Intrigued by academic’s views on operations management which they claim is an applied subject with very little theory, and its dual upbringing in both Industrial Engineering and the Social Sciences; this paper embarks on a reflection to uncover the impact of dual upbringing on key theories in operations management. The reflection reveals pair of core drivers on each theory, including location and profitability, flow and productivity, performance and competitivity, waste elimination and productivity, skills and competitivity, design and performance. The literature review of identified pairs of core drivers points to an attribute of polarity in operations management. Longitudinal data from the Manufacturing Circle of South Africa is used to carry out statistical analysis – principally correlation and regression. It is observed that, practically, operations managers instead of “either/or” choice they take “both/end” approach when facing with polarity; nonetheless, the literature has highlighted the likelihood of manufacturing firms engaging in “either/or” approach based on impact of competition and the contexts where a specific behaviour could be required or might prevail. An interesting theoretical implication of the theory of polarity is that operations management involves a feedback mechanism from Industrial Engineering to Social Sciences. In view of the competition faced in business environment, the rapidly evolving business environments, and the slowly evolving internal resources of manufacturing firms, competitive foresight is identified as the missing link. The practical implication of competitive foresight is that basic elements of anticipatory and systemic thinking need to be incorporated in the developmental programs of operations managers to prevail over the current dominating responsive routines approach.
Keywords: Manufacturing, Performance, Process management
