Assignments

Operations and Service Management

Operations Management:

Operations management refers to the administration of business practices to create the highest level of efficiency possible within an organization. It is concerned with converting materials and labour into goods and services as efficiently as possible to maximize the profit of an organization.

The field of management that specializes in the physical production of goods or services and uses quantitative techniques for solving manufacturing problems.

Technical core = heart of the organization’s production of its product or service.

Manufacturing and Service Organizations:

Specific Responsibilities of Operations Management:

                        Operations management handles various strategic issues including determining the size of manufacturing plants and project management methods, and implementing the structure of information technology networks. Other operational issues include the management of inventory levels, including work-in-process levels and raw materials acquisition; quality control; materials handling; and maintenance policies. Operations management entails studying the use of raw materials and ensuring minimal waste occurs. Managers utilize numerous formulas such as the economic order quantity formula to determine when and how large of an inventory order to process and how much inventory to hold on hand

Services:

•      Corporate culture of an organization is the pattern of shared values, beliefs, and rules or patterns of common behaviour in the organization.

•       A service culture implies type of organizational culture that promotes kinds of behaviour in its employees that leads to high concern for serving its customers.

Zeithaml and Bitner (2003) define service culture as:

“Culture where an appreciation for good service exists, and where giving good service to internal as well as ultimate, external customers is considered a natural way of life and one of the most important norms by everyone.”

Organizational view of service:

•      Service philosophy or mission : The direction or vision of an organization that supports day-to-day interactions with the customer.

•      Employee roles and expectations: The specific communications or measures that indicate what is expected of employees in customer interactions and that define how employee service performance will be evaluated.

•      Delivery systems: The way an organization delivers its products and services.

•      Policies and procedures: The guidelines that establish how various situations or transactions will be handled.

•      Products and services: The materials, products, and services that are state of the art, competitively priced, and meet the needs of customers.

•      Management support: The availability of management to answer questions and assist front-line employees in customer interactions when necessary. Also, the level of management involvement and enthusiasm in coaching and mentoring professional development.

•      Motivators and rewards: Monetary rewards, material items, or feedback that prompts employees to continue to deliver service and perform at a high level of effectiveness and efficiency.

•      Training: Instruction or information provided through a variety of techniques that knowledge or skills, or attempt to influence employee attitude toward excellent service delivery.

The 16 principles of operations management by Dr. Richard Schonberger:

Dr. Richard J. Schonberger, renowned researcher of American manufacturing and author of the book “World Class Manufacturing: The Next Decade,” has become widely known in operations management by his set of 16 customer-focused principles.

• Team up with customers. Know what they buy and use, and organize product families accordingly.
• Continual, rapid improvement. Aim for non-stop improvement to always deliver the best quality, aim for a quicker response to customer demand, and always offer maximum flexibility. Thus, it gives more value, in a more flexible way.
• Unified purpose. Involve frontline employees in strategic discussions to make sure they understand the purpose of their work and have their say in what to change.
• Know the competition. Know their customers, their best practices, and their competitive edges.
• Focus. Allow no variations that the customers don’t buy or demand.
• Organize resources. Set priorities in organizing resources in a way the operations are close to the customer rate of use or demand.
• Invest in HR. Offer cross-training options, job rotation, and improvements in work safety and health. Also offer more rewards and recognitions.
• Maintain equipment. Always think of improvement of current assets first, instead of a new purchase.
• Simple “best” equipment. Keep the equipment as simple and flexible as possible, at a reasonable cost.
• Minimize human error. Improve the equipment and keep frontline workers accountable.
• Cut times. Shorten product path to customer by making processes and delivery faster.
• Cut setup. Be prepared to support different processes and get all information and tools ready for on-demand production.
• Pull system. Improve the workflow and cut the waste by producing on demand.
• Total quality control. Use only the best materials, processes, and partners.
• Fix causes. Focus on controlling the root causes that really affect cost and performance.
• Visibility management. Promote corporate achievements; let the market know about your improvements in competence or productivity.

References

1.                  Operation and Services Management,Retrieved on January  06,2017from

2.                  Operation Management,Retrieved on January           06,2017from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/operations-management.asp#ixzz4V0dGzmhO

3.                  Services Management,Retrieved on January  06,2017from

http://www.servicenow.com/solutions/service-management.html