Understanding operations management

Introduction

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This Unit is designed to provide you with a basic framework for understanding operations management and its organisational and managerial context. It begins with a brief history of the changing nature of operations in a manufacturing context, but emphasises that the operations function is significant in all types of organisation, whether they produce goods or provide services, and whether they are in the private, public or voluntary sectors.

This Unit presents a process model of operations that describes inputs being transformed into outputs within the boundary of an operations system. It also discusses the role of operations managers, in particular the importance of focusing on suppliers and customers who are outside this boundary, as well as on other aspects of the operations system's external environment.

This material is from our archive and is an adapted extract from Managing performance and change (B700) which is no longer taught by The Open University. If you want to study formally with us, you may wish to explore other courses we offer in this subject area [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .

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