The Scholarly Exchange of Knowledge in Operations Management by Linderman and Chandrasekaran - Article Example

Running Head: Operations management Operations management Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lecture Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date Introduction In practice the functional areas in an organizations show a high level of inter-dependability. No functional department can exist without co-operating with the other areas of the organization. However, scholarly research does not usually reflect this degree of collaboration among departments. This paper investigates the extent scholarly work in different management discipline borrow and give ideas to research in operations management. It first critically reviews the article by Linderman and Chandrasekaran (2010) which is an investigation of the level of scholarly exchange within the operations management discipline and between it and other disciplines. The paper then relates the article to concepts in operations management. Finally, the paper concludes there is need for more frequent exchange of ideas between operations management and other management disciplines. Linderman, K., & Chandrasekaran, A. (2010). The scholarly exchange of knowledge in operations management. Journal of Operations Management, 28(4), 357-366. Linderman and Chandrasekaran (2010) is an article that investigates the quality of knowledge exchange among scholarly writers in within the area of operations management and across other management disciplines. According to Agarwal and Hoetker (2007) ,the authors of articles in operations management journal show a willingness to integrate ideas from other areas in management in their work. On the other hand, the numbers of citations within the discipline are lower, with most authors prone to self-citation. Linderman and Chandrasekaran allege (2010) that this points to a major methodological weakness in operations management research. The authors call for an increased diversity in the number of citations from other management disciplines and within operations management itself. Article Critique The article uses journal citation data to measure the amount of scholarly exchange within the discipline of operation management and other discipline. However, the effectiveness of such metrics is in doubt. According to Linderman and Chandrasekaran (2010 there are many more journals which contain research on the area of operations management other than the 14 journal whose Journal citation metrics is used in this study. Secondly, the authors critique of Self citations show ignores the fact that most of the knowledge and ideas in a certain field are published in one dominant journal within the field (Baumgartner and Pieters, 2003). According to Linderman and Chandrasekaran (2010), a journal risks isolation from others due to a higher level of self –citation. Linderman and Chandrasekaran (2010) point to the fact that leading journals have lower levels of self-citation as evidence of a weakness of self-citation. However, the most important consideration for a scholarly writer is the relevance of the information contained within the Journal he/she chooses to borrow ideas from (Barman, Hanna and LaForge, 2001). It does not make sense for a researcher to look for citation material on a certain subject in another journal while the most relevant information is found in the journal he/she publishes with. The criticism of self-citation also ignores the fact that studies in other disciplines and journal may employ different methodologies. For comparison purposes it is important that studies employ metrics and methodologies that make the understanding of their results and easier to evaluate against other results. According to Bergh, Perry and Hanke (2006) it is rare for a research in operation management to employ the Case study method but it is widely used in Finance. These methodological differences make cross disciplinary exchange of ideas with operations management difficult, and may be the reason finance and operations management exchange ideas less frequently. The authors also fail to take into account that most journals publish research that cuts across various disciplines. For example, the Journal of Operation management which is predominantly an outlet for Operation Management articles also publishes articles on marketing which will obviously attract more citation from marketing journals (Agarwal, 2002) . Furthermore, the interdisciplinary exchange that takes place within articles published in the same journal is not accounted for in this research. In the article the author cite research indicating that 55 per cent of article cited from Management science were Operations management articles (Agarwal, 2002). If the above articles were cited by other Management science finance articles, the interdisciplinary exchange of ideas would not be notable by this article Relate to subject The importation and exportation of ideas from Operation management to other disciplines as suggested by Linderman and Chandrasekaran (2010) is a more effective solution of problems that need the perspective of more than one functional area. In practice operations managements needs to cooperate with finance, marketing and strategic planning to ensure a company’s objectives are met. This is more difficult if the conceptual problems tackled in academic journals are from one functional perspective (Bergh, Perry and Hanke, 2006). The exchange of scholarly ideas between finance and operations can be used to solve the problem of capital investment that is source of conflict between the operations and finance departments. The timing and implementation of projects is crucial to operations management while finance mostly concentrates on the benefits gained from the project. In the views of Linderman and Chandrasekaran (2010), education is the first step in bridging the relationship between the operation management department and the finance department. Citation of finance articles in operation management studies will likely elicit an interest among learners about the concepts and theories in the finance discipline (Agarwal, 2002). For example a study in finance on performance based on financial metrics such as revenue and profits, Earnings per share and return on capital would provide a more holistic understanding if it cited and included discussion on Labour and materials, budget variance and cost of quality as other performance metrics (Agarwal and Hoetker, 2007). It is crucial for the finance team to develop an understanding of how these metrics affect the financial metrics and this can only be achieved by increased interdisciplinary exchange of ideas. Cross disciplinary citation can help to build a relationship between finance and the operations department where the finance department is taken as a trusted advisor. The more workers understand how other functional areas of the organization work, the adversarial relationship between then is eliminated (Agarwal and Hoetker, 2007).Through interdisciplinary exchange of scholarly ideas the relationship and co-operation between functional departments is enhanced. According to Linderman and Chandrasekaran (2010), the understanding of an organization problems is better addressed by a research agenda that cuts across disciplines For example a research agenda around the issue of sustainable operation management practices will require ideas from marketing and finance to show how these activities affect these functional areas. A sustainable operation management practice like the use of consumer-friendly or recyclable materials has financial implications which necessitates citations from both finance and operation management (Agarwal, 2002). Such a practice may not be feasible to finance as it requires additional investment, while operations views it as a way of ensuring environmental sustainability. On the other hand there is a congruence of ideas when it comes to initiatives such as use of electronic media in order to minimize paper waste (Agarwal and Hoetker, 2007). Use of electronic media implies cost reduction which is one of the objectives of finance. On the other hand, sustainable organizational management practices influence marketing as contemporary consumers show a greater preference for goods produced in a sustainable way. Any studies on the effects of sustainable practices on financial bottom-line and marketing should not ignore the role Operation management plays in enabling sustainable practices by failing to cite materials from the discipline. Performance metrics such as customer relationships and loyalty are hard to measure and most of the time they are bundled together in revenue and profit measures (Agarwal and Hoetker, 2007). A research agenda should show the role operations management play in ensuring that customer relationship and loyalty objectives are achieved. Operation management is involved in tracking of sales trends and advertising effectiveness (Agarwal and Hoetker, 2007). Secondly, operations are the key department in collecting data on customer retention and defection. However, studies in customer relationship management are taken to belong to the marketing discipline and do not cite and mention the contribution of operation management in enhancing customer relationships. Conclusion Seeing that operations management cites material from other disciplines shows that the discipline is ready to collaborate in other functional areas in ensuring the success of the firm. Through scholarly exchange ideas it is easier to solve problems revolving around capital budgeting decisions such global expansion and process improvements. As seen in the paper. Operations management has a profound effect on other discipline which translates to functional areas in organizations. It’s therefore imperative that the exchange of ideas across disciplines should increase to ease the conflict that is found across functional department. It’s imperative for authors across the management disciplines to make their readers aware that the objectives of an organization are the same although different metrics exist depending on the functional perspective. Academic research should reflect the level of inter-dependability various functional departments have and operational management should be given adequate credit for the contribution it makes to the overall success of the firm. References Agarwal, V.K., (2002). Constituencies of journals in production and operationsmanagement: implications on reach and quality. Production and Operations Management 11 (2), 101–108. Agarwal, R., Hoetker, G., (2007). A Faustian Bargain? The Growth ofManagement and its Relationship with Related Disciplines. Academy of Management Journal 50 (6), 1304–1322. Barman, S., Hanna, M.D., LaForge, R., (2001). Perceived relevance and quality of POM journals: a decade later. Journal of Operations Management 19 (3), 367–385. Baumgartner, H., Pieters, R., (2003). The structural influence of marketing journals: acitation analysis of the disciplines and its subareas over time. Journal of Marketing 67 (2), 123–139. Bergh, D.D., Perry, J., Hanke, R., (2006). Some predictors of SMJ article impact. Strategic Management Journal 27 (1), 81–100. Linderman, K., & Chandrasekaran, A. (2010). The scholarly exchange of knowledge in operations management. Journal of Operations Management, 28(4), 357-366. Read More