Introduction
The general management of the business entity’s major operational activities is called Operations Management (OM). It is usually associated with the manufacturing of the goods or implementation of services. However, the range of problems and issues that operations management carries out greatly depends on the type of organization and its authority distribution (Jacobs, 1998). OM deals with the design and management of products, processes, services and supply chains. OM is a critical importance of organization and business nowadays. It considers the acquisition, development, and utilization of resources that firms need to deliver the goods and services their clients want. OM ranges from strategic to tactical and operational levels. Strategic issues include determining the size and location of manufacturing plants, deciding the structure of service or telecommunications networks, and designing technology supply chains. Tactical issues include plant layout and structure, project management methods, and equipment selection and replacement. Operational issues include production scheduling and control, inventory management, quality control and inspection, traffic and materials handling, and equipment maintenance policies.
Furthermore, OM focuses on carefully managing the processes to produce and distribute products and services. Overall activities often include product creation, development, production and distribution. Related activities also contains managing purchases, inventory control, quality control, storage, logistics and evaluations. A great deal of focus is on efficiency and effectiveness of processes. Therefore, operations management often includes substantial measurement and analysis of internal processes. Ultimately, the nature of how operations management is carried out in an organization depends very much on the nature of products or services in the organization like the retail, manufacturing, wholesale, etc.
Concepts and Theories
Operations management concepts and theories are derived from the general management theories like planning, coordinating, organizing and controlling. General management theories are employed to improve the efficiency of the personnel and that of the organization. On the other hand, OM theories are applied to make available all the necessary inputs required to complete a project, within the specified time and budget (Cohen & Lee 1989). OM in the real sense involves the timely delivery of inputs required for a project and careful planning. In OM, planning involves the setting of goals and objectives, analyzing available alternatives, selecting the best available alternative, selecting an appropriate execution plan and developing contingency plans (Vollman et al, 1992). Another important aspect of OM is coordination. It strives to achieve better coordination between the various entities related to the project. These include the suppliers, project managers, site engineers, technicians and others (Dewitts,1996). OM requires all the related entities to share critical information with each other, on a regular basis. This enables the development of new contingency plans, in case there are any proposed changes to the original plan of action. The basic management concept of organizing is used extensively in OM. It involves the procurement of all the necessary inputs, at the right place and at the right time. In organizing, the focus is on following a pre-determined plan. This may require the project mangers to confirm to some basic requirements of the quality and quantity of inputs required for the project (Houlihan, 1985). OM has acquired great significance in the recent years due to an increase in the number of trans-national companies, whose operations are spread across the continents. It helps in developing the synergies between the various operations that are separated by time and space. OM has enabled many companies to set up production and manufacturing at cost effective locations and source the required inputs from locations where procurement costs are low.
The Importance of Database in OM
One of the useful and effective tools to help decision-making process of executives, managers, and decision-makers is database. Database is the organized collection of facts and information. Usage of it in an organization contain facts and information on customers, employees, inventories, sales information, the designing and development of product information, raw material information, costs of operating and materials, payroll, tracking of the orders, jobs, phone calls, and much more (Kroenke, 1997). Managers use database to keep track of all those business records and information and even organize complex information. Database also provides executives and managers the knowledge of competitor sales and prices of customers, customer demands, suppliers, and market environments. In addition, another importance of database is that it allows multiple people to access the database simultaneously from multiple computers. Thus, everybody in organization can get the information from the database and share vital information to each other simultaneously, keep one user's work from interfering with another work. Database is also increasingly used to create and maintain multimedia applications for businesses and organizations.
Conclusion
The utmost reason of all these initiatives is to facilitate the transfer of goods, from the point of procurement to the point of production at the least possible cost. Even though operations management depends a lot on the human factor, it does not intend to improve the efficiency of personnel associated with a project. The core objective of OM is to ensure the availability of all the necessary inputs. The cost of procuring goods and services is greatly considered, but this is usually taken care of by the cost management team or the strategy employed by the company. The measurement and evaluation of operations is usually undertaken through a process of business appraisal. Ultimately, OM is no longer limited to corporate organizations and is increasingly being employed by other organizations as well. One such organization is the postal department, who is using it to offer better services to customers. The maintenance, control, and improvement of organizational activities that are required to produce goods or services for consumers are the basic concept of OM. The increased use of OM is a proof of the effectiveness of OM concepts and theories in reducing operational costs and increasing the efficiency of business processes.
References
Dewitts, S D 1996. System Analysis And Design And The Transition To Objects, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Kroenke, D 1997, Database Processing, Prentice Hall, New Jersey.
Jacobs, C A 1998, Production and Operations Management, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Cohen, M & Lee, H 1989, ‘Resource Deployment Analysis of Global Manufacturing and Distribution Networks’, Journal of Manufacturing and Operations Management, vol. 67, no. 7, pp. 187-194.
Houlihan, J B 1985, ‘International Supply Chain Management’, International Journal of Physical Distribution and Materials Management, vol. 31, no. 5 pp. 143-149.
Vollman, T E, Berry, W. L. & Whybark, D C 1992, ’Manufacturing Planning and Control Systems’,Journal of Manufacturing and Operations Management, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 389-392.
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