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

• Performance measurement baseline. An approved plan against which deviations are compared for management control.
• Trigger. Triggers, sometimes called risk symptoms or warning signs, are indications that a risk has occurred or is about to occur. Triggers may be discovered in the risk identification process and watched in the risk monitoring and control process.
• Workaround. A response to a negative risk event. Distinguished from contingency plan in that a workaround is not planned in advance of the occurrence of the risk event.

• Contingency planning. The development of a management plan that identifies alternative strategies to be used to ensure project success if specified risk events occur.
• 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.
• Data date (DD). The date at which, or up to which, the project's reporting system has provided actual status and accomplishments. Also called as-of date.
• Deliverable. Any measurable, tangible, verifiable outcome, result, or item that must be produced to complete a project or part of a project. Often used more narrowly in reference to an external deliverable, which is a deliverable that is subject to approval by the project sponsor or customer.
• Float. The amount of time that an activity may be delayed from its early start without delaying the project finish date. Float is a mathematical calculation, and can change as the project progresses and changes are made to the project plan. Also called slack, total float, and path float. See also free float.
• 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).
• Grade. A category or rank used to distinguish items that have the same functional use (e.g., "hammer"), but do not share the same requirements for quality (e.g., different hammers may need to withstand different amounts of force).
• Initiation. Authorizing the project or phase.
• Lag. A modification of a logical relationship that directs a delay in the successor task. For example, in a finish-to-start dependency with a ten-day lag, the successor activity cannot start until ten days after the predecessor has finished. See also lead.
• Lead. A modification of a logical relationship that allows an acceleration of the successor task. For example, in a finish-to-start dependency with a ten-day lead, the successor activity can start ten days before the predecessor has finished. See also lag.
• 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.
• Logical relationship. A dependency between two project activities, or between a project activity and a milestone. See also precedence relationship. The four possible types of logical relationships are: Finish-to-start — the initiation of work of the successor depends upon the completion of work of the predecessor. Finish-to-finish — the completion of the work of the successor cannot finish until the completion of work of the predecessor. Start-to-start — the initiation of work of the successor depends upon the initiation of the work of the predecessor. Start-to-finish — the completion of the successor is dependent upon the initiation of the predecessor.
• 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.
• Network logic. The collection of activity dependencies that makes up a project network diagram.
• Network path. Any continuous series of connected activities in a project network diagram.
• 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.
• Precedence diagramming method (PDM). A network diagramming technique in which activities are represented by boxes (or nodes). Activities are linked by precedence relationships to show the sequence in which the activities are to be performed.
• Precedence relationship. The term used in the precedence diagramming method for a logical relationship. In current usage, however, precedence relationship, logical relationship, and dependency are widely used interchangeably, regardless of the diagramming method in use.
• Predecessor activity. (1) In the arrow diagramming method, the activity that enters a node. (2) In the precedence diagramming method, the "from" activity.
• Probability and Impact Matrix. A common way to determine whether a risk is considered low, moderate, or high by combining the two dimensions of a risk, its probability of occurrence, and its impact on objectives if it occurs.
• 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 charter. A document issued by senior management that formally authorizes the existence of a project. And it provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities.
• 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 management software. A class of computer applications specifically designed to aid with planning and controlling project costs and schedules.
• 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.
• Qualitative risk analysis. Performing a qualitative analysis of risks and conditions to prioritize their effects on project objectives. It involves assessing the probability and impact of project risk(s) and using methods such as the probability and impact matrix to classify risks into categories of high, moderate, and low for prioritized risk response planning.
• Quantitative risk analysis. Measuring the probability and consequences of risks and estimating their implications for project objectives. Risks are characterized by probability distributions of possible outcomes. This process uses quantitative techniques such as simulation and decision tree analysis.
• Residual risk. A risk that remains after risk responses have been implemented.
• 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.
• Rework. Action taken to bring a defective or nonconforming item into compliance with requirements or specifications.
• Risk. An uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on a project's objectives.
• Risk acceptance. This technique of the risk response planning process indicates that the project team has decided not to change the project plan to deal with a risk, or is unable to identify any other suitable response strategy.
• Risk avoidance. Risk avoidance is changing the project plan to eliminate the risk or to protect the project objectives from its impact. It is a tool of the risk response planning process.
• Risk category. A source of potential risk reflecting technical, project management, organizational, or external sources.
• Risk database. A repository that provides for collection, maintenance, and analysis of data gathered and used in the risk management processes. A lessons-learned program uses a risk database. This is an output of the risk monitoring and control process.
• Risk event. A discrete occurrence that may affect the project for better or worse.
• Risk identification. Determining which risks might affect the project and documenting their characteristics. Tools used include brainstorming and checklists.
• Risk management plan. Documents how the risk processes will be carried out during the project. This is the output of risk management planning.
• Risk management planning. Deciding how to approach and plan risk management activities for a project.
• Risk mitigation. Risk mitigation seeks to reduce the probability and/or impact of a risk to below an acceptable threshold.
• Risk monitoring and control. Monitoring residual risks, identifying new risks, executing risk reduction plans, and evaluating their effectiveness throughout the project life cycle.
• Risk response plan. A document detailing all identified risks, including description, cause, probability of occurring, impact(s) on objectives, proposed responses, owners, and current status. Also known as risk register.
• Risk response planning. Developing procedures and techniques to enhance opportunities and reduce threats to the project's objectives. The tools include avoidance, mitigation, transference, and acceptance.
• Risk transference. Risk transference is seeking to shift the impact of a risk to a third party together with ownership of the response.
• 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.
• Secondary risk. A risk that arises as a direct result of implementing a risk response.
• Simulation. A simulation uses a project model that translates the uncertainties specified at a detailed level into their potential impact on objectives that are expressed at the level of the total project. Project simulations use computer models and estimates of risk at a detailed level, and are typically performed using the Monte Carlo technique.
• Slack. Term used in arrow diagramming method for float.
• 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.
• Successor activity. (1) In the arrow diagramming method, the activity that departs a node. (2) In the precedence diagramming method, the "to" activity.
• Team development. Developing individual and group competencies to enhance project performance.

The successor lecture is Human Perceptions Quarter.