Chapter 1 The Operations Function
Chapter 1
The Operations Function
Teaching Notes This chapter is aimed at providing an overall framework for the textbook, the field of operations management (OM), and a brief introduction of supply chain management. The chapter provides a framework that serves as a beneficial way of organizing students' understanding of major operations management decisions: process, quality, capacity, and inventory. The cross-functional view of operations management and supply chain management is also introduced in this chapter to provide relevance for the course. When operations management is related to marketing and finance, as a major business function, the students more readily understand the role of operations in business.
In teaching this chapter, I highlight the four decision areas in the OM field and the importance of cross-functional decision making. I also spend some time discussing the importance of both services and manufacturing, and how business operations are managed within larger, multi-organization supply chains. I introduce the concept of contingencies and explain that the textbook includes information of when particular OM activities are ‘best practices’ and when they are not. Finally, I illustrate major OM decisions using the Pizza U.S.A. example, as well as in other types of businesses. Students may find the typical jobs in OM from Monster.com (in an Chapter 1 Operations Leader box) interesting.
Some of the references that might be particularly helpful for different perspectives of the field are the books by Jacobs, Chase and Aquilano (2010), Heizer and Render (2010), and Stevenson (11. The book by Wren (2011) provides historical background on the evolution of management thought.
Answers to Questions
1. Operations management is ubiquitous, that is, present in every organization. Daily, we come in contact with various goods and services produced by the transformation of inputs to outputs under the control of operations
The Operations Function
Teaching Notes This chapter is aimed at providing an overall framework for the textbook, the field of operations management (OM), and a brief introduction of supply chain management. The chapter provides a framework that serves as a beneficial way of organizing students' understanding of major operations management decisions: process, quality, capacity, and inventory. The cross-functional view of operations management and supply chain management is also introduced in this chapter to provide relevance for the course. When operations management is related to marketing and finance, as a major business function, the students more readily understand the role of operations in business.
In teaching this chapter, I highlight the four decision areas in the OM field and the importance of cross-functional decision making. I also spend some time discussing the importance of both services and manufacturing, and how business operations are managed within larger, multi-organization supply chains. I introduce the concept of contingencies and explain that the textbook includes information of when particular OM activities are ‘best practices’ and when they are not. Finally, I illustrate major OM decisions using the Pizza U.S.A. example, as well as in other types of businesses. Students may find the typical jobs in OM from Monster.com (in an Chapter 1 Operations Leader box) interesting.
Some of the references that might be particularly helpful for different perspectives of the field are the books by Jacobs, Chase and Aquilano (2010), Heizer and Render (2010), and Stevenson (11. The book by Wren (2011) provides historical background on the evolution of management thought.
Answers to Questions
1. Operations management is ubiquitous, that is, present in every organization. Daily, we come in contact with various goods and services produced by the transformation of inputs to outputs under the control of operations