Challenges in Operation Management
                     Challenges in 
Operation 
Management
INTRODUCTION
Operations management involves planning, 
organizing, and supervising in the context of 
production and manufacturing. 
Good operations management enables a 
company to be efficient and effective by using 
the fewest resources and meeting customer 
demands.
SOURCE: www.planettogether.com 2
Globalization
Globalization is defined as the process by 
which businesses interact with people, 
companies, and governments on an 
international scale. This is being driven by the 
reduction of trade barriers, advancements in 
information/transportation technology, and 
more. 
SOURCE: www.planettogether.com 3
Sustainability 
Sustainability is a frequent issue discussed 
among various news outlets - with 
manufacturing being one of the largest factors 
contributing to conversation. 
There is much debate over whether or not we 
will have the appropriate amount of resources 
needed in order to have a sustainable future.
SOURCE: www.planettogether.com 4
Effective Communication
Consistency and effectiveness of 
communication is extremely difficult within 
organizations. The challenge for operations 
managers is to be able to communicate 
effectively with all internal and external 
stakeholders.
SOURCE: www.planettogether.com 5
Ethical Conduct
Ethics is defined as a subset of business 
ethics that is meant to ensure that production 
functions or activities are not damaging to 
people or society. Understanding the ethics of 
business will ensure that you will not fall out 
of line in terms of keeping the people and 
environment of your business safe.
SOURCE: www.planettogether.com 6
System Design
In Key Issues in Operations, a blog detailing 
the relationship between system design and 
operational management, the main theme is 
that organizations must develop systems 
capable of “producing quality goods and 
services in demanded quantities in acceptable 
time frames.
SOURCE: www.planettogether.com 7
Operations Management 
Functions
8
Design Functions
Design functions prepare configuration of the 
operations system and provide an overall 
framework under which the operations system 
will function. Various design functions can be 
product design and development, process 
design, quality management, location and 
layout of facilities and capacity planning.
SOURCE: www.geektonight.com 9
Operational Control 
Functions
Functions of forecasting, production planning 
and control, supply chain management, 
maintenance management are some of the 
control functions of operations management.
SOURCE: www.geektonight.com 10
Long Term Functions
Certain operations management functions are 
rare. Decisions with respect to them is made 
once every five to ten years. Where to locate 
a new plant is one such decision. Most of the 
design-related decisions are made on long 
term horizon.
SOURCE: www.geektonight.com 11