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.     

European management teaching and research: Reflections on the life and work of A. Blanqui

Europe’s first historian of political thought, author of the preface to The Wealth of Nations, and also the first figure to acquire a business school in his lifetime and become its dean, Adolphe Blanqui (1798-1854) has nevertheless become a somewhat neglected figure. As we approach the bicentenary of the school he presided – the oldest of the great 19th century management training institutes, which still exists today – in this essay I propose to place his life and work in context before exploring the principal thrust of his educational philosophy and his lasting heritage. Blanqui was a great European, devoted to certain principles in the education of future entrepreneurs and ‘traders’: combatting ugliness, learning how to deal with difference, and leading by example while also keeping pace with technical evolutions. I conclude by insisting on the importance, then and now, of situating management training within the context of geopolitical, aesthetic and ethical factors.     

认真开展案例研究,促进管理科学及管理教育发展

管理案例研究是现代管理科学发展的重要源泉 ,是管理新理论和方法创新的基础 ,目前已在管理学界引起了重视 .本文在讨论管理案例研究重要性的基础上 ,阐述了其对现代管理科学发展和管理人才培养的重要作用 ,并结合我国实际情况 ,提出了如何进行管理案例研究的几种方法 .     

Regulations,policies and practices concerning work stress in five European countries

Abstract

A comparative inventory of regulations, policies and practices in The Netherlands, Sweden, UK, Germany and France with regard to the prevention of work stress was carried out. In each country data were collected by means of interviews with key informants and through exploring relevant documents and literature. It was found that Sweden, The Netherlands and the UK—those countries with framework legislation in the field of health and safety—recognize stress as an important health and safety topic, whereas Germany and France do not yet recognize stress as an important policy issue. However, even in the first group of countries less attention is being paid towards psychosocial work characteristics when compared with traditional health and safety issues, such as noise, machine safety and toxic agents. There is a clear lack of well-documented (national) ‘examples of good preventive practice’, even in Sweden and The Netherlands. Recommendations are being formulated concerning type of legislation, guidance and information, monitoring and risk assessment, costs and benefits, examples of good practice and European networking.     

Regulations, policies and practices concerning work stress in five European countries

A comparative inventory of regulations, policies and practices in The Netherlands, Sweden, UK, Germany and France with regard to the prevention of work stress was carried out. In each country data were collected by means of interviews with key informants and through exploring relevant documents and literature. It was found that Sweden, The Netherlands and the UK—those countries with framework legislation in the field of health and safety—recognize stress as an important health and safety topic, whereas Germany and France do not yet recognize stress as an important policy issue. However, even in the first group of countries less attention is being paid towards psychosocial work characteristics when compared with traditional health and safety issues, such as noise, machine safety and toxic agents. There is a clear lack of well-documented (national) 'examples of good preventive practice', even in Sweden and The Netherlands. Recommendations are being formulated concerning type of legislation, guidance and information, monitoring and risk assessment, costs and benefits, examples of good practice and European networking.     

European management and European business schools: Insights from the history of business schools

This article looks at the history of business schools and identifies specific characteristics that are common to European management schools. On the basis of these characteristics, European management is subsequently defined as a cross-cultural, societal management approach based on interdisciplinary principles. In a final step, a closer look is taken at how European business schools should prepare their students for the unique European management context. It is suggested that such schools should provide courses on cross-cultural management and courses explaining the interdependencies between the private and public sector, offer students opportunities to experience other cultures over the course of their studies, and teach management from an interdisciplinary and practically-oriented perspective.     

Quality management and performance: a comparison between the UK and Turkey

Purpose: The aim of this article is to detail the correlation between quality management, specifically its tools and critical success factors, and performance in terms of primary operational and secondary organisational performances.

Design/methodology/approach: Survey data from the UK and Turkey were analysed using exploratory factor analyses, structural equation modelling and regression analysis.

Findings: The results show that quality management has a significant and positive impact on both primary and secondary performances; that Turkish and UK attitudes to quality management are similar; and that quality management is widely practised in manufacturing and service industries but has more statistical emphasis in the manufacturing sector. The main challenge for making quality management practice more effective lies in an appropriate balanced use of the different sorts of the tools and critical success factors.

Originality/value: This study takes a novel approach by: (i) exploring the relationship between primary operational and secondary organisational performances, (ii) using service and manufacturing data and (iii) making a cross-country comparison between the UK (a developed economy) and Turkey (a developing economy).

Limitations: Detailed contrast provided between only two countries.     

管理学术与实践隔阂:和谐管理的桥梁作用

管理学术与实践各自自我循环的运作模式,使得二者之间存在较大的隔阂。从管理知识的形成与使用视角来看,原因包括两个方面:首先是管理知识的类型,目前学者们认为面向实际问题解决产生的模式2知识比传统学术研究产生的模式1知识更具实践价值,但分析发现模式1与模式2因其优劣互补而分别适应于不同的管理问题;其次是目前实践者对管理知识的消费偏好,据此给出了缩减管理学术与实践隔阂的整体思路及措施.和谐管理理论揭示了如何定位组织中核心问题以及解决问题的双规则机制,将其应用于上述措施,有助于促进管理学术与实践的有效对话。     

中国管理实践导向的管理科学与工程理论与方法

本文通过文献评述、专家调查和典型案例分析,试图解释中国管理实践导向的管理科学与工程学科学术研究的基本特点和发展趋势。结果表明,近年来基于中国数据、中国案例和中国经验的管理学术研究成果越来越多。这些研究考虑了中国国情、国家战略、制度和文化等因素,也反映出中国情景下管理科学与工程研究的复杂性和学科交叉性等特点。同时,针对“基于我国领跑工程的管理科学与工程研究”、“面向‘卡脖子’技术的管理科学与工程研究”两个领域的关键科学问题和未来发展进行了初步探讨。     

Outsourcing vs. in-house production: a comparison of supply chain contracts with effort dependent demand

We analyze the effort and pricing decisions in a two facility supply chain in which one of the parties can exert costly effort to increase demand. We consider an outsourcing model in which the supplier makes the effort decision and an in-house production model in which the manufacturer decides on the effort level and we compare these two models with each other. We analyze and compare several contracts for decentralized supply chain models and we aim to find which contracts are best to use in different cases. We find the optimal contract parameters in each case and perform extensive computational testing to compare the efficiencies of these contracts. We also analyze the effect of the powers of the parties in the system and the effect of system parameters on the performances of the contracts and on the optimal values of the model variables such as price, effort and demand.     

Performance management practices in lean manufacturing organizations: a systematic review of research evidence

This paper provides the first systematic look into the existing research on performance management (PM) practices employed in lean manufacturing organisations (LMOs). It adopts a systematic review method to examine the evidence generated in the period 2004 – 2015 and uses a comprehensive PM framework to synthesise the findings. The results suggest that PM practices that have the most prominent role in LMOs are those that, firstly, are located closest to front-line actions and, secondly, explicitly address operational realities. This calls into question the primacy of accounting-driven controls in LMOs, suggesting that operational controls may be more effective than top-down accounting-based PM practices. The results also confirm the bias towards operational-level issues but suggest that LMOs may integrate the operational and the strategic levels by using PM practices that drive organisational learning through employee involvement and engagement.     

技术驱动的管理科学与工程研究

科技创新引领技术变革,加速变革的科技正在重塑世界政治、经济和社会发展的新格局、新形势。一系列新场景、新环境下的管理决策问题,如新一代移动通讯、人工智能、物联网、轨道交通与建筑工程、医疗工程、能源环境工程等,开启了管理科学与工程学科研究的新局面,并提出了全新的要求和挑战。本文通过系统梳理和总结相关文献和课题项目,阐述管理科学与工程领域的关键技术发展态势,并结合领域权威专家的问卷和访谈结果,立足新技术融合和新产业应用两个方面概括了技术驱动下管理科学与工程的主要研究方向。     

Engineering and management in French higher education. The case of the French engineering schools: A survey

A survey has been carried out concerning the present situation of engineering management curricula in French engineering schools. Results show that engineering management courses exist in nearly all institutions investigated. About one third of the institutions report having research activities and/or the existence of doctoral programs.     

A comparison of fixed and dynamic pricing policies in revenue management

We consider the problem of selling a fixed capacity or inventory of items over a finite selling period. Earlier research has shown that using a properly set fixed price during the selling period is asymptotically optimal as the demand potential and capacity grow large and that dynamic pricing has only a secondary effect on revenues. However, additional revenue improvements through dynamic pricing can be important in practice and need to be further explored. We suggest two simple dynamic heuristics that continuously update prices based on remaining inventory and time in the selling period. The first heuristic is based on approximating the optimal expected revenue function and the second heuristic is based on the solution of the deterministic version of the problem. We show through a numerical study that the revenue impact of using these dynamic pricing heuristics rather than fixed pricing may be substantial. In particular, the first heuristic has a consistent and remarkable performance leading to at most 0.2% gap compared to optimal dynamic pricing. We also show that the benefits of these dynamic pricing heuristics persist under a periodic setting. This is especially true for the first heuristic for which the performance is monotone in the frequency of price changes. We conclude that dynamic pricing should be considered as a more favorable option in practice.     

工程设计企业项目组织结构变革研究

根据工程设计企业的生产经营特点,通过实例分析,说明如何在工程设计企业中建立矩阵式组织结构,并就实施此种组织结构的优缺点进行分析,提出相应的改善措施和相关支撑体系。     

Industry and the environment: a case study of cleaner technologies in selected European countries

The aim of this case study is to discuss the role of technology in addressing environmental problems. The paper tries to scratch beneath the surface of the increasingly frequent ‘quick-fix’ solutions to the present environmental problems, based on such beguiling catchwords as Cleaner Technologies, Best Available Technologies, and Best Available Technologies Not Exceeding Excessive Costs, etc., in an attempt to discover whether there is any substance in them, or whether they are just full of hot air. Recent data from case studies performed by the author in Germany and Finland as well as a postal questionnaire in Denmark are presented. The paper analyses and discusses the roles and responsibilities of designers, industrialists, and government policy-makers. It is argued that existing regulatory regimes, supranational industrial structures, and market mechanisms do not favour the development of cleaner technologies, nor do they promote a reduction in consumption patterns. Evidence from ongoing empirical research in Northwest Europe suggests that industry is far from developing and/or implementing cleaner technologies. The paper closes with a discussion of some of the policy implications involved and some examples of urgently needed further research.     

全球变局下的管理科学与工程研究

世界经济和科技格局变化是当前全球变局的重要驱动力,大国之间的竞争与合作将成为新时代大国关系的常态,同时全球视野下的人类发展也将面临前所未有的挑战。新形势下,以全球供应链的风险防范、国际贸易的摩擦、国际合作内容和形式的变化、海外重大工程建设以及突发公共卫生事件频发等为典型的全球治理问题对管理科学与工程研究提出了新的要求。本文在对文献及相关项目的研究现状进行总结的基础上,详细分析了我国在此方向的发展基础及优势,最后基于相关领域专家的问卷调查结果,阐述了该领域的主要研究方向。     

Virtual charismatic leadership and signaling theory: A prospective meta-analysis in five countries

Drawing upon signaling theory, charismatic leadership tactics (CLTs) have been identified as a trainable set of skills. Although organizations rely on technology-mediated communication, the effects of CLTs have not been examined in a virtual context. Preregistered experiments were conducted in face-to-face (Study 1; n = 121) and virtual settings (Study 2; n = 128) in the United States. In Study 3, we conducted virtual replications in Austria (n = 134), France (n = 137), India (n = 128), and Mexico (n = 124). Combined with past experiments, the meta-analytic effect of CLTs on performance (Cohen’s d = 0.52 in-person, k = 4; Cohen’s d = 0.21 overall, k = 10) and engagement in an extra-role task (Cohen’s d = 0.19 overall; k = 6) indicate large to moderate effects. Yet, for performance in a virtual context Cohen’s d ranged from ?0.25 to 0.17 (Cohen’s d = 0.01 overall; k = 6). Study 4 (n = 129) provided mixed support for signaling theory in a virtual context, linking CLTs to some positive evaluations. We conclude with guidance for future research on charismatic leadership and signaling theory.     

Engineering of a decision support system for underground coal mine planning and production scheduling

This paper reports on the development of a computer-based management information system at Datong Coal Company, the largest subsidiary of China National Coal Corporation. Particularly presented is the development methodology of a decision support system for underground coal mine planning and production scheduling, including an integration of computer graphics, database management, mathematical modelling and knowledge engineering techniques and a coupling of life cycle and prototyping software engineering processes to support systems quality assurance.     

基于前景理论的物流配送干扰管理模型研究

针对干扰事件导致物流配送难以顺利实施这一难题,运用干扰管理思想,通过结合行为科学中对人的行为感知的研究方法与运筹学中定量的研究手段,从客户、物流配送运营商、配送业务员三个方面度量物流配送系统的扰动,提出基于前景理论的扰动度量方法,构建字典序的多目标干扰管理模型并采用改进的蚁群算法进行求解.实例结果表明:本文方法比全局重调度方法和局部重调度方法更实用——能够均衡各方的利益,得到的调整方案对系统的扰动更小.