The Field of Production and Operations Management - Essay Example

As Hill writes, "top management determines quality priorities, establishes the systems of quality, management and the procedures to be followed, provides resources and leads by example" (Hill, 1991). The concept emerged from the work in statistical quality control at the Western Electric Hawthorne plant in the 1930s and was associated with the work of W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran (Chase, Jacobs, 2003). It was introduced to Japan by the Americans as the occupying force in the immediate post-war era and found its greatest expression in the Japanese manufacturing industry.

Literature review. Two themes in the research literature have been particularly prominent in recent years: "the ways of improvement" as a source of service planning and the debate over the different methods and models of successful production techniques. Up-to-date scholarship on both of these themes is reflected in recent researches by R.B. Chase, R.F. Jacobs (2003), N. Slack, S. Chambers, R. Johnston (2003), D. Dow (1999), etc. In their works, these authors develop a new theoretical approach that can be applied to practice.

The works provide a lot of examples of management teams and their experience in TQM. These researches join the theoretical and practical side of strategy, giving recommendations for improvement in the TQM to ensure customer satisfaction. "Production and A big layer of literature concerning this topic belong to such gurus as T. Hill" Production and Operation Management: Text and Cases" (1991), N. D. Harris "Service Operations Management" (1989). Their theoretical studies on improvements based on TQM, sustainable competitive advantage, the role of standards, etc, are still the basis of any research in the field of production and operations management.

They examine and discuss the role of different companies for product and service improvement can successfully use TQM. Internal factors. Monitoring of the environment is an important method that helps to search for new trends in operations management. Managers should take into account internal and external factors that influence a potential consumer. The policy of implement restructuring sooner rather than later was proved to be correct. There are no two customers with similar requirements, that is why operations management must respond to different customer needs.