As a high school principal, I am constantly enamored of various business theory. In particular I have been reading Theory of Constraints.
However, I always have to make leaps of thinking to match the business world to a government run, heavily unionized, non-profit institution. I feel quite amateurish at this exercise.
How do I figure out the constraint or bottleneck in the "throughput" of a school?
Is "the goal" graduation or is there more? [we are in a struggling environment where less than 50% of students graduate in 4 years].
I know this question references particular readings. I'm hoping that some of you are familiar enough with it to point me in the right direction or at least ask questions that will stimulate my thinking.
That is a very difficult - but phenomenal - question, Michael!
Is the goal of the educational system similar to a manufacturing system? If so, the goal might be to maximize throughput of finished goods that meet the market need while minimizing "scrap" and "rework." With that lens you'd want a high percentage of students to graduate with marketable skills, while minimizing the number of dropouts and repeated grades.
Is "throughput" the goal? It feels right, since you want to maximize the effective output of the whole system.
Even if we take that as true, the hard part is identifying the constraint.
A couple of my coworkers spent some time working on some IT throughput "theory" with Dr. Goldratt (TOC creator) a couple of years ago, and I'm going to see if I can get in touch with him to chime in here (no promises that I'll succeed). However, he said the "most significant" book he wrote on TOC was Critical Chain. Chapter 11, which provides an overview is on his site at http://www.goldratt.com/chpt11.htm if you haven't read the book.
I don't have the answers, but you've sparked my curiosity and I'll keep digging. Meanwhile some of the other TOC-o-philes may see this more clearly than I and chime in.
I think the most important questions up front are the problems you want to address. A manufacturing process is really a pretty simple problem compared to a High School. It sounds like graduation rate is a major goal. What about safety and order? College acceptance? Sports performance (cringe)? Alumni donations? Attendance?
The theory of constraints is a very rich field of thought that fits more than just manufacturing, but I would say the most important component of it is a checklist: 1. Identify the constraints 2. Decide how to exploit the constraints 3. Subordinate everything else to the above decision 4. Elevate the systems constraints 5. If in (4) a step was broken, go back to (1)
A couple things jump out at me here. First of all, you are definitely the best person to identify what is keeping your school from being more successful. And I don't really know what you would consider to be a measure of success, anyway. It is not important to relate it to manufacturing, though.
Second, this system does depend on feedback of information. If you are trying to increase graduation rate, do you only get feedback at the end of the year? Is there any way of improving this, by predictions based on grades, or a representative test every quarter, or something like that? I don't even know what the measure of success is, so I really shouldn't speculate, but this may be something you can improve.
But anyway, I think it's a great idea to think about TOC at a High School! But don't try to make the school fit into a manufacturing plant paradigm. That will just send you down the wrong path.
First off, thanks for the responses. Very helpful.
Also, if possible, I would love to pursue any contacts you all have that
might be more immersed in TOC and might be interested in working with a
public school. I do have Critical Chain and intend to review the sections
you recommended.
Here's a follow up question: am I using the theory correctly if I do the
following:
We are an alternative type school that uses internships to engage students
and connect academics to projects students do at sites and at school. So, if
we connect successful internships ultimately to graduation AND we are having
a hard time securing internships, I am thinking that "securing internships"
is our bottleneck. That's the constraint.
Right now I have staff who do a number of different things that are not
directly linked to getting kids on internships. About 20 teachers work on
this with their students and about 8-10 others do administrative tasks and
some ancillary instruction.
What exactly does "exploiting the constraint" mean in this situation? What
about "subordinating everything to that constraint or decision?" Might it
mean that I put a moratorium on all administrative and ancillary tasks and
have all 30 staff do nothing else but work on securing internships?
I appreciate any insights.
Michael
Michael - I would like to ask / clarify a position. Is the success (or to a degree) of your students dependent upon your staff successfully securing internships and then placing the student with the right organization? And are these internships dependant not only on the students input but also that of the participating company?
Dave,
Yes to both questions. If anyone is interested, the approach is based on
something called the Big Picture Model which is described at
www.bigpicture.org <http://www.bigpicture.org>
In this model, teachers become advisors who are responsible for
distinguishing student interest and then finding a place where that interest
is expressed in a real-world setting; the internship.
Students need to be interested so their input is necessary. Organizations
need to have a staff member willing to serve as a mentor so their input is
necessary as well.
Michael
On 10/15/05, David.Rothac...@gmail.com <David.Rothac...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Michael - I would like to ask / clarify a position. Is the success (or
> to a degree) of your students dependent upon your staff successfully
> securing internships and then placing the student with the right
> organization? And are these internships dependant not only on the
> students input but also that of the participating company?
You'll not see many references to bottlenecks on the site because they tend to focus on using the "Thinking processes", which were first mentioned in Goldratt's novel "It's not luck". They're incredibly powerful tools for uncovering and managing underlying systemic root causes. You might also want to look at one of my weblogs http://clarkeching.blogs.com/tocsoftware/ where I documented my use of the thinking processes applied to software development projects.
One thing to watch out for is that you want to make sure that you remain flexible. Pulling people off of other tasks now may reveal another constraint very quickly. You want to make sure that once something reveals itself to be more of a limiting factor, you are able to react to it.
Clarke Ching makes an excellent point about the thinking processes. Going through the exercise of creating a current reality tree and moving down the line can be very beneficial in revealing cause effect relationships you didn't really understand before. It is also very illustrative in revealing constraints. His website gives some excellent examples
"Thinking for a change" by Lisa Scheinkopf gives an excellent treatment of it. You can read a lot of it for free using Amazon's search inside feature. I'm eager to hear how everything goes.
Thanks to the Slacker Manager, I've decided to join the group. TOC is a favorite topic, I just wish I were "better" at it. This replicates most of what I posted as a comment at Slacker Manager.
TOC is a combination of things, and most people (including me) usually see only the first part: the aspect associated with constraints. As others have said above, the Thinking Processes are probably more important. It is the thinking processes that help you get to thinking about the "five focusing steps" in a useful way.
Another important aspect is that before you look for constraints, you need to understand the goal of the system. In business, it is usually some form of "make money now and in the future." In non-profits, it is a little more difficult, but one can do it. A high school the goal might be the graduation rate. But it could equally be some version of attendance, "test score," or some other measure of what the school is really trying to do.
There is also a TOC-in-education success story somewhere amongst Goldratt's talks and papers, but I can't find a good reference to it. The application was at an Israeli school that was having similar troubles as Michael's high school, and they were able to work with the school and turn them into one of the better-performing schools in the area. He references it in the current Viable Vision one-day seminars.
Thanks everyone. My colleagues may think I'm a bit crazy as I talk about TOC
here in the high school office, but it makes sense to them (at least to the
degree that I understand it).
I'm reviewing Critical Chain and looking over the recommended websites.
I'll let you know what I learn from my attempts at application.
Michael
On 10/17/05, Karl Whealton <kmwheal...@gmail.com> wrote:
> One thing to watch out for is that you want to make sure that you
> remain flexible. Pulling people off of other tasks now may reveal
> another constraint very quickly. You want to make sure that once
> something reveals itself to be more of a limiting factor, you are able
> to react to it.
> Clarke Ching makes an excellent point about the thinking processes.
> Going through the exercise of creating a current reality tree and
> moving down the line can be very beneficial in revealing cause effect
> relationships you didn't really understand before. It is also very
> illustrative in revealing constraints. His website gives some
> excellent examples
> "Thinking for a change" by Lisa Scheinkopf gives an excellent treatment
> of it. You can read a lot of it for free using Amazon's search inside
> feature. I'm eager to hear how everything goes.
Here is the reference to the work Goldratt did with a school in
Israel. This sounds like it might be a better match to Michael's
situation than I realized.
Human Systems Management (http://www.iospress.nl/html/01672533.php)
Issue: Volume 24, Number 1 / 2005
Pages: 13 - 19
Special Issue: Theory of Constraints - Practice and Research
Title: Significant enhancement of academic achievement through
application of the Theory of Constraints (TOC)
Authors: Rami Goldratt and Nava Weiss (Reut High School)
Abstract:
Changes in the administration of matriculation examinations in
Israel (based on the Theory of Constraints), has produced a marked
improvement in the high school graduation rate of underprivileged
students, without the need for additional manpower or resources and
without changing the pedagogical way teachers are asked to teach the
relevant knowledge. Because of changes made within the educational
system in the early 1990's, the high school diploma has become the
prime measure of success also for underprivileged students, within
the vocational/technological high school track. This article
presents a case study of the "Reut" school, where adoption of the
Theory of Constraints (TOC) has led to a continuous increase in the
number of students eligible for high school diplomas. The article
describes the two-phase process of applying the principles of TOC in
the administration of matriculation exams. The first phase employs
operational flow principles to align the allocation of academic
resources according to the weakest link (constraint); the second
phase uses TOC project management principles to streamline resource
utilization. The improvement achieved at each phase is described
together with an analysis of the results. The article ends with
conclusions drawn from an analysis of the processes.
This looks very helpful. With Clarke's assistance I'm also working through
TOC thinking processes and evaporation clouds regarding my work at school.
I'll report back here and thanks everyone.
Michael
On 10/20/05, Jack Vinson <jackvin...@comcast.net> wrote:
> Here is the reference to the work Goldratt did with a school in
> Israel. This sounds like it might be a better match to Michael's
> situation than I realized.
> Human Systems Management (http://www.iospress.nl/html/01672533.php)
> Issue: Volume 24, Number 1 / 2005
> Pages: 13 - 19
> Special Issue: Theory of Constraints - Practice and Research
> Title: Significant enhancement of academic achievement through
> application of the Theory of Constraints (TOC)
> Authors: Rami Goldratt and Nava Weiss (Reut High School)
> Abstract:
> Changes in the administration of matriculation examinations in
> Israel (based on the Theory of Constraints), has produced a marked
> improvement in the high school graduation rate of underprivileged
> students, without the need for additional manpower or resources and
> without changing the pedagogical way teachers are asked to teach the
> relevant knowledge. Because of changes made within the educational
> system in the early 1990's, the high school diploma has become the
> prime measure of success also for underprivileged students, within
> the vocational/technological high school track. This article
> presents a case study of the "Reut" school, where adoption of the
> Theory of Constraints (TOC) has led to a continuous increase in the
> number of students eligible for high school diplomas. The article
> describes the two-phase process of applying the principles of TOC in
> the administration of matriculation exams. The first phase employs
> operational flow principles to align the allocation of academic
> resources according to the weakest link (constraint); the second
> phase uses TOC project management principles to streamline resource
> utilization. The improvement achieved at each phase is described
> together with an analysis of the results. The article ends with
> conclusions drawn from an analysis of the processes.
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