Situational production management: a practical theory for the development and application of production management

Discussions in journals and at conferences often nurture the dream of the ultimate method which may be applied successfully to all situations. Yet everybody knows that ‘it all depends’ and that situational factors determine which methods and systems are appropriate. This paper sets forth to outline a practical theory of a situational approach to production management. Any improvement of production management is seen as a dialogue between identification of the production management task, on the one hand, and specifying a solution system, on the other. A few concepts are introduced to provide practical methods for carrying out an improvement process; in particular, the nature of the production management task is addressed. The implications of the situational theory to be presented are discussed for three levels of application, respectively, the general level, the industry level, and the level of an individual industrial enterprise. It is further argued that the three levels are interdependent and that their joint application may stimulate both the theoretical and practical development of production management.