The pressure to improve the productivity and performance of public services has led to many calls from industrialists, management consultants and policy officers for the application of operations management practices to the public sector. Examples include the use of business process improvement methodologies such as 'Lean' which claims to achieve substantial cost savings and quality improvement.  Other examples include the use of demand management techniques in hospitals and local government, and design concepts for hospital builds.  But are the concepts and models of operations management appropriate to public services?  Is there evidence that the use of operations management techniques achieves the promised efficiency savings and quality improvements?

Papers should use empirical data to develop theoretical and conceptual ideas which, for example, help to explore the degree to which the concepts developed in operations management are really context-free.  Papers should challenge, empirical or theoretical, operations management, drawing if appropriate on other disciplines, to present new frameworks and models of operations management for public service.

There will be a seminar in January/ February 2011 linked to the theme issue

Papers should be submitted by 31st October 2010 to the edition's guest editor:
Dr Zoe Radnor
Associate Professor (Reader) in Operations Management
Warwick Business School
University of Warwick
Coventry
CV4 7AL
UK
Tel.: +44 2476 528202
E-mail: Zoe.Radnor@wbs.ac.uk