Functions of Operations Management


What is Operations Management?

Operations management is the management of procedures that convert inputs into goods and services that improve supplement for the customer. Operations management (OM) is the management of business execution to create the top-level of planning possible within an organization. It is an anxious way of transforming materials and labor into goods and services as ably as possible to enhance the profit of an organization. Operations management teams try to balance costs with income to achieve the highest net operating profit possible.

The target of operations management is to enhance efficiency while manufacturing goods and services that successfully fulfil customer needs.

For example, if a company makes furniture, some of the operations management decisions involve the following −

  • Acquiring wood and fabric
  • Hiring and training workers
  • Location and layout of the furniture factory
  • Acquire cutting tools and other manufacturing tools.

General Functions of Operations Management are as follows −

  • Planning
  • Organizing
  • Staffing
  • Leading
  • Controlling

Planning

Planning means setting business objectives and deciding how best to accomplish them. Planning is managerial regarding the goals and setting the future course of action from a set of substitutes to reach them.

The plan helps to maintain efficient management as it works as a guide for future activities. Choosing goals as well as the paths to achieve them is what planning requires. Planning requires selecting missions and objectives and the actions to achieve them. It requires managerial or choosing future courses of action from among alternatives.

Organizing

Organizing can be defined as the procedure by which the accepted plans are moved closer to awareness. Once a manager sets targets and develops plans, his next decision-making is organizing human resources and other resources recognized as required by the plan to reach the goal. Organizing involves regulating how activities and resources are to be gathered and coordinated.

Staffing

Staffing refers to the perpetual process of finding, selecting, assessing and developing a working relationship with current or future employees. The main target of staffing is to fill the various parts within the company with acceptable candidates.

Staffing can be done within the company or by contractors at different levels of the staffing process. Staffing refers to the appointment of various people in a team according to their knowledge, occurrence talent, skill, and areas of proficiency. With staffing, management tries to simultaneously find, assess, select and encourage talent while also catering to the present talent at the management.

Leading

Leading refers to the skill of affecting people for a particular motive or reason. It is observed to be the most important and demanding of all organizational activities. Leading is affecting or encouraging the organization member to work together with the interest of the organization.

Producing a positive thinking towards the work and targets among the members of the organization is called leading. It is required as it helps to serve the objective of success and efficiency by changing the behavior of the employees. Leading involves several division procedures and activities.

The functions of administration, motivation, communication, and cooperation are considered a part of the leading processor system.

Controlling

Observing the organizational progress toward goal achievement is called controlling. Thus, observing progress is necessary to ensure the acquisition of organizational goals.

Controlling is measuring, comparing, finding differences, and correcting the organizational skills performed to achieve the target or objectives. Thus, controlling consists of activities like; evaluating the performance, comparing with the existing standard and finding the differences, and correcting the differences.

Control activities normally relate to the measurement of acquirement or results of actions taken to attain the goal.

Key Types of Modern Operations Management

Modern operations management revolve around four theories. They are as follows −

  • Business Process Redesign(BPR)
  • Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS)
  • Six Sigma
  • Lean Manufacturing

Business Process Redesign (BPR)

The term business process redesign refers to a complete service of a company's key business process with the objective of attaining an abrupt change in performance measures such as return on investment (ROI), cost cutting, and quality of service. Business operations that can be redesigned surround a wide range of critical procedures, from assembling and production to sales and customer service. Businesses may call in to direct or specialist help with the redesign.

Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS)

A reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) is one designed at the beginning for sudden change in its structure, furthermore its hardware and software components, beneficial to quickly balance its productive capacity and performance within a part family in regards to sudden market changes or inherent system change.

A reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) is a system used by producers that highlights the importance of being apt to change quickly to adjust its productivity capacity and functionality. When a quantum leap occurs in the market, the reconfigurable manufacturing system changes in response, allowing the company to produce products or goods in an effective manner.

Six Sigma

The term Six Sigma refers to a set of quality assurance devices that businesses can use to abolish defects and improve procedures to help improve their profits. Six Sigma is a quality assurance process that businesses use to abolish defects and improve processes.

The model was developed in the 1980s. Companies often choose to use the Six Sigma model to improve their profits. Initially developed as a management method to work fast-paced with hardly any mistakes, it is now an industry level with deeds offered to practitioners.

Lean Manufacturing

Lean manufacturing is an approach that focuses on reducing waste within manufacturing systems while maximizing productivity. Waste is distinguished as anything that customers do not accept adds value and are not willing to pay for. Some of the benefits of lean manufacturing can include decreased lead times, decreased operating costs, and improved product quality.

Lean manufacturing, also known as lean production, or lean, is a practice that corporations from many fields can enable. Some popular companies that use lean include Toyota, Intel, John Deere and Nike. The proposal is based on the Toyota Production System and is still used by that company, as well as multitudes of others. Companies that use business resource planning can also benefit from using a lean production system.

Conclusion

The role of leadership and management can work in different positions, so far being the same when evolving an organization. Successful executives are made, not born. They are self-reliant, through continuous and continuous work on themselves. Everyone starts at the basis and then works his or her way up through hard, hard work, encouraged over a long period of time.

You can become a very good manager when you learn and practice the etiquette, methods, and approach of other successful managers. If you do what other successful people do, you will soon get the results that other successful people get.

Updated on: 24-Jun-2022

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