Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Sessions: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

There are occasionally lunch sessions and team meetings that supplement the scheduled class sessions. Students spend the last two weeks of March working full-time on site.

Course Overview

This course offers students the opportunity to learn, collaborate, and take action to address pressing challenges in providing health care to people who most need it. Now in its fifth year, this course builds on a rich MIT tradition of action learning, inspiring and valued MIT Sloan supporters, an experienced staff team, and unique collaborations with experts at the Global Health Delivery Project and elsewhere who collectively enable student teams to excel in their work on the front lines of health care delivery.

Class sessions set the stage for faculty-mentored teams to work side-by-side with enterprise leaders on real-world problems related to aspects of strategy, operations, and marketing in resource-constrained settings. We take a broad view of delivery to include in our consideration business models, strategy, and partnerships, as well as a range of factors that shape patients’ access to and use of care. Our partner host enterprises on the front lines of delivering health care set the focus for each project. Spring 2013 projects are in Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania, South Africa, Bangladesh, Nepal, and India.

Every year, we update this course to take into account all that we learn from our own experience and via rich interactions with partner host organizations. In the months before class starts, we work closely with the leaders and staff of dozens of front line healthcare organizations. The process reveals new insights into pressing constraints, emerging opportunities, and challenges old and new. We are deeply grateful to all our past, present, and potential partners for helping us learn about delivery challenges.

We developed our unique responsive problem-based approach to meet our partners’ evolving needs and because the nascent field of health delivery research demands innovative interactions of management research and education with implementers and practitioners as well as donors, academics, and experts in healthcare. Students are partners, not only in both classroom and field projects, but in the broader dialog about the field of global health delivery. Beyond the class itself, each project has the potential to benefit many, by generating practical, useful material to share.

Enrollment and Expectations

This course is open to graduate students only. Admission is by application and interview in the preceding November. Students interested in this course are provided with the Overview and FAQ (PDF) that addresses common questions and the application process.

Enrolled students must be available to work on site in Africa or India for two weeks starting from mid-March. Students are required to complete all segments of the course, including class sessions, team meetings that take place in lieu of class, and mentor meetings.

A more detailed description of student responsibilities, commitments, and work expectations are listed on the Course Expectations page.

The Team Project

Students work on specific projects both on site and on campus, drawing on their management skills and tools, a range of experts and alumni reachable from campus, a varied set of global health resources we have assembled over the years, and our lively classroom sessions. The goal: to generate useful, operational improvements for hosts. Having begun preparation in December and January, each team works intensively from early February in advance of the two-week on-site project team internship during the second half of March, then spends April back on campus wrapping up the project and exploring how efficiency, reach, and organizational sustainability may be advanced. In every project, we aim to alleviate constraints that most limit our partnering host organizations’ ability to deliver health care.

Assignments and deliverables are designed to enable progress. Once class starts in February, students quickly develop work plans and other preparation materials that we draw on in class. In March, they submit an interim research-based briefing designed for their hosts before they leave and turn in a complete set of the materials presented on site at the end of the two-week trip. At the end of April, students turn in a final set of deliverables for their hosts.

Grading

ASSIGNMENTS	PERCENTAGES
Individual work and contributions	20%
Project foundation management toolkit	30%
Host portfolio	30%
Sloan portfolio	20%; Sloan Intensive Period (SIP) credit

A more detailed description of the assignment components and schedule of deliverables are provided on the Assignments page.

This course is open to graduate students only. Admission is by application and interview in the preceding November. To learn more about the application process and the process of matching students to projects, refer to Dr. Sastry’s insights regarding Pre-course Activities.

In the World, For the World

Each of us represents Sloan and MIT, not only in person when we travel but also in emails and phone calls. Bear in mind that all aspects of our conduct set our reputation and enable—or preclude—future students from enjoying similar opportunities. Some teams will meet and work with people who have little experience of working with MBA students, as traditionally healthcare delivery has had few management professionals working to address front-line challenges. This is an opportunity to serve as an ambassador in many respects!

Professionalism

We designed assignments to support your work and maximize learning, so please treat both host work and course work with utmost professionalism. Team self-management is key: it is your team’s responsibility to manage all aspects of the project. To help support that process, we’ve designed quick weekly assignments and class sessions that enable your project and build insights and skills for your future career.

It goes without saying, of course, but in interacting with hosts, you may not request financial or in-kind contributions to the project or upgrades to your travel or lodging. Such discussions are the purview of the course team, so please come to us with any concerns.

We also expect you to build your professional networks and leverage our connections, which could help not only your project and learning but also your professional career. It is important to manage these new connections, share new contacts by making introductions, and close the loop to thank everyone you ask for help.

Team Dynamics

Working in a team of students can be a fabulous part of the course experience, but sometimes also create challenges. Please work with each other, with the course team, and with MIT resources to address internal difficulties so as to prevent problems from limiting your learning experience.

Travel is Earned, Not Guaranteed

Please note that no student has an automatic right to travel in March. The on-site work must be earned through diligent and appropriate preparation. As in past years, some teams may in fact not travel.

Make the Most of the Course Team

We are here to help. If you need more content on any issue, talk with us and we will help you get what you need. We have great resources and contacts to share. Each team works with a specific faculty member as advisor to the team on substantive and process issues. Your team will also be supported by our TA. Your team meets with its mentor periodically, usually biweekly, to monitor progress. Meetings may be scheduled during designated class time or outside class. We plan mentor meetings to support both learning and execution in your project. In some sessions you may draw upon worksheets and checklists. To learn more about the specific responsibilities of the members forming the course team, refer to Course Team Roles.

Attendance

Attendance at and preparation for every class is expected. Please talk to us if you need to miss a class, as we may be able to help you avoid being absent. Email the TA at least two days in advance to allow you to adapt if we cannot excuse you and us to change plans if we must. We are willing to consider reasonable explanations in advance for why you can’t attend class, but each unexcused absence reduces your grade. Missing three classes, sessions, or group meetings during class hours with faculty, TA, or mentors may result in your failing the course.

For every absence, including excused ones, you are required to:

First, complete all readings and preparation for the class, then
Talk to a classmate who did attend class, getting detailed notes and a debriefing from them by the end of the next day; and
By the following Sunday evening, complete a 300-word blog entry linked to class themes for the session you missed. You may write a new post or comment on an existing one on our site. Your post should demonstrate what you have learned in connection with the content. You may include reference to a news story, site, or class reading, but the 300 words must be your own content. Feel free to email your comment to our TA if you would like your posting to be anonymous.

Class Preparation

Make sure you are prepared for each class, having read assigned readings and thought about how they relate to the class content and your own project. As you know, case preparation requires going beyond simply reading the assigned material—you’ll need to ponder the case and prepare your thoughts to enable the best class session possible.

Your Expenses

As you work on your project, your team may discover you need access to copyrighted or protected material, which in some cases will entail your purchasing online access to an item or two. Please plan for limited expenses of this type, along with poster production costs. Your travel-related costs include visas, ground transport, medical costs, meals, phone and internet access, and other incidental expenses. Airfare and lodging expenses are covered by us, with contributions from hosts as feasible, and we work hard to raise the required funds.

Workload

To reflect the effort entailed in the project and course requirements, this course is a substantial 12-unit class that also delivers 2 SIP credits. We recognize that you devote spring break and SIP week to onsite work; along with our hosts, we value this contribution to our partner healthcare enterprises. Even before class starts, you invested in preparation and planning. As the course kicks off, you need sufficient content, interactions, and class sessions to ensure that your project is the best learning experience it can be. Our course design reflects all these considerations. We have 16 class sessions, with a declining load of class-specific preparation. There are also five lunch sessions and an average of five mentor meetings. The first weeks are busy, as neither logistics nor course content can be put off. In April you have more flexibility with your time, with the course ending some two weeks before others. Yet the value of your experience will come from being fully engaged in our April activities, so plan an appropriate allocation of your time to these final steps.

As you plan all three components of your host deliverables, your mentor will work with you to help ensure that the scope of work is manageable. If you have concerns about scope and workload of the project itself, please talk to your mentor first, before pushing back with your host.

Respecting Copyright, Confidentiality, and Privacy

Some material may be distributed in hard copy only. Please respect all copyrights and pay for the required materials. Do not share materials you are asked not to. We do not support your signing non-disclosure agreements but ask you to immediately contact the course team if your host requires one; we will put you in touch with MIT Sloan’s legal affairs staff, who will develop an agreement on your behalf. Whether or not you have a legal agreement, in all projects we ask you to treat all information you gather with respect and sensitivity, maintaining careful control of all paper and electronic materials. Whenever you share information please keep in mind the effect it may have on others. When you take pictures, video, or sound recordings, and when you obtain electronic or physical materials, please ask for permission. This is particularly important in healthcare settings where the privacy of patients and minors is paramount.

Interim Research Briefing, Host Deliverables, and Sloan Portfolio

All assignments have been redesigned for this semester’s offering of the course; most have been shortened and streamlined. But it can be more difficult to write a short briefing than a long one! Make sure to plan the time to edit, critique, and improve your work within the team well in advance of due dates. Crop your photos, edit your videos, and polish your writing, drawing on teammates and classmates for feedback as you go, so that you can strive for the highest standards in all you do. Thanks to the excellent quality of student work, many people and organizations have benefited from materials we have shared or posted. More information and assignment templates will be shared as we go.

Values

We designed this class to embody the MIT Sloan mission to develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world and to generate ideas that advance management practice. We uphold the classroom values that enable us to deliver on this mission. Students are expected to adhere to the standard set of MIT Sloan’s classroom values.

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GlobalHealth Lab