The role of knowledge in operation mamagement - Essay Example

The role of knowledge in Operations Management The success of business operations is highly depended on the organizational environment, meaning both the internal and the external environment of each organization. Usually, different approaches are used by firms for securing the effectiveness of their operations. Knowledge has been found to have a critical role in the success of the above effort. Current paper explores the role of knowledge in operations management. Each side of operations management is presented and evaluated, as of its dependency on knowledge.

It is revealed that knowledge can play a decisive role in operations management even if the level of involvement of knowledge in the development of a firm’s operations is not standardized, as analyzed below. In order to understand the relationship between operations management it would be necessary to refer to the role of operations management, as a critical business function. According to Barnes (2008) operations management refers to the management ‘of activities that produce the goods and/ or delivered the services required by customers’ (Barnes 2008, p.24). It is explained that operations management can cover an extended area of the business, being related to the management of organizational assets, the management of staff and the management of costs, at the level that the above business functions are involved in the development of a firm’s daily operations (Barnes 2008, p.24). At the same time, operations management can be quite complex incorporating a high range of activities, depending on a firm’s structure and its goals (Loader 2007).

Brown et al. (2012) explain that operations management is usually divided into four major categories, represented by ‘4Ps’ (Brown et al. 2012, p.5), a term used for representing the words: ‘Policies, Practices, Processes and Performance’ (Brown et al. 2012, p.5). In this context, the involvement of knowledge in operations management could be understood by referring, separately, to each of the above functions, as incorporated in operations management. Policies incorporate the following parts of business operations: ‘aims, objectives and strategies’ (Brown et al. 2012, p.5).

Knowledge is closely related to the specific aspect of operations management in the following way: by acquiring the knowledge required for understanding the market trends and challenges, an organization can develop its aims and objectives so that they are feasible (Brown et al. 2012, p.5). For example, before the establishment of a particular organization it is necessary for its founders to develop a market research in order to check which market area has more prospects. Also, through the market research, the founders of an organization could decide on the content of their organization’s goals, both in the short and the long term.

At the next level, an extensive research would be developed so that the strategies for achieving these goals are retrieved (Brown et al. 2012, p.5). These strategies would be designed and applied, after evaluating the conditions in the internal and the external organizational environment. The information retrieved through appropriate research would have a critical role in the development of the above task. For example, the SWOT analysis and the PESTLE analysis, are strategic tools that help towards the introduction of effective business strategies using information retrieved through research, both in the internal and the external organizational environment (Brown et al. 2012, p.5).

At the next level, Policies are necessary in order to identify the Practices that would help towards the realization of business strategies (Brown et al. 2012, p.5). Practices can incorporate a variety of elements, such as ‘technology, procedures and skills’ (Brown et al. 2012, p.5). In other words, Processes, as part of operations management is usually incorporated in Practices. The people involved in the identification of technology required for the development of business operations need to be aware of the technological advances related to the particular sector.

They also need to be appropriately educated and skilled so that they are able to identify the Processes that would be used. Thus, knowledge plays a key role in the identification of the Practices and Processes that should be involved in daily business operations. Furthermore, it is necessary that the performance of the organization will be kept at high levels. Employees involved in daily business operations have to be aware of the IT systems they handle but also of the demands of each business strategy (Karlsson 2009).

In this context, knowledge helps an organization’s operations to be developed on time and within the cost estimated in advance (Brown et al. 2012, p.6). According to the issues discussed above, operations management is necessarily depended on knowledge. Still, the power of knowledge to enhance a firm’s operations is related to the skills and competencies of operations managers. The latter can choose to take initiatives and use innovation for keeping the standard of their firm’s operations high.

In any case, knowledge can offer the basis for the development of operations management, in all its sides, as explained above. It should be noted that the benefits of knowledge on a firm’s operations management may not be clear, especially in the short term. In addition, operations managers may fail to promote the appropriate plan for the effective incorporation of knowledge in all business operations. Still, a close examination of a firm’s operations reveals the decisive role of knowledge in the success of the various aspects of operations management, as a key organizational function.

References Barnes, D., 2008. Operations Management: An International Perspective. Belmont: Cengage Learning EMEA. Brown, S., Blackmon, K., Cousins, P. and Maylor, H., 2012. Operations Management: Policy, Practice and Performance Improvement. London: Routledge. Karlsson, C., 2009. Researching Operations Management. Oxon: Taylor & Francis. Loader, D., 2007. Advanced Operations Management. 2nd ed. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.