2016-08-20
Operations Management Research FailingsOperations management is a broad and difficult field of study. This functional area of a company often encompasses many different components of management and leadership. One of the major issues in operations management is the fact that there is a lack of standard methodologies for this function. This problem is due to the fact that different companies view their operations as being different from each other. As a result, there are few standardized operational practices and a lack of research in the area of operations.
The article “Empirical Research Methods in Operations Management” discusses this problem and why a lack of research and standardization has occurred. The article reveals that there is a lack of research in operations management in which objective data is used for creating standardized approaches. Researchers hypothesize, “…that in order for research in operations management to be accurate empirical research must be used because it ties management theory with actual practice.” (Flynna, Sakakibarab, Schroederb, Batesb, & Flynna, 1990) Currently, most research in operations management is conducted using subjective data that is too narrowly focused.
The researchers studied comparative research involving many different large studies (Flynna, Sakakibarab, Schroederb, Batesb, & Flynna, 1990). The results of their research showed that most studies and reports concerning operations management did not use empirical data due to cost, (both in dollars and time) and problems involving interpretation of data (Flynna, Sakakibarab, Schroederb, Batesb, & Flynna, 1990). As a result of these issues, many companies tend to rely on subjective research that lacks quantifiable data. Despite the fact that the few studies which take into account quantifiable data significantly produced better operational management systems such as Six Sigma; most companies rely heavily on qualitative data to make operational management decisions.
The choice to use subjective data has produced many negative outcomes evidenced in studies. Non-empirical approaches to operational decision making was noted as leading to faulty interpretations and to poor working solutions. Many of these outcomes were based on erroneous data such as implementing management systems that took into account only specific processes or were built on successful operations in other departments or seen in other companies (Flynna, Sakakibarab, Schroederb, Batesb, & Flynna, 1990). These management practices often overlooked the theory underpinning the decision making and were not adequate for their intended functional area. This could be seen when looking at operations management at the manufacturing and corporate level with regard to Six Sigma.
Many companies have embraced Six Sigma, a quality-control system designed to tackle problems such as production defects, and lean manufacturing, which aims to remove all processes that don't add value to the final product. But many of those companies have come away less than happy. Recent studies, for example, suggest that nearly 60% of all corporate Six Sigma initiatives fail to yield the desire results (Chakravorty, 2010).
While Six Sigma has been a tremendously successful operational management system within manufacturing it has failed to create the same results in corporate operations. Despite this failing many companies that are not manufacturing oriented have implemented this system with the belief that it could have the desire benefit. The reasoning for this decision is due to the subjective belief that that the Six Sigma system is transferrable from one functional area to another with modifications. This decision making lacks critical understanding of the Six Sigma process and if more research was committed in operations management it would be clear that certain practices such as lean management are not always appropriate for different functional areas with a company.
What researchers found was that evidence suggests that empirical research is necessary for operations management improvement. While benchmarking and competitive intelligence are beneficial for companies to make progress and assist with the creation of systems; quantifiable and objective research needs to be committed in operations management to find best practices. Within this framework, operations management can be refined and based on proven methods rather than companies attempting to modify research and fit practices to their own systems.
References
Chakravorty, S. S. (2010, January 25). Where Process-Improvement Projects Go Wrong Six Sigma and other programs typically show early progress. And then things return to the way they were. Retrieved from The Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748703298004574457471313938130
Flynna, B., Sakakibarab, S., Schroederb, B., Batesb, K., & Flynna, J. (1990). Empirical research methods in operations management. Journal of Operations Management, 9(2), 250-284.