Research, Teaching and Practice of Operations Management: Consonances and Divergences among Three Worlds

This paper analyzes the importance assigned to Operations Management themes by researchers, educators and practitioners in the field. Data were collected by means of a survey and also by analyzing other evidence of concern to researchers, educators and practitioners. The analysis based on the survey did not reveal any significant differences between the three groups of professionals. Some dissonance was perceived, however, in the involvement of these professionals with such themes in their daily activities. Two themes appear among the ten most frequent themes depicted for the three professional groups (Production strategy and policies; and Quality management). Three themes (Operations information management; Lean production systems; and Work design, measurement and improvement) are among the most prevalent ones for researchers and practitioners. One theme (Operations and process management) is among the ten most relevant for educators and practitioners. Two other themes (Supply chain management; and Project management) frequently appear to be important for researchers and educators.