The Handbook of Behavioral Operations Management ― Social and Psychological Dynamics in Production and Service Settings

Over the last decade there has been an explosion of academic interest in the study of Behavioral Operations (Behavioral Ops). Simultaneous concerns have emerged about the adequacy with which now established Behavioral Ops phenomena are dealt with in degree-granting programs and corporate training agendas. Concerns stem from two points:

(1) Pedagogical lessons regarding human behavioral are largely cast in the perspectives and terminology of underlying social/psychological theories. This has traditionally made it difficult for teachers of operations management content to link such knowledge to OM teaching plans and materials.

(2) Games are seen as a major contribution to Behavioral Operations education, but experiments as described in literature are usually used for scientific research, and often difficult to replicate in teaching settings due to the use of unique proprietary software or insufficient descriptions of methods and materials used.

Prior to now, no comprehensive teaching-oriented overview of Behavioral Operations has been available. The Handbook of Behavioral Operationsfills this gap, providing easy to access insights into why associated behavioral phenomena exist in specific production and service settings, ready-to-play games and activities that allow instructors to demonstrate the phenomena in class settings, and applicable prescriptions for practice. By design the text serves a dual role as a desk/training reference to those practitioners already in the field, and presents a comprehensive framework for viewing behavioral operations from a systems perspective. As an interdisciplinary book relating the dynamics of human behavior to operations management, the Handbook is an essential resource for practitioners seeking to develop greater system understanding among their workers, as well as for instructors interested in emphasizing the practical relevance of behavior in operational settings.

Dr. Elliot Bendoly is a Professor of Management Sciences at the Fisher College of Business, of the Ohio State University. Before joining Fisher, Dr. Bendoly was the Caldwell Research Fellow and Associate Professor in Information Systems and Operations Management at the Goizueta Business School of Emory University. He serves as Senior Editor at the Production and Operations Management journal (Behavioral Operations and Management of Technology departments) and as Associate Editor for the Journal of Operations Management. His 50+ peer-reviewed articles also appear in Information Systems Research, MIS Quarterly and Journal of Applied Psychology. Personal site: www.bizbreed.com

Dr. Wout van Wezel is Assistant Professor Operations Management, University of Groningen, The Netherlands. Through a Behavioral Operations lens, he employs various methodologies to investigate how people think, work, coordinate, and cooperate. Dr. van Wezel is co-editor of the book 'Planning in Intelligent Systems' (Wiley), and his peer-reviewed articles appear in, among others, Journal of Operations Management, Decision Support Systems, and International Journal of Operations and Production Management.

Dr. Daniel Bachrach is a Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management at the Culverhouse College of Commerce of the University of Alabama. He serves on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Applied Psychology and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision processes. Professor Bachrach is coauthor of three books, including a leading Principles of Management textbook, Management 13e (Wiley); Transformative Selling: Becoming a Resource Manager and a Knowledge Broker (Wessex); and 10 Don'ts on Your Digital Devices The Non-Techie's Survival Guide to Cyber Security and Privacy (Apress). His 40+ peer-reviewed articles also appear in Organization Science, Journal of Applied Psychology, Strategic Management Journal, Personnel Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and Journal of Operations Management.