Write a report evaluating the role of the Operations Manager Focusing on areas of responsibility How he/she might be influenced by differing process requirements What they might focus upon to improve the performance of their organisation - Essay Example

THE ROLE OF THE OPERATIONS MANAGER by Introduction The role that an Operations Manager (OM) performs is important. These roles differ from one company to the other depending on the responsibility of the OM and organizational objectives. An OM ensures that a project performs the intended purpose and in the required quality. An OM also supervises other personnel that are involved in the operation and the resources involved in it to make it a success through actual implementation and delivery (Hill, 2000: 21).

Operations management requires that an OM collaborates with other members of the organization including the various departments that work together for the overall success of the organization. The operations manager has to do certain roles that include engaging with various people including consumers, existing staff, suppliers and relevant stakeholders and make this interaction an important contribution to the organizational objectives. The field of operations management is an area of management that addresses business issues in diverse ways, but with one objective of meeting the organizational objectives (Hill, 2000: 27).

This means that an operations manager will design, oversee and control the production process and all the procedures vital in the production of services and goods. The Role of an OM An operations manager does numerous roles in an organization. First, an operations manager must align the available resources with efficiency required by the organization in the sense that an OM must ensure that all activities must be done in line with the available resources without wastage. Secondly, the saying that ‘the customer is always right’ applies to the roles of an OM.

An OM must ensure that consumer demands and present requirements are met fully and that the consumer is satisfied by the operations of the organization. Therefore, an OM must ensure that labor input and resources produce valuable goods and/ or services. Operations managers have to clearly understand the objectives of the organization that they are in and develop a vision in line with that and determine how operations will help the organization meet those objectives (Farnen, 2014). They also have to develop an operations strategy because of the many decision-making roles that operations require.

The OM is therefore tasked with differing roles such as general management; equipment maintenance management; system and productivity analysis; cost and production control; factory management and materials plan. An OM must enhance a company’s overall competitiveness using good communication of organizational strategies (Roger, 1996: 355). Influences by Differing Process Requirements As indicated earlier in, OMs have to manage and advance the plans and policies of operations strategy and enhance the organization’s metrics.

OMs might be influenced by differing process requirements in different ways. First, an OM can be influenced by differing requirements in the sense that an organization may have inadequate resources yet expect much from the said resources. As such, an OM might be forced to work within the minimal resources in operations and fail to add value to the organization. Secondly, an organization may be used to unethical ways of doing things, for instance corruption in operations. Therefore, an OM might be required to take up this behavior in his roles and responsibilities thereby weakening his or her integrity.

This might influence the OM to focus on aspects that are not helpful in the realization of organizational objectives. Thirdly, an OM might experience a situation where all senior managers or stakeholders want to put their differing inputs in operations. This might influence the OM because such a situation will not give him or her adequate space to implement his own strategies. In addition, this might influence the OM to use more time in operations that could have taken lesser time, thus encouraging wastage of time as a resource.

This might also lead to wastage of actual resources as the OM tries to put all the stakeholders input in to the operations (Richen & Steinhorst, 2005:23). Differing process requirements might come in terms of differences in terms of which resources should be used or which amounts should be allocated to the operations. This might influence an OM to the extent that he may fail to deliver on his roles and responsibilities because of such confusions and arguments. What they might focus upon to improve the performance of their organization OMs must focus on the achievement of optimal flexibility, in terms of product quality mix and volume thresh hold.

Planning, controlling and reporting functionalities make it possible for the OM to implement different aspects concerned with the work (Chase, Jacobs & Aquilano, 2007: 35). This will be useful especially in a scenario where differing process requirements exist such that it will allow for the incorporation of different views into the operations for the improvement of operation’s efficiency, quality and levels of service provision. An OM should focus on the specific tasks required, as opposed to the differing requirements.

Despite the fact that differing process requirements could be important, the ultimate issue should be the operations. This is dependent on the nature, as well as size/scale of the enterprise in focus. Therefore, an OM must show potential success by presenting a collection of interpersonal and business skills in to task planning, supervision, communication and modification (Roger, 1996: 356). An OM must ensure that resource management is at its best so that even if the firm has inadequate resources, the resources present are used sparingly and effectively to achieve the optimum result that reflects the organization’s objectives.

Resource management will include aspects of purchasing and supply, oversight of the organizations inventory, the cost control, budgeting and financial management of the entity (Roger, 1996: 359). The OM must ensure that the required resources are used in the intended areas and for the intended purpose He or she must conduct cost-benefit analysis in line with organizational objectives and goals. This will help in terms of sustainability and in the long-run in the success of the organization as a whole entity (Roger, 1996: 365).

Conclusion The OM has a significant role to play in the success of an organization because organizations engage in different operations in a daily basis and are meant for the fulfillment of the organization’s objectives. As part of his or her responsibilities, an OM must understand issues that might affect the organizational performance and competitiveness especially in operations and work to alleviate such issues. The OM must work around the differing process requirements to ensure that the final outcome of operations is sustainable, efficient and reflects the organizational goals and objectives.

The OM must also have a contingency plan that he or she can apply in case direct options do not work. Reference List Chase, RB, Jacobs, F R & Aquilano, NJ 2007, Operations Management for Competitive Advantage, (11th Ed.). McGraw-Hill. Farnen, K 2014, The Role of an Operations Manager. The Houston Chronicle: Small Business [Managing Employees]. Retrieved from: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/role-operations-manager-14234.html Hill, T 2000, Manufacturing Strategy-Text and Cases, (3rd Ed.). McGraw Hill.

Richen, A., & Steinhorst, A. (2005). Standardization or harmonization? you need both. European Health Informatics (November 2005). Roger WS 1996, How Can Service Businesses Survive and Prosper? Sloan Management Review, 27(3): 354-75.