Operations management is a field that can sometimes be misunderstood because of its multidisciplinary nature. However, its functions form the lynchpin of businesses the world over and success can often rest squarely on its shoulders. The MBA in operations management is a common specialization among leading business schools worldwide. So, what is operations management and what makes a good operations manager?
What does operations management involve?
Operations management is chiefly concerned with planning, organizing and supervising in the contexts of production, manufacturing or the provision of services. As such, it is delivery-focused, ensuring that an organization successfully turns inputs to outputs in an efficient manner. The inputs themselves could represent anything from materials, equipment and technology to human resources such as staff or workers.
Examples of the types of duties or specialist positions this encompasses are procurement (acquiring goods or services from external sources), managing relations with those involved in processes and improving a company’s sustainability with regard to their use of resources.
There are two key terms that can help answer the question of what operations management is more precisely: supply chain management and logistics. Operations management has firm foundations in both areas. For example, understanding global trends in supply chain management in order to meet client demand is often critical. With logistics the careful and considered use of resources, as well as cost-effectiveness, has become increasingly important in an era in which resources can often be in short supply and customer expectations have skyrocketed.
Contextualizing the role of operations management.
The operations manager is able to transcend industries so exact job functions can vary based on the company you work for. At the base level, the two main streams an operations manager might belong to can be reduced to companies with a concentration on manufacturing and production, or those that provide services.
Operations management roles within say, a pharmaceutical company fall under the category of production. Planning and coordinating the use of resources to ensure products are designed, created and dispatched to hospitals, chemists and so on, ensure not only that these products are prepared, but also that they are available to customers.
Meanwhile, an airline company will often see the operations manager focus on services – transporting passengers and/or cargo from one place to another.
In addition, it is likely that a manufacturing focus on the delivery of a tangible product will involve less direct contact with customers than a services role.
These examples illustrate the clear distinction between the roles of an operations manager in two distinct industries.
However, in reality most companies will not fit easily into one category or the other in the entirety of its operations. A car company doesn’t simply manufacture cars, it also services them. A café serving coffee might very easily also produce their own coffee. There is also what is known as quasi-manufacturing organizations, which seem more like manufacturing firms, but are clearly providing a service, such as an automated warehouse dispatching goods.
The more one analyses the question of what operations management is, the more one sees how integral the position can be to any given company, be it small or large. There can be strong overlap with supply chain management, logistics or engineering, but there are many other industries and areas where operations functions and the skills of an effective operations manager are strongly tied to an organization’s lasting success.
Credits,