UNIDAD IV

Patrones de Organización de un Párrafo (Unidad. IV)

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Operations management

Operations management is an area of management concerned with overseeing, designing, and redesigning business operations in the production of goods and/or services. It involves the responsibility of ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of using as little resources as needed, and effective in terms of meeting customer requirements. It is concerned with managing the process that converts inputs (in the forms of materials, labor, and energy) into outputs (in the form of goods and/or services). The relationship of operations management to senior management in commercial contexts can be compared to the relationship of line officers to the highest-level senior officers in military science. The highest-level officers shape the strategy and revise it over time, while the line officers make tactical decisions in support of carrying out the strategy. In business as in military affairs, the boundaries between levels are not always distinct; tactical information dynamically informs strategy, and individual people often move between roles over time.

Operations traditionally refers to the production of goods and/or services separately, although the distinction between these two main types of operations is increasingly difficult to make as manufacturers tend to merge product and service offerings. More generally, operations management aims to increase the content of value-added activities in any given process. Fundamentally, these value-adding creative activities should be aligned with market opportunity (through marketing) for optimal enterprise performance.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, operations management is the field concerned with managing and directing the physical and/or technical functions of a firm or organization, particularly those relating to development, production, and manufacturing. Operations management programs typically include instruction in principles of general management, manufacturing and production systems, plant management, equipment maintenance management, production control, industrial labor relations and skilled trades supervision, strategic manufacturing policy, systems analysis, productivity analysis and cost control, and materials planning. Management, including operations management, is like engineering in that it blends art with applied science. People skills, creativity, rational analysis, and knowledge of technology are all required for success.

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The Evolution of the Project Manager Role

George Konstantopoulos

Over the last twelve years I have seen the role of project manager evolve. The most significant transformational change I have witnessed involves the subtle integration of a diagnostic framework into the baseline project management approach.

Previously, a project manager was strictly known as an entity that coordinated the execution of easy to understand tasks usually made available in the form of a checklist that was provided at the commencement of an engagement. I refer to this project manager as the “checklist” project manager. A project manager would inherit an agenda consisting of tasks that needed to be delivered within defined timelines. In most cases the project manager did not conduct any project due diligence, provide input towards the project approval process or confirm the strategic value of the items found on this checklist – all needed to justify the existence of a project. The purpose of the role was simply to deliver the tangible results found on the bulletin within the prescribed period
The role of the project manager has recently morphed to include a diagnostic phase of work. In most cases today the project manager must holistically diagnose the current internal and external environments and conclude through facts the necessity of a project before it can be initiated. On average more project managers find themselves engaged in unearthing the business justification for the existence of the project, the recommended solutions that will satisfy the business needs and both determining and delivering the required executable actions needed to bring the solution to life. I refer to this revised role as a “consultative project manager.” Previously, after organizational due diligence had been performed (usually by someone acting in a consultative role) and a project need justified, a series of tasks would be simplified and organized on a checklist and then this checklist would be assigned to a project manager for delivery. The “consultative project manager” has eliminated the need for organizations to have a consultant diagnose the current situation and recommend a solution and a project manager to deliver the results needed to realize the solution.
This metamorphosis has served the project management profession, clients and project managers well. The project management profession has benefited from a correction of perceptions – from being perceived as simply task coordinators and executors to critical and strategic thinkers who can perform the business due diligence needed to quantitatively and qualitatively justify the need for a project. The clients have benefited because they now can receive both diagnostic and action frameworks from a single resource and thus have eliminated the need to have two separate resources (consultant + project manager), ultimately lowering the total cost of each project.  Finally, the project managers have been thrust upon a world that mandates an increase in cognitive competencies and mindfulness that leads to a more advanced skill set, increase in knowledge and ultimately long-term career prospects.

 

Background

During the dot com hysteria many organizations employed a first to market strategy and subsequently many products with minimal ROI justification were rushed through development. The emphasis on schedule, easy access to capital and the employment of first to market strategies all led to many checklist project manager job opportunities coming to fruition during the dot com era.
Once the dot com bubble burst, organizations emphasized costs over schedule, did not have easy access to capital and reluctantly employed a risk-averse growth strategy all due to the deteriorating economic landscape. Naturally, most organizations employed cost cutting strategies in order to meet street earnings expectations. When looking for expense reduction opportunities one of the first things most organizations realized was that in the past the delineation of project work was inadvertently and expensively separated into two areas – diagnose the need for a project (diagnostic framework) and deliver the actions needed to satisfy the project purpose (execution oriented framework). The diagnostic framework was usually assigned to a consultant and the execution oriented framework was assigned to a project manager. Embraced with a corrective economic cycle most organizations amalgamated the two roles into one thus reducing expenses. Many checklist project manager job opportunities were lost.
Additionally, the new, consultative project manager role was assigned internally to further reduce costs and in most cases without any organizational readiness assessments being performed. Existing internal project managers were “told” to handle the new role expectations. Unfortunately, most internal project managers at that time remained locked within their checklist dogma and were not prepared to handle the new expectations. The failure to accept these new role requirements led to the demise of many checklist project managers.
The role amalgamation resulted in many checklist project managers being unemployed simply because they did not possess the training, experience, skill or will needed to diagnose the internal and external economic, industry and business landscapes needed to produce somewhat complicated analyses required to justify the strategic value and necessity of a project. Almost immediately, the large management consulting firms, mostly known for only performing diagnostic based work began altering their value propositions and delivery models to include an execution oriented framework. These firms would now offer a new service that included problem diagnosis, solution recommendations and solution implementation.

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