OM: null: 2009-2010

This all started with you, in your own classrooms and hallways. Through conversations, focus groups, surveys, and interviews, we asked you to tell us how you learn. When and where you study, and… why? Some of your comments surprised us, while others didn't: "(the book is) too long" and "too expensive." Many of you said you didn't even buy books--new OR used. And then we turned to your professors for input on the solutions that you liked best: briefer chapters and flash cards. Faculty from schools across the nation joined us online and in face-to-face focus groups to enhance our student offerings. The result? To accommodate the busy and diverse lifestyles of today's learners, a less than 385-page paperback that includes a suite of learning aids, like flash cards, cases, data sets, games, and quizzes. Introducing OM, an innovative approach to teaching and learning Operations Management that is best designed to reach you: today's students. OM says it all using only two letters--and not only is it how most students abbreviate Operations Management in a text message, this is also the way it is referred to in most course catalogues. Most importantly, OM represents the new solution that you and your professors built together.

David A. Collier is the Alico Chair of Operations Management in the Lutgert College of Business at Florida Gulf Coast University. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, an M.B.A. from the University of Kentucky, and a Ph.D. in Production and Operations Management from The Ohio State University. Dr. Collier has authored five books on service and operations management and is the recipient of numerous awards for outstanding journal articles. He has also written and published eight invited book chapters, has seen seven of his cases reprinted in major marketing and operations management textbooks, and has more than 80 referenced publications. A 2004 citation review found that more than 250 journal articles have referenced Dr. Collier's research. Dr. Collier served on the 1991 and 1992 Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, and he has worked with organizations such as AT&T, J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, Child Health Corporation of America, Emery Worldwide, Motorola, John Glenn Institute at The Ohio State University, and the United States Postal Service. He served as faculty leader for a Six Sigma Black Belt Blended (Clicks and Bricks) Executive Program at the Fisher College of Business and has taught in the Executive M.B.A. program at the University of Warwick in England and several other international programs. His current research interest is sports analytics.

James R. Evans is professor in the Department of Operations, Business Analytics, and Information Systems in the Lindner College of Business at the University of Cincinnati. His service includes president of the Decision Sciences Institute 1997-1998 and 11 years on the Board of Examiners and Panel of Judges for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. He has been Editor of the Quality Management Journal, published by the American Society for Quality, and served on editorial boards of numerous other journals. Dr. Evans has published more than 90 refereed papers and more than 30 editions of books. During the annual Quality Congress in May 2004, The American Society for Quality presented Dr. Evans and co-author Bill Lindsay with the Philip B. Crosby Medal for writing THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF QUALITY, 6E. The Crosby medal was presented "for authoring a distinguished book contributing significantly to the extension of the philosophy and application of the principles, methods, and techniques of quality management."