Operational Leadership Using Quantitative Decision Making (Synthesis Lectures on Engineering, Science, and Technology)

This book focuses on analytical and quantitative methods that align improvement opportunities with organizational goals and metrics. The book describes a framework that starts with developing a holistic view of an organization and then defining the organization’s goals, objectives, decision criteria, and metrics to result in meaningful measures for process, project, and product investment decisions. The author describes how to utilize decision-making tools, analytical methods, and optimization techniques to enhance the objectivity and robustness of the readers’ decisions. This framework supports the use of these tools and enables readers to make decisions that drive bottom-line performance. Aspects of this approach have been used in corporate, military, and government agencies to drive the efficient use of available resources.

Deandra Cassone, PhD, PMP, recently served as the Director of Research Activities, Biomedical Informatics at the University of Missouri and the Administrative Director of the PCORnet Clinical Research Network for the Greater Plains Collaborative. She received a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Kansas State University. Her twenty years of consulting experience involved working with Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and the military applying decision science and analytical methods to solve complex problems. Her ten plus years of experience working for Fortune 100 companies includes serving as a subject matter expert and in management positions in domain areas such as technology development, logistics operations, operational excellence, strategic project management, and manufacturing operations. She has been awarded twelve business process patents and a corporate-wide innovation leadership award. Dr. Cassone has developed and taught eleven different graduate engineering courses over the last fifteen years as an adjunct professor for Missouri University of Science and Technology and a full-time professor at Kansas State University. Currently, Dr. Cassone is an Adjunct Senior Professor of Practice at Kansas State University and is the president of consulting and investment businesses. She has also published several books in the field of applied decision science.