Operation Management Programs

Operations management is one of the best options undertaken in the MBA Programs. It is an umbrella term used by professionals in the corporate world to refer to the actual management of the manner in which firms produce goods and services. It involves all the processes of production, packaging, transportation and delivery of such goods or services produced to customers. It also includes the process of procuring raw materials from competent suppliers to ensure the firm experiences no shortages in the same.

Operations management is one of the most vital departments in an organization. It is the key to any long term performances of a company. Without proper management of a firms operations it will definitely fail. It requires more employees than any other department. This is why many business schools have incorporated operations management into their MBA Programs.

Without the necessary skills, the manager may find it hard to oversee the sequential and interrelated activities involved here. The transformation of major components of the whole operation such as information, labor, raw materials and clients may be a hard task to accomplish. A good operations manager must be smart in designing, managing and tracking all these operations. The quality of the end product is what matters most.

How should business schools teach operations management?

A good school of business should give priority to operations. In other MBA Degree options depend on operations. Finance, Accounting, Human Resource management, etc all derive their existence from a firms operations. Students are expected to come out of this schools fully equipped with the necessary operation skills that will add value to their future firms.

The focus of these MBA Programs should be on the study of performance of business models as well as the measurement systems. This will aid a student in making proper design and management of such business models during their employment. It is all about laying proper strategies. The major areas covered in operations management include but not limited to:

i. Supply Chain Management

This involves the study of the analysis of corporate purchases, manufacturing processes as well as distribution of the finished products or services. This is seen as the heart bit of any companys processes. The major purpose of this field of study is to ensure the students are equipped with skills relating to the strategic and systematic management of the dissemination of information and material within a firm. It can also be referred to as the supply network management.

ii. Service Operations

Operations management also covers the area of service provision. The service industry too has a systematic manner in which information flow is to be managed, and acquisition of the necessary materials and services to aid in delivery of the same. For example, the company advocate will require the necessary information about the company to aid him in signing some legal documents on behalf of the company.

iii.Innovation

No specific business model works for all firms. It is therefore during these operations management MBA Programs that a student is taught how to come up with new ideas when the need arises. They are required to think outside the box. Modern technology should be adhered to in order to prevent the firm from becoming obsolete. iv. Business Environment

The adaptation to the ever-changing business environment is one core component of MBA studies.

The Factors Which Give Birth To Strategic Human Resource Management (shrm).

The role of HRM has been changed from last 10 years. So much development has taken place in the field of management with regards to HRM. The debates have been going on in order to properly understand the role of HR managers. The main issue which engaged academics in the 1980s was the evolution of HRM. In this regard, the debate was mainly on the exploration of the salient aspects of the alteration of personnel management into HRM. The debates started by mingling the industrial relation with HR then combine business strategies with the HR line managers and finally seeing HRM as a source of competitive benefit for organizations. The success of an organization is also depended on the HRM. With these developments the nature of Human Resource (HR) function has changed from being reactive, prescriptive, and administrative to being proactive, descriptive and executive (Boxall, 1994).
Strategic Human Resources Management (SHRM) is the purposeful resolution of Human Resource administration and policy issues so as to enhance a public agency’s effectiveness.
Human resources Management give birth to strategic human resource management. The need of SHRM is required to fill the gap which HRM alone cant fill it. SHRM enhances the role of manager more clearly and precisely. The factors which give birth to SHRM are:
1. Recognition that Human resources are critical. There are companies strategic planning to accomplish its goals and mission. Those mission and goals are important for managers and employees to achieve them and HRM department plays a very important role in accomplishing the companys target. The emergence of SHRM due to heightened concern for agency productivity and accountability means that better information systems are essential.

2. A shift from position management to work and employees. Due to political and economic factors the mind of the manager has sifted towards work management. It also because the employee wants flexibility in their workplace and should awarded and need appraisals from his managers. Personnel specialists have continued to demand flexibility and equitable reward allocation through such alterations to classification and pay systems as rank-in-person personnel systems, broad pay banding, and group performance assessment and reward systems (Shoop, 1991). This trend coincides with employee needs for utilization, development, and recognition.

3. More innovation: In the emerging business world, there is an intense competition between every organization. Without innovation no company can survive longer. To bring more improvement the manager should manage it workforce in a manner that it should provide new information and try to implement new things.

4. But long range effectiveness in cultivating innovation requires a reward system that reinforces risk-taking, and does not penalize failure — two characteristics that are often in short supply within the culture of most public agencies.

5. Asset development and cost control. The main function of the company is to reduce the cost of the labor and develop or hire such employees which can benefit the company in the long run. One reason for this increased professionalism and innovation among public personnel managers has been the need to develop and apply two apparently contradictory human resourse strategies: policies for “kleenex employees” designed to control costs, and policies for “asset employees” designed to ensure loyalty, participation and development.