Operations Management: Lifeline of an Organization

The lifeline of any organization resides in its operations management team. The people in operations management are responsible for a wide range of goals, including creating a vision for the company and ensuring its implementation by employees. An operations manager is involved in the day-to-day tasks of maintaining the company. He or she is involved in staffing for ensuring that the proper person is hired and that the staff is well equipped to handle required tasks. The operations manager must have an attention to detail, objectivity, and requires both patience and maturity. The success of a company depends on the proficiency of its operations management.

It is common wisdom in the business world that success and failure depend more on people and less on materials and mechanics. Managers staffing their operations departments uphold this notion by playing decisive roles in building companies. The duties of operations managers range from shaping companies' vision statements and infrastructures to finding solutions to day-to-day problems.

Roles of Operations Managers

Depending on the nature of the organization's products or services, operations managers plan, direct, and coordinate all tasks. It is their job to maintain the efficiency and effectiveness of daily operations and to oversee the uses of materials and human resources.

Tasks of Operations Managers

Operations mangers usually perform the following tasks:

Finding out staff requirements
Overseeing staff recruitment and maintaining staffing levels
Coordinating finance and funding and investments and budgeting operations
Formulating departmental objectives and procedures
Interacting with board members, other department heads, and staff members as required
Monitoring production, supplies, and other processes
Setting prices and credit terms
Developing and directing promotional activities including sales promotions and advertising
Preparing and supervising work schedules
Assigning specific duties to staff
Reviewing performance, target achievement, and productivity
Organizing periodical meetings
Identifying talent and planning and directing staff motivation and training programs
Handling complaints and problems and solving them
Ensuring orderliness in the workplace

Knowledge and Skills of Operations Managers

Operations managers hold very powerful and respected positions in companies. Companies' successes largely depend on the abilities and skills of operations mangers. Therefore, companies look for operations managers who possess the following skills:

Communications skills
Organizational skills
Presentation skills
Ability to develop detailed lists of daily tasks and implement them
Skills and character to address all concerns
Positive and cheerful dispositions toward work
Promptness in performances
Attention to details
Accuracy and preciseness in work
Objectivity in all dealings
Ability to juggle many tasks simultaneously
Patience and maturity
Integrity and dedication
Flexibility to adjust with others' actions and needs
Ability to identify strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches
Ability to foresee trends
Good work ethics
Desire to acquire knowledge and skills
Decision-making skills
Legal, economic, and statistical knowledge
Understanding of behavioral sciences
Ability to introduce initiates and unconventional measures if needed
Ability to face criticism patiently

All professions have their own characteristics and challenges and opportunities. It is important to assess them in detail before deciding to pursue careers in those fields.

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Operations Management: Lifeline of an Organization