Operation Management: The Definitions Of Operations Management

There are many accurate definitions of the term Operations Management. However, my understanding is that operations management is about getting things done. An organisations priority is to make a profit and to do so they must operate effectively and efficiently. They must make customers their priority and everything that the operation does should be in the interest of the customer. In recent times almost everything is becoming “quicker, better cheaper…. together” (Keegan and O’Kelly, 2015). Organisations have to keep up with these constant changes, and to do so they must be willing to ask themselves some tough questions, have a look at their processes and perhaps change their values completely. “Lean is about value” (Keegan and O’Kelly, 2015). The lean

By asking important questions an organisation can constantly improve their operations. There are five simple yet effective questions which allow an organisation to capture the facts of a situation and make things better. ‘What are you doing?’, ‘How are you doing it?’, and ‘Why are you doing it?’ are all factual based questions which require an informative answer about the organisation, its processes and values. The answers can shine light on problems and confusion within the organisation. The questions ‘Who is going to improve it?’ and ‘When?’ are aimed at fixing these problems. I work for a small organisation which specialises in three areas; machinery, fuel, and animal feed. It is a family owned business and it is very clear from day to day operations that these questions are not being asked. The main reason I see for the lack of management in this organisation is that because of the three different departments everyone is looking out for their own department and not asking these questions about the company as one. It makes certain tasks difficult for the workers as we don’t know who to answer