Trends in Operational Management

Operations is the part of a business organization that is responsible for producing goods and services (Stevenson, 2012, p. 4). In this definition, goods are tangible items. Goods can be finished items that are sold to end consumers such as a chair, a car, a computer, or a house. Goods can also be the raw materials, parts, and subassemblies that comprise the finished goods described above. These raw materials are sold as well, but not to end consumers. They are sold to the producers of the finished products.

Services, for the most part, are not tangible, but are activities that provide some combination of time, location, form, or psychological value (Stevenson, 2012, p. 4). Services such as the ability to place a cell phone call, electricity in a home, advice from a financial planner, traveling on an airline, receiving medical treatment, or staying in a hotel are all considered services directed at an end consumer. One definition for the word management is “the person or persons controlling and directing the affairs of a business, institution, etc.” (Dictionary.com, n.d.).

Whether a business produces raw materials or purchases raw materials for transformation into a consumable product, or the business provides a service, there are employees that must be directed, processes that must be managed and controlled, and daily decisions that must be made. Operations management directs employees, manages and controls processes, while making intelligent, strategic decisions, thought the entire process of creating goods and providing services. This paper will briefly explore the history of the operations management discipline, from its origins, to current trends and issues today. Piercy (2012) states “operations management is important in our society. Perhaps more than any other business discipline, operations management has shaped the world in which we work and live” (p. 1).

A Brief History of Operations Management

The discipline of operations management traces its origins back to the movement known as the Industrial Revolution, which began in Europe during the 1770’s. In the 19th century, this movement came to the shores of the US. This movement was primarily concerned with the direct and continuously improvement of recently created industrial processes, while increasing manufacturing productivity and worker efficiency. This precursor of the operations management discipline became known as scientific management.

In the US, the scientific management movement was led by Frederick W. Taylor. Being a mechanical engineer, Taylor had studied theory but believed in actual experience as well as collecting and using data to develop and form the basis of a hypothesis. (Darmody, 2007, p. 15.1). Taylor spent his professional career studying production processes and their relationship to worker efficiency. He began implementing various techniques to improve the overall management of the numerous