Objectives of operation management

Answer 1

• Customers - These are the most obvious people who will be affected by any business. What the chapter goes on to call the five operations performance objectives apply primarily to this group of people.
• Suppliers - Operations can have a major impact on suppliers, both on how they prosper themselves, and on how effective they are at supplying the operation.
• Shareholders - Clearly, the better an operation is at producing goods and services, the more likely the whole business is to prosper and shareholders will be one of the major beneficiaries of this.
• Employees - Similarly, employees will be generally better off if the company is prosperous; if only because they are more likely to be employed in the future. However operations responsibilities to employees go far beyond this. It includes the general working conditions which are determined by the way the operation has been designed.
• Society - Although often having no direct economic connection with the company, individuals and groups in society at large can be impacted by the way its operations managers behave. The most obvious example is in the environmental responsibility exhibited by operations managers.

Answer 2

The main objectives of operations management are to improve efficiency, reduce costs, increase quality, maximize productivity, and enhance customer satisfaction. By focusing on these objectives, organizations can streamline their processes, deliver products and services more effectively, and achieve a competitive advantage in the market.

Answer 3

1. Strategy: gaining a competitive advantage.

2. Process and system: alignment of back end activities.

3. Quality: scientific method to create and deliver product/ services.

4. Improvement: A constant effort to challenge status-quo.