Publications

Find at Harvard

November 2015 (Revised February 2020)
Teaching Note

IDEO: Human-Centered Service Design

The case describes IDEO, one of the world's leading design firms, and its human-centered innovation culture and processes. It is an example of what managers can do to make their own organizations more innovative. In reaction to a rapidly changing competitive landscape,... View Details

Keywords: Design Thinking; Innovation; Service Management; Service; Design; Service Delivery; Innovation and Management; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Peru

Web

Technology & Operations Management Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

: Nominated in 2012 by the Strategic Management Society (SMS) for Best Conference Paper at the SMS 32nd Annual International Conference for “Competition and Illicit Quality” (Bennett, Pierce, Snyder, Toffel,... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

From creating flight itineraries online, to interacting with tellers to complete complex banking transactions, to engaging with the government to address civic problems, customers are playing an increasingly vital role in the performance of operations in a broadening... View Details

December 2015
Case

IDEO: Human-Centered Service Design

By: Ryan W. Buell and Andrew Otazo

The case describes IDEO, one of the world's leading design firms, and its human-centered innovation culture and processes. It is an example of what managers can do to make their own organizations more innovative. In reaction to a rapidly changing competitive landscape,... View Details

Keywords: Design Thinking; Innovation; Service Management; Service; Design; Service Delivery; Innovation and Management; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Peru

Educators

22 Sep 2023
News

Skydeck Voices: The Most Important Person I Met at HBS

Photo provided by Harvard University Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on Spotify More Skydeck episodes Who was the most important person you met at HBS? And why? This is Dan Morrell, host of Skydeck, and when my colleagues set up on Spangler Lawn during Spring Reunions... View Details

Forthcoming
Article

Mitigating the Negative Effects of Customer Anxiety Through Access to Human Contact

By: Michelle A. Kinch and Ryan W. Buell

Prior research in social psychology has shown that when people feel anxious, they seek advice from others. However, companies that operate in high-anxiety settings (like financial services, health care, and education) are increasingly deploying self-service... View Details

Keywords: Anxiety; Self-service; Empirical Operations; Behavioral Operations; Communication Technology; Behavior; Customer Focus and Relationships; Trust; Satisfaction; Financial Services Industry

May 2021
Simulation

Customer Compatibility Exercise Application

Customers impose considerable variability on the operating systems of service organizations. They show up when they wish (arrival variability), they ask for different things (request variability), they vary in their willingness and ability to help themselves (effort... View Details

Keywords: Customer Compatibility; Customer Relationship Management; Strategy; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Performance Efficiency; Analysis; Consumer Behavior; Analytics and Data Science

March 2018
Supplement

Improving Access at VA

By: Ryan W. Buell and Robert S. Huckman

In 2015, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) ran the largest healthcare system in the United States, with over 1,700 sites of care that served nearly 9 million veterans. One year earlier, a scandal had erupted over a cover-up of the excessive wait times veterans... View Details

Keywords: Service Operations; Service Delivery; Social Issues; Health Care and Treatment; Government Administration; Performance Improvement; Public Administration Industry; Health Industry; United States

March 2018 (Revised February 2020)
Teaching Note

Improving Access at VA

By: Ryan W. Buell and Robert S. Huckman

In 2015, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) ran the largest healthcare system in the United States, with over 1,700 sites of care that served nearly 9 million veterans. One year earlier, a scandal had erupted over a cover-up of the excessive wait times veterans... View Details

Keywords: Service Operations; Service Delivery; Social Issues; Health Care and Treatment; Government Administration; Performance Improvement; Public Administration Industry; Health Industry; United States

01 Jun 2018
News

Research Brief: Lessons from Last Place

Ryan Buell (photo by Russ Campbell) Ryan Buell (photo by Russ Campbell) We all wait... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Myers

August 2024
Case

Scaling Seven Starling

By: Ryan W. Buell and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Seven Starling, a maternal mental health startup, is scaling its digital clinic model. Seven Starling addresses perinatal mental health challenges by providing licensed therapists, peer support, and medication to mothers across five states, with a hybrid care model... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Health Care and Treatment; Growth and Development Strategy; Mission and Purpose; Health Industry

Educators

Web

Accounting & Management Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

School in 2011. Dennis Campbell : Won the 2011 Stan Hardy Award for Outstanding Paper published in the field of Operations Management from the Decision Sciences Institute for his paper with Ryan W. View Details

March 2021
Article

Last Place Aversion in Queues

This paper documents the effects of last place aversion in queues and its implications for customer experiences and behaviors as well as for operating performance. An observational analysis of customers queuing at a grocery store, and four online studies in which... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Operations; Queues; Reference Effects; Last Place Aversion; Transparency; Customers; Behavior; Satisfaction; Service Operations