Lean Research Case Study: Public Procurement Collaboration as a Strategic Tool for Enhancing the Performance of Ghanaian Universities — The Case of the College of Health Sciences in the University of Ghana

Despite the existence of a Ghanaian policy imperative for procurement collaboration, universities often experience difficulties in forming and sustaining inter-departmental relationships in the procurement process. This study aimed to provide insights on applying the practices of public procurement collaboration as a strategic tool for enhancing the performance of the College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana. A qualitative research approach with a descriptive research design was adopted to identify difficulties in undertaking research in technical institutions and explore viable ways of dealing with procurement challenges in the university setting in Ghana. The study focused on collecting data by interviewing selected staff members at the procurement units, departmental heads, and accounting officers at the various departments and research centers of the College. Ten respondents, seven males and three females, were involved in the study, representing various roles such as procurement, finance, and accounting across the individual departments in the College. The existing procurement framework in the College of Health Sciences was examined to ensure the availability of teaching, learning, and research materials within the college. The critical challenges related to procurement internally and externally were also identified, as well as the best practices for deploying collaborative procurement tools to mitigate issues and ensure operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness related to the procurement process. The study found that there was no existing collaboration when it came to the procurement of various equipment and other relevant research items within the College. Lean Research Implementation The study team adopted a Lean Research approach, which emphasized the importance of rigor, relevance, respect, and right-sizing in the research design. The team formulated the idea for the research by looking at the relevance of the issue to the College, setting the objectives of the research, determining the kind of research questions to ask, and establishing the methods to be used for the research with input from people within the College. The rigor of the study was ensured by seeking knowledge from procurement experts in developing interview questions and determining the order of the questions. The critical stakeholders were chosen based on the current procurement processes within the department, and most participants felt welcomed due to the respectful nature of the Lean Research approach. The Lean Research practices also facilitated the development of questionnaires, taking into consideration respondents with tight business schedules, ensuring they could finish up quickly, and ensuring that honest and deep opinions were teased out from the respondents by asking relevant follow-up questions. The study team was challenged to ask for informed consent from their respondents, ask for their feedback on their satisfaction with their interview experience, and communicate their findings to them in the simplest form possible during their presentations. Seeking the consent of the participants is an activity the team intends to continually include in their research endeavors because it gives power to the respondents to freely opt-in or opt-out of the research interviews. Challenges and Future Directions The study team faced an issue in the data collection process due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as the research was focused on one of the front-line institutions engaged in COVID-19 testing and research. However, proper COVID protocols were ensured during the data collection process. The team is looking forward to applying Lean Research in monitoring and evaluation or any other area of research beyond the strictly academic environment. They are also interested in engaging respondents in more innovative ways, such as through activity-based data collection, beyond the conventional interview approach.