Operations management is a core function of business that involves the management of
systems or processes that create goods and/or provide services. It involves system design
and operations decisions related to many aspects in organizations today. Even though there
are many vital aspects of operations management, this paper will discuss a few of the most
significant. It will cover the scope of operations management; forecasting; system design;
quality; and inventory management. All are important factors in an organization’s success
today.
To begin, the scope of operations management actually ranges across the organization.
Operations management people are involved in product and service design, process
selection, selection and management of technology, location planning, facilities planning,
and quality improvement of the organizations’ products or services. These in turn bring
about the competitiveness, strategies, and productivity out of the organization.
Competitiveness is an important factor in determining whether a company prospers, barely
gets by, or fails. This is how effectively an organization meets the wants and needs of
customers relative to others that offer similar goods or services. Decision making by
organizations are influenced in several ways including: identifying consumer wants and/or
needs; pricing; and advertising and promotion. Department interrelation exists because
many factors such as cost, location, quality, quick response and flexibility all have a major
influence on competiveness throughout many of the pieces of the organization. In essence,
understanding competitive issues can helps managers develop successful strategies.
An organization’s strategies have a major impact on what the organization does and how it
does it. They are plans for achieving organizational goals. In order to be effective,
strategies must be designed to support the organizations mission and its organizational
goals. The mission is the organization’s reason for its existence. It is expressed in the
mission statement, which clearly states the purpose of the organization. This then serves as
the basis for organization’s goals. Goals then serve as a foundation for the development of
organizational strategies. Organizations use different strategies and tactics to succeed.
Tactics are the methods and actions used to accomplish the strategies and provide guidance
and direction for carrying out actual operations. They are the ‘how to’ part of the process
and operations is the actual ‘doing’ part of the process. Organizations sometimes combine
different tactics in order to form a successful strategy. This overall strategy provides the
direction for the organization.
Productivity is an index that measures output relative to the input used to produce it. It is
