal?

3. What are the core drivers of queuing application?

4. How can Logan officials reduce lines?

Friday October 3, 2014 – Recitation #5: Queuing Theory – Running the Numbers

Reengineered Process Assignment 1-on-1 Meetings October 3-10, 2014

10. Tuesday October 7, 2014

Work Processing Strategies Required Preparation:

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement, Goldratt, Eliyahu and Jeff Cox, (New Haven:

North River Press, Inc. 1992), pp. 94-119.

“Psychology of Waiting Lines”, HBS, 9-684-064, rev. 1984.

Pre-class Video 10: Push – Pull with Cups

Discussion Questions:

1. What determines the speed of a process?

2. How does workflow impact inventory and output?

3. What aspects of Herbie’s “production” were problematic and how were they solved?

4. What are the implications of waiting in lines on work processing design?

5. What defines the capacity of a process? How is it calculated? How much is just right?

11. Thursday October 9, 2014

Inventory Managment Required Preparation:

Fagan, “Determination of Safety Stock: A Practical Approach For Service Industries”

Pre-class Video 11: Inventory Basics

Supplementary Readings:

Production and Operations Management, Martin Starr, 2004, P. 506-538

Discussion Questions:

1. What value does inventory create?

2. What costs are incurred?

3. What is the optimal inventory level of turnover items?

Friday October 10, 2014 – Recitation #6: The Optimal Number of Generators

12. Tuesday October 14, 2014

Capacity Utilization Required Preparation:

Improving the Flow of People: Victoria Station Redesign

Service Operations Management: Strategy, Design and Delivery, Hope, Christine and Alan

Muhlemann, (Danvers: Prentice Hall 1997), “Resource Management and Planning”, pp. 261-274.

Pre-class Video 12: Victoria Station Context

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Discussion Questions:

1. What is the process for inbound passengers at Victoria?

2. What are the capacities and utilizations of each process stage?

3. Where is the bottleneck?

4. Is there sufficient space on the platform to accommodate demand?

5. What strategies can improve the flow of passengers through Victoria station?

13. Thursday October 16, 2014

Managing Demand Peaks Required Preparation:

CSX and the Fall Peak, Fagan, Mark (Cambridge: 2005), pp. 1 -14.

“Peak Management”, International Journal of Production Research, 39(14), Ronen, B. and A.

Coman, et al, (London: Taylor and Francis Group, 2001), pp. 3183-3193.

Pre-class Video 13: CSX Context

Discussion Questions:

1. What are the opportunities and challenges of peak demand?

2. What are effective response strategies?

3. What type of peak does CSX face based on the Ronen et al framework?

4. Are locomotives a binding constraint at CSX?

5. Why is the CSX CEO so focused on Amgrain?

Friday October 17, 2014 – Recitation #7: Victoria and CSX Review

14. Tuesday October 21, 2014

Service Delivery in a Supply Chain Required Preparation:

Supply Chain, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_chain

“How the Three-Tiered Beer Distribution System Works”, Fermentarium,

http://www.fermentarium.com/industry/how-the-three-tiered-beer-distribution-system-works/

“Humanitarian Aid Logistics: Supply Chain Management in High Gear”, L.N. Van Wassenhove,

The Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol. 57, No. 5, May 2006, pp. 475-489.

http://proquest.umi.com.ezp-

prod1.hul.harvard.edu/pqdweb?did=1031726191&Fmt=7&clientId=18857&RQT=309&VName=

PQD&cfc=1

Pre-class Video 9: Beer Game Basics

Discussion Questions:

1. What are supply chains?

2. What are the complexities of managing supply chains?

3. Why is coordination of supply chains so critical?

4. In what ways are public sector supply chains more difficult to manage than those in the private

sector?

5. What is your favorite beer? What is your response when your local store is out of stock?

15. Thursday October 23, 2014

Role of Information in Operations Required Preparation:

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“Emergency Logistics Issues Affecting the Reponses to Katrina”, Jose Holguin-Veras et al,

Transportation Research Record, No. 2002, 2007, pp. 76-82 http://www.metapress.com.ezp-

prod1.hul.harvard.edu/content/xg2g8588147k8437/

Discussion Questions:

1. How did you feel during the beer game?

2. Did you seek to maximize your own outcome or that of the supply chain?

3. What information was lacking?

4. What would the outcome have been if there had been complete information visibility?

5. How does Systems Thinking facilitate supply chain management?

6. What insights do you draw from the responses to Hurricane Katrina?

Friday October 24, 2014 – Recitation #8: “Amazon-ing” Supply Chains

Capacity Analysis Exam, October 24-26, 2014

16. Tuesday October 28, 2014

Continuous Improvement - Kaizen Required Preparation:

Introducing KAIZEN in Africa, GRIPS Development Forum, October 2009, Chapter1

http://www.grips.ac.jp/forum/pdf09/Introducing_KAIZEN_in_Africa.pdf

Kaizen within Kaizen Teams: Continuous and Process Improvements in a Spanish Municipality,

Manuel Suarez-Barraza and Tony Lingham, Lund University,

http://www.ep.liu.se/ecp/026/130/ecp0726130.pdf

It’s Time to Rethink Continuous Improvement, Ron Ashkens, HBR Blog Network May 8, 2012,

http://blogs.hbr.org/ashkenas/2012/05/its-time-to-rethink-continuous.html

Supplementary Readings:

Factory Efficiency Comes to the Hospital, Julie Weed, New York Times, July 10, 2010,

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/business/11seattle.html?pagewanted=all

Audit in Psychotherapy: The Concept of Kaizen, M.M. Feldman, Psychiatric Bulletin 1992,

http://pb.rcpsych.org/content/16/6/334.full.pdf

Discussion Questions 1. What are the key features of Kaizen?

2. What are the requirements for successful implementation?

3. How can you take the philosophy of continuous improvement and incorporate them into you daily

life?

17. Thursday October 30, 2014

Performance Measurement Basics Required Preparation:

“Performance Measurement and Business Excellence: The Reinforcing Link for the Public

Sector”, Kanji, Gopal and Patricia Moura E Sa, Total Quality Management, Vol. 18, Nos. 1-2, pp.

49-56. http://ezp-

prod1.hul.harvard.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=heh&A

N=24152887&site=ehost-live&scope=site

“‘Good Enough’ Performance Measurement: a Trade-off between Activity and Action”, R.

Johnson, S. Brignall, and L. Fitzgerald, Journal of the Operational Research Society, 2002, pp.

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256-262. http://ezp1.harvard.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com.ezp-

prod1.hul.harvard.edu/pqdweb?did=110489446&Fmt=6&clientId=18857&RQT=309&V

Name=PQD

“The 7 Deadly Sins of Performance Measurement and How to Avoid Them”, Hammer, Michael,

MIT Sloan Management Review, 2007, Vol. 48 NO 3, pp. 19-28.

http://www.sail.co.in/Growth_May08.pdf

Pre-class Video #17: Performance Measurement and Management

Note: Guest Lecture: Mayor Curtatone of Somerville on SomerStat

Supplementary Readings:

“Improving Cancer Care Through Public Reporting of Meaningful Quality Measures”, Tracy

Spinks et al, Health Affairs 30, NO.4 (2011), pp. 664-672.

http://ezp1.harvard.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com.ezp-

prod1.hul.harvard.edu/pqdweb?did=2333069421&sid=1&Fmt=4&clientId=18857&RQT

=309&VName=PQD

Discussion Questions:

1. What measures effectively assess: delighting the customer, managing by fact, managing people,

and continuously improving?

2. What are the hallmarks of innovative performance measurement systems?

3. How much measurement is enough measurement?

Friday October 31, 2014 – Recitation #8: Client Presentations and Reports

18. Tuesday November 4, 2014

Prospective Performance Measurement Required Preparation:

Tracking the Flu with Technology and Twitter, Heather Kelly, CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/30/tech/social-media/flu-tracking-twitter/

The Parable of Google Flu: Traps in Big Data Analysis, Lazer et al, Science, March 14, 2014,

http://www.uvm.edu/~cdanfort/csc-reading-group/lazer-flu-science-2014.pdf

Pre-class Video 14: Looking Around the Bend at CSX (optional)

Discussion Questions:

1. What is the value of forward-looking measurement? 2. Is data mining social media a viable tool?

3. What are the risks of using social media?

19. Thursday November 6, 2014

Technology for Quality and Efficiency Required Preparation:

Introducing Technology at Transport for London: Oyster’s Multiple Pearls (A) and (B), Fagan

and Stuart, 2009.

Process Innovation, Davenport, Thomas H., (Watertown: Harvard Business School Publishing

1993), “Information Technology as an Enabler of Process Innovation”, pp. 37-70.

Supplementary Readings:

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“Accepting Contactless Cards for Fares is the Wave of the Future for Transit”, Jackson, Ben,

Prepaid Trends, December 4, 2008. http://www.collectionscreditrisk.com/news/accepting-

contactless-cards-fares-wave-future-2631521-1.html

“Core Capabilities for Practitioners in Achieving E-Business Innovation”, Lin and Hsia,

Computers in Human Behavior, 27 (2011) pp. 1884-1891. http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezp-

prod1.hul.harvard.edu/science/article/pii/S0747563211000781

Discussion Questions:

1. How does information technology facilitate process reengineering?

2. How does IT act as an enabler and as an implementer of new process design?

3. What were the motivators for the Oyster card development?

4. What were the critical success factors for the Oyster card deployment?

5. What benefits did Oyster yield?

6. What might be the next generation of fare collection technology at TFL?

Friday November 7, 2014 – Recitation #9: Statistical Process Control

20. Tuesday November 11, 2014

Technology to Expand Reach Required Preparation:

“The Economics of M-PESA”, Jack, William and Tavneet Suri, August 2010.

http://mmublog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/M-PESA_d_15.pdf

“Designing Mobile Transfer Services: Lessons from M-PESA”, Mas, Ignacio and Olga

Morawczynski, MIT Innovation Journal, Spring, 2009.

http://www.bankablefrontier.com/assets/pdfs/INNOVATIONS-Mpesa%20Service%20Design.pdf

Supplementary Readings:

6th Annual Africa Investment Conference, Safaricom, Ltd.

http://www.safaricom.co.ke/fileadmin/Investor_Relations/Documents/Investor_Roadshow-

6th_Annual_Africa_Investment_conference_London.pdf

Discussion Questions:

1. What accounts for M-PESA’s rapid growth?

2. In what ways is technology an enabler?

3. What are logical extensions of cellphone-based technology?

4. What other ways can technology extend the reach of service providers in developing

geographies?

21. Thursday November 13, 2014

Scaling Up: Building Organizational Capacity Required Preparation:

Case: “Emergency Response to a Long-Term Crisis? Medecins sans Frontieres and HIV/AIDS in

Ethiopia”, Regina Galang for Guy Stuart, Kennedy School of Government Case Program, CR16-

06-1851.0, 2006.

Supplementary Readings:

World AIDS Day 2004, Doctors Without Borders.

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/press/release.cfm?id=371

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Discussion Questions:

1. What are MSF’s goals for addressing HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia?

2. What are the requirements to meets these goals?

3. How well positioned is MSF to carryout their plans?

4. What organizational challenges does MSF face in implementing their plans; how are they

overcome?

Friday November 14, 2014 – Recitation #10: Scaling Up Water Delivery

22. Tuesday November 18, 2018 (8:00 AM Start)

Client Work-in-Progess Presentations

23. Thursday November 20, 2014 (8:00 AM Start)

Client Work-in-Progess Presentations

Friday November 21, 2013 – Recitation #10: Client Presentation Feedback

24. Tuesday November 25, 2014

The “Kitchen Sink” Required Preparation:

Applying Lean Production to the Public Sector, Nina Bhatia and John Drew, McKinsey

Quarterly, June 2006,

https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Applying_lean_production_to_the_public_sector_1806

Can Lean Redesign Stick in Health Care?,Nigel Edwards, June 19, 2012,

http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/blog/lean_redesign.html

Regulating Death at Coalmine: Changing Mode of Governance in China, Wang Shaoguang, May

2004,

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=coal+mine+safety+in+China&ie=UTF-

8&oe=UTF-8

Tag: Mine Safety, China Digital Times, http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/mine-safety/

Appropriate Fit: Service Delivery beyond Bureaucracy, Guy Stuart, The State of Access, Jorrit de

Jong and Gowher Rizvi editors, Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation and

Brookings Institution Press, 2008, pp. 117-134.

How is the electronic health record being used? Use of EHR data to assess physician-level

variability in technology use, J Am Med Inform Assoc amiajnl-2013-002627Published Online

First: 9 June 2014.

Supplementary Readings:

Lean in Healthcare: The Unfilled Promise, Zoe Radnor, Matthais Holweg, Juston Waring, Socail

Science and Medicine, 74 (2012) 364-371. http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezp-

prod1.hul.harvard.edu/science/article/pii/S0277953611000979

Productive Care Case Studies, Institute for Innovation and Improvement, NHS,

http://www.institute.nhs.uk/images//documents/Quality_and_value/productiveseries/Productive%

20Care%20case%20study%20pack%20website.pdf

Discussion Questions:

1. What is unique about “lean?”

2. Why is it a challenge in the public sector in general and in healthcare in particular?

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3. What is the impact of implement operational improvements in harsh conditions?

4. Does distributed delivery have the potential to solve the potable water crisis?

Thursday November 27, 2014

Thanksgiving Day – No Class

25. Tuesday December 2, 2014

A Test Run/Putting It All Together Required Preparation:

Bring a warm coat for field work

26. Thursday December 4, 2014

Wrap-Up

Required Preparation:

Come to class with your Top 10 Takeaways from the course

Final Project Papers Due, December 15th

at 5pm