08832323.2011.629237
Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Operations Management: Is There a Disconnect
Between College Textbook Content and Employer
Needs?
Cliff Alan Welborn & Marc G. Singer
To cite this article: Cliff Alan Welborn & Marc G. Singer (2013) Operations Management: Is
There a Disconnect Between College Textbook Content and Employer Needs?, Journal of
Education for Business, 88:1, 1-7, DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2011.629237
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Date: 11 January 2016, At: 20:54
JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS, 88: 1–7, 2013
C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Copyright
ISSN: 0883-2323 print / 1940-3356 online
DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2011.629237
Operations Management: Is There
a Disconnect Between College Textbook Content
and Employer Needs?
Cliff Alan Welborn and Marc G. Singer
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 20:54 11 January 2016
Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA
The authors sought to determine the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) employers seek
when recruiting operations management personnel and whether sufficient emphasis is being afforded to these areas in introductory operations management courses. Eighty-three job
postings were obtained from online employment sites and analyzed to determine the relevant
KSAs sought by employers. Ten textbooks, with publication dates ranging from 2004 to 2010,
were randomly selected and examined to determine if a uniform body of knowledge existed.
Eight knowledge areas common to all the textbooks emerged. Additionally, topics not afforded
similar textbook coverage occurred more frequently in the advertisements.
Keywords: curriculum content, operations management, textbooks
There is little, if any, doubt among students, employers, and
collegiate accrediting bodies that a key reason for obtaining
a college education is to maximize employment opportunities upon graduation. In a nationwide survey of high school
seniors by WiseChoice, an online college guidance site, 80%
of the respondents identified better job opportunities as the
reason for attending college (De Vise, 2010). Additionally,
industry practitioners view colleges as suppliers of management talent and place heavy importance on a program’s curriculum (Rutner & Fawcett, 2005). Realistically, however,
the purpose of a college education is multidimensional. Not
only is the ultimate effectiveness of an educational institution
defined by the initial employment rate of its graduates, but
also by the eventual success of its students in their chosen
careers. In fact, recognizing this factor, the preamble of the
standards for the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools
of Business (AACSB; 2010), the accrediting agency for business colleges and universities internationally, states that “In
this environment, management education must prepare students to contribute to their organizations” (p. 3).
Despite this recognition of career importance, the success of business schools in preparing their graduates for
professional employment has been questioned. Much of the
Correspondence should be addressed to Cliff Alan Welborn, Middle
Tennessee State University, Department of Management & Marketing, Box
75, MTSU, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
criticism relates to the relevance of business programs to
the practice of management (Bruce, 2010). Business schools
have been criticized for failing to impart useful skills, failing to prepare leaders, and failing to lead graduates to good
jobs (Bennis & O’Toole, 2005). Behavioral competencies,
indicated by managers as those most critical for job success,
appear to be the competencies least represented in required
MBA curricula (Rubin & Dierdorff, 2009). Instead of being
learning institutions, where participants develop their managerial skills, these programs are being viewed primarily as
a selection mechanism whereby motivated and talented students are identified (Pfeffer & Fong, 2004).
Identifying the root cause for the disparity between that
which is conveyed in the classroom and that which is necessary for successful performance on the job is not easy. There
is scant documentation in the prevailing literature of empirical studies investigating a uniform set of knowledge, skills,
and abilities (KSAs) that potential employers seek to identify in job applicants. Consequently, there is a great deal of
uncertainty about what students should be taught and what
they should learn (Birnik & Billsberry, 2008).
The foregoing criticisms leveled are not unique to business
schools. Educators throughout academia have long wrestled
with the dilemma of what is the best method for passing on
theoretical and practical information to students. The traditional textbook, once composed primarily of written material,
is being supplemented by elaborate pictorial displays and
masses of ancillary materials. Lectures, one of the oldest
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2
C. A. WELBORN AND M. G. SINGER
methods for imparting knowledge, are being enhanced
through audiovisual techniques. Guest speakers and classroom cases are commonplace. Despite these efforts, practitioners still complain that many business students are ill
prepared for the realities that influence decision-making in
the real world of everyday business. Although it is probably safe to assume that most instructors adequately impart
a wide array of historically sound theoretical knowledge to
their students, what appears to be sorely missing is an understanding of how to develop course content that will foster the
successful positive transfer of this learned theory into real
world application.
Historically, researchers have employed a variety of approaches in an effort to identify relevant course topics. For example, Sincoff and Owen (2004) sampled 98 human resource
managers in an attempt to discover the importance of various
human resource management areas for first-job human resources professionals. Based on their findings, course topics
were prioritized and used to design human resource management curriculums. Similarly, Rutledge, Tillery, Kethley,
and Desai (2004) compared the content coverage of quality
topics in textbooks to the training offerings found in a popular quality practitioner’s journal. Their assumption was that
the frequency of practitioner training offerings for a given
quality topic was a proxy for practitioner relevance. Using
the training offerings as a benchmark they determined if textbooks overrepresented, underrepresented, or accurately represented various quality management topics. Their research
resulted in recommendations for topics to be included in
quality course curricula and guidelines by which textbooks
should be chosen.
There appears to be little doubt that academicians who
teach quality management courses remain perplexed about
the appropriate methodology to use in determining the most
relevant topics for inclusion into their classroom curricula
(Rutledge et al., 2004). This dilemma may have resulted in
academicians relying on vacant job postings as an indicator
of topical areas around which curricula should be designed.
Clearly, the intent of a job posting is to attract applicants
that have the relevant KSAs necessary for successful job
completion. It plays a significant role in whether or not a
potential applicant will ultimately pursue the job (Barber &
Roehling, 1993). Therefore, it is logical to hypothesize that
because job postings provide a significant measure of the
relevancy and importance of the KSAs within a given field,
faculty might refer to these postings to determine relevant
topical areas for inclusion in their curricula.
The purpose of the present research was to identify what
KSAs are frequently indicated as necessary by potential employers when hiring operations management personnel and
whether these required KSAs are given sufficient emphasis in introductory operations management course textbooks.
Rather than employing traditional survey techniques to sample faculty or practitioners’ opinions regarding the necessary
KSAs for job success, the present research was specifically
designed to determine what KSAs hiring employers actually
seek from potential employees and whether or not operations
management textbooks focus on these criteria.
METHOD
Phase 1 of the study involved the collection of Internet job
listings by inserting the key words operations management
into the search engines of the online recruiting sites Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com. This method for selecting
the sample of job postings was chosen because the text for
the job postings in these advertisements are unedited and appear as composed by the hiring organization. After culling
the listings so as to include only relevant operations management positions within the United States, a total of 83
relevant job postings (39 from Monster.com and 44 from
CareerBuilder.com) remained.
Next, the texts from the job advertisements selected were
imported into a database and a histogram for each word in the
posting was developed. Ultimately, 3,531 unique words and
a total word count of 27,766 emerged from which those job
advertisements that referenced specific operations management KSAs were determined. Each time a posting contained
a reference to a required or desired operations management
KSA, that particular KSA was indexed by one. Subsequently,
the frequency count was converted to a percentage of postings referencing the KSA. For example, if every job posting
contained a reference to a particular KSA, that specific KSA
was assigned a score of 100%.
The second phase of the study necessitated the selection of a sample of textbooks used in introductory college
and university operations management classes. College textbooks were chosen as an indicator of course content because
most professors adopt textbooks for their courses and tend
to structure their syllabi, lectures, and assignments around
the chapter outlines. Furthermore, when sampled, students
have indicated that as much as 55% of the knowledge that
they garner from their courses is obtained from their assigned
textbooks (Lichtenberg, 1992).
Principles of operations management classes were chosen because this core class is a standard requirement for
all AACSB U.S. business students and is a prerequisite for
many other operations management elective courses (Rutledge et al., 2004). As with the job listings, an Internet search
was utilized as the selection technique and 10 of the most
commonly used textbooks in principles of operation management were randomly chosen.
Next, the chapter outlines, as listed in the table of contents within each of the 10 selected textbooks, were scrutinized in an effort to determine the commonality of operations
management subject matter that exists within the volumes.
Although minor discussion or reference was afforded to a
variety of different operations management KSAs throughout the text, only the topics identified in the table of contents
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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
were chosen, because it was apparent that those were the
areas the textbook authors viewed as most significant. If an
entire chapter for a textbook was devoted to a topic, the frequency count for that topic was indexed by one. If all 10
textbooks contained a chapter for a given topic, that topic
received a frequency count of 10, and that topic was deemed
to be a universal operations management KSA.
Next, we obtained the course syllabi from 30 various college and university undergraduate sections of principles of
production and operations management classes to ascertain
whether there was a match between (a) the topics listed on
the syllabi and the titles of the textbook chapters and (b) the
amount of chapters in the textbooks and the total number of
weeks that the classes met.
Last, a comparison was made between the KSAs identified
in the job postings and the topical chapter outlines of the 10
textbooks to determine the frequency that each of the eight
universal topics appeared in the job postings.
3
TABLE 2
Percentage of Job Postings Requiring Operations
Management KSAs and Percentage of Textbook
Chapters Devoted to the KSA Topical Area
Operations
management KSA
Budgeting
Safety
Supply chain management
Project management
Aggregate–capacity planning
Productivity (without
strategy–competition)
Quality
Scheduling
Inventory management
Lean or just in time
Forecasting
Product–service design–analysis
Posting
percentage
Book chapter
percentage
61
37
36
31
29
28
0
0
100
100
100
20
24
24
17
14
13
Undetermined
100
70
100
100
100
100
Note. KSAs = knowledge, skills, and abilities.
RESULTS
Each of the 10 textbooks analyzed (see Table 1) contained
between 14 and 18 chapters, which correlated with the approximate length of the typical college semester (usually
14–16 weeks, depending on the institution). Furthermore, an
examination of the 30 course syllabi collected from the class
sections indicated that the stated course objectives and most
of the topics that were listed for discussion on the syllabi
TABLE 1
Operations Management Textbooks Chosen for
Analysis
Title
Operations Management for
Competitive Advantage
Operations Management
Operations Management:
Contemporary Concepts and
Cases
Operations Management
Operations Management:
Creating Value Along the
Supply Chain
Operations Management:
Integrated Goods and Services
Approach
Operations and Supply Chain
Management for the 21st
Century
Introduction to Operations and
Supply Chain Management
Operations Management:
Processes and Supply Chains
Operations Management
Author(s)
Year
Chase, Jacobs, &
Aquilano
Stevenson
Schroeder
2004
Reid & Sanders
Russell & Taylor
2009
2007
Evans & Collier
2007
Boyer & Verma
2009
Bozarth & Handfiel
2007
Krajewski, Ritzman, &
Malhotra
Heizer & Render
2009
2008
2007
2010
mirrored the textbook chapters. Clearly, all the textbooks,
despite being authored by different individuals, were strikingly similar in content and appeared to strongly influence
the format of the course.
The percentage that each of the eight universal chapter
topics is mentioned as a critical operations management KSA
in the job postings is detailed in Table 2. Supply chain management at 36% and project management at 31% were the
only universal topics appearing in greater than 30% of the
job listings. Five of the other topics were listed in the advertisements less than 30% of the time. These were, in order
of frequency of appearance in the job postings, aggregate
and capacity planning (29%), quality (24%), inventory management (17%), lean or just in time (14%), and forecasting
(13%). The percentage of postings requiring the textbook
topic product–service design–analysis could not be determined due to the ambiguity of the term.
Additionally, four other operation management topics that
were not categorized as universal operations management
KSAs are enumerated in Table 2 because of the frequency
for which they appeared in the sampled job postings. These
were budgeting, safety, productivity and scheduling, appearing 61%, 31%, 28%, and 24%, respectively.
None of the operations management textbooks analyzed
had a chapter devoted to budgeting, and few even mentioned
the budgeting process in their content. Similarly, safety, or
safety management, did not appear as a chapter in any of the
sampled textbooks. Productivity, appeared as a chapter in two
textbooks (when differentiated from strategy–competition),
and scheduling appeared in seven of the sampled textbooks
(see Table 3).
4
C. A. WELBORN AND M. G. SINGER
TABLE 3
Chapter Topic Titles Extracted From the Sampled
Production and Operation Textbooks
Number of textbooks
topic title appears
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Topic
Aggregate–capacity planning
Forecasting
Inventory
Lean–just in time
Quality
Project management
Product–service design–analysis
Supply chain management
Strategy–competition–productivity
MRP–ERP
Introduction
Scheduling
Layout–facility–work design
Logistics
Technology
Human resources
Location
Productivity (without strategy–competition)
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
9
8
7
7
4
3
3
2
2
2
Note. MRP = Material requirements planning; ERP = Enterprise resource planning.
DISCUSSION
The results of the present investigation indicated that the majority of textbooks chosen for use in teaching the principles
of operations management course at academic institutions
contained basically the same core content areas and many instructors designed their course outline to mirror the format of
the adopted textbook. Furthermore, when comparisons were
made between the textbook chapter topics and the KSAs
that employers sought through job postings, a distinct hierarchical frequency of demand between the topics emerged.
These topical areas, in order of their frequency of demand by
employers included chapters on supply chain management
(36%), project management (31%), aggregate and capacity
planning (29%; mostly worded in terms of developing labor
or machine schedules, not necessarily in the analytical
capacity planning computations found in most textbooks),
quality (24%), inventory management (17%), lean or just
in time (14%), forecasting (13%), and product–service
design–analysis (undetermined percentage; see Table 2).
The fact that supply chain management and project management emerged as the most frequent KSAs listed in the job
postings of the eight universal topics listed by employers was
not surprising. Even though the job postings were for operations management positions, supply chain management has
become a fundamental part of the operations management
responsibilities for many organizations. The Association for
Operations Management (APICS) now emphasizes resource
management as part of a broader supply chain management
focus. Similarly, the nature of the operations management
function in many organizations dictates that much of the
work conducted will be project based. Although not necessarily hiring project managers per se, organizations have
indicated that they prefer operations managers who posses
project management skills.
Following closely behind supply chain management and
project management, aggregate or capacity planning capabilities were listed as desired KSAs in 29% of the job postings.
Interestingly, as Table 3 illustrates, several textbooks either
focused on material requirements planning in their chapters
on aggregate or capacity planning, or contained a chapter
devoted solely to material requirements planning (MRP),
but only one of the sampled job postings referred to MRP
as a necessary KSA. Likewise, whereas the textbooks often
associated linear programming with the aggregate planning
function, no references to linear programming were found in
any of the job listings.
Quality management was referenced in 24% of the job
descriptions. Responsibility for quality assurance has been
a crucial component of the operations management function
for several years. As quality improvement has evolved into
process improvement and with the growing popularity of Six
Sigma techniques, this field has become integral with the
operations management function.
The last of the universal textbook chapters to be cited by
employers in their job postings were inventory management,
lean or just in time, and forecasting. Although inventory
management was individually specified in 17% of the job
advertisements, it is conceivable that for many practitioners
this topic may be associated, or even thought of as synonymous, with supply chain management. However, for this
study it was treated separately because all the textbooks sampled devoted individual chapters to each topic, and different
subtopics are associated with each field.
Lean or just in time was referenced in 14% of the job
ads. Forecasting was identified in 13% of the job postings.
Often, the reference to forecasting in these listings referred
to an operations manager’s ability to predict the amount
of employees or labor hours that will be needed in the
future. However, textbooks often associate forecasting with
quantitative time series methods, such as weighted moving
averages and exponential smoothing techniques. Last, the
textbook topic product–service design–analysis could not be
accurately identified in the job postings. This finding may be
attributable to the fact that the vocabulary used to describe
this topic was ambiguous resulting in the inability to
systematically identify it in the job postings.
There are two questions that emerge from the present
investigation. First, why are the most frequently included
chapter topics in textbooks on operations management only
listed in job advertisements between 13% and 36%? Second, why are topics such as budgeting, safety, productivity,
and scheduling (appearing in 61%, 37%, 28%, and 24%, respectively, of job listings) that practitioners appear to value
most highly in selecting potential operations management
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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
personnel conspicuously absent from many of the most commonly used operations management textbooks or not widely
considered significant enough topics to warrant individual
chapters?
It appears that the causes for the disparity in the topics
chosen for classroom dissemination and those desired by employers may be attributable to academicians and practitioners. Professors and authors may contribute to the dilemma by
failing to use appropriate methods to select the content to include in the textbooks that they write and in the materials that
they choose to disseminate in the classrooms. Likewise, practitioners may be guilty of either failing to adequately identify
the job duties and responsibilities necessary for ultimate job
satisfaction, or in effectively communicating these needs to
the professionals who teach their potential employees.
Ideally, the determination of appropriate material for inclusion in textbooks for use in practically oriented disciplines
such as operations management should occur after a comprehensive needs assessment of the industry is undertaken. In
fact, AACSB recommends that when developing curricula
institutions should confer with a variety of constituents, including alumni and the business communities served by the
school. Based on the results of these consultations, chapter
outlines would be developed that are reflective of the content areas determined to be most needed by practitioners for
ultimate success on the job. Subsequently, ongoing research
would be conducted to monitor any significant changes occurring in the field and textbooks would be updated to reflect
the new emphases.
Realistically, this process rarely occurs. Although AACSB
(2010) recommends a list of general and managementspecific knowledge and skills areas for inclusion in business
programs, they do not mandate specific courses or content.
Rather, they leave it up to the discretion of each institution to
determine the appropriate topics to be included within their
individual curricula. Institutions seeking initial AACSB accreditation tend to be weary of straying from the norm. Rather
than developing curriculum specific to their schools, they are
inclined to mirror the curriculum of their peer institutions that
have already succeeded in the accreditation process. Similarly, colleges and universities involved in the maintenance
of accreditation process may be loath to continually tinker
with their course contents because doing so may impact negatively on their assessment of learning results. Rather than
having to defend a unique curriculum it seems more prudent
to remain with the established tried and true widely used
textbook topics.
Although formidable, the pressure of obtaining and maintaining AACSB accreditation is not the only external force
impacting on textbook authors. Arguably, the publication
process itself appears to be dictated more by publisher needs
rather than academic criteria. Prior to the issuance of book
contracts, publishers typically require prospective authors to
submit a proposal for review. This prospectus usually requires, at a minimum, that the prospective author submit a
5
proposed table of contents and sample chapters for scrutiny.
These materials are then sent out for review to academicians
who are currently teaching the courses and are most likely
to adopt the textbooks for their classes. Because it is logical
to assume that the content in the currently used course textbook and syllabi reflects the professors conception of what
material is appropriate for the course, proposals that deviate
significantly from these materials are likely to be critiqued.
Consequently, aspiring authors desiring to obtain publishing
contracts tend to rely on existing textbook topics instead of
needs surveys when determining their chapter layouts.
Even if textbooks ultimately chosen for publication contain chapters that reflect the existing state of the discipline,
there is no guarantee that further editions will remain current.
In an effort to circumvent the used book market, many publishers have opted to establish textbook revision cycles that
facilitate the publication of a new edition every 2–3 years.
This periodic schedule leaves little, if any, time for authors
to actually conduct research to ascertain employer needs and
still meet their publishing timelines. As a result, revisions
usually entail only a tweaking of current material rather than
a comprehensive overhaul, unless the discipline experiences
a widespread change in theory or practice.
Effective recruitment and selection of competent employees depends largely on an organization’s ability to identify
potential employees who have the necessary KSAs to satisfactorily perform the required job duties. This process is
typically accomplished by conducting job analyses that identify the essential features of positions. Because the essential
duties of similarly titled jobs at different organizations vary,
it is quite understandable that the same job title (e.g., operations manager) does not require the same skills in every
organization. For example, one company’s job may require
an emphasis on supply chain management skills, while another organization might be seeking operations management
employees with stronger forecasting abilities. This is not to
imply that a set of universal skills applicable across organizations does not exist, but rather that these skills would
be weighted or valued differently depending on the organization. Therefore, the study’s finding that indicated that the
most any single universal KSA was listed in a job posting
was only 36% is not necessarily surprising.
Although the differences in weighting across organizations may explain the finding that the leading universal KSA
only appeared in 36% of job postings, it does not answer the
question of why employers listed budgeting, and safety, two
topical areas given minimal coverage, at best, in the sampled
textbooks, as the KSAs most desired in potential employees.
Similarly, topics such as productivity, and scheduling, were
found to exceed, or were equal to, the frequency of job listings
for five universal KSAs, yet were not afford the same emphasis by textbook authors. A plausible explanation to this
enigma may be that these topics are addressed in conjunction with other topical areas within textbooks, or are given
extensive coverage in either advanced elective courses or
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6
C. A. WELBORN AND M. G. SINGER
other core courses required of all business majors. For example, budgeting may be found in core accounting courses,
productivity tends to be listed by most authors together with
strategy and competition, and scheduling is usually closely
aligned or viewed synonymously with aggregate–capacity
planning. Consequently, authors of introductory textbooks
may choose to address these topics minimally, as part of
other chapters, rather than singling them out for extensive
coverage.
Unfortunately, whereas budgeting skills may be covered
in other business courses, academic exposure to the area of
safety management is not so evident. In today’s business
environment many operations managers are responsible for
the safety and well-being of their employees and for ensuring the delivery of employee training related to workplace
safety. In fact, many engineering and engineering technology programs have courses specifically focused on safety.
Yet, our findings appear to indicate that few, if any, operations management students are being adequately prepared to
meet the safety responsibilities associated with their potential
jobs.
Last, we would certainly be remiss if we didn’t consider
the fact that the apparent disconnect between the material being included in textbooks and taught in college classrooms,
and the information needed for successful job performance
may be a function of the lack of industry experience on
the part of textbook authors and/or classroom instructors (in
many instances they are one and the same). Although some
operations management instructors began their careers as
practitioners prior to embarking on a teaching career, others
entered academia without any industry experience whatsoever. Lacking practical knowledge of the industry these new
faculty members would naturally tend to draw on their past
academic training, the textbooks that they are already familiar with, and the academic research that they have studied and
personally conducted, in developing their course outlines. If
the knowledge they have gleaned is dated and unrelated to
the real world they may be unintentionally engaging in a
form of academic inbreeding by continuing to propagate this
information.
CONCLUSION
The results of the present investigation indicated that the
topical chapters of operations management textbooks differ
from those KSAs listed by potential employers in job
postings. This finding appears to support the contention espoused by past researchers that a disconnect exists between
the subject matter taught in the college classroom and the
relevance of the material for ultimate job success (Bennis
& O’Toole, 2005; Bruce, 2010; Rubin & Dierdorff, 2009).
Historically, attempts to improve the practical applicability
of college course content has centered on using varying
experiential techniques within the classroom environment.
Although these methods certainly have merit, they are only
useful if the materials being imparted are actually relevant
to the work place. If the subject matter conveyed is dated
or erroneous, then it is conceivable that negative transfer
rather than positive transfer may occur, hampering job
performance.
Tantamount to any other product, to be successful in providing business education, requires that academicians continually monitor the marketplace and enhance the product
when necessary to meet the rapidly changing needs of customers (Moore, 2007). Accomplishing this goal requires that
faculty foster ongoing relationships with their corporate partners. Consulting activities, active membership and participation in professional societies (as differentiated from their
professional academic organizations), research activities involving samples from the business environment (in addition
to student samples), and placing and monitoring students in
practicum and internship environments are some of the activities that will assist in keeping faculty abreast of the present
state of affairs in their respective disciplines. Most importantly, faculty should periodically and systematically review
their textbooks for currency and relevance.
Realistically, although the findings of the present investigation have indicated an apparent mismatch between the
content of operations management textbook chapters and
employment job postings, they fail to definitively identify
the reasons for this mismatch. We have hypothesized that
part of the rationale for this phenomenon may be attributable
to the variance in job duties and responsibilities of similar
titled jobs in different organizations, and in the manner that
faculty choose their course content. To test this hypothesis,
further research in these areas need to be conducted by actually obtaining and comparing the completed job analyses
of organizations who have posted job openings for operations management employees to determine the degree that
the required job duties are indeed alike. Subsequently, the job
postings of those organizations with similar required KSAs
would be compared to the content matter found in operations management textbook chapters. Similarly, research
should be conducted on how academicians choose the topics to include in their introductory operations management
course syllabi and in the textbooks that they adopt for these
courses.
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value along the supply chain. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Rutledge, A. L., Tillery, K. R., Kethley, B., & Desai, K. J. (2004). The treatment of quality in U.S. production and operations management textbooks.
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Stevenson, W. J. (2008). Operations management (10th ed.). New York,
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ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Operations Management: Is There a Disconnect
Between College Textbook Content and Employer
Needs?
Cliff Alan Welborn & Marc G. Singer
To cite this article: Cliff Alan Welborn & Marc G. Singer (2013) Operations Management: Is
There a Disconnect Between College Textbook Content and Employer Needs?, Journal of
Education for Business, 88:1, 1-7, DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2011.629237
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2011.629237
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ISSN: 0883-2323 print / 1940-3356 online
DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2011.629237
Operations Management: Is There
a Disconnect Between College Textbook Content
and Employer Needs?
Cliff Alan Welborn and Marc G. Singer
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 20:54 11 January 2016
Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA
The authors sought to determine the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) employers seek
when recruiting operations management personnel and whether sufficient emphasis is being afforded to these areas in introductory operations management courses. Eighty-three job
postings were obtained from online employment sites and analyzed to determine the relevant
KSAs sought by employers. Ten textbooks, with publication dates ranging from 2004 to 2010,
were randomly selected and examined to determine if a uniform body of knowledge existed.
Eight knowledge areas common to all the textbooks emerged. Additionally, topics not afforded
similar textbook coverage occurred more frequently in the advertisements.
Keywords: curriculum content, operations management, textbooks
There is little, if any, doubt among students, employers, and
collegiate accrediting bodies that a key reason for obtaining
a college education is to maximize employment opportunities upon graduation. In a nationwide survey of high school
seniors by WiseChoice, an online college guidance site, 80%
of the respondents identified better job opportunities as the
reason for attending college (De Vise, 2010). Additionally,
industry practitioners view colleges as suppliers of management talent and place heavy importance on a program’s curriculum (Rutner & Fawcett, 2005). Realistically, however,
the purpose of a college education is multidimensional. Not
only is the ultimate effectiveness of an educational institution
defined by the initial employment rate of its graduates, but
also by the eventual success of its students in their chosen
careers. In fact, recognizing this factor, the preamble of the
standards for the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools
of Business (AACSB; 2010), the accrediting agency for business colleges and universities internationally, states that “In
this environment, management education must prepare students to contribute to their organizations” (p. 3).
Despite this recognition of career importance, the success of business schools in preparing their graduates for
professional employment has been questioned. Much of the
Correspondence should be addressed to Cliff Alan Welborn, Middle
Tennessee State University, Department of Management & Marketing, Box
75, MTSU, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
criticism relates to the relevance of business programs to
the practice of management (Bruce, 2010). Business schools
have been criticized for failing to impart useful skills, failing to prepare leaders, and failing to lead graduates to good
jobs (Bennis & O’Toole, 2005). Behavioral competencies,
indicated by managers as those most critical for job success,
appear to be the competencies least represented in required
MBA curricula (Rubin & Dierdorff, 2009). Instead of being
learning institutions, where participants develop their managerial skills, these programs are being viewed primarily as
a selection mechanism whereby motivated and talented students are identified (Pfeffer & Fong, 2004).
Identifying the root cause for the disparity between that
which is conveyed in the classroom and that which is necessary for successful performance on the job is not easy. There
is scant documentation in the prevailing literature of empirical studies investigating a uniform set of knowledge, skills,
and abilities (KSAs) that potential employers seek to identify in job applicants. Consequently, there is a great deal of
uncertainty about what students should be taught and what
they should learn (Birnik & Billsberry, 2008).
The foregoing criticisms leveled are not unique to business
schools. Educators throughout academia have long wrestled
with the dilemma of what is the best method for passing on
theoretical and practical information to students. The traditional textbook, once composed primarily of written material,
is being supplemented by elaborate pictorial displays and
masses of ancillary materials. Lectures, one of the oldest
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2
C. A. WELBORN AND M. G. SINGER
methods for imparting knowledge, are being enhanced
through audiovisual techniques. Guest speakers and classroom cases are commonplace. Despite these efforts, practitioners still complain that many business students are ill
prepared for the realities that influence decision-making in
the real world of everyday business. Although it is probably safe to assume that most instructors adequately impart
a wide array of historically sound theoretical knowledge to
their students, what appears to be sorely missing is an understanding of how to develop course content that will foster the
successful positive transfer of this learned theory into real
world application.
Historically, researchers have employed a variety of approaches in an effort to identify relevant course topics. For example, Sincoff and Owen (2004) sampled 98 human resource
managers in an attempt to discover the importance of various
human resource management areas for first-job human resources professionals. Based on their findings, course topics
were prioritized and used to design human resource management curriculums. Similarly, Rutledge, Tillery, Kethley,
and Desai (2004) compared the content coverage of quality
topics in textbooks to the training offerings found in a popular quality practitioner’s journal. Their assumption was that
the frequency of practitioner training offerings for a given
quality topic was a proxy for practitioner relevance. Using
the training offerings as a benchmark they determined if textbooks overrepresented, underrepresented, or accurately represented various quality management topics. Their research
resulted in recommendations for topics to be included in
quality course curricula and guidelines by which textbooks
should be chosen.
There appears to be little doubt that academicians who
teach quality management courses remain perplexed about
the appropriate methodology to use in determining the most
relevant topics for inclusion into their classroom curricula
(Rutledge et al., 2004). This dilemma may have resulted in
academicians relying on vacant job postings as an indicator
of topical areas around which curricula should be designed.
Clearly, the intent of a job posting is to attract applicants
that have the relevant KSAs necessary for successful job
completion. It plays a significant role in whether or not a
potential applicant will ultimately pursue the job (Barber &
Roehling, 1993). Therefore, it is logical to hypothesize that
because job postings provide a significant measure of the
relevancy and importance of the KSAs within a given field,
faculty might refer to these postings to determine relevant
topical areas for inclusion in their curricula.
The purpose of the present research was to identify what
KSAs are frequently indicated as necessary by potential employers when hiring operations management personnel and
whether these required KSAs are given sufficient emphasis in introductory operations management course textbooks.
Rather than employing traditional survey techniques to sample faculty or practitioners’ opinions regarding the necessary
KSAs for job success, the present research was specifically
designed to determine what KSAs hiring employers actually
seek from potential employees and whether or not operations
management textbooks focus on these criteria.
METHOD
Phase 1 of the study involved the collection of Internet job
listings by inserting the key words operations management
into the search engines of the online recruiting sites Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com. This method for selecting
the sample of job postings was chosen because the text for
the job postings in these advertisements are unedited and appear as composed by the hiring organization. After culling
the listings so as to include only relevant operations management positions within the United States, a total of 83
relevant job postings (39 from Monster.com and 44 from
CareerBuilder.com) remained.
Next, the texts from the job advertisements selected were
imported into a database and a histogram for each word in the
posting was developed. Ultimately, 3,531 unique words and
a total word count of 27,766 emerged from which those job
advertisements that referenced specific operations management KSAs were determined. Each time a posting contained
a reference to a required or desired operations management
KSA, that particular KSA was indexed by one. Subsequently,
the frequency count was converted to a percentage of postings referencing the KSA. For example, if every job posting
contained a reference to a particular KSA, that specific KSA
was assigned a score of 100%.
The second phase of the study necessitated the selection of a sample of textbooks used in introductory college
and university operations management classes. College textbooks were chosen as an indicator of course content because
most professors adopt textbooks for their courses and tend
to structure their syllabi, lectures, and assignments around
the chapter outlines. Furthermore, when sampled, students
have indicated that as much as 55% of the knowledge that
they garner from their courses is obtained from their assigned
textbooks (Lichtenberg, 1992).
Principles of operations management classes were chosen because this core class is a standard requirement for
all AACSB U.S. business students and is a prerequisite for
many other operations management elective courses (Rutledge et al., 2004). As with the job listings, an Internet search
was utilized as the selection technique and 10 of the most
commonly used textbooks in principles of operation management were randomly chosen.
Next, the chapter outlines, as listed in the table of contents within each of the 10 selected textbooks, were scrutinized in an effort to determine the commonality of operations
management subject matter that exists within the volumes.
Although minor discussion or reference was afforded to a
variety of different operations management KSAs throughout the text, only the topics identified in the table of contents
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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
were chosen, because it was apparent that those were the
areas the textbook authors viewed as most significant. If an
entire chapter for a textbook was devoted to a topic, the frequency count for that topic was indexed by one. If all 10
textbooks contained a chapter for a given topic, that topic
received a frequency count of 10, and that topic was deemed
to be a universal operations management KSA.
Next, we obtained the course syllabi from 30 various college and university undergraduate sections of principles of
production and operations management classes to ascertain
whether there was a match between (a) the topics listed on
the syllabi and the titles of the textbook chapters and (b) the
amount of chapters in the textbooks and the total number of
weeks that the classes met.
Last, a comparison was made between the KSAs identified
in the job postings and the topical chapter outlines of the 10
textbooks to determine the frequency that each of the eight
universal topics appeared in the job postings.
3
TABLE 2
Percentage of Job Postings Requiring Operations
Management KSAs and Percentage of Textbook
Chapters Devoted to the KSA Topical Area
Operations
management KSA
Budgeting
Safety
Supply chain management
Project management
Aggregate–capacity planning
Productivity (without
strategy–competition)
Quality
Scheduling
Inventory management
Lean or just in time
Forecasting
Product–service design–analysis
Posting
percentage
Book chapter
percentage
61
37
36
31
29
28
0
0
100
100
100
20
24
24
17
14
13
Undetermined
100
70
100
100
100
100
Note. KSAs = knowledge, skills, and abilities.
RESULTS
Each of the 10 textbooks analyzed (see Table 1) contained
between 14 and 18 chapters, which correlated with the approximate length of the typical college semester (usually
14–16 weeks, depending on the institution). Furthermore, an
examination of the 30 course syllabi collected from the class
sections indicated that the stated course objectives and most
of the topics that were listed for discussion on the syllabi
TABLE 1
Operations Management Textbooks Chosen for
Analysis
Title
Operations Management for
Competitive Advantage
Operations Management
Operations Management:
Contemporary Concepts and
Cases
Operations Management
Operations Management:
Creating Value Along the
Supply Chain
Operations Management:
Integrated Goods and Services
Approach
Operations and Supply Chain
Management for the 21st
Century
Introduction to Operations and
Supply Chain Management
Operations Management:
Processes and Supply Chains
Operations Management
Author(s)
Year
Chase, Jacobs, &
Aquilano
Stevenson
Schroeder
2004
Reid & Sanders
Russell & Taylor
2009
2007
Evans & Collier
2007
Boyer & Verma
2009
Bozarth & Handfiel
2007
Krajewski, Ritzman, &
Malhotra
Heizer & Render
2009
2008
2007
2010
mirrored the textbook chapters. Clearly, all the textbooks,
despite being authored by different individuals, were strikingly similar in content and appeared to strongly influence
the format of the course.
The percentage that each of the eight universal chapter
topics is mentioned as a critical operations management KSA
in the job postings is detailed in Table 2. Supply chain management at 36% and project management at 31% were the
only universal topics appearing in greater than 30% of the
job listings. Five of the other topics were listed in the advertisements less than 30% of the time. These were, in order
of frequency of appearance in the job postings, aggregate
and capacity planning (29%), quality (24%), inventory management (17%), lean or just in time (14%), and forecasting
(13%). The percentage of postings requiring the textbook
topic product–service design–analysis could not be determined due to the ambiguity of the term.
Additionally, four other operation management topics that
were not categorized as universal operations management
KSAs are enumerated in Table 2 because of the frequency
for which they appeared in the sampled job postings. These
were budgeting, safety, productivity and scheduling, appearing 61%, 31%, 28%, and 24%, respectively.
None of the operations management textbooks analyzed
had a chapter devoted to budgeting, and few even mentioned
the budgeting process in their content. Similarly, safety, or
safety management, did not appear as a chapter in any of the
sampled textbooks. Productivity, appeared as a chapter in two
textbooks (when differentiated from strategy–competition),
and scheduling appeared in seven of the sampled textbooks
(see Table 3).
4
C. A. WELBORN AND M. G. SINGER
TABLE 3
Chapter Topic Titles Extracted From the Sampled
Production and Operation Textbooks
Number of textbooks
topic title appears
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Topic
Aggregate–capacity planning
Forecasting
Inventory
Lean–just in time
Quality
Project management
Product–service design–analysis
Supply chain management
Strategy–competition–productivity
MRP–ERP
Introduction
Scheduling
Layout–facility–work design
Logistics
Technology
Human resources
Location
Productivity (without strategy–competition)
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
9
8
7
7
4
3
3
2
2
2
Note. MRP = Material requirements planning; ERP = Enterprise resource planning.
DISCUSSION
The results of the present investigation indicated that the majority of textbooks chosen for use in teaching the principles
of operations management course at academic institutions
contained basically the same core content areas and many instructors designed their course outline to mirror the format of
the adopted textbook. Furthermore, when comparisons were
made between the textbook chapter topics and the KSAs
that employers sought through job postings, a distinct hierarchical frequency of demand between the topics emerged.
These topical areas, in order of their frequency of demand by
employers included chapters on supply chain management
(36%), project management (31%), aggregate and capacity
planning (29%; mostly worded in terms of developing labor
or machine schedules, not necessarily in the analytical
capacity planning computations found in most textbooks),
quality (24%), inventory management (17%), lean or just
in time (14%), forecasting (13%), and product–service
design–analysis (undetermined percentage; see Table 2).
The fact that supply chain management and project management emerged as the most frequent KSAs listed in the job
postings of the eight universal topics listed by employers was
not surprising. Even though the job postings were for operations management positions, supply chain management has
become a fundamental part of the operations management
responsibilities for many organizations. The Association for
Operations Management (APICS) now emphasizes resource
management as part of a broader supply chain management
focus. Similarly, the nature of the operations management
function in many organizations dictates that much of the
work conducted will be project based. Although not necessarily hiring project managers per se, organizations have
indicated that they prefer operations managers who posses
project management skills.
Following closely behind supply chain management and
project management, aggregate or capacity planning capabilities were listed as desired KSAs in 29% of the job postings.
Interestingly, as Table 3 illustrates, several textbooks either
focused on material requirements planning in their chapters
on aggregate or capacity planning, or contained a chapter
devoted solely to material requirements planning (MRP),
but only one of the sampled job postings referred to MRP
as a necessary KSA. Likewise, whereas the textbooks often
associated linear programming with the aggregate planning
function, no references to linear programming were found in
any of the job listings.
Quality management was referenced in 24% of the job
descriptions. Responsibility for quality assurance has been
a crucial component of the operations management function
for several years. As quality improvement has evolved into
process improvement and with the growing popularity of Six
Sigma techniques, this field has become integral with the
operations management function.
The last of the universal textbook chapters to be cited by
employers in their job postings were inventory management,
lean or just in time, and forecasting. Although inventory
management was individually specified in 17% of the job
advertisements, it is conceivable that for many practitioners
this topic may be associated, or even thought of as synonymous, with supply chain management. However, for this
study it was treated separately because all the textbooks sampled devoted individual chapters to each topic, and different
subtopics are associated with each field.
Lean or just in time was referenced in 14% of the job
ads. Forecasting was identified in 13% of the job postings.
Often, the reference to forecasting in these listings referred
to an operations manager’s ability to predict the amount
of employees or labor hours that will be needed in the
future. However, textbooks often associate forecasting with
quantitative time series methods, such as weighted moving
averages and exponential smoothing techniques. Last, the
textbook topic product–service design–analysis could not be
accurately identified in the job postings. This finding may be
attributable to the fact that the vocabulary used to describe
this topic was ambiguous resulting in the inability to
systematically identify it in the job postings.
There are two questions that emerge from the present
investigation. First, why are the most frequently included
chapter topics in textbooks on operations management only
listed in job advertisements between 13% and 36%? Second, why are topics such as budgeting, safety, productivity,
and scheduling (appearing in 61%, 37%, 28%, and 24%, respectively, of job listings) that practitioners appear to value
most highly in selecting potential operations management
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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
personnel conspicuously absent from many of the most commonly used operations management textbooks or not widely
considered significant enough topics to warrant individual
chapters?
It appears that the causes for the disparity in the topics
chosen for classroom dissemination and those desired by employers may be attributable to academicians and practitioners. Professors and authors may contribute to the dilemma by
failing to use appropriate methods to select the content to include in the textbooks that they write and in the materials that
they choose to disseminate in the classrooms. Likewise, practitioners may be guilty of either failing to adequately identify
the job duties and responsibilities necessary for ultimate job
satisfaction, or in effectively communicating these needs to
the professionals who teach their potential employees.
Ideally, the determination of appropriate material for inclusion in textbooks for use in practically oriented disciplines
such as operations management should occur after a comprehensive needs assessment of the industry is undertaken. In
fact, AACSB recommends that when developing curricula
institutions should confer with a variety of constituents, including alumni and the business communities served by the
school. Based on the results of these consultations, chapter
outlines would be developed that are reflective of the content areas determined to be most needed by practitioners for
ultimate success on the job. Subsequently, ongoing research
would be conducted to monitor any significant changes occurring in the field and textbooks would be updated to reflect
the new emphases.
Realistically, this process rarely occurs. Although AACSB
(2010) recommends a list of general and managementspecific knowledge and skills areas for inclusion in business
programs, they do not mandate specific courses or content.
Rather, they leave it up to the discretion of each institution to
determine the appropriate topics to be included within their
individual curricula. Institutions seeking initial AACSB accreditation tend to be weary of straying from the norm. Rather
than developing curriculum specific to their schools, they are
inclined to mirror the curriculum of their peer institutions that
have already succeeded in the accreditation process. Similarly, colleges and universities involved in the maintenance
of accreditation process may be loath to continually tinker
with their course contents because doing so may impact negatively on their assessment of learning results. Rather than
having to defend a unique curriculum it seems more prudent
to remain with the established tried and true widely used
textbook topics.
Although formidable, the pressure of obtaining and maintaining AACSB accreditation is not the only external force
impacting on textbook authors. Arguably, the publication
process itself appears to be dictated more by publisher needs
rather than academic criteria. Prior to the issuance of book
contracts, publishers typically require prospective authors to
submit a proposal for review. This prospectus usually requires, at a minimum, that the prospective author submit a
5
proposed table of contents and sample chapters for scrutiny.
These materials are then sent out for review to academicians
who are currently teaching the courses and are most likely
to adopt the textbooks for their classes. Because it is logical
to assume that the content in the currently used course textbook and syllabi reflects the professors conception of what
material is appropriate for the course, proposals that deviate
significantly from these materials are likely to be critiqued.
Consequently, aspiring authors desiring to obtain publishing
contracts tend to rely on existing textbook topics instead of
needs surveys when determining their chapter layouts.
Even if textbooks ultimately chosen for publication contain chapters that reflect the existing state of the discipline,
there is no guarantee that further editions will remain current.
In an effort to circumvent the used book market, many publishers have opted to establish textbook revision cycles that
facilitate the publication of a new edition every 2–3 years.
This periodic schedule leaves little, if any, time for authors
to actually conduct research to ascertain employer needs and
still meet their publishing timelines. As a result, revisions
usually entail only a tweaking of current material rather than
a comprehensive overhaul, unless the discipline experiences
a widespread change in theory or practice.
Effective recruitment and selection of competent employees depends largely on an organization’s ability to identify
potential employees who have the necessary KSAs to satisfactorily perform the required job duties. This process is
typically accomplished by conducting job analyses that identify the essential features of positions. Because the essential
duties of similarly titled jobs at different organizations vary,
it is quite understandable that the same job title (e.g., operations manager) does not require the same skills in every
organization. For example, one company’s job may require
an emphasis on supply chain management skills, while another organization might be seeking operations management
employees with stronger forecasting abilities. This is not to
imply that a set of universal skills applicable across organizations does not exist, but rather that these skills would
be weighted or valued differently depending on the organization. Therefore, the study’s finding that indicated that the
most any single universal KSA was listed in a job posting
was only 36% is not necessarily surprising.
Although the differences in weighting across organizations may explain the finding that the leading universal KSA
only appeared in 36% of job postings, it does not answer the
question of why employers listed budgeting, and safety, two
topical areas given minimal coverage, at best, in the sampled
textbooks, as the KSAs most desired in potential employees.
Similarly, topics such as productivity, and scheduling, were
found to exceed, or were equal to, the frequency of job listings
for five universal KSAs, yet were not afford the same emphasis by textbook authors. A plausible explanation to this
enigma may be that these topics are addressed in conjunction with other topical areas within textbooks, or are given
extensive coverage in either advanced elective courses or
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6
C. A. WELBORN AND M. G. SINGER
other core courses required of all business majors. For example, budgeting may be found in core accounting courses,
productivity tends to be listed by most authors together with
strategy and competition, and scheduling is usually closely
aligned or viewed synonymously with aggregate–capacity
planning. Consequently, authors of introductory textbooks
may choose to address these topics minimally, as part of
other chapters, rather than singling them out for extensive
coverage.
Unfortunately, whereas budgeting skills may be covered
in other business courses, academic exposure to the area of
safety management is not so evident. In today’s business
environment many operations managers are responsible for
the safety and well-being of their employees and for ensuring the delivery of employee training related to workplace
safety. In fact, many engineering and engineering technology programs have courses specifically focused on safety.
Yet, our findings appear to indicate that few, if any, operations management students are being adequately prepared to
meet the safety responsibilities associated with their potential
jobs.
Last, we would certainly be remiss if we didn’t consider
the fact that the apparent disconnect between the material being included in textbooks and taught in college classrooms,
and the information needed for successful job performance
may be a function of the lack of industry experience on
the part of textbook authors and/or classroom instructors (in
many instances they are one and the same). Although some
operations management instructors began their careers as
practitioners prior to embarking on a teaching career, others
entered academia without any industry experience whatsoever. Lacking practical knowledge of the industry these new
faculty members would naturally tend to draw on their past
academic training, the textbooks that they are already familiar with, and the academic research that they have studied and
personally conducted, in developing their course outlines. If
the knowledge they have gleaned is dated and unrelated to
the real world they may be unintentionally engaging in a
form of academic inbreeding by continuing to propagate this
information.
CONCLUSION
The results of the present investigation indicated that the
topical chapters of operations management textbooks differ
from those KSAs listed by potential employers in job
postings. This finding appears to support the contention espoused by past researchers that a disconnect exists between
the subject matter taught in the college classroom and the
relevance of the material for ultimate job success (Bennis
& O’Toole, 2005; Bruce, 2010; Rubin & Dierdorff, 2009).
Historically, attempts to improve the practical applicability
of college course content has centered on using varying
experiential techniques within the classroom environment.
Although these methods certainly have merit, they are only
useful if the materials being imparted are actually relevant
to the work place. If the subject matter conveyed is dated
or erroneous, then it is conceivable that negative transfer
rather than positive transfer may occur, hampering job
performance.
Tantamount to any other product, to be successful in providing business education, requires that academicians continually monitor the marketplace and enhance the product
when necessary to meet the rapidly changing needs of customers (Moore, 2007). Accomplishing this goal requires that
faculty foster ongoing relationships with their corporate partners. Consulting activities, active membership and participation in professional societies (as differentiated from their
professional academic organizations), research activities involving samples from the business environment (in addition
to student samples), and placing and monitoring students in
practicum and internship environments are some of the activities that will assist in keeping faculty abreast of the present
state of affairs in their respective disciplines. Most importantly, faculty should periodically and systematically review
their textbooks for currency and relevance.
Realistically, although the findings of the present investigation have indicated an apparent mismatch between the
content of operations management textbook chapters and
employment job postings, they fail to definitively identify
the reasons for this mismatch. We have hypothesized that
part of the rationale for this phenomenon may be attributable
to the variance in job duties and responsibilities of similar
titled jobs in different organizations, and in the manner that
faculty choose their course content. To test this hypothesis,
further research in these areas need to be conducted by actually obtaining and comparing the completed job analyses
of organizations who have posted job openings for operations management employees to determine the degree that
the required job duties are indeed alike. Subsequently, the job
postings of those organizations with similar required KSAs
would be compared to the content matter found in operations management textbook chapters. Similarly, research
should be conducted on how academicians choose the topics to include in their introductory operations management
course syllabi and in the textbooks that they adopt for these
courses.
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