Operation Management
Operations Management is a field of study that focuses on the various aspects of the production function of an organization. Following economic liberalization in 1991, the Indian economy witnessed a flux of activities in the industrial sector. Many new players entered different markets in a big way. This, in turn, led to the high demand of skilled professionals who can take charge of setting up and managing the production facility of an organization. These professionals were mainly engineers in their area of expertise.
However, an engineer possesses the technical knowledge but lacks the managerial skills needed to handle a production unit. For instance, an engineer can easily find a mathematical solution to reduce the production time of a car on an assembly line by 30 second. But he may not have the required expertise to motivate the staff to work towards the desired objective. To overcome this work challenge, many engineers started enrolling themselves for the operations management course offered by business schools. Today, the course is as popular as any other specialization like finance and marketing. It is normally taken up during the first year of the two-year management program.
Students who already have the experience of working in a production facility can easily relate to the subject. For others, it becomes meaningful following an industrial visit. Operations Management can also be taken up as an area of research in the field of academics. The course curriculum focuses on the use of various mathematical models to devise alternatives for a situation. It prepares its students to take the help of both logic and experience to arrive at correct decisions.
The course is not studied in isolation. It uses a number of economic and financial concepts that are also taken up simultaneously in the program. Some of the topics covered are operations systems analysis and modeling, project management, techniques for economic evaluation besides the basics of operational management. Moreover, the types of manufacturing systems, industrial safety, quality management, statistics, etc. are also studied.
The method of imparting instruction is an assortment of lectures, seminars, case studies, project work, and industrial visits. The course objective is to enable students take up managerial roles in a manufacturing organization. They can take up the job of a quality control manager, facility manager, supervisor, department head, etc. However, his suitability for a job depends upon his capability, experience, knowledge, and attitude.
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