More from the Author

• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2012 (Revised from original 2010 version)

  Assembling Smartphones: Takt Time ≠ Cycle Time?

  Willy Shih and Ethan Bernstein

  The case was prepared to be used as part of a process review in the first year Technology and Operations Management course at HBS. It offers students an opportunity to discuss the context of a manufacturing process choice, and then examine actual production numbers that resulted from a series of choices. While there isn't a traditional case issue, the discussion should focus on the gap between theoretical process designs and the reality of practical implementations, with the impact of operator variability in pace and the complex intertwining with work scope. The case only meant for one discussion pasture to review the Hayes-Wheelwright product-process matrix, and the impact of variability on line performance. While comparative numbers for the process choices are provided, the hope would be to develop students' intuition around why the numbers change so much.

  Keywords: Cognition and Thinking; Research and Development; Design; Six Sigma; Measurement and Metrics; Production;

  Citation:

  Shih, Willy, and Ethan Bernstein. "Assembling Smartphones: Takt Time ≠ Cycle Time?" Harvard Business School Case 611-012, December 2012. (Revised from original September 2010 version.)

  CiteView DetailsPurchase

  Related

• Chapter | Cognitive Search: Evolution, Algorithms, and the Brain | 2012

  Problem Solving and Search in Networks

  David Lazer and Ethan S Bernstein

  This paper examines the role that networks play in facilitating/inhibiting search for solutions to problems at both the individual and collective levels. At the individual level, search in networks enables individuals to transport themselves to a very different location in the solution space than they could likely reach through individual experimental or cognitive search. Research on networks suggests that (1) diverse ties provides a wider menu of choices and insights for individuals, and (2) strong ties will be relatively more useful for complex information, and weak for simple information. At the collective level, these conclusions become less clear: the key question is how the collective operates to coordinate within the group and beyond it so as to balance experimentation and convergence towards a solution encouraged by either the external network or the internal group dynamic. Collective coordination of search, and collective evaluation of potential solutions, may significantly influence the previous recommendations for the optimal network structure for network search.

  Keywords: search; networks; privacy; transparency; communication; problem solving; individual; collective; literature review; Communication; Information; Innovation and Invention; Knowledge; Organizational Design; Social and Collaborative Networks;

  Citation:

  Lazer, David, and Ethan S Bernstein. "Problem Solving and Search in Networks." Chap. 17 in Cognitive Search: Evolution, Algorithms, and the Brain, edited by Peter M Todd, Thomas T Hills, and Trevor W Robbins, 261–273. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012.

  CiteView DetailsPurchase

  Related

• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2012 (Revised from original 2009 version)

  Jieliang Phone Home! (A)

  Willy Shih, Ethan Bernstein and Nina Bilimoria

  At Precision Electro-Tek's mobile phone manufacturing facility in southern China, thousands of operators—bright and capable young men and (mostly) women like Jieliang Hao—are motivated to improve line productivity through small innovations for faster assembly and have discovered many ways to increase their performance. Meanwhile a globally networked team of manufacturing experts led by Marty Cole, the case protagonist, is trying to spread best practice from other sites around the globe. Unfortunately these two processes sometimes inadvertently clash, presenting a management challenge. The case helps students examine the implicit assumptions managers make in organizing work inside a factory. These assumptions reflect theories of worker behavior and motivation in combination with managers' beliefs of what constitutes "best practice." Students are offered an opportunity to dissect these lean manufacturing theories and recognize that in this particular implementation, implementation of best practice without sufficient consideration of the interplay of theories on motivation has led to unexpected outcomes. The case offers an opportunity to explore the link between work design and compensation and to understand the differences between compensation and motivation. The case frames the role of the general manager in setting up work structures and compensation systems in a very traditional and explicit setting, one where linkages should be clearly visible yet assumptions are often deeply buried and implicit. Our expectation is that students will see the lessons generalize to most, if not all, of the organizations where they have worked. There are three cases: the (A) case describes the management view, the (B) case describes the direct labor worker view, and the (C) case details the results of an employee survey that was conducted on two manufacturing lines.

  Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Job Design and Levels; Business Processes; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Manufacturing Industry; China;

  Citation:

  Shih, Willy, Ethan Bernstein, and Nina Bilimoria. "Jieliang Phone Home! (A)." Harvard Business School Case 609-080, July 2012. (Revised from original February 2009 version.)

  CiteView DetailsPurchase

  Related