Capability Traps and Self-Confirming Attribution Errors in the Dynamics of Process Improvement

Repenning, Nelson P.; Sterman, John D.

doi:10.2307/3094806

Cited by 400 publications

(406 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Current engineering brings quick and clear rewards (customer satisfaction, management attention), development brings reward with some delay (when the project is successfully completed), and bug fi xing and capability development have even longer and more obscure connections between resource investment and observation of results. Research has shown that people tend to learn the wrong lessons in the presence of delays and feedback complexities, often to the detriment of long-term options (Sterman, 1994;Repenning and Sterman, 2002;Rahmandad, 2008).…”

Section: Impact Of Alternative Resource Allocation Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It excludes many factors that are important in fully explaining Alpha and Beta's evolution, and focuses on how a core set of inter-project feedback processes can lead to tipping dynamics and performance heterogeneity in software development. As such, this paper follows a rich tradition of using case studies and simulation models to build grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1973;Davis et al, 2007) on dynamic social phenomena (e.g., Forrester, 1968;Sterman, 1985;Ford and Sterman, 1998a;Repenning, 2002).…”

Section: Analysis Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dynamics of concurrent software development

Rahmandad

Weiss

2009

System Dynamics Review

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In a concurrent development process different releases of a software product overlap. Organizations involved in concurrent software development not only experience the dynamics common to single projects, but also face interactions between different releases of their product: they share resources among different stages of different projects, including customer support, they have a common code base and architecture that carries problems across releases, they use the same capabilities, and their market success in early releases impacts their resources in later ones. Drawing on two case studies we discuss some of the feedback processes central to concurrent software development and build a simple simulation model to analyze the resulting dynamics. This model sheds light on tipping dynamics, the nature of inter-project feedback loops, and alternative resource allocation policies relevant to management of concurrent software development.

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Section: Impact Of Alternative Resource Allocation Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Analysis Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamics of concurrent software development

Rahmandad

Weiss

2009

System Dynamics Review

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“…This is not the first time that a conceptual model without detailed formulations has been represented with stock and flow diagrams in the literature. For another example, please refer to Repenning and Sterman (2002).…”

Section: Discussion and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theory of constraints for publicly funded health systems

Sadat

Carter

Golden

2012

Health Care Manag Sci

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This thesis aims to fill the gaps in the literature of the theory of constraints (TOC) in publicly funded health systems. While TOC seems to be a natural fit for this resource-constrained environment, there are still no reported application of TOC's drum-buffer-rope tool and inadequate customizations with regards to defining system-wide goal and performance measures.The "Drum-Buffer-Rope for an Outpatient Cancer Facility" chapter is a real world case study exploring the usefulness of TOC's drum-buffer-rope scheduling technique in a publicly funded outpatient cancer facility. With the use of a discrete event simulation model populated with historical data, the drum-buffer-rope scheduling policy is compared against "high constraint utilization" and "low wait time" scenarios. Drum-buffer-rope proved to be an effective mechanism in balancing the inherent tradeoff between the two performance measures of instances of delayed treatment and average patient wait time. To find the appropriate level of compromise in one performance measure in favor of the other, the linkage of these measures to system-wide performance measures are proposed.In the "Theory of Constraints' Performance Measures for Publicly Funded Health Systems" chapter, a system dynamics representation of the classical TOC's system-wide goal and performance measures for publicly traded for-profit companies is developed, which forms the iii basis for developing a similar model for publicly funded health systems. The model is then expanded to include some of the factors that affect system performance, providing a framework to apply TOC's process of ongoing improvement in publicly funded health systems.The "Connecting Low-Level Performance Measures to the Goal" chapter attempts to provide a framework to link the low-level performance measures with system-wide performance measures.It is claimed that until such a linkage is adequately established, TOC has not been fully transferred to publicly funded health systems.iv

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“…The original work by Repenning and Sterman described combining an inductive methodological approach with system dynamics modelling where the outcome was intended to provide theories concerning the failure of process improvement projects in an organisation (Repenning & Sterman, 2002). In their analysis they describe the organisations they study falling into a "capability trap", a dynamic hypotheses arising from the inductively generated system dynamics models created from their qualitative data analysis.…”

Section: The Start and Fizzle Of Organisational Changementioning

confidence: 99%

The uses of qualitative data in multimethodology: Developing causal loop diagrams during the coding process

Yearworth

White²

2013

European Journal of Operational Research

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-In this research note we describe a method for exploring the creation of causal loop diagrams (CLDs) from the coding trees developed through a grounded theory approach and using computer aided qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS). The theoretical background to the approach is multimethodology, in line with Minger's description of paradigm crossing and is appropriately situated within the Appreciate and Analyse phases of PSM intervention. The practical use of this method has been explored and three case studies are presented from the domains of organisational change and entrepreneurial studies. The value of this method is twofold; i) it has the potential to improve dynamic sensibility in the process of qualitative data analysis, and ii) it can provide a more rigorous approach to developing CLDs in the formation stage of system dynamics modelling. We propose that the further development of this method requires its implementation within CAQDAS packages so that CLD creation, as a precursor to full system dynamics modelling, is contemporaneous with coding and consistent with a bridging strategy of paradigm crossing.Keywords-multimethodology; paradigm crossing; qualitative data analysis; causal loop diagrams (CLDs); computer aided qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS); problem structuring methods (PSMs)

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Capability Traps and Self-Confirming Attribution Errors in the Dynamics of Process Improvement

Abstract: Senge, seminar participants at MIT, three anonymous referees, the editor, Christine Oliver, and the managing editor, Linda Johanson, for their careful reviews and constructive suggestions.

Cited by 400 publications

References 61 publications

Dynamics of concurrent software development

Dynamics of concurrent software development

Theory of constraints for publicly funded health systems

The uses of qualitative data in multimethodology: Developing causal loop diagrams during the coding process

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