Alastair Nicholson

Closing the Gap: A Polemic on Plant-based Research in Operations Management

There has been a growing call from within the operations management (OM) academic community for research of more managerial relevance. This has implied a greater emphasis on empirical research: surveys, cases, and action research. But in fact these types are quite different. However, the great majority of empirical OM work published is based on postal surveys and/or interviewing executives, where research method selection is made for reasons of practical convenience and academic expectation. Given the level of complexity involved in understanding the OM perspective of business issues then the emphasis should be placed on plant‐based research. Conducting research on‐site and investigation through the analysis of relevant data, issues, developments and events ensures relevance and a validity essential to making an impact on business practice. There are obstacles to increasing the amount of plant‐based research which is carried out, such as practical and personal difficulties, a mistaken concern over research rigour, and academic institutional inertia. Each of these needs to be overcome if OM research is to influence business practice more in the future than it has in the past.

Bringing management reality into the classroom ‐ the development of interactive learning

Gaps between theory and practice are most acute in the management aspects of education in manufacturing engineering. Techniques and technologies can be taught as principles prior to application, whereas the management processes and their complications have to be experienced to be sensed prior to a theory being needed. Analyses the various approaches which have been tried to bring practice and theory together. Shows that management reality in the classroom is not dependent on reproducing the complexity of detail, but rather the need to attempt to solve problems under the pressure of time, inadequate information and group interactions. Demonstrates how this reality can be recreated through an interactive classroom communication system applied to two classic problems in decision making and continuous improvement. The development of the method or theory thus emerges interactive with practice. States that the schemes have been most powerful in their use inside companies for managers to develop their own theories of their current work practices, habits and assumptions, following on from the experience of this educational process.

Cellular manufacturing and marketing strategy in UK small to medium enterprises

This article examines the process of introducing AMTs (advanced manufacturing technologies) in response to strategic initiatives in smaller enterprises (SMEs). The research is based on the participation by the authors in a UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) review of strategic initiatives and the corresponding investment programmes. The article focuses on cases where the adoption of a cellular organisation was used as a means of implementing a marketing strategy. The research shows that more general AMTs, such as cellular systems, may appear to provide advantages even when inadequate market analysis has taken place. However, achieving real competitive advantage requires an effective translation of the market opportunities into internal requirements which can then be supported by appropriate investment.

Using an orderbook model to co-ordinate business priorities☆

Abstract This paper proposes a general data structure for the management of priorities in business. It addresses the problem of the huge overload of data involved in the co-ordination of the priorities arising in operational situations. It suggests that if the key data on structure and status is set out in a specially arranged list, the problems of interactions can be assessed without resort to complex calculations. The list needs to be so arranged as to reflect both the nature of the company operations and to permit profiles of the situation to be extracted for decision-making with the utmost simplicity. The list in this way becomes a map of the situation. The concepts are illustrated on an assembly situation and on a producer of steel billet and its implementation in practice is related to a wide variety of contexts.

Western methods: The new technology for Polish business?

Poland is regarded as the country which has made the greatest progress following the economic liberalisation of Eastern Europe. This paper examines the strength of the relationship between the new Western context and the understanding of the methods which Polish enterprises need to address their current difficulties. The study was undertaken by visiting some 50 Polish businesses to analyse their views on progress. The conclusions of the study suggest that there is much scope for continued success in the future, but that this will require an adaptation of Western methods as well as an ability to use them selectively to overcome the constraints of the emerging Polish environment.

Reproducing the Management Process in an Educational Context

New learning methods have a major part to play in management education. Traditional learning methods can be used effectively on subjects such as finance, economics and some aspects of human resource management which are based on a body of knowledge. But the subject of operations and production management which requires managers to manage the situation needs new approaches to education. This article defines the requirements for the reproducing of the managerial challenges as they really are, and it proposes a scheme providing a laboratory for management learning. The scheme has been tested exhaustively and the article reports on the outcome of these learning experiments across a comprehensive set of managerial issues.

Implementing the Service Concept through Value Engineering

As products have become commoditised and technology knowledge made available to all, the possession of customers has become crucially dependent on the service content of what is delivered. Initially service was seen as an add-on aspect of business and to be highly personalised to customers and employees alike. But the significance of service to justify price, to support brand, to enrich the product, even to learn about the customer, means that the service concept and the service delivery must be managed even if such management is much less well defined than physical product and process management. This paper sets out to establish the possibility of designing both the content of service value and the service system which is needed to provide it. Following the analysis of service itself, the paper identifies the tools needed to engineer the service system to inspect it and position it within the commercial scheme. The McDonald’s operation and others will be used to illustrate the concepts and their application. The principle of effective design and evaluation will be stated and defended as the fundamental means of achieving the value of service to both clients and the providing company. The conditions for successful adoption of the principles will be identified.

Manufacturing Strategy: Providing Support for Agreed Markets

Today, executives in any sector have a difficult task. No more so than those in manufacturing. Performing well in the key executive functions of making and selling products has always been tough. Increasing competition and the growing demands and expectations of customers has raised both targets and tempo. In this increasingly difficult environment, companies need to harness the resources of all their functions. Unless they do, functional executives will develop capabilities and pursue strategic priorities independently of one another and the corporate whole.

The Design of Management Systems for a Continuously Changing Context

This paper examines the assumptions on which traditional control systems have been developed. It questions the over emphasis on integration and the focus on data management rather than on the recognition of managerial issues and differences between managerial functions. The basic difficulty in adopting planning and control systems is the long times-scales on which they have to be developed before they can be tested in practice on the shop floor. By starting with ‘what happens’ within defined management areas (rather than what is meant to happen globally), the system can start with what managers actually do and is thus much closer to working reality. The paper proposes a basis for developing trial systems for rapid adoption and supports the case with illustrations of the applications. Control systems have to cope with the adjustment of both inadequate specifications given by managers as well as the changing needs of managers caused in part by the control systems which they have adopted.