Understanding the Significance of Operations Management

Before you continue scrolling on your LinkedIn feed, stop for a second and think to yourself, do I even know what Operations Management means? Is it beneficial to have in my own business? If you hesitate for even a second, this article will be perfect for you.

What is Operations Management?

Have you ever thought to yourself, "How do businesses manage to stay, not only afloat, but running smooth as butter?". The simple answer to this question is Operations Management. Laurence Gartside defined it best by saying, "Operations Management is about managing the activities and processes that create and deliver an organization's core products and services" (Gartside, 00:06 - 00:20). As we've seen there are companies that truly are efficient in their processes to give the best possible goods/services, and it truly comes down to Operations Management.

What are the four areas of Operations Management?

At the end of the day, Operations Management comes down to four main areas of importance for each business. In a video titled Operations Management we see these four areas defined as "Strategic Operations management, Product Design, Supply Chain Management and Quality Management" ("Operations Management", 01:15-1:20). Now each of these of topics are highly important, but I want to touch specifically on two, Supply Chain Management and Strategic Operations Management.

During COVID we learned that very important Supply Chain Management really was. One of the most stressful parts of it for me was grocery shopping, specifically making sure I had enough toilet paper in my family home. As we all know, toilet paper became similar unto treasure in the beginning of the Pandemic. We had to search for it day and night, and it was precious to every home. Now, would you be surprised to hear that supply chain management is the reason that the shortage was so brief? I was at first too! In the Ted Talk, What Toilet Paper Can Teach Us About Supply Chains by Willy Shih, we learn about what Operation Mangers do in times of change. Something that was very interesting to me was the HUGE impact that occurs when a product that usually has a constant demand begins to fluctuate. We can see that the Operations manager has to very quickly adjust, looking deeply into the data and see which products are either the most efficient, affordable, sellable, etc. With this information, huge decisions are made on the end of the company to accommodate for something like the pandemic. So the next time you look at toilet paper, say thanks to the Operation Manger who works their butt off for your butt.

To get a deeper look into Strategic Operations Management, I looked into a trade journal from The Accountant Online titled The Year in Review and What Lies Ahead by Joe Pickard. We can learn so much from what is written in this article. Essentially we learn that the accounting/finance world was originally shook, like the rest of the world, with the impacts of COVID-19. With the technological and economical changes going on in the world, it was difficult for a lot of companies to switch from in-person to online work. It became especially evident as companies began to slow down in their processes and activities, become a Operations Manger's worst nightmare. The answer to this, which put everything back on track, was Strategic Operations Management. During the Pandemic, we saw Operations Mangers step it up, creating a strategy based off of advanced data analytics to give employees the opportunity to work as effectively as possible. For example, working through an online platform and taking advantage of tools like Zoom became necessary for any company to service. Now seeing this effect on businesses, I have a deeper gratitude for Operations Managers, as they have helped to make the companies I wish to work for more efficient and profitable. In the end, it become more beneficial for every company to have an Operations Manager.

Why is Operations Management essential for any business?

Now that we grasp what Operations Management is and how it affects our daily lives, let's see why it's crucial for businesses. While doing some research of my own, I stumbled across another TED Talk titled, Operation Excellence: running your company as a game, by Harsha Chaturvedi. This article blew my mind by showing me that most companies are working at around 50% of their potential efficiency. And after giving a few possible ideas, we learn that the main attributor to this relationships between employees and their employers. Now what does this have to do with Operations Management? Everything! The whole purpose of Operations Management is to make things move as smoothly as possible. So what is one to do in a situation like this? The ideal Operations Manager would find where the disconnect is, whether this is in activities between employees and the employers, or the disconnect in a companies process of manufacturing. Essentially, whatever is holding a company back from being as good as possible will be found by the operations manager.

Another way to look at this whole Operations Management thing is from the perspective of what a business would be like without it. In a conversation in ChatGPT, we spoke regarding the impacts of a business without Operations Management. In short, ChatGPT explained that without operations management, a business could experience higher costs, dissatisfied customers, and struggle to adapt to the market. Ultimately, this could lead to the business failing. Now I'm not an expert CFO, but I would definitely prefer to live in a world/business that keeps prices down, customers happy, and businesses flourishing. And this world is only possible through the principles of Operations Management and it's ever-growing effects on everyday business.

How should I implement Operations Management into my everyday life?

Now I'm sure if you're anything like me, you're wondering to yourself how you can use these principles for yourself. Whether it's just for your personal life, career or even an entire company, there are always things that we can do to improve our activities/processes to become more efficient. Now even if this is a daunting task, it is something that will improve our lives, and the lives of everyone around us.

From what I've learned through this research, it comes down to looking at the data of our lives and finding what ways we an make improvement. To give a personal example from life, time management has been something of a mess. But through this research I've seen that it comes down to looking at the activities and processes that essential for me to do and have them put firmly into my life. Activities that aren't essential are now on the back-burner and activities of importance are always on my mind. I can't imagine the impact the world would have if everyone took Operations Management more seriously. The economic benefits would be through the roof and everyone would be living happier and more efficiently.

Please message me if you'd like to chat about Operations Management and it's impacts on the business world! Thanks for reading!