P1To understand theimportance of operations management IKEA is taken as an example.IKEA is a Swedish company. Itsells ready to assemble furniture, appliances and home accessories. Its netincome is 3.202 Euros. It is one of the biggest businesses in the world. It getsthe products and furniture designed in parts of Sweden but its manufacturing is done probably in thedeveloping countries in order to keep the costs down. It has suppliers from almost 50 countries.
Thebiggest of the entire supplier for the IKEA is China The case of IKEA is perfectto explain why Operations Management is important to all types of business, atthe production or manufacturing section the company aims to reduce thewastages, increase productivity and time and resources management in order tomake sure that the production cost is low and at the stores the company aims tomake sure that they warehouse is utilised properly, customers are explained thedetails and finally the product is delivered without issues so that theshifting cost is low. Also the stores have to take care of marketing and saleswhich involves their own process.Hence this indicates that there will always beset of operations irrespective of what field a business is in and at the end ofthe day successful businesses are those which manage their operationseffectively and efficiently.Objectives of OperationsManagement:The operations managementhas two primary objectives that needs to achieve and in many ways it can besaid that both these objectives are interrelated. The objectives are resourceutilization and customers service.
The customer service is themain objective any company because at the end of the day irrespective of allthe strategy, marketing and operations management if the customer is not happywith the product or the service then the purpose of the entire enterprise isfallen. So the operations management makes sure that all the customers’ needsand demands are met and do that the company also has to make sure that it makesuse of the resources effectively. Secondly if the resources are not used carefully thenthere are chances that the production cost increasing and hence the overallprofit margin will reduce and the enterprise objective has failed. So both theobjectives must be met in a complementary way so that the company benefits outof it.
The objectives of the IKEAare to make sure that the quality is managed at all times and yet making surethat the operations are done effectively to save the resources so that thecompany can benefit out of it.All operations managersmanage processes:So from this it can be understood that the strategic decisionof the company are all considered as the process and because the strategicdecisions are all made by the managers it can be said that all operationsmanagers manage processes.ng processes require newroles, tasks, skills and expertise, often organized around teams. There are anumber of things to consider. Training and development of new skills for individualsand of the team will bring with it a change in the culture of yourorganization. A quality management system(QMS) is a formalized system that documents processes, procedures, andresponsibilities for achieving quality policies and objectives.
A QMS helpscoordinate and direct an organization’s activities to meet customer andregulatory requirements and improve its effectiveness and efficiency on acontinuous basis. The documents only serve todescribe the system.Quality management systemsserve many purposes, including:Improving processesReducing wasteLowering costsFacilitating andidentifying training opportunitiesEngaging staffSetting organization-widedirectionP2Benefits of quality management systemsImplementing a qualitymanagement system affects every aspect of an organization’s performance.
Two overarching benefits tothe design and implementation of documented quality management systems include:Meeting the customer’srequirements, which helps to instill confidence in the organization, in turnleading to more customers, more sales, and more repeat businessMeeting the organization’srequirements, which ensures compliance with regulations and provision ofproducts and services in the most cost- and resource-efficient manner, creatingroom for expansion, growth, and profit The organization’s qualitypolicy and quality objectivesQuality manualProcedures, instructions,and recordsData managementInternal processesCustomer satisfaction fromproduct qualityImprovement opportunitiesQuality analysisEach element of a qualitymanagement system serves a purpose toward the overall goals of meeting thecustomers’ and organization’s requirementsEstablishing and implementing a QMSEstablishing a qualitymanagement system helps organizations run effectively. Before establishing aquality management system, the organization must identify and manage variousconnected, multi-functional processes to ensure customer satisfaction is alwaysthe target achieved. The basic steps to implementing a qualitymanagement system are as follows:Design andbuildThe design and buildportions serve to develop the structure of a QMS, its processes, and plans forimplementation.
Senior management must oversee this portion to ensure the needsof the organization and the needs of its customers DeployDeployment is best servedin a granular fashion via breaking each process down into subprocesses, andeducating staff on documentation, education, training tools, and metrics. Control and measureControl and measurement aretwo areas of establishing a QMS that are largely accomplished through routine,systematics auditing. Review andimproveReview and improvement dealwith how the results of an audit are handled. The goals are to determine theeffectiveness and efficiency of each process toward its objectives, tocommunicate these findings to the employees, and to develop new best practicesand processes based on the data collected during the audit.P3The development of astrategic quality plan is the key to determining the right quality initiativesfor your organization. Without it, you’ll just move from one fad to the next.To get started, create a team of quality professionals who are responsible forensuring the delivery of quality products and services to the organization’scustomers. Some members of this strategic quality planning team might not beinvolved in the day-to-day responsibility of managing quality.
Rather, they areimpacted by quality and therefore have an important stake in the successfuloutcome of the strategic quality plan. If there is only one person designatedwith the responsibility for quality within the organization, they will need tocreate a team of individuals who have some responsibility for the management ofquality within their own jobs.The StrategicQuality Planning ProcessThe Strategic QualityPlanning process consists of two phases:TheResearch Phase which includes everything required to collect and analyze thedata required before strategic quality planning can begin.TheStrategy Phase which includes all of the steps required to develop thestrategic quality plan.ResearchPhaseEvery quality management initiative can, and must be tied to key businessprocess performance indicators in order to have any real impact on productivityand the bottom-line. However, Strategic Plans are rarely translated into thequality strategies needed to ensure overall performance improvement gains.The first task of theStrategic Quality Planning team is to examine the Strategic Plan and toidentify and become familiar with all of the identified corporate strategies.
They must ensure the quality strategies they develop align with and support therealization of these corporate strategies.The Strategic Quality Planning team will spend time analyzing all of thevarious quality initiatives that their organization has used in the past aswell as continuing to use in the present. For example, has the organizationused or continuing to use Kaizen? Reengineering? Cost of Quality? QualityFunction Deployment? Six Sigma? Lean? Quality Awards Or Project management?Questions they must askinclude; What have we used before? What was successful and wasn’t successful?Why were some of these initiatives successful and others notOrganizational and customerrequirements are the factors that will drive Strategic Quality Plans. Thequality strategies must address the organizational needs.
They must also addressthe customer needs. The Strategic Quality Planning process ensures these twoare aligned.Customer satisfactionresults can be used to identify problems and opportunities, measure theperformance of managers, executives and employees and reveal relativecompetitive performance.
These can be obtained through customer surveys,interviews, etc. The results will help drive the right Quality Strategies whichwill in turn help drive new product and service development, manufacturingquality, product and service delivery and competitive positioning.It is essential to involve employees in the development of the qualitystrategies. Employee’s input will:Provide insight into issues, challenges, concerns, and opportunities which maynot have been known.We often miss the opportunity to go outside our organization to learn whatothers are doing so that we can incorporate these lessons learned into thedevelopment of our quality strategies. Benchmarking is highly beneficial andhelps provide the Strategic Quality Planning team with ideas on how to improvetheir internal quality processes, products, processes, structures, etc.SPHASE FORSTRATEGYCreating a compelling vision of quality and developing the strategies toachieve it is one of the Strategic Quality Planning team’s most difficultchallenges.
In this complex and ever-changing world, anticipating the futurecan be very difficult. The problems of organizations are increasingly complex.There are so many ironies, polarities, dichotomies, dualities, ambivalence,paradoxes, confusions, contradictions, contraries and messes for organizationsto understand and deal with.
This complexity explains why many StrategicQuality Planning teams are more comfortable focusing on clear, short-term goalsthan on uncertain, long-term visions.P4In working withorganizations over the years, we’ve observed a leadership pattern thatsabotages change. It occurs when senior leaders, who have been thinking,exploring, and debating about a particular change for a while, finally announceplans for a new initiative. Forgetting that others in the organization haven’tbeen a part of the discussions and are not as familiar with all of the reasonsfor the change, leaders are surprised by the amount of resistance the newchange generates.
When change is first announced,people will have information concerns. Often, leaders will want to explain whythe organization is moving in a certain direction and why the change is a goodidea. This is a mistake. People don’t want to be told the change is good untilthey understand it. Instead, leaders should share information as plainly and ascompletely as possible. In the absence of clear, factual communication, peopletend to create their own information about the change, and rumors become facts.Leaders should prepare to answerquestions such as: What is the change? Why is it needed? What’s wrong with theway things are now? How much and how fast does the organization need to change?Get personalOnce information concernsare satisfied, people will want to know how the change will affect thempersonally.
The following questions, even though not always expressed openly,are common: What’s in it for me to change? Will I win or lose? Will I lookgood? How will I find the time to implement this change? Will I have to learnnew skills? Can I do it?People with personalconcerns want to know how the change will play out for them. They wonder ifthey have the skills and resources to implement the change. Plan your actionIf leaders address thefirst two concerns effectively, people will be ready to hear information on thedetails involved in implementing the change. At this stage they will beinterested to hear how the thinking behind the change has been tested. Theywill also want to know where to go for technical assistance and solutions toproblems that might arise.Sell the changeAfter implementationquestions are answered, people tend to raise impact concerns. For example: Isthe effort worth it? Is the change making a difference? Are we making progress?Are things getting better?People with impact concernsare interested in the change’s relevance and payoff. The focus is onevaluation.
Be prepared to share early wins and proof that the change is makinga positive difference. If the change does not positively impact results–orpeople don’t know how to measure success–it will be more difficult to keep thechange initiative moving forward.Collaborate smartlyWith some evidence that thechange is moving the organization in the right direction, momentum starts tobuild. Leaders can look forward to questions and ideas focused on coordinationand cooperation with others. A solid nucleus of people in the company will wantto get everyone on board because they are convinced the change is making adifference.At this stage, leaders can lookforward to questions such as: Who else should be involved? How can we work withothers to get them involved in what we are doing? How do we spread the word?Refine for successOnce a change effort iswell on its way toward complete adoption, leaders can expect to hear othersbegin asking about how the change can be refined. For example: How can weimprove on our original idea? How do we make the change even better?Refinement questions are agood sign and show that the people in the organization are focused oncontinuous improvement.
During the course of any organizational change, anumber of learnings usually occur. Take advantage of new opportunities fororganizational improvement that often come to the surface at this stage.Give your next change initiative itsbest chanceTake time with your nextchange initiative.
Do it right and you can drastically increase your chances ofsuccess. But rush through the early stages and, like so many others, you mightfind yourself derailed as many of these concerns surface later in the project,killing momentum when it is needed most.You’ve probably heard thisbefore, but it’s worth repeating here: People who help to plan the battlerarely battle the plan. While dealing with people’s concerns about change mayseem like a lot of hand-holding, it’s important for leaders to remember thatthey too had to process information and personal concerns before they wereready to discuss impact and implementation.P5Great Value from Monitoringand EvaluationResponsibilitiesfor Monitoring and EvaluationThe strategic plan documentshould specify who is responsible for the overall implementation of the plan,and also who is responseble for achieving each goaland objective.
The document should alsospecify who is responsible to monitor the implementation of the plan and madedecisions based on the results. For example, the board might expect the chiefexecutive to regularly report to the full board about the status ofimplementation, including progress toward each of the overall strategic goals.In turn, the chief executive might expect regular status reports from middlemanagers regarding the status toward their achieving the goals and objectivesassigned to them. Questions While Monitoring and EvaluatingStatus of Implementation of the Plan1. Are goals and objectivesbeing achieved or not? If they are, then acknowledge, reward and communicatethe progress.
If not, then consider the following questions.2. Will the goals beachieved according to the timelines specified in the plan? If not, then why?3. Should the deadlines forcompletion be changed (be careful about making these changes — know whyefforts are behind schedule before times are changed)?4. Do personnel haveadequate resources (money, equipment, facilities, training, etc.) to achievethe goals?5. Are the goals andobjectives still realistic?6. Should priorities bechanged to put more focus on achieving the goals?7.
Should the goals bechanged (be careful about making these changes — know why efforts are notachieving the goals before changing the goals)?8. What can be learned fromour monitoring and evaluation in order to improve future planning activitiesand also to improve future monitoring and evaluation efforts?Frequencyof Monitoring and EvaluationThe frequency of reviewsdepends on the nature of the organization and the environment in which it’soperating. Organizations experiencing rapid change from inside and/or outsidethe organization may want to monitor implementation of the plan at least on amonthly basis.Boards of directors shouldsee status of implementation at least on a quarterly basis.Chief executives should seestatus at least on a monthly basis.ReportingResults of Monitoring and EvaluationAlways write down thestatus reports.
In the reports, describe:1. Answers to the above key questions while monitoring implementation.2. Trends regarding theprogress (or lack thereof) toward goals, including which goals and objectives3. Recommendations aboutthe status4. Any actions needed bymanagementDeviatingfrom PlanIt’s OK do deviate from theplan.
The plan is only a guideline, not a strict roadmap which must befollowed.Usually the organizationends up changing its direction somewhat as it proceeds through the comingyears. Changes in the plan usually result from changes in the organization’sexternal environment and/or client needs result in different organizationalgoals, changes in the availability of resources to carry out the original plan,etc.The most important aspectof deviating from the plan is knowing why you’re deviating from the plan, i.e.,having a solid understanding of what’s going on and why.
Changingthe PlanBe sure some mechanism isidentified for changing the plan, if necessary. P6 Clear goals,measurement and feedback are involved and linking individual people with thedirections of the organisation. Change processes are about goal achievement andmay be people-focused, including training and working alongside individuals andteams to get them involved. Measurement and feedback about goal achievement andencouraging participation are the roles of leaders in these change approaches The evolutionary changeapproach was briefly outlined in Chapter 1 in regard to involving interaction acrossorganisations and the environment and change being consistent and cumulativerather than intentional and infrequent as occurs within the strategic approach.Complexity Theory and Social Worlds or constructive conflict models werepreviously presented. In the evolutionary approach, multiple approaches andletting directions arise gradually over time or working through conflictingideas and creating new directions are the change processes involved.
Theleader’s role becomes one of working with others and interpreting the emergingchange and taking a strategic view of all the different agendas underway.A key difference from thepreviously-outlined strategic approach is that the change is recognised ashappening within a wider two-way context, with those other influences andknowledge having an impact. Secondly rather than being top down, the generationof new ideas can come from anyone and may simply evolve in the course ofroutine work for a few people and then become more widely adopted across the organisationand across other organisations.