Principles of Operations Management by J.Heizer & B.Render - Essay Example

Creating an image thus refers to the process of determining the perception the organization seeks to influence on its different publics. The organization interacts differently with its different publics. Among the publics is its staff, the customers, shareholders and the media among others. The management of the organization must determine the perception that each of the groups have about its operations in order to maximize of profitability (Hill & Jones, 2011). In analyzing the importance and the process of image building, the author uses the metaphor of a porter who at the beginning of his crafting work has a piece of clay but must work and create a new product from the same.

The porter therefore conceptualizes an idea and determines the best way of executing through an appropriate design. In the metaphor, the author sees managers as artisans and the strategies they use to approach the various organizational publics as their clay. Just as the porter some must they employ the most appropriate strategies to earn the organization the best reputation among every audience group in order to sustain the organization’s profitability objective. Strategy determination is most important; the managers must determine an appropriate strategy of executing a plan of action with the view of achieving a particular objective.

The strategy is important to the artisan just as it is to the managers. The author of the article approaches the concept as a review of the organizations past performance and its plans for the future. In crafting a pot or nay other clay product, the craftsman will refer to his past works before infusing such thoughts with the future products. Using his past works as a reference to influence his current work, the porter thus creates a new product that best fits his objectives. The same scenario applies to managers who must make effective managerial decisions on an everyday basis.

The decisions the managers make influence the public’s perception about the organization. In doing this, the managers must therefore use their experiences at the organization. An analysis of past decisions provides managers with an effective and reliable reference points (Mintzberg, 1971). The managers thus refer to the outcomes of past decisions of the diverse publics the organization has before constructing a current decision, which must also reflect the organization’s future. While the future is always a gamble, the past on the contrary is concrete owing to the fact that the organization had previously experienced the same.

The managers thus make decision using the past reactions of the same publics but project such reactions on the future. In case of desirable reactions, the organization must improve on such with the view of increasing the scope of the organization’s acceptance among its specific publics. In case of an undesirable reaction by a particular public, the managers must seek to redress such by employing effective future decisions that best address all the points of weakness in the past decisions. The author asserts that managers must read the mind of the organization.

In doing this, the manager must assume the position of the specific public and therefore work on strategies that are effective enough to address their particular concerns about the organization. The process is cumbersome but requires an equally effective market research. Marketing is a management role concerned with the determination, identification and the sustainment of the customer’s demands from the market. Marketers as managers thus rely on the quality of their market researches to determine the future productions of the organization.

The same is the case with all other managers when determining the strategies of solving