Abstract:
This series of cases on the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, the mass transit agency serving the Boston metropolitan area, examines the management of an urban service delivery agency. Each case, as well as the series as a whole, is designed to develop students' skills in analyzing problems and issues that confront top-level managers of a public agency, and in developing strategies to deal with them. This note describes the operations, financing, organization, and political setting of the MBTA. The time is 1975. Robert Kiley has just been appointed chief executive officer with a mandate to strengthen the MBTA's management in the face of rising budget deficits and deteriorating services. Students may be asked to analyze the organization and its environment, diagnose management problems, recommend priorities, and evaluate alternative approaches to introducing organizational change. Intended for use with the MBTA: Agenda Setting (A).
