Operations Management Primer
| Operations are the processes by which inputs
(people, capital, and material) combine to produce goods and services. People are labor
and management. Capital consists of facilities, equipment,
and—recently—intellectual property. Materials include raw materials,
semi-finished goods, and intellectual property. Goods are tangible products, while
services are intangible products. Operations management is decision-making that involves
design, planning, and control of a huge variety of things that determine the success of
operations. Those who manage operations must decide what to produce, what kinds of people
to hire and how many of each, what methods to employ to improve output and improve
quality, and so on. Their ability to adapt to changing requirements has a direct effect on
how successful they will be.
Operations management is part of the larger picture. Other departments—which the
operations manager must interact with—may include accounting, engineering, finance,
human resources, information systems, maintenance, and sales. To be a successful
operations manager—whether at the department level or higher—you must understand
the interaction of these different groups. The better you can manage the white spaces on
the organizational chart, the more successful you will be.
Here are some other things you need to understand:
- How to establish goals and objectives that are measurable and achievable
- Short-range, medium-range, and long-range planning
- The importance of teamwork and how to foster it
- The goals of upper management and how they relate to what you are doing—in terms of
specific actions
- The importance of ethics in decision-making
- The concept of "value-added" and how it affects your products and how you
produce them
- The effect of technology on people and performance
- The boundaries of goods and services, and how to cross over them
- The influence of international competition
- The changing cultural norms and how they affect your workforce
- The changing nature of information technology and how it affects your business
processes—both backoffice and frontline
- Product safety and liability concerns
- The effect of product mix on work stability
- The effect of government
- Public opinion and its impact on sales
- Labor relations
- The effect of economic trends, both short-term and long-term
- Strategy development and implementation
- Communications, both inter-company and intra-company
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These are some key words that may have brought you here: operations management, goals,
managing operations, trends, labor relations, work flow management, business
administration, business management
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