About this Presentation
One of the pinnacles of an academic’s career is completing a PhD. While this is always an ambitious endeavour, TOC provides a well-proven suite of thinking process tools (the TP) to assist the research process (Mabin et al, TOCICO 2016). However, in the process of Abeer Youssef’s PhD research, dealing with a real-life, potentially disastrous situation, we realized we needed a new TP tool for a situation that isn't covered by the existing TP. We adapted the existing tools to develop a new tool which we have called the Conditional Reality Tree. The Conditional Reality Tree applies to situations where the Undesirable Effects (UDEs) in the current reality are likely to get worse in the future due to some impending event or trend, and inadequate corrective action being taken. Since it lies in the future, the CRT cannot be used, but also, since the future is expected to contain many UDEs rather than DEs, the usual Future Reality Tree is not appropriate. We realized that there are many other situations where this problem of a worsening situation or a pending disaster arises, occurring in business, personal and societal settings. These could all benefit from having a reality tree to depict the situation clearly so that others can recognize there is an issue to be dealt with properly. Therefore we are sharing the new tool that we developed and used in this research, to help others facing similar future situations that the existing TP cannot handle. In this presentation, we will discuss the problematic situation, introduce the new tool (the Conditional Reality Tree), and provide several examples of its application.
What Will You Learn
To help you get the most value from this session, we’ve highlighted a few key points. These takeaways capture the main ideas and practical insights from the presentation, making it easier for you to review, reflect, and apply what you’ve learned.
Instructor(s)
Jennifer Eckman
Ms Alka Wadhwa
Alka Wadhwa is an experienced consultant and process improvement expert with over 24 years of expertise in the Theory of Constraints (TOC), Lean Six Sigma, and organizational performance optimization. She has successfully led projects in healthcare, financial services, and manufacturing, driving significant improvements such as a 67% boost in hospital operations and a 140% increase in outpatient visits.
Previously, Alka Wadhwa spent 17+ years at GE Global Research Center, where she led initiatives to enhance various GE businesses through advanced technologies, process redesign, and system optimization. Founder of Better Solutions Consulting, LLC, she specializes in using TOC, Six Sigma, and data analytics to streamline operations and build high-performance teams.
Her work has earned her multiple accolades, including the Empire State Award of Excellence in healthcare.
Dr Gary Wadhwa
Dr. Gary Wadhwa is a Board Certified Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon with extensive experience in the field. He completed his Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery training at Montefiore Hospital, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, NY, and has served as an Attending at prestigious institutions like St. Peters Hospitals, Ellis Hospital, and Beth Israel Hospital in NY. With a career spanning over two decades, he was the former CEO and President of a group specialty practice in NY from 1994 to 2015. Dr. Wadhwa holds an MBA from UT at Knoxville, TN, and has undergone additional training in System Dynamics at MIT, Health System Management at Harvard Business School, and Entrepreneurship and healthcare innovations at Columbia Business School. Committed to expanding access to Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery care, he is currently engaged in a meaningful project to provide healthcare services to underserved populations in inner city and rural areas through non-profit Community Health Centers.