Richard Branson once wrote that, If you run one business well, you can run any business
well. (Business). In one short sentence, Branson defined his vision of operations
management. Regardless of the business being a record label, an airline, or a cellular
phone company, operations management is a process of implementing policies and tasks as
necessary to satisfy ownership, employees, and customers (Operations Management).
Operations management is also the management of the processes that create goods, like
records, and services, like air travel, that consumers utilize in the market (Ops). Because of
the diversity of products and services in the market today, operations management can
incorporate many different styles, strategies, and objectives.
Operations management is a loose term describing the conversion process raw goods are
transformed into finished products. The transformation process includes the concepts of
product / service, plant, processes, programs, and people as they apply to the creation of
output (Introduction to Production and Operations Management, 2005). Each main concept
introduces different management focuses that are filter through the entire operation. From
Ford Motors approach to managing quality to Toyota quest for continual improvement
through kaizen, companies implement strategies to better manage their operations. These
strategies can focus on improving quality, managing capacity, driving down costs,
improving efficiency, reducing waste, or motivating employees to perform at a higher
standard. For most companies these strategies all correlate to one primaryobjective,
making more money. Whenever money is involved, the ethics and integrity of the people
involved will be tested. The constant demand to generate higher profits creates ethical
