Operations Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Operations Management - Essay Example The Concept of Operational Management The operations management as a business function has many issue related to it that needs to be satisfied to increase the efficiency and productivity of a business concern. These are capacity requirements, technology, facilities, workforce, supply and distribution, quality, production planning and organizational structure. According to Shim (1999, Pg.4)â€Å"Operation policy is concerned with setting broad policies and plans for using the production resources of the firm to best support the firm’s long term competitive strategy†. However, the four basic issues of operation management strategy are as follows. a) Cost : The cost of a product or service decides the profit or loss of a company. In every market segment, there is a class of people who opt for low -cost product or service. So to compete on this basis, a company should produce goods and services which are of low- cost. b) Quality : Needless to mention, quality is a prioritiz ed element of any industry. Quality is classified into product quality and process quality. Product quality ensures better customer satisfaction and process quality make sure that products are defect free and is produced with total quality management. c) Speed of delivery : The speed with which a company delivers products and services to its customers decides the purchasing decision of a customer. The capability of a business firm to deliver products and services on a fast basis decides the price of their product and the company reputation. d) Flexibility : By the term flexibility, we mean that a company should offer various types of products and services to its customers. It also means how quickly a company can convert old products to new one to meet customer demands. These issues play an important role in understanding the challenges an operational manager can face in this competitive world. Challenges faced by Operational Managers a) Absence of Capital – Capital is the mai n resource of any business and this strengthen the foundation of a business. Capital is required from the launch of a business firm and al the strategic plans and operation of a business largely depend on capital availability. An operations manager needs enough capital to work in a full fledge way. An absence or lack of capital can restrict an operational manager in many ways. An operational manager with less available capital will contribute inferiorly to a business. Absence of capital can restrict an organization from many perspectives. A company with inefficient capital can offer fewer choices and solution to an operations manager. If a company is financially weak, the managers can dwindle on decision- making and planning proposals. b) Lack of efficient planning - Planning is crucial to business as it starts with proper intelligent planning. If planning is not proper, managers cannot align their functions with the goal of the firm. Planning needs to be extensive and if organizati onal leaders do not plan ahead of execution, then the business can doom to failure. If the basic decision - making is defective then an operations manager can do less about organizing and operating a company. An operations manager has the full responsibility of business functioning, if the planning is not well versed then the flow of business is interrupted