Alan G. Robinson

Professor Operations & Information Management

Office: Isenberg N389

Tel: 413.545.5640

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Academic Background

Education

PhD, The Johns Hopkins University, 1986

MSE, The Johns Hopkins University, 1983

MA, Cambridge University, 1982

BA, Cambridge University, 1980

Academic Appointments

Professor of Operations Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 9/1997-Present

Associate Dean for the Full-Time MBA Program, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 9/2010-9/2013

Associate Professor of Operations Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 9/1992-9/1997

Assistant Professor of Operations Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 9/1986-9/1992

Research Interests

Managing Innovation and Creativity
Managing Bottom-up Ideas
Continuous Improvement
Lean

Teaching Interests

Undergraduate

Operations Management
High-Performance Organizations

Masters

Operations Management
Practicum
High-Performance Organizations
Corporate Creativity

PhD

Operations Management
High-Performance Organizations
Corporate Creativity
Lean
Continuous Improvement
Innovation

Professional Background

Professional Experience

Advisor, 1987-Present, Have advised more than 150 organizations in 25 countries on management issues related to continuous improvement, lean, and innovation.

Recent Honors & Awards

Små Ideér – Stora Resultat (Small Ideas – Big Results), won the SIS Writers Award for the best book published in 2010 by the Swedish Standards Institute, 2010

I was particularly honored to have a prize in Sweden named after me in 2008. The “Alan G. Robinson Award” is now given annually to the company which, according to a panel of judges, manages employee ideas the best in Scandinavia. There is a formal award c, 2008

Selected Publications

“How leaders can create policies that actually work”(jointwith De an Sc hroed er)Journal of Government Financial Management, 66, no. 4, 2017, 36-41.2.

“Solving the unsolvable: How to address complex politically-charged transorganizational problems. (joint with Dean Schroeder), Organizational Dynamics, 46, no. 4, 2017, 212-219.3.

“A New Paradigm in Government Purchasing: Highways England and its Continuously Improving Supply Chain” (joint with Dean Schroeder) Journal of Government Financial Management, 65, no. 3, 2016, 38-44.

Sma Ideer Stora Resultat (Small Ideas - Big Results) (co-authored with Louise Oestberg and Dean Schroeder), SIS Forlag, Sweden, 2010. This book was the result of a study of creativity and idea management in twenty-five Swedish companies, and won the SIS Writers Award for the best book published in 2010 by the Swedish Standards Institute.

Green is Free: Creating Sustainable Competitive Advantage Through Green Excellence” (joint with Dean Schroeder), Organizational Dynamics, 39, 2010, no. 4, 345-352, 2011.

Managing Continuous Improvement In Vietnam: Unique Challenges and Approaches To Overcome Them” (joint with Phuong Anh Nguyen), Quality Management Journal, 17, 2010 no. 2, 23-41.

“The Role of Front-Line Ideas in Lean Performance Improvement” (joint with Dean Schroeder), Quality Management Journal, 16, 2009, no. 4, 27-40.