General Management

Operations Management

Operations Management

Business Management
Consultancy

Operations management involves producing the right amount of a goods or services, at the right time, of the right quality and at the right cost to meet the customer requirements.

Every organisation has an operations function, whether or not it is called ‘operations'. The goal or purpose of most organisations involves the production of goods or services. To do this, they have to procure resources, convert them into outputs and distribute them to their intended users. The term operations embraces all the activities required to create and deliver an organisation's goods or services to its customers or clients.

Within large and complex organisations operations is usually a major functional area, with people specifically designated to take responsibility for managing all or part of the organisation's operations processes. It is an important functional area because it plays a crucial role in determining how well an organisation satisfies its customers. In the case of private-sector companies, the mission of the operations function is usually expressed in terms of profits, growth and competitiveness. In public and voluntary organisations, it is often expressed in terms of providing value for money.

Operations management is concerned with the design, management, and improvement of the systems that create the organisation's goods or services. The majority of organisations' financial and human resources are invested in the activities involved in making products or delivering services. Operations management is therefore critical to organisational success.

Skills required include strong communication, interpersonal skills and analytical skills, ability to make decisions and good commercial awareness.

Useful links:

The Institute of Operations Management