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  • September 2018
  • Article

Discretionary Task Ordering: Queue Management in Radiological Services

By: Maria Ibanez, Jonathan R. Clark, Robert S. Huckman and Bradley R. Staats
Work-scheduling research typically prescribes task sequences implemented by managers. Yet employees often have discretion to deviate from their prescribed sequence. Using data from 2.4 million radiological diagnoses, we find that doctors prioritize similar tasks... View Details
Keywords: Discretion; Scheduling; Queue; Healthcare; Learning; Experience; Decentralization; Operations; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Performance; Performance Effectiveness; Performance Efficiency; Performance Improvement; Performance Productivity; Decisions; Time Management; Cost vs Benefits; Health Industry
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  • March 2021
  • Article

Last Place Aversion in Queues

By: Ryan W. Buell
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
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  • October 1979 (Revised March 1995)
  • Background Note

Note on the Management of Queues

Contains four sections: 1) measuring the performance of queuing systems; 2) types of queuing systems; 3) the behavior of simple systems (elementary queuing theory); and 4) the management of queues (including a discussion of their psychology). View Details
Keywords: Mathematical Methods
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  • 2017
  • Working Paper

Discretionary Task Ordering: Queue Management in Radiological Services

By: Maria Ibanez, Jonathan R. Clark, Robert S. Huckman and Bradley R. Staats
Work scheduling research typically prescribes task sequences implemented by managers. Yet employees often have discretion to deviate from their prescribed sequence. Using data from 2.4 million radiological diagnoses, we find that doctors prioritize similar tasks... View Details
Keywords: Discretion; Scheduling; Queue; Healthcare; Learning; Experience; Decentralization; Delegation; Behavioral Operations; Operations; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Performance; Performance Effectiveness; Performance Efficiency; Performance Improvement; Performance Productivity; Decisions; Time Management; Cost vs Benefits; Health Industry
Related
  • December 2001 (Revised May 2003)
  • Background Note

Queueing Theory

By: V.G. Narayanan and George Batta
Explains the assumptions behind and the insights from a simple queueing model. View Details
Keywords: Mathematical Methods; Theory; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Motivation and Incentives; Service Delivery
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  • 2014
  • Working Paper

The Diseconomies of Queue Pooling: An Empirical Investigation of Emergency Department Length of Stay

By: Hummy Song, Anita L. Tucker and Karen L. Murrell
We conduct an empirical investigation of the impact of queue management on patients' average wait time and length of stay (LOS). Using an Emergency Department's (ED) patient-level data from 2007 to 2010, we find that patients' average wait time and LOS are longer when... View Details
Keywords: Pooling; Queue Management; Strategic Servers; Social Loafing; Empirical Operations; Health Care; Fairness; Management Practices and Processes; Service Delivery; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry
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  • 02 Feb 2018
  • Working Paper Summaries

Last Place Aversion in Queues

Keywords: by Ryan W. Buell; Retail
  • 31 Jan 2014
  • Working Paper Summaries

The Diseconomies of Queue Pooling: An Empirical Investigation of Emergency Department Length of Stay

Keywords: by Hummy Song, Anita L. Tucker & Karen L. Murrell; Health
  • Awards

POMS College of Healthcare Operations Management Best Paper Competition

By: Robert S. Huckman
Winner of the 2017 Best Paper Competition from the College of Healthcare Operations Management at the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS) for “Discretionary Task Ordering: Queue Management in Radiological Services” (Management Science, September... View Details
  • Web

Technology & Operations Management Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Wyss Award for Excellence in Doctoral Student Mentoring. Robert S. Huckman : Winner of the 2017 Best Paper Competition from the College of Healthcare Operations Management at the Production and Operations View Details
  • 03 Dec 2024
  • HBS Seminar

Jing Dong, Columbia

  • 09 Jan 2018
  • First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, January 9, 2018

by the inability to make a downward social comparison; namely, when no one is behind a queuing individual, that person is less certain that continuing to wait is worthwhile. Furthermore, this paper provides evidence that queue... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
  • 23 Aug 2016
  • First Look

August 23, 2016

Discretionary Task Ordering: Queue Management in Radiological Services By: Ibanez, Maria, Jonathan R. Clark, Robert S. Huckman, and Bradley R. Staats Abstract—A long line of research examines how best to... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
  • 30 Nov 2015
  • HBS Seminar

Soroush Saghafian, Assistant Professor of Public Policy - Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University

  • 12 Apr 2017
  • Research & Ideas

Why Productivity Suffers When Employees Are Allowed to Schedule Their Own Tasks

working paper Discretionary Task Ordering: Queue Management in Radiological Services by María R. Ibáñez, a doctoral candidate at Harvard Business School; Jonathan R. Clark , an assistant professor at the... View Details
Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health
  • 26 Jul 2023
  • Research & Ideas

STEM Needs More Women. Recruiters Often Keep Them Out

are unscripted and can last from about a minute to more than an hour, the researchers note. “If your experience suggests that male prospects are more likely to be a positive signal compared to your female prospects, then you may try and exhaust the male prospects in... View Details
Keywords: by Rachel Layne
  • 12 Mar 2019
  • First Look

New Research and Ideas, March 12, 2019

Furthermore, this paper provides evidence that queue transparency is an effective service design lever that managers can use to reduce the deleterious effects of last place aversion in queues. When people... View Details
Keywords: Dina Gerdeman
  • 31 Jul 2023
  • News

Striving for Imperfection

idea. He was with his wife in Rome. He noticed that there was this one coffee shop that had this huge queue out the door where the other coffee shops didn’t. And he went in and he noticed the barista, whose name was Eugenio and he was... View Details
Keywords: Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises
  • 28 Nov 2018
  • HBS Case

On Target: Rethinking the Retail Website

build the tool and provide the answer in an hour.” Allow managers to analyze data The alliance between data experts and managers was a good start. But Desai knew that if View Details
Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail
  • 12 Feb 2018
  • Research & Ideas

Customers at the Back of the Line Are Anxious—Can You Keep Them from Leaving?

the UPS Foundation Associate Professor of Service Management in the Technology and Operations Management Unit. “When we are feeling bad, one way we cope is by comparing ourselves to people who are worse off... View Details
Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail; Service