Twin achievements by Merrick School of Business faculty members—the founding of a leading global professional organization, Production and Operations Management Society (POMS), and its premier research journal, Production and Operations Management, 25 years ago and a quarter century of editing the journal that is globally recognized—were celebrated in May, when faculty and friends of the school joined their colleagues from around the world at a luncheon as part of the 26th annual POMS Conference in Washington, D.C.
Kalyan Singhal, professor of operations management and holder of the school’s Doris and Robert McCurdy Chair, and three other Merrick School of Business faculty—Veena Adlakha, professor of management, Tigineh Mersha, chair of the Department of Management and International Business and professor of management, and Jaya Singhal, professor of decision science, holder of the school's Frank Baker Chair and current executive editor of the Production and Operations Management journal– were feted for their contributions to the organization’s founding.
The domain of production and operations management includes innovation, manufacturing and service operations, supply chains, and global networks of manufacturing and services. During the conference at the Washington Hilton, managers, scientists, educators and students from around the world acknowledged the society’s work in increasing understanding in the field of production and operations management and in providing insights into its practice.
“This is something we are extraordinarily proud of in the school,” said Merrick Dean Murray Dalziel. “I admire the perseverance that Kal, Jaya, and their colleagues have built the POMS organization—growing it from an idea into a stellar professional organization. They deliver important intellectual contributions. The journal is premier research journal and ranked by both the Financial Times and BusinessWeek. What a credit to them, and to the Merrick School of Business, for this achievement.”
Founding a professional organization and adding a premier journal to the mix takes a lot of commitment and vision—and both happen to be characteristics that the Singhals, Adlakha, Mersha and the co-founders have shown throughout the rise of POMS. As its founder and editor-in-chief of the journal, Kal Singhal has devoted remarkable passion for the organization. Kal and Jaya continue to serve as editors of the journal.
Prominent business school scholars from Chicago, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, Harvard, INSEAD, London Business School, MIT, Michigan, Northwestern, Penn (Wharton), Stanford, UCLA, and UC-Berkeley have served on the Singhals’ editorial team and/or have published in the journal. They include the current or former deans of the business schools at Cambridge, Cornell, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, UCLA, and Vanderbilt, and the current or former associate/deputy deans of the business schools at Chicago, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, Harvard, Michigan, MIT, UCLA, and Wharton.
The journal is also held in high esteem by the nation’s business community. In 1996, John Pepper, then chairman of Proctor & Gamble, wrote letters to senior executives and deans of business and engineering schools commending Singhal's work on Production and Operations Management. He did so as the chair of a national group of more than 20 chairs of major corporations who were pursuing an initiative to improve research and teaching in business and engineering schools.
“Veena and I recall very clearly when Kal started the society,” Mersha said. “And he was very generous in giving Veena and me credit during the POMS luncheon, but mostly—single handedly—Kal built the society. All of his recognition is well-deserved and all of us in the Merrick School of Business should take great pride in what Kal has achieved. It is a terrific accomplishment.”
“I appreciate all the recognition from the society I have received as a founder, but POMS is Kal’s baby,” said Adlakha. “It is important that we recognize him for the fruits of his labor.”
Dalziel added that he knew he had excellent faculty before he took the helm in August 2014, and he realized early in his tenure that the Singhals’ research and service were integral to the success of the school.
“Locally, the faculty of the Merrick School of Business have always been known for their practical and applied methods of teaching business, but internationally our faculty are also making high-quality intellectual contributions to their respective fields,” Dalziel said. “What Kal and Jaya have done has propelled POMS into something that is really impactful and relevant. The result of their work has also bolstered the Merrick School’s reputation. For the professional school we want to be impactful and relevant, and that’s what we are, and will continue to be. The work of Kal and his colleagues is worthy of the highest recognition and it was a pleasure to sit among them during the celebration.”
To access the journal and its archives, here.