Operations management is the management of processes that create goods and/or services which is the core to any business. (Stevenson, 2012) Operations involves leading within several operational duties such as: service design, process selection, selection and management of technology, design of work systems, location planning, facilities planning, and quality improvement.
There are many activities that should be a focus for Operations Managers and can help ensure process and productivity and help guide the manager into the best decision making scenarios possible.Functions involved within Operations Management are: forecasting, scheduling, inventory management, quality assurance, capacity planning, facility location, and motivation and training of employees. (Stevenson, 2012) Any activity directly correlated within providing services or generating goods is part of Operations Management. The job definitions for an Operation Manager differ by the type of business and the goods sold or serviced. Each may require different skill sets to understand the business but the overall leadership or management is what the primary focus point should be.There are similarities between all types of operations and this can be seen within transformed resources.
Transformed resources are the operations of materials, information and customers. Any business has all three to contend with but may face different priorities within the transformed resources that should be the focus. (Slack, Chambers, & Johnston, 2011) The line between differences between manufacturing and service are becoming a blur and losing the distinct importance. Why is operations management important to the field of management? Operations management can improve productivity and work to meet customers’ ompetitive priorities. Improving productivity will help the financial health of any business and raise moral to employees involved in the processes.
(Rao, 2010) Measuring productivity for employees and processes allows for the accurate amount of time spent on scarce resources and allots for activities that are being missed. Productivity can be defined as the “ratio of output to input”. (Rao, 2010, p. 2) Quality improvements are a big ticket item within any company in today’s world and searches to improve processes throughout the business.Continuous process improvement can directly affect productivity and efficiency. Operations management is important to the field of management because it allows for efficiency and improvement in otherwise set processes.
For any service organization, the top operational concerns are focused around forecasting, quality management, and resource utilization. (Wright & Mechling, 2001) Many challenges that arise within service organizations can be addressed with operations management methods.For companies to be able to clearly understand and accurately forecast future events that will affect business is becoming one of the major concerns for any service organization. Operations management focuses on forecasting and different methodologies that can be used to help deter any negative effects from future environmental or economical events. Who is the contributor(s), and what concept has this person(s) contributed to the field of management? To understand the contributors, we must first review the historical evolution that has transcended operations management into what it is today.
With the dawn of the Industrial Revolution came the concept of craft production. (Stevenson, 2012) Craft production is defined as a system that takes skilled employees with easy, flexible tools to create quantities of tailored goods. There were no economies to scale due to the custom parts and pieces involved with said goods. This improved during the Scientific Management era. Factories were built and headed up for efficiency and mass production.
Tools and parts were standardized to allow for those efficiencies and price reduction.Frederick Winslow Taylor, efficiency engineer, began this movement and is known as the “father of scientific management”. (Stevenson, 2012) Taylor reviewed work methods to find the best overall method to complete the job at hand and works to maximize outputs. The Scientific Management era also included pioneers: Frank Gilbreth, Henry Gantt, Harrington Emerson, and Henry Ford. Most of us have heard about Henry Ford and his invention of mass production facilities that allow for higher production for standardized goods. Stevenson, 2012) Interchangeable parts and the idea of division of labor allowed for lower paid workers to handle simplified tasks with little to no skills needed.
Both Taylor and Ford were reviled by workers for caring more about the overall productivity than the employees that handle said products. The Human Relations movement was brought about due to the Scientific Management era that showed little to no concern for the workers. Now, there was a focus on the human element within the job responsibilities.Lillian Gilbreth, wife of Frank Gilbreth, was a psychologist and focused on the human aspect as her husband focused on the production line. She began work studies showing a high amount of worker fatigue which led to a focus on employee motivation.
Elton Mayo proved through a study the importance of motivation for workers to improve productivity within the business. (Stevenson, 2012) Abraham Maslow created motivation theories which were improved upon by Frederick Hertzberg and Douglas McGregor ending up with Theory X and Theory Y on how employees view work.Theory X is on the negative end and assumed workers needed to be controlled and punished when necessary to have high productivity. Theory Y reviewed employees enjoying the efforts within work and then became committed to the job. Theory Y believed in empowered workers and a team spirit. Theory Z was added in the 1970s by William Ouchi which included employee problem solving, lifetime employment, consensus building along with more Western approach of individual focus.
(Stevenson, 2012) Is the contributor to management one of your favorites or one of your least favorites?Please explain why. Frederick Winslow Taylor was a genius in his time, but I do believe the lack of human relations was a big miss. I don’t agree with his managerial science techniques and believe he disqualifies the human race by treating everyone as work laborers and nothing more. Although he did believe in achieving cooperation between management and workers, his main focus was about production increases and improvements and not the realization that most of those improvements could have been found more easily by speaking to employees and finding personal solutions as well.
The amounts of underpaid and abused workers of that time were directly related to his methods and book the Principles of Scientific Management. (Stevenson, 2012) If you had the opportunity to make suggestions for improvement of the contribution, what types of suggestions would you have made? I like the idea that husband and wife worked together on opposite ends of the managerial perspective like Frank and Lillian Gilbreth. This allowed Frank to focus on motion study and improvements in productivity while Lillian focused on the human aspect and realized worker fatigue and neglect. Stevenson, 2012) I would have liked to have worked closely with Frederick Winslow Taylor and remind him of the human aspect during his studies and learning methods. Perhaps, with the low understanding of what women could bring to leadership qualities was what was missing during this time. I would have also liked to been involved within the motivational theory studies and bring some insight into thoughts of leadership instead of management.
Operations management now has a huge part on training and motivating employees, but I do believe earlier eras were missing the idea of understanding the importance of motivation.
