Operations Management Quarter

Operations Management Quarter (hereinafter, the Quarter) is the first of four lectures of Operations Quadrivium (hereinafter, the Quadrivium):

• The Quarter is designed to introduce its learners to enterprise discovery, or, in other words, to concepts related to obtaining data needed to administer the enterprise effort; and
• The Quadrivium examines concepts of administering various types of enterprises known as enterprise administration as a whole.

The Quadrivium is the first of seven modules of Septem Artes Administrativi, which is a course designed to introduce its learners to general concepts in business administration, management, and organizational behavior.

Outline

The predecessor lecture is Process Engineering Quarter.

Concepts

1. Operations management. Practice and a set of concepts, based on that practice, that define culture of managing of operations.
   • Operations management. The transformation process that converts resources into finished goods and services.
   • Operations (or Ongoing operations). Repetitive enterprise efforts undertaken in order to create a specified deliverable or a batch of specified deliverables using already designed process.
   • Organizing. Management function that involves arranging and structuring work to accomplish the organizational goals.
   • Organizing. Determining what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped, who reports to whom, and where decisions are to be made.
2. Management. Coordinating and overseeing the work activities of others so their activities are completed efficiently and effectively.
   • Symbolic view of management responsibility. The view that much of an organization's success or failure is due to external forces outside managers' control.
   • Omnipotent view of management responsibility. The view that managers are directly responsible for an organization's success or failure.
   • Socioeconomic view of management function. The view that management's social responsibility goes beyond making profits to include protecting and improving society's welfare.
   • Classical view of management function. The view that management's only social responsibility is to maximize profits.
3. Authority. The rights inherent in a managerial position to give orders and to expect the orders to be obeyed.
   • Authority. The rights inherent in a managerial position to tell people what to do and to expect them to do it.
   • Line authority. Authority that entitles a manager to direct the work of an employee.
   • Staff authority. Positions with some authority that have been created to support, assist, and advise those holding line authority.
   • Chain of command. The line of authority extending from upper organizational levels to the lowest levels, which clarifies who reports to whom.
   • Chain of command. The unbroken line of authority that extends from the top of the organization to the lowest echelon and clarifies who reports to whom.
   • Responsibility. The obligation of expectation to perform any assigned duties.
   • Human resource planning. Ensuring that the organization has the right number and kinds of capable people in the right places and at the right times.
4. Enterprise result. Any enterprise output, outcome, benefit, and/or drawback that effects somebody or something or may be perceived as effecting somebody or something.
   • Enterprise output. Any permanent or temporary, tangible or intangible output that is directly created during an enterprise effort.
   • Enterprise outcome. All consequences of the change derived from using the enterprise outputs.
   • Enterprise benefit. The measurable improvement resulting from an enterprise administration that is perceived or may be perceived as an advantage by one or more stakeholders.
   • Enterprise drawback. The measurable improvement resulting from an enterprise administration that is perceived or may be perceived as an disadvantage by one or more stakeholders.
   • Business report.
5. Managerial role. A specific action or behavior expected of and exhibited by a manager.
   • Decisional role. A managerial role that revolves around making choices. Henry Mintzberg identified the following four interpersonal roles: negotiator, resource allocator, disturbance handler, and entrepreneur.
   • Informational role. A managerial role that involves collecting, receiving, and disseminating information. Henry Mintzberg identified the following three interpersonal roles: monitor, disseminator, and spokeperson.
   • Interpersonal role. A managerial role that involves people and other duties that are ceremonial and symbolic in nature. Henry Mintzberg identified the following three interpersonal roles: figurehead, leader, and liaison.
6. Universality of management. The reality that management is needed in all types and sizes of organizations, at all organizational levels, in all organizational areas, and in organizations no matter where located.
   • Conflict management. The use of resolution and stimulation techniques to achieve the desired level of conflict.
   • Diversity management. The process and programs by which managers make everyone more aware of and sensitive to the needs and differences of others.
7. Task. The lowest level of enterprise effort. In Agile methodology, a task is a single unit of work broken down from a user story. In project management, a task is a generic term for work that is not included in the work breakdown structure, but potentially could be a further decomposition of work by the individuals responsible for that work. A task is usually completed by just one person and is a part of an activity.
   • Sprint task. A single small item of work that helps one particular story reach completion.
   • Task board. A physical or online visual representation of user stories broken down into tasks or work units. A physical task board can be as simple as a whiteboard with three columns labeled To Do, Doing, and Done; colored post-it notes or index cards representing tasks are placed in the column that reflects the task's current state. A task board can be expanded to hold more columns and can also include horizontal swim lanes.
   • Task list. A list of tasks needed to complete the set of stories committed to a sprint.
   • Task force (ad hoc committee). A temporary committee or team formed to tackle a specific short-term problem affecting several departments.
   • Task identity. The degree to which a job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work.
   • Task identity. The degree to which a job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work.
   • Task significance. The degree to which a job has a substantial impact on the lives or work of other people.
   • Task significance. The degree to which a job has a substantial impact on the lives or work of other people.
   • Task structure. One of Fiedler's situational contingencies that describes the degree to which job assignments are formalized and structured.
   • Task structure. The degree to which job assignments are procedurized.
8. Traditional goal-setting. An approach to setting goals in which top managers set goals that then flow down through the organization and become subgoals for each organizational area.
   • Unity of command. The idea that a subordinate should have only one superior to whom he or she is directly responsible.
   • Unity of command. The management principle that each person should report to only one manager.
   • Span of control. The number of employees a manager can efficiently and effectively manage.
   • Span of control. The number of subordinates a manager can effectively and efficiently direct.
   • Span of control. The number of employees a manager is directly (or indirectly) responsible for.
9. Management approach.
   • Classical approach in management concepts. First studies of management, which emphasized nationality and making organizations and workers as efficient as possible.
   • Scientific management. An approach that involves using the scientific method to find the "one best way" for a job to be done.
   • General administrative theory. An approach to management that focuses on describing what managers do and what constitutes good management practice.
   • Contingency approach. A management approach that recognizes organizations as different, which means they face different situations (contingencies) and require different ways of managing.
     1. Contingency variable. A situational factor that moderates the relationship between two or more variables.
   • Management by objectives. A process of setting mutually agreed-upon goals and using those goals to evaluate employee performance.
   • Management by objectives. A program that encompasses specific goals, participatively set, for explicit time period, with feedback on goal progress.
   • Management by walking around. A term used to describe when a manager is out in the work area interacting directly with employees.
   • Evidence-based management. The basing of managerial decisions on the best available scientific evidence.
   • Evidence-based management. The systematic use of the best available evidence to improve management practice.
   • Green management. Management in which managers consider the impact of their organization on the natural environment.

Roles

1. Manager. An individual who achieves goals through other people.
   • Manager. Someone who coordinates and oversees the work of other people so organizational goals can be accomplished.
   • Frontline manager (or first-line manager). A manager at the lowest levels of the organizational structure who manage the work of nonmanagerial employees.
   • Middle manager. A manager between the lowest and upper levels of the organizational structure who manage the work of frontline managers.

Methods

1. Disciplinary action. An action taken by a manager to enforce the organization's work standards and regulations.
   • Basic corrective action. Corrective action that looks at how and why performance deviated before correcting the source of deviation.
   • Immediate corrective action. Corrective action that corrects problems at once to get performance back on track.
   • Progressive disciplinary action. An approach to ensure that the minimum penalty appropriate to the offense is imposed.
2. Schedule compression. A group of techniques used to shorten the schedule without reducing the scope. The compression is not always possible and often requires an increase in the cost.
   • Crashing. The schedule compression that increases the cost.
   • Parallel tracking. The schedule compression by overlapping tasks and activities that would normally be done in sequence. Performing enterprise efforts in parallel may increase risks.

Results

1. Operational plan. A plan that encompasses a particular operational area of the organization.
2. Intention for bid (IFB). Communications, written or oral by the prospective sources showing their willingness to perform the specified work. This could be a letter, statement of qualifications or response to a request for proposal.

Practices

• Corrective action. Changes made to bring expected future performance of the project in line with the plan.
• Cost budgeting. Allocating the cost estimates to individual work activities.
• Functional manager. A manager responsible for activities in a specialized department or function (e.g., engineering, manufacturing, marketing).
• Functional organization. An organization structure in which staff are grouped hierarchically by specialty (e.g., production, marketing, engineering, and accounting at the top level; with engineering, further divided into mechanical, electrical, and others).
• Initiation. Authorizing the project or phase.
• Life-cycle costing. The concept of including acquisition, operating, and disposal costs when evaluating various alternatives.
• Line manager. (1) The manager of any group that actually makes a product or performs a service. (2) A functional manager.
• Matrix organization. Any organizational structure in which the project manager shares responsibility with the functional managers for assigning priorities and for directing the work of individuals assigned to the project.
• Milestone. A significant event in the project, usually completion of a major deliverable.
• Organizational breakdown structure (OBS). A depiction of the project organization arranged so as to relate work packages to organizational units.
• Organizational planning. Identifying, documenting, and assigning project roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships.
• Performing organization. The enterprise whose employees are most directly involved in doing the work of the project.
• Product scope. The features and functions that characterize a product or service.
• Program. A group of related projects managed in a coordinated way. Programs usually include an element of ongoing work.
• Project life cycle. A collection of generally sequential project phases whose name and number are determined by the control needs of the organization or organizations involved in the project.
• Project phase. A collection of logically related project activities, usually culminating in the completion of a major deliverable.
• Project plan. A formal, approved document used to guide both project execution and project control. The primary uses of the project plan are to document planning assumptions and decisions, facilitate communication among stakeholders, and document approved scope, cost, and schedule baselines. A project plan may be summary or detailed.
• Project schedule. The planned dates for performing activities and the planned dates for meeting milestones.
• Project scope. The work that must be done to deliver a product with the specified features and functions.
• Projectized organization. Any organizational structure in which the project manager has full authority to assign priorities and to direct the work of individuals assigned to the project.
• Resource leveling. Any form of network analysis in which scheduling decisions ( start and finish dates) are driven by resource management concerns (e.g., limited resource availability or difficult-to-manage changes in resource levels).
• Responsibility assignment matrix (RAM). A structure that relates the project organization structure to the work breakdown structure to help ensure that each element of the project's scope of work is assigned to a responsible individual.
• Scope. The sum of the products and services to be provided as a project. See project scope and product scope.
• Scope change. Any change to the project scope. A scope change almost always requires an adjustment to the project cost or schedule.
• Scope definition. Subdividing the major deliverables into smaller, more manageable components to provide better control.
• Scope planning. The process of progressively elaborating the work of the project, which includes developing a written scope statement that includes the project justification, the major deliverables, and the project objectives.
• Scope statement. The scope statement provides a documented basis for making future project decisions and for confirming or developing common understanding of project scope among the stakeholders. As the project progresses, the scope statement may need to be revised or refined to reflect approved changes to the scope of the project.
• Scope verification. Formalizing acceptance of the project scope.
• Solicitation. Obtaining quotations, bids, offers, or proposals as appropriate.
• Solicitation planning. Documenting product requirements and identifying potential sources.
• Source selection. Choosing from among potential sellers.
• Staff acquisition. Getting needed human resources assigned to and working on the project.
• Stakeholder. Individuals and organizations that are actively involved in the project, or whose interests may be positively or negatively affected as a result of project execution or project completion. They may also exert influence over the project and its results.
• Team development. Developing individual and group competencies to enhance project performance.

The successor lecture is Human Perceptions Quarter.