Operations Management Quarter

Operations Management Quarter (hereinafter, the Quarter) is a lecture introducing the learners to operations implementations primarily through key topics related to operations management. The Quarter is the last of four lectures of Operations Quadrivium, which is the third of seven modules of Septem Artes Administrativi (hereinafter, the Course). The Course is designed to introduce the learners to general concepts in business administration, management, and organizational behavior.

Outline

Process Engineering Quarter is the predecessor lecture. In the enterprise implementation series, the previous lecture is Project Management Quarter.

Concepts

1. Operations management. (1) Practice and a set of concepts, based on that practice, that define culture of managing of operations; (2) A group who is responsible for overseeing all aspects of a customer's production resources.
   • Operations (or Ongoing operations). Repetitive enterprise efforts undertaken in order to create specified deliverables using already designed processes.
   • Management. Coordinating and overseeing the work activities of others so their activities are completed efficiently and effectively.
   • Organizing. Management function that involves arranging and structuring work to accomplish the enterprise goals. Organizing include 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.
   • Corrective action. Changes made to bring expected future performance of the project in line with the plan.
2. Knowledge management. Handling of enterprise information.
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     Knowledge
     Knowledge. (1) Facts, information, and skills acquired by a legal entity through experience or learning; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject; (2) Awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation.
   • Idea management. Handling of concepts.
   • Strategic flexibility. The ability to recognize major external changes, to quickly commit resources, and to recognize when a strategic decision was a mistake.
3. Value chain management. The process of managing the sequence of activities and information along the entire value chain.
   • Business development. The activity of pursuing strategic opportunities for a particular business or enterprise, for example by cultivating partnerships or other commercial relationships, or identifying new markets for its products or services.
   • Deployment. Introduction of a new activity, procedure, or program to an organization.
4. Compliance management. Management of regulatory compliance for a particular business and/or at a particular enterprise.
5. Management responsibility. The state or fact of managers having a duty to deal with enterprise challenges and/or of having control over subordinates.
   • 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.
6. Management function. An activity or purpose natural to a manager.
   • 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.
7. Authority. The rights inherent in a managerial position to establish policies and/or give orders to subordinates to expect the orders to be obeyed.
   • 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 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.
8. 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. An account given of a particular business matter, especially in the form of an official document, after thorough investigation or consideration by an appointed person or body.
   • Progress report. An account given of state of a project, operations, or other enterprise effort.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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 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 structure. One of Fiedler's situational contingencies that describes the degree to which job assignments are formalized and structured.
12. 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.
    • Span of control. The number of employees a manager is directly responsible for.
13. 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.
    • Contingency variable. A situational factor that moderates the relationship between two or more variables.
    • Management by objectives. A program that encompasses specific mutually agreed-upon goals 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 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.
14. Management process. A set of undefined or tentatively defined activities performed for an enterprise.

Roles

1. Manager. (1) An individual who achieves goals through other people; (2) Someone who coordinates and oversees the work of other people so organizational goals can be accomplished.
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     Managers
     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.
2. Functional manager. A manager responsible for activities in a specialized department or function (e.g., engineering, manufacturing, marketing).
   • Line manager. (1) The manager of any group that actually makes a product or performs a service. (2) A functional manager.
3. Task force (ad hoc committee). A temporary committee or team formed to tackle a specific short-term problem affecting several departments.

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.
3. Unity of command. The managerial technique that ensures unity of effort under one responsible person (or commander) for completing a task. In other words, unity of command is a principle, which idea is to make sure that each employee reports to one and only one superior to whom he or she is directly responsible.
4. File:Conflict-handling.png

   Conflict-management techniques
   Conflict-management technique. An established procedure for solving a conflict.
   • Withdraw and avoid. A conflict-management technique that involves retreating from an actual or potential conflict situation; postponing the issue to be better prepared or to be resolved by others.
   • Smooth and accommodate. A conflict-management technique that involves emphasizing areas of agreement rather than areas of difference; conceding one's position to the needs of others to maintain harmony and relationships.
   • Compromise and reconcile. A conflict-management technique that involves searching for solutions that bring some degree of satisfaction to all parties in order to temporarily or partially resolve the conflict.
   • Force and direct. A conflict-management technique that involves pushing one's viewpoint at the expense of others; offering only win-lose solutions, usually enforced through a power position to resolve an emergency.
   • Collaborate and problem solve. A conflict-management technique that involves incorporating multiple viewpoints and insights from differing perspectives; requires a cooperative attitude and open dialogue that typically leads to consensus and commitment.
5. Unstructured-task technique. An established procedure for resolving completely new tasks or tasks requiring working in unstructured environments.
   • Pair working. A scenario where two team members share a single workstation and work together to develop a single feature.
   • Swarming. Mutual work of team members with appropriate skills work together to complete a task that a team member is having trouble completing on his or her own.

Instruments

1. Software upgrade. The replacement of a software product with a newer, improved version.

Results

1. Operational plan. A plan that encompasses a particular operational area of the organization.
2. Change request. Any request to change the performance measurement baseline or any other metric approved by a higher authority. Any scope change almost always requires an adjustment to the cost or schedule.
3. 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

Human Perceptions Quarter is the successor lecture. In the enterprise implementation series, the next lecture is Worker Productivity Quarter.