In this essay, as operations management is a very broad topic, I will concentrate my attention on what operations management is as well as why it plays a crucial role in organisations in today’s business world in the delivery of finished goods to the market. Operations management is more likely or not in every organisation in the world, so it is very important to discuss its relevancy and why it is crucial for organisations in the modern-day business environment.
Operations Management:
In today’s working environment, Operations management is a multidisciplinary functional area where there are many crucial parts that must work in unison to have a successful operation. Marketing, production, and sales are necessary for any business, but they would all be useless if the process of operation management wasn’t behind it as it is the backbone of any successful business organisation. Operation management encompasses all aspects of the essential business processes and works in a way that fuses them to together to create an efficient resourceful procedure that maximises profits for the organisation. It is necessary for any successful operation to develop a detailed business plan otherwise the organisation will be inefficient, profits will not be maximised, staff morale will be down due to frustration due to lack of communication. This plan includes all useful aspects of the business within the operation plan.
Operations management is all about how organisations go about producing goods and services. (“What is operations management?,”2018 .)Operations management is seen as the management of processes for the creation of goods and services from start to finish while planning, organising, coordinating and controlling all the resources needed to produce goods and services. Everything that we are surrounded by (except the flesh and blood) has been processed by an operation. If you look around you at this moment in time, everyday items that we take for granted such as desks, phones, and clothing have all been thought about meticulously by operations managers who organised its production from start to finish.
Down below is a slide I found online that perfectly shows the necessary aspects that an operation management has to consider when making decisions for organisations. These give a brief introduction into some of the key area’s that are discussed about when you focus on certain subjects that make operations management such as how the design is important as the product needs to work for customer and seller (i.e. be of a good quality, be useful and sustainable, look nice, cheap for to make and fair price for consumers.) and Project Management being the management of all the aspects of a project from inception to closure using a calculated and structured methodology they is followed to allow projects to be completed with utmost ability and in a professional ethos.
(“10_om_decisions.png (730×689),” n.d.)
The operations management in every good company has two main goals that they need to achieve, and, in many ways, these goals are considered to be interrelated as one without the other would lead to poor management. These main goals set out by organisations through operations management is that customer service is excellent and resource utilisation is at a level where they are efficient of resources and profits are maximised.
Customer service is the main goal for any company because irrespective of all the strategy, marketing and operations management if the customer is not happy with the product or the service that they are purchasing then the purpose of the entire enterprise is futile.(“Why Operations Management is Important for Your Company – dummies,” n.d.)
Operations management makes sure that all the customers’ needs, and requirements are met and that the company also makes sure that it is efficient of the all the resources put into the product. If the resources are not used efficiently, more likely than not the organisation’s production costs will increase and therefore the overall profit the company makes will be reduced.If this occurs, then the organisation’s goal has failed. The two objectives must be met in a complementary way to one another so that the company benefits out of it in both ways. Supply-chain management and logistics are key to operations management as they need to be looked at carefully as they need to know what it is the consumers desire while getting the desired resources at the highest quality (“What is operations management?,” n.d.)at the lowest cost.
Another objective of operations management is that it is necessary to ensure the timely delivery of finished products to market by transforming raw materials to finished products.
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Role of OM within an Organisation
Operations managers are the people who are the main source of responsibility for managing some, or all, of the resources of an organisation which are part of the operations function. In different organisations, the operations manager might be called by some other name such fleet manager in a distribution company, the administrative manager in a hospital, or the store manager in a retail store.
At DCU, operations management is involved in organising resources, such as the faculty, the curriculum, the facilities, and the timetables, to turn high school students into university graduates after four years. Operations Management is seen as the engine room of the organisation as it works behind the scenes to make sure every aspect of the organisation is working smoothly and efficiently. A good operation manager would have the organisation working in a way where the roles that the organisations success is dependent on are hardly noticed so they aren’t a hinderance of the organisations efficiency and profits.
Operations management is everchanging to meet the demands that come with the challenges of the modern-day business world. The modern-day business world is ever-changing and is characterised by increasing global competition and advances in technology due to the power of the internet and technology brings in new markets from every country around the world while sharing technology that advances the product for both seller and buyer. (admin, 2018)The focus has now shifted within the operations function to bond the customers and suppliers closer together.
Managers are aware of the advantages of improving the standard of their products with better working conditions for their workers.
Operations management is not only giving workers an ideal work environment but is designing the job for them in a way that boost staff morale. In the modern-day business world all workers are encouraged to voice their opinions in order to improve operations within an organisation. They do this as the workers involved within the operation see a different perspective to those in management positions and might add a new outlook on the product. Managers have learned that keeping their workers happy will lead to a better product and therefore have happier customers especially in-service operations where communication is vital. This is a prime example of the Hawthorne effect in use as a modification in working conditions will result in a change in work performance(“Manufacturing Knowledge: A History of the Hawthorne Experiments – Richard Gillespie – Google Books,” 1991.)
Operations management is directly responsible for many decisions and activities that are influential on product design and delivery problems. The design and management of operations is very important for organisations as it influences how much material resources are needed in order to create finished goods or deliver a finished service to the market, making sure that they always have the correct number of inventories to ensure that the customers get the product they desire without wasting resources. These decisions are crucial to the organisations as any mistake can hamper the organisation in the end of the day. Operation management is a necessary function for organisations in order to improve performance and the financial bottom line. Operations management is necessary for organisations to make them stand out within their market as without operations management the organisations will more likely not maximise profits and use its resources efficiently and therefore fold. (“The Importance of Operation Management,” 2016)
Operations management is truly the central core function of every company. In simple terms, what operations management are trying to do is to minimise their costs to maximising profits while delivering a product or service that the customers will love. This point is true to any type of organisation regardless of its size, the industry it is in, whether it is a makes goods or provides services, or if it is for-profit or not-for-profit.
The way I have looked at operations management during this assignment is that, operations management is like a football manager, he sets up his team with the right tactics with the right players, he develops the players to achieve their potential, he orchestrates the way the team plays on the sidelines and he is there to achieve results while never actually stepping foot on the field. Without the manager, the team would be in chaos players would be out of position and fighting amongst one another. Coaches like Pep Gaurdiola and Sir Alex Ferguson are great examples of coaches that are great at operations management.
I believe operations management is the most important aspect a company must get right in the modern-day business world as it decides the success the organisation will have by how proficiently and meticulously the whole operational system is planned out and is managed down through the years.