Discipline in Academic Management - Term Paper Example

Operational Management: Principles and Concepts of Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Operation management as a discipline 4 Process stakeholders 5 Assessing process stakeholders needs 5 Incorporating corporate strategies 7 Six Sigma 8 Operation management opportunity 8 Recommended Solutions 10 Conclusion 11 References 12 Introduction Every business in the global word is striving to operate effectively in business activities. Managers are therefore seeking for various tools that will help them enhance their business performance and achieve greater returns from investment. Business process improvement requires following certain approaches with specific strategic objectives to achieve effectiveness in operation. Consideration to use this approach and its associated tools is essential because it helps in tracking process performance and to a greater extend assess quality of both inputs and outputs used by business (Harvard Business School Press, 2010). Evaluation of every step taken is vital since these steps will be reflected in the general company’s performance and effectiveness. Business process improvement considers several operating sections in a company which range from: supplier base selection and input purchasing activities, ordering process, inventory control, internal business processes, outcomes of the processes and even the company’s competitive position in the market and mind of its shareholders. The market is dynamic hence every process needs improvement to stay ahead of other competitors and generate returns to shareholders within a considerable time period. Companies faces different challenges hence these challenges became the triggers requiring the use of business process improvement tools. There is need for quality management where costs are reduced and revenues increased. This can only be done if the managers can identify specifically problematic performances which require carefully planned activities. The process steps therefore require identification with their details of demands associated with their performance before establishing an illustration for each process (Harvard Business School Press, 2010). Business process improvement is essential because it helps in standardizing processes so that there is a reflection of what is expected and what is actually in progress. Evaluation of such processes will be easy since results for every section of the process have been determined earlier enough and discrepancies in operation eliminated. This is only possible by efficient operation management. Operation management as a discipline This is an academic discipline classified as a subset of business studies. It is focussed on giving theoretical and practical studies of management where efficiency and effectiveness is realised in operation processes. Overseeing of how processes are undertaken helps managers to come up with appropriate designs that will increase efficiency in production. It is therefore required that in undertaking this academic field one should be able to understand how various company systems work and how as a manager one can redesign these systems of operation and make a change that will help the company realise its operations effectively. Management of physical functions of an organisation and even its technical function is very important since they will affect the existing main sections of an organization; production, manufacturing and development (Leseure, 2010). It incorporates the need to understand how designs and operation of systems is undertaken in production process. As a discipline various operation management sections are studied like planning, scheduling and control of various processes which specifically are directed in transforming outputs into outputs. It is a complex academic program which needs understanding of concepts and principals management at plant level, production, maintenance, industrial labour relation, cost control and more importantly critical analysis of organization process systems. Various tools and techniques which can be applied in such situation are also essential since they form the framework of study. Operation management when properly mastered will help in developing a company both at internal operations and at the market level and at the same time it will lead to various economic improvements in the society (Leseure, 2010). The discipline is fuses both art and applied science in its programs since well mastered concepts of operation management are of significant importance in the section of industrial engineering. Process stakeholders In any business environment, there are various individuals or groups that participate directly or indirectly in operation of an activity. The results of these activities affect these individuals both in a positive and a negative way. Every organization therefore has a mandate to determine and understand all stakeholders present in its environment of operation and how they are affected by activities conducted by the organization (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2012). It is required that in the process of maintaining performance and increasing returns of the company and its shareholders, managers should be in a position to maintain performance of the organizations activities at an adequate level where every stakeholder involved is not left worse off. Striking a balance of understanding and agreement will help in achieving the company’s corporate objective through ensuring that those to be affected negatively are highly considered and business is able to reduce these effects maximally to the point where it is considered considerable. Stakeholders have a certain influence on the strategic operation of the business since these strategic outcomes are used as a measure of the actual performance of the business. It is required to understand that all stakeholders have specific level of needs and a related rating that they consider as positive below or above which exceeded becomes negative to them. Stakeholders will fall under the following categories: 1) Organization (employees and shareholders); 2) Product market (customers-both primary and potential- and suppliers); 3) Capital market (investors and debtors); 4) Secondary stakeholders (community, environmental groups and government). All these stakeholders have their specific claims on performance of the company (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2012). Assessing process stakeholders needs Stakeholders under organization category expect that the company should be in a position to provide them with appropriate working conditions and specific remunerations according to tasks undertaken. Employees feel positive about the effects of the organization operations if they receive beneficial packages and well motivated to work. Managers should therefore understand how to strategize their operations to deliver these positive effects (Phillips, 2011). When these issues are not addressed, employees will be dissatisfied with their work and develop other means of ensuring that the organization comes to an understanding. This will include measures like strikes, poor performances. Stakeholders expect maximization of their wealth. All strategies therefore should be made considering this objective. When this is not realised, shareholders may make losses on capital injected in the business and might claim even closure of the business. In product market, customers expect to receive value for their money. Quality standardized goods and services should therefore be provided. If the company is reliable to provide these activities then there will be no negative effect. Un-standardized goods and consistent poor quality costly goods will affect customers. This will cause them to shift from using the products and even claim shutting down the firm for case of harmful goods (Sanjay Sharma, 2004). Suppliers that receive good pay and support will feel considered and strive to help the company. This is positive since they have an assured support and returns. They will be negatively affected if the company does not pay them on time and they receive no support from the firm. The only alternative will be to pull away from the firm and search market in other new sections which will be costly. In capital market both lenders and investors seek for wealth preservation (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2012). When returns are low, tradeoffs will be made where business will be stopped and even payment demanded by the lenders. They will be negatively affected if the company is not in a position to repay their dept and the accumulated interest even after liquidation is done. Secondary stakeholders will be affected positively if the firm follows all the rules and guidelines of conducting their activities. When taxes are paid, environment is protected and the company involves itself in corporate social responsibilities then this has a positive impact on secondary stakeholders. When the company does not follow rules of protecting the environment and consumers then activities of secondary stakeholders are affected negatively (Sanjay Sharma, 2004). The company should therefore be in a position to identify the negative effects that it will cause and correct them appropriately by various business process improvement tools. Incorporating corporate strategies Corporate strategies ensure that the company meets its objectives as specified. Incorporating of various business improvement techniques is one way forward to ensure that these corporate objectives are met. Lean considers that value for every activity should be the driving force when undertaking any process of that activity. Less input should be used in producing a greater amount of output. This involves using resources to the maximum. Lean as a tool will ensure that the corporate strategies are specific and any unnecessary process is eliminated. This is vital in elimination of budget busters. Acquisition of experts should be done so that every process is manned by qualified personnel able to detect and make changes whenever it is required. Lean strategies consider that various interconnected activities should be co-located so that when undertaking them collaboration should be possible (Harmon, 2003). This gives an issue of just-in-time strategy where departments should communicate well with the purchasing department so that when goods run out of store they should be replaced before they run out of stock. It is important in maintaining a buffer stock and understanding re-order levels and periods to keep the budget of the company at a safer place. Six Sigma The Six Sigma uses the six phases to execute activities and make changes in the business process. Managers should understand fully how all these phases operate and use them appropriately in guiding corporate strategies. It considers defining the problem in the process that requires improvement, changing or redesigning. This should be done in exhaustively so that the management does not end up solving another irrelevant issue. Understanding the extent of effect and what are required to make a change is essential since this will help you to know how the effect was caused at the first place and make necessary corrections. The Six Sigma indicates that if the management is able to critically analyze a current problem and understand the root cause of the problem, then setting up strategies that will help achieving the corporate objective will be easy (Sne & Hoerl, 2003). This tool of management ensures that the business process improvement activity is specific and guided having focus of attaining these objectives. Operation management opportunity Several opportunities and challenges will come along the way as a firm operates. Operation management requires that a firm develop strategies and appropriate plans to address these issues. Therefore, it should design a system which will help in achieving efficient operations. Managements ensuring that they place appropriate strategies that give a chance in utilizing these opportunities to the uttermost is hence of much business to the organization. System designed will help improve quality and quantity of output produced. Time will also be addressed since consideration of conducting activities just in time will be very effective (Leseure, 2010). The system design should be able to incorporate the available level of technology efficiently in the process so as to give an outcome that best defines the corporate strategies of the business. The design system affects so many issues like product design, process design, and facility design which are directly linked to the outcome product that reflects the effectiveness of the implemented strategies. Business process improvements E- Commerce workflow diagram This is a simple flow chat that helps in illustrating the flow of tasks or appropriate action required to be undertaken by different department to successfully complete the process. An issue is identified that a customer requires a product but they are far from location of the company. A customer care department is contacted and an online order is place which later requires verification of transaction through a credit card. The company stores the information of the customer, processes it and informs the warehouse to take certain products to assurance department before it is shipped to the client. All this flow of information should be consistent and every expert in different department should be in a position to give full contents of what is required. Once the system is fully set, the strategies can be implemented Recommended Solutions Managers should be keen to identify the cause of a problem or areas that need specific changes. The problems may range from poor quality services or wastages like time and over budgeting due to expenses (Harmon, 2003). Identification of areas that give rise to these problems should be done carefully and accurately. Appropriate tools for solving the problem should be chosen so that it is able to give a whole procedure to go about with solving that issue (Sne & Hoerl, 2003). It should be in a position to give measures that will help in evaluating success of every stage completed. Analysis of data needs to be accurate. Determining the actual variables that need to be used and what the firm actually have will go hand in hand with successful implementation of the set strategies. These options are vital because they form the basis of the improvement process. Any mistake in problem identification automatically locks out the organization from achieving its desired state. Implementation of wrong strategies due to lack of appropriate analysis of data and identification of problems means that capital will be wasted and the issue will not have resolved (Leseure, 2010). Even when the solutions to the issues have well been identified and correct information gathered, if the organization cannot use the correct tools to implement the strategies, results will not be met. Conclusion Implementation of this issues means that the organization is set to work efficiently and achieve the corporate objective. A set objective which has been well figured out from information that was accurate has high chances of giving an outcome that is positive to the measures. Time will be saved since the issue will have been resolved. Business process improvement therefore requires that specific elements be considered by managers to try and effect the change. Operation management is vital in ensuring that appropriate skills and knowledge is applied accordingly where required so that the outcomes of activities will reflect the effectiveness of the organization in its operation (Harvard Business School Press, 2010). References Carroll, A. B., & Buchholtz, A. K. (2012). Business & Society: Ethics, Sustainability, and Stakeholder Management. U.S.A: Cengage Learning. Harmon, P. (2003). Business Process Change: A Managers Guide to Improving, Redesigning, and Automating Process. San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. Harvard Business School Press. (2010). Improving Business Processes. United States of America: Harvard Business School Press. Leseure, M. (2010). Key Concepts in Operations Management. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications Inc. Phillips, R. A. (2011). Stakeholder Theory. Cheltenham, U.S.A: Edward Elgar Publishing Inc. Sanjay Sharma, M. S. (2004). Stakeholders, The Environment And Society. Clentenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. Sne, R. D., & Hoerl, R. W. (2003). Leading Six Sigma: A Step-by-Step Guide Based on Experience with GE and other Six Sigma Companies. U.S.A: Pearson Eduacation Inc. Read More