Operations Management Definition
Introduction
In today fast-paced ever-changing business world, organizations must deal with many
diverse issues. These issues range from maintaining their competitive edge in a fierce
marketplace to social, ethical and concerns regarding the health and well being of their
employees. The advent of new technologies has created organizational efficiencies
however; it is a well-known fact that healthcare has lagged behind other industries with
regard to automation. Healthcare is being asked to provide high quality care with increased
efficiency yet the patient population believes they are not receiving quality care. McCleave
(1996) states that health care managers should look to manufacturing operations for ideas
to improve quality and productivity in their organizations.
This paper will address the definition of operations management, its importance in
healthcare and what operations management means to this author.
Definition
Operations management as defined by Stevenson (2004) is the management of particular
aspects of an organization. This usually encompasses systems and workstation design,
physical plant design and layout as well as processes needed to change raw material/inputs
into a finished product or service. An operations manager must contend with other issues.
Stevenson (2004) adds that the integral component of an operations manager is to add
value to the finished product.
Importance
Considering the current state of the healthcare industry, operations management is of great
importance. Henderson (1995) states the increasing demands placed on healthcare
managers, the individual must excel in a variety of areas. In addition, Henderson (1995)
states healthcare is in a state of transformation and the operations manger is a crucial
position if the healthcare organization is to succeed. Furthermore, operations managers
