Fall 2000

(Note: The schedule is not updated for Fall yet.)

Faculty: Dr. Hal Rumsey
Washington State University at Spokane
West 601 First Avenue
Spokane, WA 99201-3899

1. 358-7936 FAX 7899 E-mail: Rumsey@wsu.edu

Website: http://www.spokane.wsu.edu/academic/engineering/Rumsey

10 a.m. - 3 p.m., or by appointment.

You may contact me at the office, or at home during any reasonable hour.

Hal A. Rumsey, Ph.D., P.E., is Associate Professor of Engineering Management at Washington State University Spokane. Prior to joining WSU, he served as Director of the Graduate Engineering Management Program and Director of Graduate Programs at the Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Dr. Rumsey is active in numerous professional organizations and serves on the Editorial Board of the Engineering Management Journal. His educational accomplishments include a B.S. in Civil Engineering, an M.S. in Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Engineering Management from the University of Missouri-Rolla.

1. The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Tools, Techniques, and Reflections for Building a Learning Organization; Peter M. Senge.

2. The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action; Robert S. Kaplan, David P. Norton.

Additional Reading (Optional): Planning and Measurement in Your Organization of the Future, D. Scott Sink, Ph.D., P.E., and Thomas C. Tuttle, Ph.D., Industrial Engineering and Management Press, P.O. Box 6150, Norcross, Georgia 30091-6150, 1989.

Additional Readings Provided by Instructor

EM 575 PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN TECHNICAL ORGANIZATIONS

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Performance management begins with strategic planning of organizational objectives and systems, and extends to the development of closed-loop measurement and control systems designed to provide information at the sources of variation within the system. This course also examines the influence of human performance elements (such as quality of work life, rewards and recognition, job design, team building, and participative management) on organizational performance. Readings and emphasis will focus on technical organizations.

The objective of this seminar is to provide students a forum to study current views of philosophies and methods for organizational improvement. Students will understand strategic and tactical planning methods to refine organizational objectives and how to measure achievement of the objectives on seven key dimensions: effectiveness, efficiency, quality, productivity, quality of work life, innovation, and profitability.

Instructional methods will consist of lecture, guest lectures, video presentations, guided discussion, student projects, and student reports and presentations. This is a graduate seminar for working professionals. In this course, more so than in most, what you get from the course will depend on what you put into it.

Student Presentations and Reports: Each student will prepare a 10-minute presentation for the class covering a topic from the texts, augmented with material from outside readings pursued by the students. By the second week of class, students will notify the professor via FAX or E-mail of the topics which they desire to develop. .Wise students will insure that presentation topics contribute to the development of their position papers.

Student projects: Each student will complete an individual or group project related to the course. As a minimum, each student will attempt to apply the tools and techniques of organizational performance improvement to their work place and report on the outcome of the effort. The level of effort should be commensurate with the academic credit earned. The final report of the project should be at least 10 double-spaced pages in length.

Position Papers: You will have the opportunity to write four position papers over the term. All four will respond to the same question; "How to design, develop and implement successful and world class performance improvement systems". Your paper will focus on some specific aspect of this general area. Each paper will build on the previous versions; you may think of the first three papers as drafts of the final product.

The first paper, due February 4, will be based primarily on what you know and believe coming into class. It will consist primarily of your proposal regarding which aspect of a performance improvement system you wish to develop during the semester. It may take the form of a narrative outline of your approach to the problem. A survey of the areas touched on by the texts may stimulate your thinking, but do not be limited by this "list". The first paper will be less than five pages long.

The second, due March 4, will be based upon new knowledge gained during the first six weeks of class and also upon what you already know and believe. It will be less than ten pages long and will be written as if you were going to present the paper at a professional conference. At least five references are required.

The third, due April 8, will be based upon knowledge gained during the first 11 weeks of class and also upon what you already know and believe. It will be less than fifteen pages and will be written as if you were going to submit this to a trade journal such as Industrial Engineering, Quality Progress, Harvard Business Review, Academy of Management Executives, Organizational Dynamics, etc. At least ten references are required.

The fourth, due April 28, will be based upon knowledge gained during the semester and what you knew/know and believe. It will be approximately 20 pages and will be written as if you were going to submit this to Academy of Management Review, Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, IE Transactions, etc. It should reflect your best understanding of how to design, develop and implement performance improvement systems. At least 15 references are required.

I will provide feedback on the first three papers, but they will not be graded. Only the final paper will receive a grade. The purpose of this approach is to provide you an opportunity for continuous improvement. If you respond to the feedback at each stage of the process, the final paper should be excellent.

The final paper should be suitable for submission to an engineering management journal. The instructions for authors for both the IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management and the Engineering Management Journal are included for your reference. If you prepare the paper for some other journal, submit the corresponding guidance for authors as well.

Feedback/Examinations: There may be random examinations throughout the semester to evaluate your level of understanding. They may be in-class or out-of class; some will be time constrained, some more than others; some will be open book and notes, some not; level of difficulty will vary; content covered may be cumulative over the term. At this point, I plan on approximately two at 50 points each.

Term Project Application: You will build a measurement system (Balanced Scorecard) for a specific organization system(s) to support performance improvement. This activity will go on throughout the term and may be a team activity. I do not know how many or which specific organizational system(s) you will be working with at this point, nor do I know the specific steps you will be working through. These are the questions which you will answer as the term progresses. The development and application of the measurement systems will be reported in a final paper.

Tool/Technique Homework: We will also have several homework assignments during the term. Specifically, there is one for the TFPMM and the MCPMT. There may be a few others.

Student presentation10%Position paper25%

Homework25%Participation /Contribution 5%

Note that the Position Paper and Student Project are listed as separate activities. They may be handled as discrete activities, in which case the Project will require a separate paper to report on the development and application of the measurement system. With judicious planning, you may combine the Position Paper and the Project into one smoothly integrated activity. After all, measurement should be an integral part of whichever aspect of performance improvement that you pursue.

Working Calendar

Spring 1999

BS - The Balanced Scorecard 5D - The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook