Case Article—Potty Parity: Stadium Restroom Design

Setareh Farajollahzadeh (), Ming Hu () and Vahid Roshanaei ()
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Setareh Farajollahzadeh: Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1G5, Canada
Ming Hu: Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E6, Canada
Vahid Roshanaei: Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E6, Canada

INFORMS Transactions on Education, 2025, vol. 26, issue 1, 79-86

Abstract: In view of the long wait times for women and the lack of accessibility for LGBTQ+ individuals when they use restrooms, this case provides a set of analytical tools to evaluate wait time disparity among users for different restroom configurations. A stadium manager who faces complaints about excessive restroom wait times aims to retrofit the restroom layout to improve both efficiency, measured in terms of wait time, and fairness, measured in terms of totalitarian and Rawlsian scores. Given that customers have diverse preferences over the use of restroom types, in three modules, students learn to (i) evaluate queuing parameters for a mix of heterogeneous populations, (ii) evaluate queuing metrics for various restroom layouts and discuss their wait time disparities, and (iii) evaluate and discuss the fairness of access to restroom facilities from a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) perspective. By completing this case, students gain an understanding of service systems, learn about process flexibility concepts, and become familiar with DEI concepts and measures. The primary objectives of the case for students are to understand the trade-offs between efficiency and fairness, develop an understanding of multiobjective problems, and improve their skills in employing queuing concepts and tools.

Keywords: service design; process flexibility; multiple-server queue; heterogeneous customers; DEI; operational efficiency; fairness; diversity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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