Final Draft
John F Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
10/18/2016
MLD- 110: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT FOR PUBLIC
PURPOSES
FALL 2016
Class meetings: Tuesday and Thursday, 8:45 to 10:00
Littauer 332
Instructor: Peter Zimmerman
617-495-1358
Rubenstein R-216
[email protected]
Office Hours
Wednesday: 3:00- 5:00
Thursday: 4:15-5:00
Several review sessions
Fridays 10:00-11:30
and by appointment
Assistant: Jean Dombrowski
617-496-0668
[email protected]
Course Assistant
Caroline deFay
[email protected]
Everybody needs a strategy. Strategy is the best concept we have for thinking about future action in light
of our aspirations and current capabilities. MLD-110 focuses specifically on strategic management and
leadership in the public arena in democratic societies; how leaders, managers and social entrepreneurs
devise and execute strategies to make a difference in the public space.
Improving public sector performance is crucial as a foundation for social and economic
development and for restoring trust in government. This course focuses on strategic
management and leadership in the public and non-profit sectors of democratic societies.
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Management and leadership are activities intended to influence, guide, channel and direct the
actions of others toward desired ends through formal and informal organizations.
Public management is the work of mobilizing others to accomplish socially valuable
purposes and advance the public interest.
The course is designed for students with experience. It presents a practice-oriented approach to
the problems that managers face and aims at the development of integrated strategies for
improving performance in solving serious problems in the public sphere. It complements
specialized courses that focus in more detail on the particular tools that managers use, and should
help students integrate the knowledge they have gained from their experience and from previous
course work.
Leaders in the public arena mobilize resources within their own organizations and from outside
networks and communities to meet the needs of the people they serve. In the public sector,
leaders make decisions in complex internal and external environments, with due regard for the
demands of democratic accountability. Important strategic actions that will be examined in the
course include: setting and articulating goals and missions; aligning strategy with mission;
leading organizational change; managing with performance information; improving work
processes; structuring networks and partnerships; motivation; decision- making and dealing with
crises and environments in transition.
A major theme of the course starts with Joseph Nye’s observation “You can’t lead without
power.” Leaders and managers exercise power- the means to influence the perceptions and
actions of others- in varied forms from coercion, direction, persuasion, inspiration and
negotiation to more subtle means such as the design and manipulation of policies and processes
that exploit conscious and unconscious biases and predispositions. Leaders need a broad
repertoire of knowledge, tools and skills to adapt to the varied situations they encounter.
Settings for class examples and cases include public, private and non –governmental
organizations, ad hoc coalitions and partnerships that span organizational, sectoral and national
boundaries, and focus on a wide range of decision-makers including executives at the highest
level. The course features several guests to illustrate and explore the practical challenges of
strategic management in varied settings and contexts.
Management and leadership activities are strategic in two senses:
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As one’s actions take into account and are conditioned on the predicted response of others.
Strategic behavior exploits the interdependence of human perception, interpretation, analysis
and action in social, political, and organizational life.
As one acts to bring coherence and focus to one’s actions and the actions of others across
time and space. Strategic management brings coordination, alignment, coherence and force
to the actions of diverse individuals in dispersed settings.
The course format includes lectures, case discussions and small group work. Most class meetings
will center on case discussions, aimed at helping students refine and sharpen the analytic and
decision-making processes involved in strategic management. The cases for class discussion are
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set in the United States, a few in other industrialized countries and developing countries and
encompass the public, private and social (non-profit) sectors.
Unlike courses in established academic disciplines, the study of leadership and strategic
management draws on many disciplines including history, politics, economics, psychology and
sociology as well as insights from fields including organization studies, management, leadership
and the decision sciences. The course includes substantial background readings- some required,
some optional- which provide the analytical and conceptual underpinning for the course.
As noted , we will have a few visitors to class; we’ll also conduct an optional site visit to a
nearby city to see their management system in action. Information about these and about other
HKS events relevant to the course will be posted on the class website.
Course Requirements
Course requirements include class preparation and participation, written responses to readings
and cases, individual assignments, paired and group assignments and a final paper. There will be
no final exam. Grades will be determined approximately as follows:
Class participation and responses to readings
Individual assignment # 1
Paired performance management assignment #2
Team exercise #3
Assignment # 4 Topic and Outline
Final paper on improving organizational performance
35 %
10%
10%
10%
10 %
25%
The distribution of final grades will conform to the Kennedy School’s suggested grading curve.
Class participation and responses to readings and cases. Productive class discussions depend
on students not only reading but also analyzing cases and materials, and coming to class ready to
present a diagnosis of the problems presented by the case and a plausible solution.
Please bring your name cards to each class. By the third class, students should choose a seat to
which they will be assigned for the remainder of the course. Name cards and assigned seats will
make it much easier for all of us to learn each other’s names.
By Wednesday September 7, please post a paragraph introducing yourself, your background and
interests on the Canvas website.
Reading responses. A focusing question for each class will be posted in the assignments section
of the course webpage. Reading response questions are also included below. You must submit a
total of ten written reading responses, approximately one per week, in addition to the required
written assignments.
Reading responses should not exceed 250 words. They must be posted on the Canvas
website in the class discussion section by 6:00 PM of the day before class. We prefer that
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you not use attachments for these short reading assignments, i.e., that you write your reading
response in the space provided on the course page. Student reading responses will be public.
You are encouraged to read the responses of your classmates, and to react and build on them as
appropriate. Unless indicated otherwise, you may work together on your reading responses. If,
at some point, you would like your reading response to be confidential, you may email it to the
instructor in lieu of posting it on the website.
The Canvas website will also offer opportunities for student discussion and elaboration of topics
discussed in class. Participation in website discussions will be assessed as part of the
participation grade. Additional readings, resources and announcements will also be posted on
the website.
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Study groups - We encourage- but do not require- students to form study groups for the course.
There is a substantial amount of valuable course material that may be covered only briefly in
class, including supplemental readings and many students find it helpful to form a study group to
supplement class work.
nb: Students will be assigned to work groups for the third assignment, a group exercise.
Written assignments: In addition to reading responses, there are three required written
assignments, one individual assignments, a paired assignment and an outline/ conference with
the instructor. Dates for each assignment on the calendar that follows.
Final Paper: Due December 12
The final paper is your opportunity to apply what you have learned in the course to a public or
non-governmental organization of your choosing. You should select an agency that you are
familiar with; in most cases this will be an organization in which you have worked or plan to
work. You may also write on an agency about which you wish to learn. In such cases, it is
important to establish that you can learn enough about the organization so that your paper has a
solid foundation. You may work in pairs, if you so choose.
You should choose a problem or opportunity to improve the work the agency does, and that can
be addressed by applying some of the concepts and tools explored in the course. In a 10-12 page
paper (max 3000 words) you should:
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Describe the problem or opportunity you are addressing;
Analyze the pluses and minuses of using specific management tools to address the problem
or opportunity;
Make short and long term recommendations to management
Append a brief note on your sources.
We will provide more details on this assignment later in the term.
Readings: Required cases and readings will be available on-line on the course materials website
or through links provided in this syllabus.
There are four required books for the course:
 Lawrence Freedman, Strategy: A History Oxford, 2013
Freedman’s history is the most comprehensive and insightful account of the concept and
myriad applications of strategy through the ages.
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Joseph Nye, The Powers to Lead , Oxford, 2008
Professor Nye on the central role of power in exercising leadership; undergirded by a succinct,
critical and clearly written review of much of the writing and thinking about leadership.
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Edgar Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, (fourth edition) Jossey Bass, 2010
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Dated, but still the best account of the power of organizational culture to enable or
frustrate those leading change.
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A David Redish, The Mind Within the Brain: How We Make Decisions and How Those
Decisions Go Wrong , Oxford, 2013
An up to date and well written account that explains the bases of decisions and behavior.
Highly recommended:
 W. Richard Scott and Gerald Davis, Organizations and Organizing: Rational, Natural
and Open Systems Perspectives, Pearson/Prentice Hall , 2007
 Max Bazerman and Don Moore, Judgment in Managerial Decision Making, (eighth
edition), Wiley, 2013
NB: the two recommended books are valuable, but carry a high price new. We’ll have
readings from each, making as much text available to you as copyright laws allow.
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Several other books, referenced in the course, are valuable additions to any strategist’s
bookshelf:
Roger Ames (trans & ed), Sun-Tzu: The Art of Warfare, Ballantine Books, 1993
Robert Behn, The Performance Stat Potential: A Leadership Strategy for Producing
Results , Brookings, 2014
Richard Hackman, Collaborative Intelligence: Using Teams to Solve Hard Problems ,
Berrett Koehler Publishers, 2011
Michael Howard and Peter Paret, Carl von Clausewitz: On War , Princeton, 1984
McChrystal, General Stanley et al, Team of Teams , Portfolio/Penguin, New York, 2015
Henry Mintzberg, Strategy Safari : A Guided Tour Through the Wilds of Strategic
Management Simon and Schuster, 2001
Mark Moore, Creating Public Value , Harvard University Press, 1997
Mark Moore, Recognizing Public Value , Harvard University Press, 2013
Jeffrey Pfeffer, Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don’t , Harper Collins,
2010
Michael Porter, Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and
Competitors , Free Press, 1980
Richard Rumelt, Good Strategy, Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters ,
Crown Publishers, 2011
Cass Sunstein, Simpler: The Future of Government , Simon & Schuster, 2013
Richard Thaler & Cass Sunstein, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health Wealth and
Happiness , Penguin Books, 2008
Required and recommended books are available for purchase at the Coop. The books are also on
reserve in the Kennedy School library.
Readings for this course are available and marked on the syllabus as follows:
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B:
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available in the book(s) noted above
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W:
available from the Canvas website in the "online readings" section
Shopping Days
Tuesday 30 Aug, 8:45 am,
Littauer 332
Class Schedule:
Introduction to Strategic Management for Public Purposes
What is Strategy – Aravind Eye Hospital
Leadership & Strategy –Student Aid in Sweden
1
2
3
Thu-1 Sept
Tue-6 Sept
Thu-8 Sept
4
Tue-13 Sept Strategy & Change – Michelle Rhee and the DC Schools
5
Thu-15 Sept Leadership & Strategy - The Accidental Statesman: General David
Petraeus and the 101st Airborne in Mosul
6
Tue-20 Sept
7
Thu-22 Sept Leadership & Decision, Teams & Groups - Everest Exercise
**
Sun-25 Sept 6:00 pm
Schools )
8
Tue–27 Sept Leading Change – Melody Johnson and the Providence Schools
9
Thu-29 Sept Organizing for Performance : The City– Mayor Anthony Williams and
Performance Management in Washington, DC
**
Fri-30 Sept
Review Session –Leadership and Organization - 10:10-11:30, L-130
10
Tue-4 Oct
Organizing for Performance: Starting Up – Advanced Leadership
Pathways: Doug Rauch and The Daily Table
(Guest)
11
Thu-6 Oct
Organizing for Performance: COMPSTAT Bratton, Giuliani and
Crime in New York
12
Tue-11 Oct
Field Study - Organizing for Performance: Somerstat meeting at
Somerville City Hall with Mayor Joseph Curtatone
13
Thu-13 Oct
Organizing for Performance: Networks - Don Berwick and the
Campaign to Save 100,000 Lives
14
Tue-18 Oct
Collaboration & Learning: Empathy-Critical Leadership Skill, Dr.
Helen Riess (Guest)
15
Thu-20 Oct
Leadership, Collaboration and Performance – Orpheus Chamber
Orchestra
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Strategy & Change - Paul O’Neill at ALCOA
Assignment #1 Due (Melody Johnson and the Providence
**
Sun-23 Oct
16
Tue-25 Oct Organizing for Performance: Organizing for Performance: Citistat,
Balanced Scorecard or ?? ( no required reading)
17
Thu-27 Oct
Leadership Collaboration & Decision - Columbia
Shuttle Disaster, The Red Leg
18
Tue-1 Nov
Leadership and Decision, Collaboration & Learning – The Cuban
Missile Crisis
19
Thu-3 Nov
Organizing for Performance: Coalitions Rev. Jeff Brown and
Ten Point Coalition (Guest)
6:00 pm Assignment # 2 due (Organizing for Performance: Citistat,
Balanced Scorecard or ??)
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
**
**
Fri- 4 Nov
Review Session: Cognition and Decision 10:10- 11:30, L-130
Sun- 6 Nov 6:00 pm
Assignment #3 Due
20
Tue-8 Nov
21
Thu-10 Nov Strategy Bottom Up - Gandi and the Salt March
Fri- 11 Nov
Leadership and Collaboration, & Learning Julie Morath at Children’s
Hospital
Veteran’s Day
22
Tue-15 Nov
Strategy Top Down - George W Bush and the Invasion of Iraq
23
Thu-17 Nov
Strategy Top Down Barack Obama and Health Reform- Obamacare
**
Fri-20 Nov
Review Session: Motivation and Change 10:10-11:30 L-130
**
Mon -21 Nov 6:00 pm
24
Tue -22 Nov
**
Thu- 24 Nov
25
Tue-29 Nov
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Assignment #4 Due
Draft Presentation/Discussion
Thanksgiving- no class
Draft Presentation/Discussion
26
Thu-1 Dec Leadership, Collaboration and Decision - The
Chilean Miners
Class Schedule, Assignments and Readings
1
Thu-1 Sept Introduction to Strategic Management for Public Purposes
Readings:
 Lawrence Freedman, Strategy, Chapters 3 & 4, pp 22-53 [B]
 Edgar H. Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, pp. 7-22 [B]
 Joseph Nye, Powers to Lead, Chapter 1, pp. 1-25 [B]
 A. David Redish, The Mind Within the Brain: How We Make Decisions ,
chapter 1, What is A Decision; chapter 2, Tale of the Thermostat; pp. 3-14 [B]
 Donald F. Kettl, “The Global Revolution in Public Management: Driving
Themes, Missing Links,” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, vol.
16, no. 3, pp. 446-462, 1997 [W]
 Mark Moore, Recognizing Public Value, Harvard, 2013, Introduction, pp 1-18
[W]
Reading Response #1: What is the most surprising point (to you) in Freedman’s account
of the development of strategy?
2
Tue-6 Sept What is Strategy? – Dr. Venkataswamy and Aravind
Case:
 Aravind Eye Hospital, HBS case 9-593-098
Readings:
 Lawrence Freedman, Strategy, Chapter 28, Rise of The Management
Class, pp. 459-473 [B]
 General Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams, Portfolio/Penguin
New York, 2015, The Perfect Step, pp. 36-46 [W]
 Herman B. Leonard, “A Short Note on Public Sector StrategyBuilding” (November 2002) [W]
 Michael Porter, What is Strategy, HBR reprint 96608 [W]
 Robert Kaplan and David Norton, Integrating Strategy Planning and
Operational Execution, HBSP reprint B0805A [W]
 Richard Rumelt, Good Strategy, Bad Strategy Crown Business
The Kernel of Good Strategy, pp. 77-94 [B]
 David Redish, The Mind Within the Brain: How We Make
Decisions, chapter 3, Definition of Value, pp. 15-22, chapter 5, Risk
and Reward , pp. 35-40 [B]
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Supplemental
 Henry Mintzberg, The Strategy Concept 1: Five Ps for Strategy, California
Management Review, Fall 1987, Vol. 30 Issue 1, p. 11-24 [W]
 Carl von Clausewitz, Strategy (Book Three, chapter One et seq) pp 177186 On War, edited and translated by Michael Howard and Peter Paret,
Princeton University Press, 1984 [W]
 A. David Redish, The Mind Within the Brain: How We Make Decisions ,
chapter 4, Value, Euphoria and the Do It Again Signal , pp 23-34 [B]
Reading Response #2: What grade would you assign to Aravind’s strategy and why?
Wed-7 Sept: Please post a paragraph introducing yourself and your objectives on the
Canvas website (in the Discussion section)
3
Thu-8 Sept Leadership & Strategy - Billy Olsson and Student Aid in Sweden
Case:
 Student Aid in Sweden (abridged ) [W]
Readings:
 Lawrence Freedman, Strategy, Chapter 21 Bureaucrats, Democrats and
Elites, pp. 300-320 [B]
 W. Richard Scott and Gerald Davis, Organizations and Organizing: Rational,
Natural and Open Systems Perspectives The Subject is Organizations, The
Verb is Organizing, pp. 1-58 [B]
 Joseph Nye, Powers to Lead, Chapter 2, Leadership and Power, pp. 27-52 [B]
 Robert Behn, The Performance Stat Potential: A Leadership Strategy for
Producing Results , Brookings, 2014, chapter 14, Thinking About Cause and
Effect, pp. 245-260.[W]
 Philip Selznick, Leadership in Administration: A Sociological Interpretation,
pp. 5-22 [W]
 Max Bazerman and Don Moore, Judgment in Managerial Decision Making
(8th edition), Wiley 2013, Introduction pp. 1-14 [B]
 Johan P. Olsen, “Maybe it is Time to Rediscover Bureaucracy,” Journal of
Public Administration Research and Theory, 2005. 16:1-24 [W]
Reading Response # 3: By what right ‒ under what authority ‒ does Billy Olsson pursue
new missions and new business?
4
Tue-13 Sept
Strategy & Change – Michelle Rhee and DC Public
Schools
Case:
 Michelle Rhee and the DC Public Schools, HKS case.[W]
Readings:
 Michelle Rhee, Radical: Fighting to Put Students First, Harper,
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2013, pp. 119-128 and pp. 166-182 [W]
 DC Public Schools, 3 Years of Progress, 2009-2010 progress report,
Sept 2010 [W]
 Joseph Nye, Powers to Lead, Chapter 3, Types and Skills, pp.53-84 [B]
 Daniel Pink, The Puzzle of Motivation ( Ted Talk) @
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation?language=en
Supplemental:
 Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Leadership for Change: Enduring Skills for
Change Masters , HBS note 9-304-062 [W]
Reading Response # 4: How effectively does Michelle Rhee use her power?
5
Thu-15 Sep Leadership and Decision – The Accidental Statesmen: General
Petraeus and Ambassador Bremer in Iraq
Case:
 The Accidental Statesman: General Petraeus and the City Of Mosul, Iraq KSG
case C 15-06-1834.3 (abridged) [W]
 L. Paul Bremer, My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build A Future of Hope,
Simon and Schuster, New York, 2006, pp 39-45, 50-59 [W]
 L. Paul Bremer, What We Got Right in Iraq, Washington Post, May 13, 2007
[W]
Readings:
 Joseph Nye, Powers to Lead, Chapter 4, Contextual Intelligence, pp 87-108
[B]
 Freedman, Strategy, chapter 14, Guerilla Warfare, pp 178-192; chapter 15,
Observation and Orientation, pp 193-213. Revolution in Military Affairs, pp.
214-236 [B]
 Dower, John W., Cultures of War, Norton, New York, 2010, Eyes Wide Shut:
Occupying Iraq, pp. 338-346 [W]
Supplemental:
 Bazerman and Moore, Judgment in Managerial Decision Making (8th edition),
Wiley 2009, Chapter 2, Overconfidence, pp. 14-30 [B]
Reading Response #5: Identify a decision or key judgment of General Petraeus that has
significant strategic implications for the 101st Airborne Division. In what
way is this a strategic decision or judgment?
6
Tue-20 Sept Leading Change - Paul O’Neill at ALCOA
Case:
 Vision and Strategy: Paul O’Neill at ALCOA and OMB(abridged) [W]
Readings:
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
Dan Ciampa and Michael Watkins, Right from the Start, Getting Oriented, pp.
121-139, HBS Press, 1999 [W]
 A. David Redish, The Mind Within the Brain: How We Make Decisions,
chapter 13, Motivation, pp 113-124 [B]
 Lawrence Freedman, Strategy, chapter 29, The Business of Business pp 475490; chapter 30 Management Strategy , pp 491- 504 ; chapter 34, The
Sociological Challenge, pp 542-553 [B]
 Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit:Why We Do What We Do in Life and
Business Random House, 2012 Chapter 4, Keystone Habits or The Ballad
of Paul O’Neill, pp 97-126
Reading Response #6 : Why do you believe that Paul O’Neill decided to
concentrate on improving workplace safety when he became CEO of
ALCOA?
Coming Attraction: Assignment # 1, due Sunday 25 September (see readings
below)
7
Thu- 22 Sept Collaboration & Teams- Everest
( no advance reading)
**
Sun- 25 Sept,
6:00 PM -- Assignment #1 Due
Assignment # 1
Providence Schools Superintendent Melody Johnson (see readings for 27 Sept below) has
decided to suspend school for a day and hold a “celebration” for the Providence teachers in
early December. Put yourself in her position. What will you say in your opening remarks?
Draft the opening paragraphs (300 words max) of your speech, post it on the Canvas website
and bring it with you to class. (You may have the opportunity to give your opening remarks
to the class).
8
Tue- 27 Sept Leading Change -Melody Johnson and the Providence Schools
Case:
 Winning Hearts and Minds: Reforming the Providence School District
(A) [W]
Readings:
 Edgar Schein, chapter 14, How Leaders Embed and Transmit Culture
(pp. 235- 257) in Organizational Culture and Leadership (fourth
edition) Jossey Bass, 2010 [B]
 Harvard Business School, Principles of Effective Persuasion, HBS note
9- 497-059 [W]
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
Robert B. Cialdini, Roselle L. Wissler and Nicholas J. Schweitzer, DISPUTE
RESOLUTION: THE SCIENCE OF INFLUENCE: USING SIX PRINCIPLES OF
PERSUASION TO NEGOTIATE AND MEDIATE MORE EFFECTIVELY, Vol. 20,
No. 6, The Best Articles Published by the ABA (SEPTEMBER 2003), pp. 36-37
Supplemental:
 John P. Kotter, “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail”[W]
 Noah Goldstein, Steve Martin and Robert Cialdini, 50 Scientifically
Proven Ways To Be Persuasive, Free Press, 2008, pp. 9-25, 30-34, 42-44,
69-71, 144- 149, 159-163.
9
Thu-29 Sept Organizing for Performance – Mayor Anthony Williams in
Washington DC
Case:
 Mayor Anthony Williams and Performance Management in Washington DC,
HKS case 16-02-1647.0 [W]
Readings:
 Robert S. Kaplan, “The Balanced Scorecard for Public-Sector Organizations,”
Balanced Scorecard Report [W]
 Robert Kaplan and David Norton, Using the Balanced Scorecard as Strategic
Management System, Best of HBR, 1996 [W]
 Lawrence Freedman, Strategy, chapter 35, Deliberate or Emergent pp 554572 [B]
Supplemental:
 Mark Moore, Recognizing Public Value, Harvard University Press, 2013, pp.
70-131 [W]
Reading Response # 7: Why did Anthony Williams choose scorecards as one of
his first mayoral initiatives? What were the potential benefits and risks of this
choice?
Review Session – Leadership and Organization - 10:10-11:30, L-130
**
Fri-30 Sept
10
Tue-4 Oct Strategy Bottom Up: Doug Rauch and the Daily Table
Case: Advanced Leadership Pathways: Doug Rauch and The Daily Table
(HBS/ ALI case 9-316-105)
Readings:
 Jenna Russell and Jenn Abelson, Putting expired foods to healthy use:
Ex-Trader Joe’s head aims to fight poor nutrition, waste by creating meals
for low-income customers, Boston Globe February 26, 2013 [W]
 Steve Holt , DID DOUG RAUCH JUST FIX FOOD DESERTS AND
FOOD WASTE? EDIBLE BOSTON , SUMMER 2016
 Edgar Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership Chapter 13, How
Founders/Leaders Create Organizational Cultures Integration, pp. 219 -
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233 [B]
Walter Isaccson, chapter 5, The Microchip in The Innovators: How a Group
of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution, Simon &
Schuster, New York, 2014, pp. 171-199 (read closely 188-99, The Intel
Way)
Supplemental: (additional background-not required)
o Doug Rauch: Solving the American Food Paradox, HBS Case 9-512012 [W]
Reading Response #8: What potential vulnerabilities do you see in Doug Rauch’s
strategy ?
Note: Doug Rauch will join us for class
11
Thu-6 Oct
Organizing for Performance- Bratton, Giuliani and Crime in New
York City
Case:
 Assertive Policing, Plummeting Crime: The NYPD Takes on Crime in New
York City [W]
Readings:
 Bob Behn, CompStat and Its Performance Stat Progeny , and Searching for
Performance Stat , pp 1-25 in The Performance Stat Potential , Brookings,
2014
 Robert Simons, “Control in an Age of Empowerment,” Harvard Business
Review, Reprint 95211, 1995 [W]
 Lawrence Freedman, Strategy, chapter 31, Business as War, pp. 505-512 [B]
 Edgar Schein, chapter 6, Assumptions About Managing Internal Integration
pp. 93- 113) in Organizational Culture and Leadership (fourth edition) Jossey
(Bass, 2010 [B]
Reading Response #9: What risks do you see in Bratton’s approach?
12
Tues-11 Oct Field Study-Somerstat meeting, Somerville City Hall,
Mayor Joseph Curtatone
Readings:
No prior reading
Visit Response #10: Please post two or three impressions from the Somerstat
visit. Does Somerstat appear to be an effective element in the Mayor’s strategy ?
Coming Attraction: Assignment # 2, due Sunday 23 October (see course page
for details)
13
Thu-13 Oct
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Organizing for Performance: Collaboration and
Partnerships- Don Berwick and the 100,000 Lives Campaign
Case:
 Institute for Healthcare Improvement: The Campaign to Save 100,000
Lives (Stanford Business School Case L-13) [W]
Readings:
 Everett Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations (fifth edition), The Free Press,
New York, 2003, pp. 300-316, 330-342, 349-364 [W]
 Atul Gawande, The Checklist, The New Yorker, December 10, 2007 [W]
 Andrew D. Hackbarth, C. Joseph McCannon, Lindsay Martin, MSPH,
Robert Lloyd, PhD, and David R. Calkins, MD, MPP , The Hard Count:
Calculating Lives Saved in the 100,000 Lives Campaign [W]
 David Redish, The Mind Within the Brain: How We Make Decisions ,
chapter 16, The Physical Mind, pp 145-160, chapter 17, Imagination , pp.
161-170 [W]
Reading Response #11: What, in your view, were the one or two most important
features of the 100,000 Lives Campaign?
14
Tue-18 Oct Leadership and Decision : Skills for Collaboration -EmpathyReading:
 Helen Riess et al, Empathy Training for Resident Physicians: A
Randomized Controlled Trial of a Neuroscience-Informed
Curriculum, JGIM 27(10), 1280-86
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Helen Riess, Commentary Empathy in Medicine—A Neurobiological
Perspective, JAMA 2010; 304 (14) 1604-05
Helen Riess, The Power of Empathy , Ted Talk
http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/The-power-of-empathy-HelenRies;search%3AHelen%20Riess
Note: Helen Riess will join us for class
Reading Response # 12 : Describe ( briefly) a situation in your past where empathy was
important for you, or where you sensed the empathy of someone else in their
understanding of you or others.
15
Thu- 20 Oct
Leadership & Decision, Collaboration & Learning
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Case:
 Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (video) on course web site [W]
Reading:
 J. Richard Hackman, Learning more by crossing levels: evidence from
airplanes, hospitals, and orchestras, Journal of Organizational Behavior 24,
905–922 (2003) [W]
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
Hackman and Edmondson, Groups as Agents of Change , Working Paper, 25
March 2007 [W]
http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~hackman/csvsearch.cgi?search=hackman
Reading Response #13 : Would you like to join a unit in your organization with
norms similar to those of Orpheus? Why or why not ?
**
Sun-23 Oct
6:00 pm Assignment # 2 due (Organizing for Performance: Citistat,
Balanced Scorecard or ??)
16
Tue-25 Oct
Organizing for Performance- (Organizing for Performance: Citistat,
Balanced Scorecard or ??)
17
Thu-27 Oct Leadership and Collaboration- Columbia Shuttle Disaster
Case:
 Columbia’s Final Mission, HBS case 9-304-090 [P]
Reading:
 Zimmerman and Lerner, Decisions, Decisions, Government Executive
Magazine, 29 September, 2010 [W]
 Gawande, Atul, The Case of the Red Leg , pp 228-252, Complications:
A Surgeon’s Notes on An Imperfect Science, Metropolitan Books, 2002
[W]
 Bazerman and Moore, chapter 5, Motivational and Affective Influences on
Decision Making, in Judgment in Managerial Decision Making, seventh
edition, Wiley, 2009, pp 84-100 [B]
 David Redish, The Mind Within the Brain: How We Make Decisions, chapter
15, Self Control, pp 133-141 [B]
Supplemental:
 Anita Williams et al, Bringing in The Experts: How Team Composition and
Collaborative Planning Jointly Shape Team Effectiveness Small Group
Research , Volume 39 number 3, June 2008 pp 352-371
[W]
Reading Response #14: Assess the performance of Rodney Rocha and Linda Ham in the
Columbia case. Did each do all that he or she should have done?
18
Tue-1 Nov Leadership and Decision -The Cuban Missile Crisis
Case:
 Thirteen Days (movie, viewed prior to class) copies available in HKS Library
(see also, clips on Canvas)
Readings:
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
Lawrence Freedman, Strategy, chapter 12, Nuclear Games, chapter 13, The
Rationality of Irrationality, pp. 145-177 [B]
A. David Redish, The Mind Within the Brain: How We Make Decisions ,
chapter 6, Multiple Decision Making Systems pp 43-60; chapter 11,
Integrating Information, 97-105 chapter 12, The Stories We Tell, 107-112 [B]

Supplemental:
 Bazerman and Moore, Judgment in Managerial Decision Making (8th edition),
Wiley 2009, Chapter 3, Common Biases, pp. 35-59 [B]
 A. David Redish, The Mind Within the Brain: How We Make Decisions,
chapter 7, Reflexes; chapter 8, Emotion; chapter 9, Deliberation; chapter 10
Habits, pp 61-96 [B]
Reading Response #15 : What factors do you believe most influenced President
Kennedy’s decisions during the crisis
19
Thu-3 Nov Strategy Bottom up- Collaboration and Partnership Rev. Jeffrey Brown and Ten Point Coalition
Case:
 Rev. Jeffrey Brown: Cops, Kids and Ministers [W]
Reading
 W. Richard Scott and Gerald Davis, chapter 11, Networks in and
Around Organizations, pp. 278-309, in Organizations and
Organizing: Rational, Natural and Open Systems Perspectives,
Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007 [B]
 HBS Note on Building Coalitions [W]
 Please take the implicit association test on the Project Implicit web site
below. There are many versions of the test on the site. Please take the Race
test and bring your results to class.
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
Reading Response #16: What is Reverend Brown’s distinctive contribution
to reducing youth violence in Boston?
Note: Rev. Brown will join us for class
**
Fri-4 Nov
Review Session: Cognition and Decision 10:10- 11:30, L-130
20 Tue-8 Nov Leadership and Collaboration Julie Morath at
Children’s Hospital
Case:
 Children’s Hospital and Clinics (A), HBS case 9-302-050 [W]
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Reading:
 Anita Tucker, Amy Edmondson, Why Hospitals Don’t Learn From
Failure: Organizational and Psychological Dynamics that Inhibit
System Change, California Management Review, vol. 45, no. 2, Winter
2003 [W]
 Lawrence Rothstein, The Empowerment Effort That Came Undone , HBR
case and commentary (reprint 95111) [W]
 Lawrence Freedman, Strategy, chapter 34, The Sociological Challenge, pp.
542-553 [B]
 Richard Hackman, Essential Features of Real Teams in Leading Teams:
Setting the Stage for Great Performances , HBS press , pp 41-60 [W]
Supplemental:
 James March, Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning,
Organization Science, Vol. 2, No. 1, Special Issue: Organizational
Learning: Papers in Honor of (and by) James G. March (1991) [W]
 Karl Weick and Robert Quinn, Organizational Change and
Development, Annual Review of Psychology, 50:361-386, 1999 [W]
Reading Response #17: How do you assess the progress of Julie Morath in
creating a culture of safety at Children’s? Is she succeeding, or are things
threatening to “come undone?”
21
Thu- 10 Nov Leadership and Decision- Gandhi and the Salt March
Readings:
 Gandhi and the Salt March to Dandi ( brief accounts)
o
o
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



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http://postcolonialstudies.emory.edu/ghandis-salt-march-to-dandi/
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Gandhi/Dandi.html
Lawrence Freedman, Strategy ,chapter 23, The Power of Nonviolence pp
344- 365, chapter 35, Deliberate or Emergent, pp. 554-572 [B]
Joseph Lelyveld, Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With
India Knopf, 2011, chapter 6, Waking India, pp. 139-169 [W]
Dalton, Dennis. Mahatma Gandhi: Nonviolent Power in Action. New
York: Columbia University Press, 1993, Ch. 4, The Salt Satyagraha, pp.
91-116, pp. 122-134 [W]
Gandhi Heritage Portal , The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, volume
XLIII, March- June, 1930 , Preface (pp v-xi) and Letter to Lord Irwin
(pp2-3)
https://www.gandhiheritageportal.org/cwmg_volume_thumbview/NDM=#p
ag e/10/mode/2up
Gandhi’s Salt March Campaign: Contemporary Dispatches [W]
Three clips from Richard Attenborough’s film on Gandhi: A Force More
Powerful help dramatize the events. It is a spectacular movie, one worth
viewing by all.
The first clip shows Gandhi and his wife reprising their wedding ceremony
for the benefit of a foreign journalist, in real life it was Webb Miller, one
of whose celebrated dispatches is included above.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6LabaTZgK4
The second recounts meetings between Gandhi and elite Indian supporters,
with the British and then completes the march to Dandi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW3uk95VGes
The third shows the march to the salt works at Dharasana, where as Gandhi
explains in his second letter to Lord Irwin(above), he and his followers
intend to “ demand possession” of the salt works for India. By the time of
this march, Gandhi has been arrested and jailed, so the march is led by
Abbas Tyabji (a 76 yr. old retired judge) Gandhi’s wife Kasturbai and
ultimately Sinojini Naidu a leading poet and activist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrHNig2aIjQ

David Redish, The Mind Within the Brain: How We Make Decisions ,
chapter 22, What Makes Us Human pp 205-209, chapter 23, The Science of
Morality pp 211-236
Supplemental:
Gandhi’s letters to Lord Irwin were delivered by a young English friend, 24 year old
Reginald Reynolds. An informative account of the Reynolds – Gandhi relationship,
the Salt March and surrounding events, and their correspondence through early
1946.
http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/peace/Exhibits/GandhiWebSite/Gandh
iReynoldsCorrespondence.html

Martin Luther King, Jr, Letter from The Birmingham Jail [W]
Reading Response #18: Was the Salt March an effective instrument of
Gandhi’s strategy?
Fri- 11 Nov
Veteran’s Day
**Mon-14 Nov 6:00 pm
22
Assignment # 3 Due
Tue- 15 Nov Strategy Top Down Leadership and Decision- President George W.
Bush and the Decision to Invade Iraq- 2003
Readings:
 Bob Woodward, Plan of Attack, Simon & Shuster, New York, 2004, pp. 923. 85-89, 129-138, 145-156, 269-274, 377-379
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





George W Bush, Decision Points , Crown Publishers, New York, 2010,
chapter 8, Iraq, pp 222-257, 267-270
Hans Blix, Disarming Iraq Pantheon Books, 2004, Approaching the
Brink, pp. 145-157
Richard Haass, War of Necessity, War of Choice, Simon & Schuster, 2010,
pp. 179-182
Devon Largio, 21 Reasons for War, Foreign Policy, 2002
Key Judgments ( from October 2002 NIE)
Charles Duelfer et al, Comprehensive Report Of the Special Advisor to the
DCI on Iraq’s WMD, 30 September, 2004, Regime Strategic Intent, pp. 12.
Supplemental:
 Dick Cheney with Liz Cheney, In My Time, Simon & Shuster, New York,
2010, chapter 12, Liberating Iraq , pp. 364-397.
 Christopher Meyer, From the Ambassador, to Sir David Manning (originally
Confidential and Personal, later released) 18 March 2002. Meyer, the UK
Ambassador to the US, reports on his discussion with US Deputy Secretary of
Defense Paul Wolfowitz. Manning was then Foreign Policy Advisor to UK
Prime Minister Tony Blair
 Matthew Rycroft for David Manning, Subj: Prime Minister’s Meeting, 23 July.
(originally Secret and Strictly Personal- UK Eyes Only, later released) account
of meeting with UK Prime Minister Blair and other top officials,
characterizing US thinking ,in mid-summer, 2002
Reading Response # 19: What factors (or factors) do you believe was (were)
the most important (among many) influencing President Bush’s decision to
invade Iraq?
23
Thu- 17 Nov Strategy Top Down - Barack Obama and Health Reform- Obamacare
Case:
 A Prescription for Change: The 2010 Overhaul of the American Health Care
System , HKS case 1972 [W]
Reading:
 Ivey Publishing, The Obama Care Website, case W 14026, Richard Ivey
School of Business Foundation, 2014 [W]
 Amitabh Chandra, Expanding Health Care to Millions: Learning from the
Oregon Health Care Experiment, HKS case 2019 [W]
 Steven Brill, America’s Bitter Pill: Money Politics, Backroom Deals and The
Fight to Fix Our broken Health Care System, Random House, 2014, pp. 325354
Supplemental:
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



A. David Redish, The Mind Within the Brain: How We Make Decisions ,
chapter 14, The Tradeoff between Exploration and Exploitation , pp 125-132
[B]
US Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Health Insurance
Marketplace http://marketplace.cms.gov/
Office of the Legislative Counsel, US House of Representatives, Compilation
of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, March 2010,
http://housedocs.house.gov/energycommerce/ppacacon.pdf
Bazerman and Moore, chapter 3, Bounded Awareness in Judgment in
Managerial Decision Making, seventh edition, Wiley, 2009, pp. 42-61 [B
Reading Response #20: How do you assess the Obama Administration’s strategy
to reform health care in the US?
**
FRI- 18 Nov Review Session: Leadership and Change 10:10-11:30
24
Tue-22 Nov
Draft Reviews (reading TBA)
Thu-24 Nov-Thanksgiving Break – No Class
25
Tue-29 Nov
Draft Reviews (reading TBA)
26
Thu-1 Dec Leadership & Decision, Collaboration & Learning
The Chilean Miners
Case:
 The Chilean Mining Rescue (A&B), HBS case 9-612-046 and 047
Supplemental Reading:
 Larry Getlen, The untold story of how the buried Chilean Miners survived,
The New York Post, October 11, 2014
 Hector Tobar, Sixty Nine Days: The Ordeal of the Chilean Miners, The New
Yorker, July 7, 2014
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Reading Response #21: Identify one decision that you believe were critical to the
successful rescue of the Chilean miners. Who made this decision, how and why?
**
Tue -15 Dec
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Final Paper Due
Happy Holidays
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