Operations Management

The Operations Management (OM) Group  has a prominent track record in research, teaching and impact. Operations management empirically investigates how resources and processes are managed to create and deliver products and services.

Current research areas

Early research studies carried out at WBS led the way in several OM sub-fields such as quality management and service operations, and recent award-winning projects have focused on various areas such as sustainable supply chains, healthcare operations, and innovation and technology management.

Our current research portfolio covers a broad range of topics, including:

• Supply chain management
• Process improvement
• Environmental and social issues in operations
• Strategic alignment and operations strategy
• Performance measurement and management
• Service operations
• Design thinking and innovation management. 

We apply and advance a variety of methods ranging from large-scale empirical studies, case research, network analysis, and ethnographic methods. Our work, while grounded in the field of operations management, is often the result of collaborations with colleagues in other areas of management research, such as organisation theory, innovation and entrepreneurship, and marketing.

Members of the Group have recently authored publications in many prestigious journals such as the Journal of Operations Management, the Academy of Management Journal, the Journal of Supply Chain Management, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Research Policy, the Journal of Product Innovation Management, and the International Journal of Operations and Production Management.

Editorial positions held by our faculty currently include Consulting Editor for the International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Associate Editors of the Journal of Operations Management and International Journal of Operations and Production Management, and editorial board members of the Journal of Product Innovation Management and the Journal of Supply Chain Management.

Teaching

We teach across all the WBS programmes, delivering core and elective modules in operations-related subjects at Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels. Examples of modules include:

• Operations management (core module in most programmes)
• Project management
• Improving process performance
• Supply chain management
• Managing organisational performance
• Design in business.

Our teaching has been recognised as excellent by national and international associations and our Emeritus Professor, Nigel Slack, has been at the forefront of teaching and research in operations for decades. 

Impact

We welcome and foster close collaboration with industry and have attracted substantial amounts of research funding through AHRC, ESRC, the British Academy, InnovateUK, and directly from industry. 

Our research findings have impacted management practice in many organisations operating in the private sector (e.g. Emirates Group, Jaguar Land Rover, BAE Systems, BP) and public sector (e.g. UK NHS, United Arab Emirates Government, UK Cabinet Office), and in several social enterprises and NGOs. Our recent work with the United Nations, Department of Health, and InnovateUK has also influenced national and international policy.

Head of group: Professor Pietro Micheli.