AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY OF THE METHODS AND PROGRESS IN ENTERPRISE LEAN TRANSFORMATION AT A LEARNING HEALTH CARE ORGANIZATION

The health care industry in the United States is increasingly pressured to improve safety and quality performance and increase revenue. In response, many health care institutions are moving to redesign their processes and practices in an effort to decrease costs and provide safer, higher quality, and more efficient care. The purpose of this paper is to document the Lean implementation strategy and progress in implementation at a large teaching health care organization undergoing Lean transformation in order to understand enterprise transformation strategies and the impact of leadership involvement on culture development and Lean implementation. Through direct observations and involvement and transformation activities, the methodology for Lean transformation and progress in implementation were documented and analyzed. The organization employed an outside consultant to assist with transformation activities, and underwent a three-pronged approach to implementation, which included model area development, team member problem solving training, and management-led problem solving activities. It was found that leadership involvement was lacking, especially at the highest levels, and the organization struggled to build the culture necessary to support transformation and develop an operational model area, though successes were realized in efforts to train employees in Toyota’s 8-Step Problem Solving method and in management-led problem solving activities

Making a Case for Scenario-Based Learning in IS and Executive Education

This paper argues that scenario based learning is an appropriate pedagogical strategy for business school education, both for students and for executive education. Beginning with a discussion of problem based learning, the pedagogical strategy within which scenario based learning is grounded. The approach is explained and two examples of scenarios are offered, one for students and one for executives

When Two hearts Harmonize

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/3422/thumbnail.jp

Hellmut Fritzsche

In a letter he wrote in June 2018, the month of his passing, Hellmut Fritzsche, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, reflected on his life and marriage: “[My wife] Sybille and I were so very fortunate to have been selected in 1950 to the group of European students who were invited by the US government to come to the United States for one year. This is how we met. How immensely admirable was the generosity of the United States! We both had a rich and rewarding life. We are grateful for the opportunities given to us and for the wonderful life and inspiring circle of friends who questioned and supported us intellectually.” Those of us in that circle were richly rewarded for having experienced Hellmut’s inquisitive mind and vibrant nature

Variational Approach to Gaussian Approximate Coherent States: Quantum Mechanics and Minisuperspace Field Theory

This paper has a dual purpose. One aim is to study the evolution of coherent states in ordinary quantum mechanics. This is done by means of a Hamiltonian approach to the evolution of the parameters that define the state. The stability of the solutions is studied. The second aim is to apply these techniques to the study of the stability of minisuperspace solutions in field theory. For a $\lambda \varphi^4$ theory we show, both by means of perturbation theory and rigorously by means of theorems of the K.A.M. type, that the homogeneous minisuperspace sector is indeed stable for positive values of the parameters that define the field theory.Comment: 26 pages, Plain TeX, no figure

Hellmut Fritzsche

In a letter he wrote in June 2018, the month of his passing, Hellmut Fritzsche, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, reflected on his life and marriage: “[My wife] Sybille and I were so very fortunate to have been selected in 1950 to the group of European students who were invited by the US government to come to the United States for one year. This is how we met. How immensely admirable was the generosity of the United States! We both had a rich and rewarding life. We are grateful for the opportunities given to us and for the wonderful life and inspiring circle of friends who questioned and supported us intellectually.” Those of us in that circle were richly rewarded for having experienced Hellmut’s inquisitive mind and vibrant nature

Effects of Reduced Weight Maintenance and Leptin Repletion on Functional Connectivity of the Hypothalamus in Obese Humans

Treating obesity has proven to be an intractable challenge, in part, due to the difficulty of maintaining reduced weight. In our previous studies of in-patient obese subjects, we have shown that leptin repletion following a 10% or greater weight loss reduces many of the metabolic (decreased energy expenditure, sympathetic nervous system tone, and bioactive thyroid hormones) and behavioral (delayed satiation) changes that favor regain of lost weight. FMRI studies of these same subjects have shown leptin-sensitive increases in activation of the right hypothalamus and reduced activation of the cingulate, medial frontal and parahippocampal gryi, following weight loss, in response to food stimuli. In the present study, we expanded our cohort of in-patient subjects and employed psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis to examine changes in the functional connectivity of the right hypothalamus. During reduced-weight maintenance with placebo injections, the functional connectivity of the hypothalamus increased with visual areas and the dorsal anterior cingulate (dorsal ACC) in response to food cues, consistent with higher sensitivity to food. During reduced-weight maintenance with leptin injections, however, the functional connectivity of the right hypothalamus increased with the mid-insula and the central and parietal operculae, suggesting increased coupling with the interoceptive system, and decreased with the orbital frontal cortex, frontal pole and the dorsal ACC, suggesting a down-regulated sensitivity to food. These findings reveal neural mechanisms that may underlie observed changes in sensitivity to food cues in the obese population during reduced-weight maintenance and leptin repletion