pom-workflow

Production and Operations Management Workflow (pom-workflow)

Overview

This is the router. It does not replace any specialized skill; it tells you which pom- skill to use right now* for your POM manuscript.

Default assumption: unless told otherwise, the target is Production and Operations Management (POM) — the flagship journal of the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS), published by SAGE since January 2024 (previously Wiley-Blackwell), ISSN 1059-1478, twelve issues per year, founded and edited by Kalyan Singhal (University of Baltimore). POM accepts the full breadth of operations management — analytical/mathematical modeling, empirical OM, behavioral/experimental OM, and operations data science — and routes every paper to one of many named Departments (Behavioral Operations, Supply Chain Management, Healthcare Operations, Sustainable Operations, Operations Management Data Analytics, plus interface departments). The non-negotiable bar: the work must be of significant interest to practicing operations managers and make a substantial contribution to knowledge and practice, executed rigorously by whatever method fits.

Editor titles vary across sources (Subodha Kumar is listed as Co-/Deputy Editor-in-Chief); the department roster and Department Editors rotate. Verify the live masthead and departments at poms.org/journal. Submission fee and any data-deposit mandate are 待核实 — see resources/official-source-map.md.

When to trigger

• "What should I do next?" with a half-built POM manuscript
• You have a model or dataset but no clear managerial insight
• You are unsure which Department your paper belongs to
• You received a POM decision letter and need to switch into response mode
• You keep bouncing between model, analysis, and writing without a plan

Routing table

Current symptom	Next skill
Idea is vague; unclear if it is OM and POM-fit; no target Department	pom-topic-selection
Model/hypotheses lack a clear mechanism, assumptions, or propositions	pom-theory-development
Front end reads as gap-spotting; wrong department's literature engaged	pom-literature-positioning
Method may not match the question (model vs data vs experiment)	pom-methods
Have proofs/data; unsure about numerics, identification, robustness	pom-data-analysis
Results exist but the "so what for the operations manager" is thin	pom-contribution-framing
Exhibits cluttered, not self-explanatory, or off house style	pom-tables-figures
Prose buries the argument; over the 32-page cap	pom-writing-style
Ready to submit; need the ScholarOne + department preflight	pom-submission
Want to understand POM department review before/after submit	pom-review-process
Received an R&R; need to plan and draft the response	pom-rebuttal

Default order

1. pom-topic-selection — lock an OM question, POM fit, and target Department
2. pom-theory-development — build the model/mechanism; derive propositions or hypotheses
3. pom-literature-positioning — engage the right department's prior OM work
4. pom-methods — match method (optimization/stochastic/game-theory/empirical/behavioral/ML)
5. pom-data-analysis — execute proofs and numerics, or identification, estimation, robustness
6. pom-contribution-framing — turn results into a managerial-and-knowledge contribution
7. pom-tables-figures — finalize exhibits (result tables, comparative-statics plots, schematics)
8. pom-writing-style — full-manuscript polish; enforce 32-page cap and e-companion split
9. pom-submission — ScholarOne preflight (department routing, double-blind, same-data disclosure)
10. pom-review-process — set expectations; understand the no-resubmission rule
11. pom-rebuttal — after an R&R, revise then draft the point-by-point response

pom-tables-figures and pom-writing-style are late-stage polish. Do not invoke them while the model, identification, or managerial insight is still unsettled.

Decision shortcuts

• "I have an elegant model but no managerial takeaway" → pom-topic-selection then pom-contribution-framing
• "Which department do I submit to?" → pom-topic-selection
• "My intro says 'no one has modeled X'" (gap-spotting) → pom-literature-positioning
• "Reviewer says insight is not relevant to practice" → pom-contribution-framing
• "I am 6 pages over the 32-page cap" → pom-writing-style (move proofs to the e-companion)
• "I was rejected — can I resubmit to another department?" → pom-review-process (almost never)

Difference vs. M&SOM / Management Science / JOM stacks

• POM: POMS/SAGE flagship; department-routed; rigor and practicing-manager relevance weighted together; 32-page cap with an unlimited online e-companion.
• M&SOM / Management Science (INFORMS): different limits and norms; not department-letter-routed the same way.
• JOM / IJOPM: often more empirical/process-oriented; different publishers and formats.

Anti-patterns

• Do not submit without choosing a Department — misrouting wastes a cycle.
• Do not let pom-tables-figures beautify exhibits before the model is settled.
• Do not treat polish as a substitute for managerial relevance — POM's practice gate cannot be styled away.
• Do not plan a resubmission of a rejected paper to another department; it is barred unless explicitly invited.