Part of my job is to advance theories in operations management – what my contact calls research. For over 18 years, my research has focused on how operations management theories interact with complex social systems. More precisely, how they help to improve the operations of businesses. Through my research, I am increasingly fascinated by how businesses (especially people in business) inspire me to rethink our research. Why do many sophisticated theories, being comprehensively tested, rarely work in practice? Do we have enough appreciation for the power of human beings who run operations? Are theories from the relevant fields ever really connected? If I don’t have a job in the operations department, why do I care?

My passion is therefore to make operations management theories more applicable (resilient?), and my research more accessible and relevant to the general public. So, here is a space to share.