Operations Management Issues and Proposed Solutions - Term Paper Example

Operations Management Issues and Proposed Solutions Operations management is a term that is used to describe a fieldof management that is tasked with supervision, designing and control of the production process. It also entails the redesigning of business practices and operations in the production process of goods and services. Information technology (IT) involves the use and application of telecommunication and computer software and equipment to store, manage, transmit and manipulate information or data. In today’s world, IT has been become a key component of every aspect of human existence and their activities. In business, IT has revolutionized the way that business operations are executed by increasing capacity, speed, efficiency and the overall scope of entrepreneurship. Aspects of IT are incorporated into almost all stages that are involved in the production process of goods and services, making it an integral and necessary requirement in business operations. IT has emerged to become a necessary component of operations management where it plays in a key role in enhancing the effectiveness of human resources and operational efficiency of a business. Incorporation of IT in operations management is a sure way of ensuring there is an increased chance of success in the production process for goods and services. Characteristics of IT in operations management include increasing capacity through automation of processes, advances in logistical support and better communication. Despite a myriad of benefits accrued from IT in business operations, there are several challenges that are encountered with reference to IT in business operations. This paper seeks to discuss operations management issues and proposed solutions related to information technology. Problem/Issue. CAG Inc. deals with gaming products that are heavily reliant on technology that is required to, design, produce and run gaming software and programs involved therein. Applications are computer software that is used to operate and run computer programs on computers, mobile devices and other mobile communication appliances. Application software is dependent on the presence of a working internet connection that is maintained and supported by the networks team. The illustrated non-communication and cooperation by the networks and applications team is a recipe for disaster. This is in terms of failures in coordination of vital information on the performance of new products off the production line. There is an increased need to have more integration within work domains because of the high technical content of the subject that is interlinked and interconnected through IT (Brocke 198). A failure by one department translates to a failure by the whole production team because all departments are dependent on one another for success. This requires proper process monitoring and management to ensure comprehensive process management by basing these decisions on calculations of economic effects (Brocke 282). This should be done in an interactive manner ensuring that not only are the employees involved, but also the managers and stakeholders are involved to guarantee harmony in attitude towards the company’s goals. Perspective. The proper and effective use and application of IT in operations management is faced with numerous challenges that if not addressed sufficiently lead to erosion of quality operations. This is a concern that has been voiced by quality assurance departments within and without the company. This is because the effect of the breakdown in communication has been reflected in the quality of service and products produced from the two above mentioned departments. The nature of CAG Inc.’s business operations require excellent logistical support to ensure their services and products are efficiently delivered to their customers. Process management in the company is dependent upon the success of its IT in terms of application and utilization. Evaluation of the company’s communication capabilities and their effect on process management has identified an anomaly that could have detrimental results on the firm’s capabilities. It has been established that the different groups in the IT department are not communicating properly. For example, the networks team does not notify the applications department about failures or issues in networks efficiency and effectiveness. This leads to unnecessary hardship on the application’s group to resolve issues and problems as they arise. The lack of effective communication between these two vital groups in the company’s overall productive is bound to negatively impact on production and sales for the firm’s products. Causes. There are various barriers towards effective and efficient communication in an organization, and the identification of these factors marks the first step towards solving this problem. Communication is the key to the success of any organisation ad barriers to effective communication jeopardize this aspect of opportunity. In any organisation, there are various barriers that present themselves to hamper and hinder effective communication. This is due to the fact it is in human nature for there to be variations in their mode of communicating with each other. Perceptual barriers. Perceptual barriers to effective communication arise from differences in opinion ranging from how things should be done or the reason behind the colour of the sky (Brocke 134). Emotional barriers. According to Brocke, emotional barriers to proper communication are caused by fear and lack of trust which can hamper leadership efforts in departments with team leaders and supervisors. Language barrier. Language barrier should be a common denominator in the case of CAG Inc. because of its global perspective and clientele (Brocke 63). Due to this fact, some customers might find that some of their needs and wants are well provided for by the products they receive after placing an order. Cultural barriers. Cultural barriers also pose as a problem to effective communication within an organisation because people from different cultures attach different meanings to similar phrases and terms of expression. This leads to misunderstandings between individuals in the same department or across departmental offices. Cultural barriers are caused by religious, ideological and traditional aspects between two individuals who come from different backgrounds (Brocke 110). Physical barriers. These are an example of a tangible barrier to communication that is easily understood which makes it easy to deal with in the short term. Solving the Operations Management Problem. A careful assessment and evaluation of CAG Inc.’s production operations yields information that can be used to determine which activities fall under the networks department and applications department. The applications department in CAG Inc.’s designs assembles and operates online lottery systems with the support of the networks department. The lottery systems, terminals and communications networks are monitored by the networks department. Self-service lottery machines operate on applications developed by the applications department. Game design and content, instant printing and interactive and promotional gaming capabilities is also under the responsibility of the applications department. Collaborative and Synergistic Coordination. All these services as mentioned above require the collaborative and synergistic coordination between the two departments. This is because the successful production in one department can only be feasible if the input of the other related department contributes cooperatively. The networks and applications departments should work in tandem to ensure the successful completion of projects that fall under their domain. Proper and Effective Communication. The proper and effective communication between the two departments can be due to various factors in the company that work to creating an environment that is not conducive for effective communication. Identification of these factors and formulating strategies and policies that will work towards re-establishing effective communication between the departments will be the only way to ensure that the company continues to enjoy its position as a market leader in its field or operations. Alternative Strategies. 1. Develop a notification policy 2. Increase communication between both the groups 3. Taking vertical structural group and make it horizontal integration. 4. Integrate Process and Product technology 5. Do Nothing Implementation of Alternative Strategies. Strategy #1. Develop a Notification Policy. Impact & Analysis: CAG being one of the largest Gaming and Lottery operator has found it to be quite challenging to discover hardware on CAG network and find the new systems (Physical or Virtual) and bring them under the monitoring purview. The company has evaluated quite of few off the shelf products like Whatsup gold, Nagios, Cacti, Zabbix etc. These entire products provide the ability to discover and track the health and performance of servers on company's network over time; Diagnose and resolve impending problems before they impact end users; quickly identify both under and over utilized resources; rapidly troubleshoot and recover from systems failure when it occurs. One of the biggest challenges with these products is that they are not compatible with Lottery terminals. A notification policy will work towards adding value to CAG’s services to its customers because it will increase efficiency and reduce the response time in addressing difficulties. Strategy #2. Increase Communication Between both Groups. Impact & Analysis: Communication and participation of all the pertinent players in a synergistic process increases the administrative, social and official support for a project at any stage of the production process (Brocke 84). The manner in which information is exchanged between the two interdependent departments is crucial for the success of the projects undertaken by either of the departments. This is because a project by one of the departments does not mean that the other department’s participation and contribution is required or necessary the successful completion of the project. There are a broad range of measures that can be instituted to improve and encourage greater cooperation from the two differing departments. These include: Participatory workshops. 3d simulation. Excursions. Information markets. Exhibitions. Publications. All of these are interventions are aimed at attracting interdepartmental support (Brocke 213). Improving communication in an organization ensures that employees are satisfied with an organization’s goals, and encourages them to work actualizing these goals. Policies processes should be instituted to ensure the timely and effective communication of bad news and dissent to avoid the scenario where employees keep vital information from their employer (Brocke 123). The use of technology should not be seen as an impediment to effective communication within and without an organization. It should instead be viewed as an opportunity to improve communication channels between employees and their employers. In CAD Inc., there is the use of IT in almost every aspect of their activities towards production of their goods and services. IT in organizational communication should be used to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of communication channels between departments. The lack of effective communication between the application and networks departments should be resolved by reviewing the interdepartmental communication policies. This review should be used to root out problems and bottlenecks caused by out of date policies. Employees should be inducted through regular orientation and update classes or training sessions on new modes and mediums of communication. Communication should be seen as the lifeline for any effective and successful process manager and it should be their solemn duty to ensure that communication channels and policies are efficiently managed. The future sustainability of CAG Inc.’s position as a market leader in gaming technologies in Italy and the rest of the world depends on the immediate resolution of bottlenecks in organizational communication. Strategy #3.  Taking vertical structural group and make it horizontal integration. Impact & Analysis: Changing the organizational structure of the company especially in production from vertical integration to horizontal integration will create both new opportunities and challenges for the company. In the context of this paper, changing from a vertical structural group to horizontal integration will work towards improving communication barriers within the organization. Horizontal organization empowers employee to make their own decisions and collaboration occur seamlessly. In this organizational format, employees have open contact with each other without the rigid compartmentalization experienced in vertical organizational structures. Vertical organizational structures slow down communication between departments and from employees to management. This is in contrast to communication in horizontal organizations where flow of information is organic and easily gets form one group to another. Switching to a horizontal organizational structure in its production process will see CAG solve its communication problem because all departments will operate independently but towards achieving a common overall objective. Strategy #4. Integrate process and product technology. Impact & Analysis: Advances in information technology have created more complexity and with it increased complications in defining costs and risks. CAG claims to be a technology company which employs high calibre and a technically skilled workforce. One of the proposed strategies is to consider building the system monitoring product in house with resources from both Information systems and technology groups. In order to proceed in this direction, the management needs to understand specific business processes and take into account strategic goals, external partners, and required systems support—all of which deserve thorough investigation. They also need to evaluate common business factors—such as project and business validation—before choosing the right solution approach. There are some inherent advantages to develop in house product like leveraging skilled workforce internal to the company as they tend to be cheaper due to IT department being a sunk cost. Additionally, this approach bolsters buying from all the stakeholders from both the departments thus making them accountable in utilizing this product. Also, the product can be tailor made to CAG specific requirements and build to fit with in-house existing systems. Strategy #5.Do Nothing. Impact & Analysis: By doing nothing about the current issue will not have any effect on the current situation. The current problem will continue to exist and would lead to lower productivity and financial loss to CAG. Preferred Strategy The preferred alternative would be to combine some of the strategies outlined above. Basically the preferred strategy will be combination of Strategy #2 (Increase communication between both the groups) and Strategy #4 (Integrate process and product technology). Strategy #2 will be enhanced by the adoption of a horizontal organizational structure for CAG in its operations at all levels of production. Under this proposed organizational structure, employees will be free to make their decisions with regard to the best practices according the CAG’s policies and regulations. Employees will not be obligated to work with individuals they have effective communication problems with; they instead will be able to choose and decide whom to work with for optimum performance ad output. The open contact between employees encouraged by a horizontal organizational structure will enable them to make collaborative solutions that work for their own good and their work. Strategy #4 entails integrating product process and technology, which works towards delivering significant value to customers an aspect that is critical to achieving success in the marketplace. The systematic application of specific building blocks of technology into the production process that are intrinsic to CAG’s professional line of production in gaming technology. Formulation of an integrated process and product technology framework is not enough or sufficient to guarantee success. It requires competent strategizing and implementation that is guided by CAG’s core values and objectives of remaining a market leader in its line of operations and business. The adoption of these proposals will result increased profit margins for the CAG as a company and improve the general wellbeing of its employees at the work place. Work Cited. Brocke, J. V. & Rosemann, M. Handbook on Business Process Management 2: Strategic Alignment, Governance, People and Culture. Illustrated Edition. New York: Springer. 2010. Print. Read More