The History of Thought in Operations Management: A European Perspective

The aim of this paper is to create a European perspective on the history of thought in operations management and to analyze driving and determining factors shaping different schools of thought. An attempt to describe the European contributions to operations management’s history of thought will by necessity be heavily influenced by the authors of the description. Even if the description can be based on facts, in the form of publications, individuals, and organizations, there is a need to interpret and reflect on the facts. The view presented here is produced by a researcher holding a professorship in Industrial production and with a background in executive development and consulting, together with his research assistant holding a Ph.D. with special studies of production system change and implementation. Part of the database is, however, distinct and real and has not really been accessed by anyone else. The database consists of twelve years of experience of assessing thousands of abstracts and manuscripts from all over Europe submitted to the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management (EIASM).