P1To understand theimportance of operations management IKEA is taken as an example.
IKEA is a Swedish company. Itsells ready to assemble furniture, appliances and home accessories. Its netincome is 3.202 Euros. It is one of the biggest firms in the world. It gets theproducts and furniture designed in parts of Sweden but its manufacturing is done probably in thedeveloping countries in order to keep the costs down. It has suppliers from almost 50 countries. Thebiggest of the entire supplier for the IKEA is China The case of IKEA is perfectto explain why Operations Management is important to all types of business, atthe production or manufacturing section the company aims to reduce thewastages, increase productivity and time and resources management in order tomake sure that the production cost is low and at the stores the company aims tomake sure that they warehouse is utilised properly, customers are explained thedetails and finally the product is delivered without issues so that theshifting cost is low.
Also the stores have to take care of marketing and saleswhich involves their own process.Hence this indicates that there will always beset of operations irrespective of what field a business is in and at the end ofthe day successful businesses are those which manage their operationseffectively and efficiently.Objectives of OperationsManagement:The operations managementhas two primary objectives that needs to achieve and in many ways it can besaid that both these objectives are interrelated. The objectives are resourceutilization and customers service.The customer service is themain objective any company because at the end of the day irrespective of allthe strategy, marketing and operations management if the customer is not happywith the product or the service then the purpose of the entire enterprise isfallen.
So the operations management makes sure that all the customers’ needsand demands are met and do that the company also has to make sure that it makesuse of the resources effectively. Secondly if the resources are not used carefully thenthere are chances that the production cost will increase and hence the overallprofit margin will reduce and the enterprise objective has failed. So both theobjectives must be met in a complementary way so that the company benefits outof it.
The objectives of the IKEAare to make sure that the quality is managed at all times and also making surethat the operations are done effectively to save the resources so that thecompany can benefit out of it.All operations managersmanage processes:So from this it can be understood that the strategic decisionof the company are all considered as the process and because the strategicdecisions are all made by the managers it can be said that all operationsmanagers manage processes.ng processes require newroles, tasks, skills and expertise, often organized around teams.
There are anumber of things to consider. Training and development of new skills forindividuals and of the team will bring with it a change in the culture of yourorganization. A quality management system(QMS) is a formal system that documents processes, procedures for achievingquality policies. It helps compile and direct an organization’s activities tomeet customer and regulatory requirements and improve its effectiveness andefficiency on a continuous basis.
The documents only serve todescribe the system.Quality management systemsserve many purposes, including:Betterment of processesReduction of wasteCutting up costimplementing andidentifying training opportunitiesinvolving staff P2Implementing a qualitymanagement system affects every aspect of an organization’s internal andexternal performance.Two overarching benefits tothe design and implementation of ocumented quality management systems include:1) Meeting theorganization’s requirements, which ensures compliance with regulations andprovision of products and services in the most cost- and resource-efficientmanner, creating room for expansion, growth, and profit 2)Meeting the customer’srequirements, which helps to instill confidence in the organization, in turnleading to more customers, more sales, and more repeat business The organization’s qualitypolicy and quality objectivesQuality manualProcedures, processes, andrecordsImprovement opportunitiesQualityreportsData managementInternal processesCustomer satisfied fullyEach element of a qualitymanagement system serves a purpose toward the overall goals of meeting thecustomers’ and organization’s requirements Establishing a qualitymanagement system helps organizations run in an effective manner. Beforeestablishing a quality management system, the organization must identify andmanage various connected, multi-functional processes to ensure customersatisfaction is always the target achieved. The basic steps to implementing a qualitymanagement system are as follows:Design aquality management systemThe design and buildportions serve to develop the structure of a QMS, its processes, and plans forimplementation. Senior management must oversee this portion to ensure the needsof the organization and the needs of its customers DeployDeployment is best servedin a granular fashion via breaking each process down into subprocesses, andeducating staff on documentation, education, training tools, and metrics. Controland measureControl and measurement aretwo areas of establishing a QMS that are largely accomplished through routine,systematics auditing. Review andimproveReview and improvement dealwith how the results of an audit are handled.
The goals are to determine theeffectiveness and efficiency of each process toward its objectives, tocommunicate these findings to the employees, and to develop new best practicesand processes based on the data collected during the audit.P3The development of astrategic quality plan is the key to determining the right quality initiatives,ideas and steps for your organization. First step is to create a team ofquality professionals holding statuary degree who are responsible for ensuringthe delivery of quality products and services to the organization’s customers.Some members of this strategic quality planning team might not be involved inthe regular responsibility of managing quality. Rather, they are impacted byquality and therefore have an important ones in the successful outcome of thestrategic quality plan.
If there is only one person designated with theresponsibility for quality within the organization, they will need to create ateam of individuals who have some responsibility for the management of qualitywithin their own jobs.Every quality management initiative can, and must be linked with importantbusiness process performance indicators in order to have any long lasting impacton productivity. However, Strategic Plans are rarely translated into thequality strategies needed to ensure overall performance improvement gains.The first task of theStrategic Quality Planning team is to examine the Strategic Plan and to identifyand become familiar with all of the identified corporate strategies. They mustensure the quality strategies they develop align with and support therealization of these corporate strategies.
The Strategic Quality Planning team will spend time comparing all of thevarious quality initiatives that their organization has used in the past aswell as continuing to use in the presentOrganizational and customerrequirements are the factors that will drive Strategic Quality Plans. Thequality strategies must address the organizational needs. They must alsoaddress the customer needs. The Strategic Quality Planning process ensuresthese two are aligned.Customer satisfactionresults can be used to identify problems and opportunities, measure theperformance of managers, executives and employees and reveal relativecompetitive performance. These can be obtained through customer surveys,interviews, etc. The results will help drive the right Quality Strategies whichwill in turn help drive new product and service development, manufacturingquality, product and service delivery and competitive positioning.
It is essential to involve employees in the development of the qualitystrategies. Employee’s input will:Provide insight into problems being faced extensively, challenges not beingundertaken, concerns of the employees, and opportunities which may not havebeen known but known to the employees.We often miss the opportunity to go outside our organization to learn whatothers are doing so that we can indulge these lessons learned into thedevelopment of our quality strategies.
Benchmarking is highly beneficial andhelps provide the Strategic Quality Planning team with ideas on how to improvetheir internal quality processes, products, processes, structures, etc. P4As per my research iobserved a leadership pattern that sabotages change. It occurs when seniorleaders at strategic levels, who have been thinking, inventing, and debatingabout a particular change for a while, finally introduce plans for a newinitiative.
Forgetting that others in the organization hav not been involvedand are not as familiar with all of the reasons for the change, leaders aresurprised by the amount of resistance the new change generates.When change is first announced,people will have information doubts. Often, leaders will want to explain whythe organization is moving in a certain direction and why the change is a goodidea.
This is a huge mistake. Peopledon’t want to be told the change is nice till they are able to understand itsimporatnce. Instead, leaders should share information as plainly and ascompletely as possible. In the absence of clear, factual communication, peopletend to create their own information about the change, and rumors become facts.Leaders should be preparesto answer: What is the change? Why is it needed? What’s wrong with the waythings are now? How much and how fast does the organization need to change?Steps that should befollowed :Plan your actionIf leaders address thefirst two concerns communicabily , people will be ready to hear information onthe details involved in implementing the change.
At this stage they will beinterested to hear how the thinking behind the change has been tested. Theywill also want to know where to go for technical assistance and solutions toproblems that might arise.Sell the changeAfter implementationquestions are answered, people tend to raise iresult concerns. For example: Isthe effort worth it? Is the change making a difference? Are we making progress?Are things getting better?People with impact concernsare interested in the change’s relevance and payoff. The focus is onevaluation. Be prepared to share early wins and proof that the change is makinga positive difference.
If the change does not positively impact results–orpeople don’t know how to measure success–it will be more difficult to keep thechange initiative moving forward.Get personalOnce information concernsare satisfied, people will want to know how the change will affect theirindividual People with personalconcerns want to know how the change will play out for them. They wonder ifthey have the skills and resources to implement the change. Coordinate smartlyWith some evidence that thechange is moving the organization in the right direction, momentum starts tobuild. Leaders can look forward to questions and ideas focused on coordinationand cooperation with others.
A solid nucleus of people in the company will wantto get everyone on board because they are convinced the change is making adifference.Refine for successOnce a change effort iswell on its way toward complete adoption, leaders can expect to hear othersbegin asking about how the change can be refined. For example: How can weimprove on our original idea? How do we make the change even better?Refinement questions are agood sign and show that the people in the organization are focused oncontinuous improvement. During the course of any organizational change, anumber of learnings usually occur. Take advantage of new opportunities fororganizational improvement that often come to the surface at this stage.Give your next change initiative itsbest chanceTake time with your nextchange initiative. Do it right and you can drastically increase your chances ofsuccess.
But rush through the early stages and, like so many others, you mightfind yourself derailed as many of these concerns surface later in the project,killing momentum when it is needed most.P5Great Value from Monitoringand EvaluationResponsibilitiesfor Monitoring and EvaluationThe strategic plan documentshould specify who is responsible for the overall implementation of the plan,and also who is responseble for achieving each goaland objective.The document should alsospecify who is responsible to monitor the implementation of the plan and madedecisions based on the results. For example, the board might expect the chiefexecutive to regularly report to the full board about the status ofimplementation, including progress toward each of the overall strategic goals.
In turn, the chief executive might expect regular status reports from middlemanagers regarding the status toward their achieving the goals and objectivesassigned to them. Questions While Monitoring and Evaluating Statusof Implementation of the Plan1. Are goals and objectivesbeing achieved or not? If they are, then acknowledge, reward and communicatethe progress. If not, then consider the following questions.
2. Will the goals beachieved according to the timelines specified in the plan? If not, then why?3. Should the deadlines forcompletion be changed (be careful about making these changes — know whyefforts are behind schedule before times are changed)?4.
Do personnel haveadequate resources (money, equipment, facilities, training, etc.) to achievethe goals?5. Are the goals andobjectives still realistic?6.
Should priorities bechanged to put more focus on achieving the goals?7. Should the goals bechanged (be careful about making these changes — know why efforts are notachieving the goals before changing the goals)?8. What can be learned fromour monitoring and evaluation in order to improve future planning activitiesand also to improve future monitoring and evaluation efforts?Frequencyof Monitoring and EvaluationThe frequency of reviewsdepends on the nature of the organization and the environment in which it’soperating. Organizations experiencing rapid change from inside and/or outsidethe organization may want to monitor implementation of the plan at least on amonthly basis.Boards of directors shouldsee status of implementation at least on a quarterly basis.
Chief executives should seestatus at least on a monthly basis.ReportingResults of Monitoring and EvaluationAlways write down thestatus reports. In the reports, describe:1. Answers to the above key questions while monitoring implementation.2. Trends regarding theprogress (or lack thereof) toward goals, including which goals and objectives3.
Recommendations aboutthe status4. Any actions needed bymanagementDeviatingfrom PlanIt’s OK do deviate from theplan. The plan is only a guideline, not a strict roadmap which must befollowed.Usually the organizationends up changing its direction somewhat as it proceeds through the coming years.Changes in the plan usually result from changes in the organization’s externalenvironment and/or client needs result in different organizational goals,changes in the availability of resources to carry out the original plan, etc.
The most important aspectof deviating from the plan is knowing why you’re deviating from the plan, i.e.,having a solid understanding of what’s going on and why.Changingthe PlanBe sure some mechanism isidentified for changing the plan, if necessary. P6 Clear goals,measurement and feedback are involved and linking individual people with thedirections of the organisation. Change processes are about goal achievement andmay be people-focused, including training and working alongside individuals andteams to get them involved.
Measurement and feedback about goal achievement andencouraging participation are the roles of leaders in these change approaches Complexity Theory andSocial Worlds or constructive conflict models were previously presented. In theevolutionary approach, multiple approaches and letting directions arisegradually over time or working through conflicting ideas and creating newdirections are the change processes involved. The leader’s role becomes one ofworking with others and interpreting the emerging change and taking a strategicview of all the different agendas underway.A key difference from thepreviously-outlined strategic approach is that the change is recognised ashappening within a wider two-way context, with those other influences andknowledge having an impact
