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.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.

Acknowledgements	p. ix
List of contributors	p. x
Introduction to the Book	p. 1
Chapter Overview	p. 1
Introduction	p. 2
How to Use the Book	p. 3
Plan of the Book	p. 3
Researching Operations Management	p. 6
Chapter Overview	p. 6
What is Operations Management?	p. 7
Characteristics of Good Operations Management Research	p. 13
Research as Contribution to Knowledge	p. 15
Building the Research Contribution	p. 20
Research Needs and Quality	p. 25
Research Ethics and Ethics for Researchers	p. 26
Characteristics of Good Research Presentation	p. 28
Getting Published	p. 31
Analysing Research and Research Contribution	p. 34
Summary	p. 35
References and Bibliography	p. 39
Introduction to Research Methodology in Operations Management	p. 42
Chapter Overview	p. 42
An Overview of the Research Process-a Seven-stage Model	p. 43
The Nature of Operations Management Research	p. 46
Structured Literature Review	p. 48
Research Methodology	p. 60
Qualitative and Quantitative Methods	p. 66
Methods	p. 67
Positioning Operations Management Research Methods	p. 70
Ensuring Quality and Evaluating Your Research	p. 73
In Conclusion-Thinking about the Three Main Elements of Research Design	p. 78
Summary	p. 80
References and Bibliography	p. 81
Surveys	p. 84
Chapter Overview	p. 84
Introduction	p. 84
The Survey Research Process	p. 98
What is Needed Prior to Survey Research Design	p. 100
How a Survey should be Designed	p. 113
Pilot Testing the Questionnaire	p. 129
Survey Execution	p. 141
Data Analysis and Interpretation of Results	p. 143
What Information should be Reported in Articles	p. 150
Summary	p. 150
References and Bibliography	p. 155
Case Research in Operations Management	p. 162
Chapter Overview	p. 162
Introduction	p. 162
When to Use Case Research	p. 164
The Research Framework, Constructs and Questions	p. 166
Choosing Cases	p. 170
Developing Research Instruments and Protocols	p. 174
Conducting the Field Research	p. 175
Reliability and Validity in Case Research	p. 181
Data Documentation and Coding	p. 181
Analysis	p. 184
Summary	p. 189
References and Bibliography	p. 192
Longitudinal Field Studies	p. 196
Chapter Overview	p. 196
Introduction to the Longitudinal Field Study	p. 197
Setting up the Longitudinal Field Study	p. 200
Setting up the Longitudinal Field Study as Clinical Research	p. 208
Collecting Data in the Longitudinal Field Study	p. 211
Analysing Longitudinal Field Data	p. 216
Building Theory from Longitudinal Field Studies	p. 221
Evaluating Theory from Longitudinal Field Studies	p. 225
Examples of Important Longitudinal Studies	p. 230
Summary	p. 231
References and Bibliography	p. 232
Action Research	p. 236
Chapter Overview	p. 236
Introduction	p. 236
Action in Operations: See the Layout, Hunt the System	p. 237
What is Action Research?	p. 238
What is Needed Before Entering into Action Research	p. 243
Designing an Action Research Project	p. 245
Implementing Action Research	p. 247
Meta Learning	p. 252
Action Research Skills	p. 255
Generating Theory through Action Research	p. 257
Quality in Action Research	p. 258
Writing an Action Research Dissertation	p. 259
Conclusions	p. 260
Summary	p. 260
References and Bibliography	p. 262
Modelling and Simulation	p. 265
Chapter Overview	p. 265
Introduction	p. 265
Origins and Development of Model-based Research in Operations Management	p. 267
Methodologies in Quantitative Modelling	p. 274
How to Conduct Quantitative Research in Operations Management	p. 279
Relevance	p. 302
Summary	p. 303
References and Bibliography	p. 303
Concluding Remarks	p. 307
Chapter Overview	p. 307
Key Messages from the Book	p. 308
Summary of Learning from the Chapters-a Brief Overview	p. 308
Choosing and Combining Approaches-Triangulation in Methods	p. 312
Implementing Good Practices	p. 314
Generalization into Different Management Areas-Beyond Operations Management	p. 315
A Contract with Science-a Researcher Ethic	p. 316
Summary	p. 316
References and Bibliography	p. 317
Index	p. 318
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Researching Operations Management

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