Call for Discussion

During the POMS 2007 Annual Conference in Dallas, two well-attended sessions were dedicated to papers discussing the issues relating to the connection between Production and Operations Management and Human Resource Management. Although during this and throughout other sessions, numerous papers consistently identified the human side of operations management as an important factor, it was also recognized that the theories and findings from the disciplines of Organizational Behavior & Human Resource Management often cannot be applied easily to the specific context of production and operations management. The discussion following these presentations has led to an initiative to establish The College of Behavioral Operations Management. This new college of the Production and Operations Management Society aims to facilitate sorting, adoption, and modification of the theories and findings from the disciplines of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources Management and ultimately stimulate the development of new theories.

It is the intention of the Behavioral Operations Management College to provide a platform for discussing and exchanging of ideas on topics that include (but are not limited to):

- Strategic aspects of human resources practices; the effect of these practices on the firm’s operational performance;

- Education and competence building of employees in operations and supply chain management;

- Employee motivation and alignment of employee’s incentives with the firm’s supply chain strategies;

- Employee productivity and ownership of quality goals;

- Building and managing relationships within the firm and across the entire supply chain to improve performance;

- Behavioral issues (including psychological and physiological factors) in operations and supply chain management;

- Ergonomic-related factors (including safety and human-machine interface) in operation management.

Recognizing the interest and importance of this specific side of Production and Operations Management, one full session in the track on Behavioral Dynamics in Operations will be dedicated to the further establishment of the College of Behavioral Operations Management. During this session we would like to invite all those interested in this area to share their thoughts and ideas and help us define the mission statement and focus areas of the college. We also would like to encourage all those interested in actively participating in this College to participate in this session or otherwise to contact us. For further information, please contact Björn Claes (bjorn.claes@ie.edu), Jo Beale (bealej@Cardiff.ac.uk) or Martin Starr (mstarr@rollins.edu).

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Dr. Sushil Gupta
Executive Director - POMS
Professor, College of Business
Florida International University
RB 250, 11200 S.W. 8th Street
Miami, FL 33199
U.S.A
Phone: 305 348 1413
Fax: 305 348 4126
E-mail: poms@fiu.edu