Highstone Electronics Inc

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Highstone Electronics Inc.

Importance of effective operations management in achievingorganizational

objectives

Operations management forms the heart of the organization as it controls the system

of operations. According to Lowson (2002) operations management is concerned with

the design, operation and improvement of the internal and external systems, resorces

and technologies that create and deliver the firms primary prodct and service

com!inations. "he activities inclded within operations management are prchasing,

distri!tion, prodct and process design and other external activities sch as

management of spply networ#. Operations management involves managing

e$ipment, information, people, technology and other sch resorces of an

organization.

"he main role of operations management is to orchestrate all the resorces re$ired toprodce the final prodct. "he responsi!ilities inclde designing the prodct,

managing resorces and deciding what resorces are re$ired, arranging schedles,

e$ipment and facilities. %oreover, it incldes management of inventory, controlling

$ality and designing the tas#s re$ired to prodce the final prodct. "o sm p,

operations management is responsi!le for all aspects of the process of transforming

inpts into otpts (&illier, 200'). Operations management is critical to any

organization as efficient operations management can lead a company to sccess

whereas inefficient management cold lead one to failre. n order for operations

management to !e sccessfl, the process mst !e a!le to add vale dring the

transformation process of inpts to otpts. "he term vale added is defined as the

difference !etween the final vale of the prodct and the vales of all the inpts. "he

higher the vale added for a prodct the more prodctive and sccessfl a !siness is

said to !e. Activities that fail to add vale to organizations prodcts are considered to

!e a waste. Operations management incldes recognizing these wastefl activities and

clling them in order to save costs. n addition to, adding vale organizational

processes mst also !e efficient. fficiency means performing operations well and atthe lowest possi!le cost. Operations management mst analyze all activities

improving efficiency and eliminating ones that don*t add vale. fficiency can !e

improved !y restricting processes, tas#s and +o!s in order to achieve the o!+ectives

with lower costs. "oday*s !siness environment is more competitive than ever, and

the role of operations management has !ecome the focal point ofefforts to increase

competitiveness !y improving vale added and efficiency.

&ighstone lectronics nc. (&L) ma#es effective se of its operations management

!y sccessflly managing its prodcts. rodct management incldes a wide variety

of management activities, for &L this incldes effectively managing its prodct line

and inventory in order to process orders in the most efficient manner. "he

organization initially sold prodcts throgh cataloges and maintained an inventory,

processing orders within '- hors. "he organization is now planning on moving its

operations online as well and has widened its prodct line. An increasing prodct linefor the organization means that the organization will !e catering to wider variety of


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cstomers. %oreover, online operations wold mean that the organization wold !e

serving cstomers world over. "he internet provides !siness with via!le

opportnities to expand allowing flexi!ility and a wide mar#et. &owever, delivering

to that mar#et within the promised time re$ires the organization to manage its

operations effectively. nsring that orders are delivered to the consmers within thepromised time is the +o! of operations management and this tas# is mch more

complicated than +st catering to a local clientele.

Evaluation of the success of existing operations managementprocesses in

meeting an organizations overall strategicmanagement objectives.

trategic %anagement is concerned with answering $estions relating to the long term

direction of the organization, the mar#ets and scope, the environment, resorces,

sta#eholders and which strategy to adopt to o!tain competitive advantage. trategic

management incldes thin#ing and implementing strategies (/inlay, 2000).

According to "homson and %artin (200) strategic management incldes designing,

implementing and execting an organizations strategy. "he process of strategic

management incldes the following stages1

"he evelopment of a 3ision and %ission.

"he etting of 4oals and O!+ectives.

"he 5rafting Of trategies.

"he mplementation and xection of lanned trategies.

"he valation of mplemented trategies.

Operations management assist in meeting the o!+ectives of strategic management !yassisting with execting the strategies set ot. Operations management, in

transforming inpts to otpts, carry ot strategies and ensre that throgh effective

management of resorces the o!+ectives of the strategies set ot !y the strategic

management nit of the organization are met (aft, 2006)

trategic management sets the overall long term direction of the company and

operational management focses on the short term goals, achievement of which will

help achieve the long term goals of the organization. "he srvival of an organization

is directly lin#ed with its strategic management process as it involves managing

critical sccess factors of the organization. t identifies the factors that are directlylin#ed to the srvival of an organization. Operational management is concerned withmanaging these factors and optimizing them so that they are efficient, add vale and

are cost effective.

Operational management drives the strategies formlated !y the strategic management

of the organization. t literally pts into action the organizational tools and resorces

in order to implement and achieve the long term strategies of the organization. n

doing so, operational management ensres that it is done in an effective, efficient and

timely manner.

Gold Coast Advertising


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Explain the importance of effective ualit! management inachieving

organizational objectives

7ality management is defined as a process to provide prodcts and services that

either meet or exceed the expectation of an organizations cstomer. An organization

can achieve this throgh systematically planning and improving the $ality standardsof its prodcts and introdcing $ality improvements. ("ilo, 2002)

7ality 5ontrol is the ongoing effort to maintain the integrity of a process to maintain

the relia!ility of achieving an otcome. t is an important element of operations

management within organization. t is a crcial aspect of effective operations

management. t involves continosly improving the processes and prodcts of an

organization in order to match the taste and preferences of its consmers. 8ecent

advancements within $ality management, sch as otsorcing, !siness process re9

engineering and total $ality management assist an organization improve its

operations management which in trn, assists an organization in achieving itso!+ectives.

7ality management ensres that all processes of an organization wor# together in

order to provide a prodct or service of the tmost $ality, this helps improve

cstomer satisfaction and consistently increases the $ality of wor# of all

organizational employees. 7ality management can assist an organization in

achieving its o!+ectives !y increasing the prodction of processes, decreasing the ris#

of client commitments not !eing met and !y providing a fondation which allows an

organization to improve pon its internal processes.

mplementation of a $ality management system can assist an organization !y helping

measre the performance of the organization and assisting in ta#ing action where

improvements are re$ired. t ensres that all the processes and the final prodct

which is delivered to the client meet a certain standard and ths achieves cstomer

satisfaction. %oreover, effective $ality management can help identify non9

conformances and provide corrective action to rectify those and also introdce

preventive measres to ensre that non9conformances do not happen again.

An important aspect of $ality management systems is monitoring and measring.

"his assists an organization is measring its performance against cstomerre$irements and company o!+ectives. "he organization can then identify its

wea#nesses and also evalate options for improvements in order to steer the

organization in the direction of its goals !y not only efficiently managing its resorces

!t also !y ensring that cstomer expectations are met.

"lan a #trategic $ualit! change to improve organizationperformance

mplementation of $ality management reshapes the entire !siness practice. 7ality

management systems sch as "otally 7ality %anagement ("7%) help organizations

achieve few of the common strategic goals sch as continos improvement in $ality

of goods and services, responsiveness and flexi!ility of internal and spplierprocesses, and waste and cost elimination. "7% helps lin# daily activities with the


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strategic o!+ectives of an organization. mplementation of $ality management

systems assist an organization in meeting its overall strategic o!+ectives !y a

Administering a proper analysis of the !siness strategy, incorporating strategic

analysis in the :siness xcellence %odel and employing means of $ality

management.

"7% provides a shift in management philosophy for improving overall organizational

effectiveness. "he focs is laid pon all mem!ers of the organization in order to

continosly improve the processes of the organization and increase vale to

cstomers. mplementation of sch a $ality management system provides the

organization with an environment of spport which has a synergic effect on the

company as a whole and helps in improving the organizational performance. ;ithin a

context of ever increasing competition among


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processes. ;or#ers gain responsi!ility for their otpt and can measre their

performance !ased on prompt feed!ac#.

Evaluate the 'ider implications of planned strategic ualit!change in an

organization

Any change has implications for an organization across the spectrm of the vale

chain. "he ad+stments that will reslt from a strategic plan need to !e considered

systemically. "he possi!le impact throghot the organization re$ires consideration.

"he changes mst !e planned for, made, and monitored. "he idea is to minimize

srprises and increase the proactive handling of intended changes. A planned strategic

$ality change cold affect the strategic goals of the organization. "he introdction of

strategic $ality change cold impact the entire vision of the organization and ths

every aspect of the organizations process.

5hanges cold also affect the personnel and managers within the organization.5hange can create confsion throghot the organization. 5hange alters the clarity

and sta!ility of roles and relationships, often creating chaos. "his re$ires realigning

and renegotiating formal patterns of relationships and policies.

:y definition, change creates loss and therefore generates interpersonal conflict.

5hange can create loss of meaning and prpose. eople form attachments to sym!ols

and in sym!olic activity. ;hen the attachments are severed, people experience

difficlty in letting go of old attachments. Avoiding or smoothing over these isses

drives conflict ndergrond, where it can fester and !oil over. "he psychological

wonds that come with change re$ire the creation of arenas where isses can !e dealt

with that may re$ire sym!olic healing.

Implement a #trategic $ualit! Change at GCA

"he strategic $ality change implemented at 45A will !e the introdction of

!enchmar#ing. :enchmar#ing is the process of identifying >!est practice> in relation

to !oth prodcts and the processes !y which those prodcts are created and delivered.

"he search for >!est practice> can ta#e place !oth inside a particlar indstry, and also

in other indstries. "he o!+ective of !enchmar#ing is to nderstand and evalate thecrrent position of a !siness or organisation in relation to >!est practice> and to

identify areas and means of performance improvement.

:enchmar#ing involves loo#ing otward to examine how others achieve their

performance levels and to nderstand the processes they se. n this way

!enchmar#ing helps explain the processes !ehind excellent performance. ;hen the

lessons learnt from a !enchmar#ing exercise are applied appropriately, they facilitate

improved performance in critical fnctions within an organisation or in #ey areas of

the !siness environment.

Application of !enchmar#ing involves for #ey steps1

() ?nderstand in detail existing !siness processes


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(2) Analyse the !siness processes of others

(6) 5ompare own !siness performance with that of others analysed

(') mplement the steps necessary to close the performance gap

Embed a ualit! culture in an organization to ensurecontinuous monitoring and

development

5ontinos improvement cltre helps organizations to develop committed

employees, delighted cstomers and !ild vale added prodcts and services. :ilding

a continos improvement re$ires a $ality cltre.

5ltre is defined as @the way we do things arond here. "he way employees actally

!ehave, thin# and !elieve determines the cltre. 5ltre is the personality of the

organization. 5ltre is what employees do when no one is watching. t is a @wal# the

tal#*. 5onsistent tal#ing and actions matters mch. 5ltre is the !asic pattern of

shared !eliefs, !ehaviors, attitdes and assmptions ac$ired over time !y mem!ers of

an organization. Attitde shows the otloo# and thoghts from which the wor# ha!its

emerge. t reflects attitdes and practices related to $ality systems application./ormal policies, procedres, !ehaviors and ha!its operate as the grond rles and

gidelines. 3ision, mission, vales, goals and strategy are the giding principles of a

corporation and cltre clminates from them. 5orporate cltre is changing fast.

veryone is expected to move at mch faster speed. Operational principles for the

corporations are @lim, peed and imple*. 5orporate cltre is people in action.

7ality cltre refers to the degree of awareness, commitment, collective attitde, and!ehavior of the organization with respect to $ality.

(utcomes of #trategic $ualit! Change

trategic $ality change aligns the goals of the organization with the need to improve

$ality and cstomer satisfaction. "he processes of the organization are re9defined to

inclde efficiency and effectiveness at each step so as to ensre that $ality is

maintained throghot all the processes of the organization !efore the final prodct is

prodced.

trategic $ality change assists in increasing efficiency within an organization andeliminating wastefl tas#s. t helps an organization !etter manage its resorces !y

implementing a system of $ality control that ensres cost effectiveness and expects

that each of its prodcts meet or exceed cstomer re$irements.

Overall, this helps ma#e an organization competitive and implementation of sch a

system will help sstain this competitive advantage as the organization satisfies the

cstomer while efficiently managing its resorces in order to eliminate tas#s which

either don*t add vale or are not cost effective.

)ecommend areas for improvement to a strategic ualit!change that align 'ithorganizational objectives.


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An organization can implement a !alanced scorecard in order to ensre that areas

re$iring improvement are dealt with. "he !alanced scorecard is a strategic planning

and management system that aligns !siness activities to the vision and strategy of the

organization, improve internal and external commnications, and monitor

organization performance against strategic goals.

"he !alances scorecard provides a framewor# that not only provides performance

measrements, !t helps planners identify what shold !e done and measred. t

ena!les exectives to trly execte their strategies.

)eferences

Lowson &. 8, (2002). Strategic Operations Management: The New

Competitivedvantage. stdition. 8otledge.

&illier /., (200').Introduction to Operations Research. -th dition.

%cgraw /inlay ., (2000). Strategic Management: n Introduction to !usiness and

CorporateStrategy.. stdition. London1 /inancial "imes.

"hompson and %artin, (200). Strategic Management. th 8evised edition

dition. 5l xcl 3ocatn

aft, 8 L (2006) B%anagementC D ixth dition. Ohio, ?A1 "homson

Learning 9 oth ;estern (p) 66.

"ilo feifer, (2002). "uality Management. Strategies# Methods#

Techniques.stdition. &anser /ach!chverlag

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