Operations Management Term Paper

Operations Management
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Introduction
Strategy and Sustainability are increasingly becoming relevant subjects for several organizations in the world today, a factor that gives a clear indication of the growing significance of these two elements. Many sustainable impacts are strongly rooted in operations management decisions. Organizations, therefore, need to articulate on effective decisions and strategies that are critical for the functions of operations management and incorporate the prospects of sustainable management.
These aspects have an implication on the processes associated with all the aspects of operations management that inclusively include strategy, planning, design, control and improvement (Nenonen, 2013). An instance of this can be depicted in an organizations environmental and social performance objective in which the targets of the organization and indicators need to be aligned and integrated with costs, quality and other performance measures.
In this, an organization develops a closed loop supply chain approach that jells with it the requirements of the stakeholders including the customer’s operations decisions. The scope of a given operation within an organization can, therefore, be expanded significantly with the nature of the operations management altered. The implications of this would, therefore, result in the development of approaches geared towards meeting this needs.
1.1 Module 2
Project Management
This infers to a combination of logical practices that are employed by organizations including the methods, and processes that determine how to appropriately determine how an organization can plan, develop, control and complete a project throughout a continuous lifecycle until success is achieved (Lahav, 2014). The rationale behind project management approach is to provide a clear follow-up through the entire process of management through an efficient process of decision making and problem solving while considering the successes of particular processes, approaches methods and ideologies.
A project management approach therefore requires an organization to develop a methodology that provides a framework and skeleton that gives an in-depth analysis of the strategies that an organization will deploy in meeting its objectives. The table below offers a skeleton of an approach that would be implemented by an organization in achieving these goals.
Table 1.1
Project Management Approach
Methodology
Lifecycle Stages
Process
Tasks and Activities
Project Management Framework
Project management, therefore, refers to a systemized approach employed by an organization that articulates the functions of resources, material, and the human resources that are available for the completion of a project. In order to develop an appropriate framework for the management of a project, there are varied activities that an organization needs to consider. Their activities will, therefore, examine the prospects of planning and monitoring in order to determine the achievements of such an organization's initiative effectively (Lahav, 2014).
The planning process involves the administration of schedules that begin from the initial steps to the final through the use of the Gantt charts. The planning stages in addition also considers the elements of estimated costs, the proper utilization of the organization's available resources, appropriate breakdowns of work, critical paths, and network diagrams(Shepherd, & Patzelt, 2013). These activities make it easier for a project planning manager to execute a project.
In order to achieve success in a project management approach, managers are required to be sufficiently knowledgeable of the aspects of a project. They are required to be familiar with different operations, for example, in order to manufacture products such as shafts, there are several operations like milling, grinding, hardening and turning and lastly testing that need to be incorporated (Shepherd, & Patzelt, 2013). To achieve the goal of production and get the final finished product, a project manager needs to be fully knowledgeable to guide and direct the subordinates. To enhance the interaction levels within the team that a manager works with, there is an importance to incorporate good communication and interpersonal skills.
Another component that is equally important in the process of project management is project monitoring. Project monitoring in essence ensures that the tasks and progress of a project are tracked through a comparison of the actual activities to the anticipated and predicted ones and taking the variables between them as an approach to adjust the differences to gain an actual planned goal (Shepherd, & Patzelt, 2013). In a line process, there are a series of strategies that can be incorporated that builds from the makeup of raw materials into the achievement of a finished product. It is, therefore, essential that the monitoring process is put into consideration in order to keep track of the results of production and make the necessary adjustments with the aim of minimizing the errors that may accrue during the process.
Strategic Capacity Management
Strategic capacity management in respect to this provides an objective that determines the overall capacity levels of a capital intensive resource of an organization. This approach, therefore, provides facilities and equipment that can meet the overall labor force size of an organization and support its long-term competitive strategy. In a strategic capacity management approach, the economies of scale play significant roles (Lahav, 2014).
This approach ensures that an organization's production volume increases as its average costs per unit produced decreases. As an organization produces more of its products, they are bound to gain in-depth experience in their production approaches, a factor that reduces the unit costs of production in a manner that is predictable.
Capacity strategies have the probability of being proactive, neutral, and reactive. A reactive and neutral strategy may not anticipate the future growth of an organization. It is, therefore, significant to note that strategic capacity management bases its approaches on forecasts of a products demand, requirements of labor and the need for equipment in an organization.
It is important to note that capacity management mainly focuses on the aspects of matching the capacities of the operating system and the demands that have been placed on such a system. Through capacity management, organizations are in position to balance the demands of their clients and their ability to meet such needs. High emphases are given that enable organizations also to determine the nature of the market and derive approaches of forecasting and managing the capacity of the markets.
However, there are chances that organizations in their attempts to employ the proponents of strategic capacity management are likely to experience instances of a demand capacity mismatch. In order to tackle the issues of demand capacity mismatch, organizations, therefore, incorporate the use of the mixture of all plans in accordance to the requirements of the organization. These plans include;
1. Level capacity plan
The l...