Operational Management Theory of Constraints Essay

The theory of constraints is a management philosophy which was developed by Goldratt in 1986.   It is based on identifying the limiting factors/constraints in a system which may hinder it from achieving its intended goals.   It states that for such a system to improve, the constraint must be identified and dealt with accordingly. Question one. The major cause of the backlog at the BCMC MRI clinic is due to the low productivity of the MR machine and the heavy overtime schedule which strains the MR technologist and leads to scanning of lesser patients per hour.   Although the machine is designed to make one scan per hour, it is not meeting this target due to various limiting factors such as poor communication between the patient and the hospital scan-scheduling department which has led to booking and overbooking of patients at the wrong times.   This has resulted in the clinic having too many patients which it is unable to handle. Question two. The major problem of this process lies in the clinic’s scheduling department which makes so many mistakes when booking the appointments for the patients’ scanning.   This system unlike previous MRI providers does not handle the scheduling leaving all the workload to the scheduling department and this has proved to be quite hectic for them. Question three. According to the radiology department manager, the clinic should consider hiring another MR technologist to ease the pressure on the present technologist and improve the lead-time.   In addition, the clinic should consider introducing another shift may be in the early hours of the evening in order to ensure that more patients are attended to per day. In addition to the above recommendation, as Kevin and/or David i would recommend that more incentives be given to Jeff the MR technologist for every extra time he puts in.   This would motivate him to work more thus maximizing the number of scans he performs per day and it will help a great deal in reducing the backlog.