Researching operations management

Researching Operations Management fills the growing need for a comprehensive textbook and reference on doing quality research in the field of Operations Management (OM). It addresses the particular problem¿especially for advanced students and beginning researchers¿that many academic departments specialize in just one or a few approaches to research. As a result many students and researchers are not exposed to the breadth of possible research approaches in OM. Providing a concise overview of each of the most important research approaches in the field, the book enables researchers and students to understand and practice these methods, thus giving them a platform for choosing appropriate and complementary approaches to their research.

With contributions from an international group of leading thinkers in the OM research field, the book covers those methods frequently used in studies of OM as well as adjacent applied management areas such as management of innovation and R&D, logistics, and supply chain management. Included are chapters on surveys, case studies, action research, longitudinal field studies, and models and simulations together with chapters on planning, positioning, assessing, and publishing research. In addition, the contributors also consider ethical and cultural issues in researching operations management.

Author Notes

Christer Karlsson is Professor of Innovation and Operations Management and Dean for CBS Executive at Copenhagen Business School and also professor at the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management (EIASM) in Brussels.

Christer KarlssonChrister KarlssonSimon CroomCipriano ForzaChris VossPar Ahlstrom and Christer KarlssonPaul Coughlan and David CoghlanJ. Will M. Bertrand and Jan C. FransooChrister Karlsson

Acknowledgements	p. ix
List of contributors	p. x
1 Introduction to the Book	p. 1
Chapter Overview	p. 1
1.1 Introduction	p. 2
1.2 How to Use the Book	p. 3
1.3 Plan of the Book	p. 3
2 Researching Operations Management	p. 6
Chapter Overview	p. 6
2.1 What is Operations Management?	p. 7
2.2 Characteristics of Good Operations Management Research	p. 13
2.3 Research as Contribution to Knowledge	p. 15
2.4 Building the Research Contribution	p. 20
2.5 Research Needs and Quality	p. 25
2.6 Research Ethics and Ethics for Researchers	p. 26
2.7 Characteristics of Good Research Presentation	p. 28
2.8 Getting Published	p. 31
2.9 Analysing Research and Research Contribution	p. 34
2.10 Summary	p. 35
References and Bibliography	p. 39
3 Introduction to Research Methodology in Operations Management	p. 42
Chapter Overview	p. 42
3.1 An Overview of the Research Process-a Seven-stage Model	p. 43
3.2 The Nature of Operations Management Research	p. 46
3.3 Structured Literature Review	p. 48
3.4 Research Methodology	p. 60
3.5 Qualitative and Quantitative Methods	p. 66
3.6 Methods	p. 67
3.7 Positioning Operations Management Research Methods	p. 70
3.8 Ensuring Quality and Evaluating Your Research	p. 73
3.9 In Conclusion-Thinking about the Three Main Elements of Research Design	p. 78
3.10 Summary	p. 80
References and Bibliography	p. 81
4 Surveys	p. 84
Chapter Overview	p. 84
4.1 Introduction	p. 84
4.2 The Survey Research Process	p. 98
4.3 What is Needed Prior to Survey Research Design	p. 100
4.4 How a Survey should be Designed	p. 113
4.5 Pilot Testing the Questionnaire	p. 129
4.6 Survey Execution	p. 141
4.7 Data Analysis and Interpretation of Results	p. 143
4.8 What Information should be Reported in Articles	p. 150
4.9 Summary	p. 150
References and Bibliography	p. 155
5 Case Research in Operations Management	p. 162
Chapter Overview	p. 162
5.1 Introduction	p. 162
5.2 When to Use Case Research	p. 164
5.3 The Research Framework, Constructs and Questions	p. 166
5.4 Choosing Cases	p. 170
5.5 Developing Research Instruments and Protocols	p. 174
5.6 Conducting the Field Research	p. 175
5.7 Reliability and Validity in Case Research	p. 181
5.8 Data Documentation and Coding	p. 181
5.9 Analysis	p. 184
5.10 Summary	p. 189
References and Bibliography	p. 192
6 Longitudinal Field Studies	p. 196
Chapter Overview	p. 196
6.1 Introduction to the Longitudinal Field Study	p. 197
6.2 Setting up the Longitudinal Field Study	p. 200
6.3 Setting up the Longitudinal Field Study as Clinical Research	p. 208
6.4 Collecting Data in the Longitudinal Field Study	p. 211
6.5 Analysing Longitudinal Field Data	p. 216
6.6 Building Theory from Longitudinal Field Studies	p. 221
6.7 Evaluating Theory from Longitudinal Field Studies	p. 225
6.8 Examples of Important Longitudinal Studies	p. 230
6.9 Summary	p. 231
References and Bibliography	p. 232
7 Action Research	p. 236
Chapter Overview	p. 236
7.1 Introduction	p. 236
7.2 Action in Operations: See the Layout, Hunt the System	p. 237
7.3 What is Action Research?	p. 238
7.4 What is Needed Before Entering into Action Research	p. 243
7.5 Designing an Action Research Project	p. 245
7.6 Implementing Action Research	p. 247
7.7 Meta Learning	p. 252
7.8 Action Research Skills	p. 255
7.9 Generating Theory through Action Research	p. 257
7.10 Quality in Action Research	p. 258
7.11 Writing an Action Research Dissertation	p. 259
7.12 Conclusions	p. 260
7.13 Summary	p. 260
References and Bibliography	p. 262
8 Modelling and Simulation	p. 265
Chapter Overview	p. 265
8.1 Introduction	p. 265
8.2 Origins and Development of Model-based Research in Operations Management	p. 267
8.3 Methodologies in Quantitative Modelling	p. 274
8.4 How to Conduct Quantitative Research in Operations Management	p. 279
8.5 Relevance	p. 302
8.6 Summary	p. 303
References and Bibliography	p. 303
9 Concluding Remarks	p. 307
Chapter Overview	p. 307
9.1 Key Messages from the Book	p. 308
9.2 Summary of Learning from the Chapters-a Brief Overview	p. 308
9.3 Choosing and Combining Approaches-Triangulation in Methods	p. 312
9.4 Implementing Good Practices	p. 314
9.5 Generalization into Different Management Areas-Beyond Operations Management	p. 315
9.6 A Contract with Science-a Researcher Ethic	p. 316
9.7 Summary	p. 316
References and Bibliography	p. 317
Index	p. 318

Available:*

On Order

Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Table of Contents