Role of Agency Culture in Mainstreaming TSMO
Appendix. Influencing Organizational and Agency Culture
This appendix contains additional information on well-known approaches for managing organizational change and the levers of influence.
Additional Information on General Approaches to Organizational Change
Lean Six Sigma
The health sector has a rich background in using Lean Six Sigma, with lessons learned that may benefit transportation agencies looking to make similar improvements. (Yaduvanshi et al. 2017) Examples include implementations in the health sector and hospital management related to: (1) length-of-stay and patient discharge (e.g., Commonwealth Health Corporation, Mount Carmel Health System with a financial return of $1.3M; Thibodaux Regional Medical Center with savings of $475K), (2) operating room flow and scheduling (e.g., Bay Medical Center with $2M in savings, Southwestern Vermont Medical Center with a 500 percent increase in operating room on-time starts), (3) emergency departments, (4) hospital laboratory (e.g., Nebraska Medical Center with a $750K increased yield), (5) diagnostic imaging, (6) revenue cycle, and (7) supply chain management and standardization (e.g., Toronto Hospital for Sick Children with $140K in savings).
Baldrige Performance Excellence Program
An example of a recent governmental agency winner is the U.S. Department of Energy Strategic Petroleum Reserve (managed by DynMcDermott, the first government contractor to receive the award) for its work as the manager of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve during the 2005 hurricane season and in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, when the company maintained the nation’s crude oil supply despite tumultuous conditions that damaged its facilities.
Several reviews have validated the criteria for the award with respect to performance improvement, with one of the key linkages being between external results and internal performance metrics, which are the drivers of results in an organization. (Evans and Jack 2003) Overall, organizations report increased delivery of value to stakeholders and customers, contributing to organizational sustainability, improvement of overall effectiveness and capabilities, and organizational/personal learning.
Balanced Scorecard
The term “scorecard” was originally used by Herb Simon and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon, and part of the development of strategic management by objective that evolved out of the 1950s from Peter Drucker’s work. (Kaplan 2010, Drucker 1954)
Additional Information on the Levers of Influence in Organizational and Agency Culture Change
Leadership Influence
Leaders can influence employee support for change with a variety of methods. Stephen Denning noted that while presenting reasons and arguments for change can support a leader’s efforts, they are not enough on their own (Denning 2007). Leaders should stimulate employee desire for change by showing positive examples, presenting the obstacles to change as positive challenges to overcome, and connecting the entire effort to “who we are” as an organization. (Denning 2007, Fernandez and Rainey 2006, van der Voet et al. 2015, Bass 1990)
Leaders set the tone for change. By making regular use of performance data and reports, leaders and champions demonstrate that performance and data‑based decisionmaking are a priority of the organization. (National Academies 2010)
Employee Engagement
A one-time formal event is generally not adequate for culture change. Continuous and informal training opportunities may support cultural change and prompt employee engagement. Employees who are given real opportunities to improve their skills have a higher level of engagement. Organizations that provide continuous training opportunities, which are individualized based on a needs assessment of the individual or group, reinforce desired behaviors and showcase a data-led, evidence-based approach to continuous improvement. (Hagel et al. 2018) One TSMO-related example is how DOTs have helped engage employees who were initially resistant by giving them training opportunities through the Regional Operations Forums.
Quantifiable Metrics
Many industries have well-established norms for internal business intelligence metrics, accounting standards, and external performance measures that are then used for decisionmaking. The transportation field is in the early stages of this development, although most industries have a long way to go with respect to proper use of business intelligence metrics. Reviews show that 87 percent of companies have low business intelligence maturity (Gartner 2018) and only 3 percent have quality data standards. (Nagle 2017)
A detailed review of the role of metrics in culture change is beyond the scope of this White Paper; however, for a detailed review of related industries and performance metrics as well as transportation industry uses of business intelligence metrics (collected via interviews and document reviews), refer to Business Intelligence Techniques for Transportation Agency Decision Making. (National Cooperative Highway Research Program 2019)
