This program helps executives understand how continuous improvement strategies, sustained over a long period of time, affect core business metrics and business development strategy and contribute to the success of the organization. This course equips managers with a fundamental understanding of how work design—as well as their own approach to management—can be improved for optimal business benefits.
Implementing Improvement Strategies: Dynamic Work Design
Certificate Track:
Technology, Operations, and Value Chain Management
Location:
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Tuition:
$3,900 (excluding accommodations)
Program Days (for ACE Credit) 2
View Course Brochure
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This program provides practical tools and methods for sustainable improvement efforts of any scale, in any industry, and in any function. It is built on a foundation of principles and methods called Dynamic Work Design and can be adapted to any type of work in any type of organization.
Proceeding from principles, not practices, is a
key to sustainable change, allowing integration with current culture,
processes, and practices, while delivering fast results with little overhead of
training or major initiatives. The method has proven to work in businesses as
diverse as oil/gas, DNA sequencing and engineering/innovation and works at the
scale of discrete problems or organizational-wide strategic efforts. Improvement begins to happen in rapid and natural ways; results begin showing
up almost immediately.
This process improvement training program is inspired by the collaboration between instructors Don Kieffer and Nelson Repenning who integrated industry practice and academic investigation over a 20-year period to develop Dynamic Work Design. Students will learn to identify the value-added elements of their own work and of their organization and more importantly, identify opportunities for improving and how to get started based on a framework of principles and methods.
Please note: The subtitle of this program has changed. The program was previously named "Implementing Improvement Strategies: Practical Tools and Methods."
The main purpose of this program is two-fold: one is to help participants understand how continuous improvement strategies, sustained over a long period of time, affect core business metrics and contribute to the success of the organization, from bottom-up and top-down perspectives; and the other is how to change the way managers see work and their own roles as leaders in the culture of improvement. This program will enable participants to:
The program is intended for executives, senior managers, and leaders from every sector. Managers at any level of responsibility will benefit from this program, but it's the senior leadership that should be able to embrace and champion the principles of improvement for the benefit of the entire organization. Here are some indicators that this program will be of value:
Sheila Dodge is the Senior Director of Operations and Development for the Genomics Platform at the Broad Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. She directs a team of more than150 scientists, engineers and laboratory technicians who develop and run DNA sequencing production processes. She oversees daily operations of the Labs, IT, and Engineering as well as new project and new process execution that keep this organization at the front edge of an industry where changing technology and speed are critical.
She has a BA in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Boston University, a Masters in Biology from Harvard and an MBA from MIT. She is also Six Sigma, Black Belt certified and works across many boundaries between the science, technology, process development and operations applying her expertise in Visual Management systems and Dynamic Work Design.
Donald Kieffer is a Senior Lecturer in Operations Management at MIT Sloan.
Kieffer started working in factories at the age of 17 as piece-worker on a metal lathe. He later spent 15 years at Harley-Davidson where he led the Twin Cam 88 engine project and became vice president of manufacturing excellence, responsible for both engine manufacturing and improvement across the company. He was also senior vice president of operations for a multinational corporation, responsible for 5,000 people globally in manufacturing, engineering, supply chain, quality, and logistics. He works globally with a focus on knowledge, creative, and executive work.
He founded his consulting company, ShiftGear Work Design (www.shiftgear.work), in 2007.
Kieffer holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.
Nelson P. Repenning is the Associate Dean of Leadership and Special Projects at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Professor Repenning also serves as the faculty director for the MIT Leadership Center.
Nelson’s early work focused on understanding the inability of organizations to leverage well-established tools and practices. He has worked extensively with organizations trying to develop new capabilities in both manufacturing and new product development. He has also studied the failure to use the safety practices that often lead to industrial accidents and has helped investigate several major incidents. This line of research has been recognized with several awards, including best paper recognition from both the California Management Review and the Journal of Product Innovation Management. In 2003 he received the International System Dynamics Society’s Jay Wright Forrester award, which recognizes the best work in the field in the previous five years. Building on his earlier work, today Nelson focuses on developing the theory and practice of Dynamic Work Design--a new approach to designing work that is both effective and engaging—and Dynamic Management Systems, a method for insuring that day-to-day work is tightly linked to the strategic objectives of the firm. In 2011 he received the Jamieson Prize for Excellence in Teaching. He is also a partner at ShiftGear Work Design and serves as its Chief Social Scientist.
Sample Schedule—Subject to Change
| DAY 1 SAMPLE | |
| 8:00AM - 8:30AM | Registration and Continental Breakfast |
| 8:30AM - 9:00AM | Introduction and Program Objectives |
| 9:00AM - 11:00AM | Key Concepts |
| 11:00AM - 12:00PM | Practical Applications |
| 12:00PM - 1:00PM | Networking Lunch |
| 1:00PM - 6:00PM | Principles and Science of Dynamic Work Design |
| 6:00PM - 7:00PM | Reception |
| DAY 2 SAMPLE | |
| 8:00AM - 8:30AM | Continental Breakfast |
| 08:30AM - 9:30AM | Recap and Discussion |
| 9:30AM - 10:00AM | Introduction to Problem Formulation |
| 10:00AM - 10:15AM | Break |
| 10:15AM - 11:45AM | Problem Formulation Exercise |
| 11:45AM - 12:45PM | Networking Lunch |
| 12:45PM - 2:15PM | Introduction to Visual Management |
| 2:15PM - 3:30PM | Visual Management Exercise |
| 3:30PM - 4:00PM | Getting Started: How You Show Up |
| 4:00PM - 4:10PM | Adjournment |
How organizations can improve task flow and prevent overload.
VIEW“Intellectual work is different. But contrary to the argument that process improvement ‘only works in the factory,’ my experience is that, when properly applied, the concepts and principles underpinning Toyota and Lean methods produce more powerful results and far more quickly in the office.”
VIEWA business school may not seem like the most logical place to find a solution for virulent disease, but it is.
VIEWIn an effort to boost capability, companies often invest significant time and money in efforts to incorporate these innovations in their day-to-day operations. Nonetheless, such efforts often fail. Why? Watch MIT Sloan Professor Nelson Repenning's webinar to learn more.
Lean production, high performance work systems, virtual communications, and collaboration applications are all examples of the latest tools, technology, and processes executives are encouraged to implement in efforts to improve productivity and efficiency. But why are there more useful tools and processes out there than there are organizations that use them?
VIEWWe can “reconcile activity with intent” in the workplace by making it easy for people to know why they do what they do, and to understand how their activities affect given outcomes.
VIEWMIT Professor Nelson Repenning says this skill is the best way to enhance individual and organizational problem-solving.
VIEWThere are few management skills more powerful than the discipline of clearly articulating the problem you seek to solve before jumping into action.
VIEWVisual management is a key part of the Dynamic Work Design toolkit and absolutely critical to creating an effective Dynamic Management System.
VIEWNelson Repenning and John Sterman's paper on creating and sustain process improvement.
VIEWRogelio M: A transformative experience. The material es superb and it applies to all areas of knowledge work. The best class I have taken at MIT
Matthias G: This is a great program, very inspiring. Go further than only Lean and Six Sigma, learn about implementation and how to make Change real. A great experience, thank you!
Felipe T: Great course. Dynamic Work Design helps attendees understand how highly productive factory work techniques such as Lean Sig sigma can be applied to other areas like Marketing, Sales and Product Development
Marcus-Minh B: good course. I learned a lot in two days.
Mohammed H: Lecture started with how an individual human brain works and ends with bunch of strangers working together in a group trying to solve a particular project problem. I found this fascinating. Class was very engaging and lots of experiance were shared along with theory most of which i could instantly relate to. Some examples were related to other type of industries whic other students might found interesting. But not a dull moment. I felt it was a well blend of theory and practice. I plan to introduce some of the concepts into my orgamization slowly. Food selection was great. I personally avoid meat from four-legged animals, still I had plenty of choices.
Abolaji O: The program gave very good insight into creating an efficient and production work environment and processes.
Ronald B: Next generation of lean system implementation. Adds elements of knowledge transfer and management rigor to drive sustainable systems and processes founded in personal education, understanding and ownership of continuous improvement.
: Full disclosure, I am an employee of Sloan Executive Education. This is an excellent program for anyone looking to apply a proven discipline for improving the processes and operations within their organization. Very engaging instruction backed up by examples, relevant exercises, and coaching.
Ricardo N: A well-designed course, very engaging. Context has a positive tone that will certainly affect positively learners performance at work. Also, great network.
Toronata T: A good application of capability trap from system dynamics thinking. It is a pity that Don was sick on the 2nd day, and Nelson did not show up without telling the class in advanced. Thanks to Sheila and James who did just well to catch up. The application of the human interaction by way of post-it board practice applied in Broad Institute is very inspiring. I wish the story can be analyzed and formalized in a case study. Thanks
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If you’re interested in improving work, no matter what type of work it may be, watch this recently recorded webinar with Don Kieffer.
Dynamic work design allows knowledge-based employees to find and fix issues and make improvements in real time, just like on the factory floor. Using four underlying principles, it defines two distinct types of work for both physical work and intellectual work: “Factory” and “studio.”
Best practices and multilevel organizational charts rule the business world. But in their quest for smart work design, executives typically forget one fact: “In real life, things almost never go as planned,” says Nelson Repenning. His research, instead, has long focused on what happens when employees get bored or frustrated or overwhelmed and deviate from the best-laid plans.
"A very good blend of practical and theoretical faculty. Prof Nelson Repenning delivers the theories behind Dynamic work design while Don Kieffer adds the flesh to the bones with practical content. Kieffer's practical approach to improvement strategies are well worth the course alone. Everybody are able to take something back to apply day 1 back at work." -
Clas W.
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