SNHU The People in Charge of Operations Functions Discussion

Many universities, industry professionals, and organizations feel that operations management and project management go hand in hand.

Indeed, often the degree programs are similar, and professional organizations like APICS provide certifications in both. Why do you think it is important for those who manage operations functions to understand project management techniques?

How does a firm integrate principles of both operations management and project management to create customer value? Find and cite examples.

https://www.ascm.org/about-ascm/

https://ascm.force.com/community/s/

http://www.pmi.org/About-Us.aspx

In response to your peers, identify any additional value that can be generated from the examples provided.

peer 1: Operations management and project management rely on each other to exchange information and knowledge. They may intersect at various areas of duties, but their roles remain different. Operations managers are responsible for overseeing, directing, and controlling day-to-day business operations. Project managers, on the other hand, have temporary endeavors to produce a unique product, service or result (Invensis, 2021).

Operations managers should learn some project management techniques to help with various aspects of the business. To help with visibility of all ongoing work, an operations manager could utilize the waterfall, scrum or critical path project management techniques. The waterfall method always keeps the goal in mind and requires clear objectives. The scrum method focuses on the “little” wins and brings in stakeholders to keep expectations clear. And lastly, the critical path method organizes work into categories and maps out the necessary resource for each task. Managers can also utilize dashboards and reporting for accountability within the team. Also, performance metrics can be utilized to show where the team excels (Hansen, 2018).

An operations manager works in the present while the project manager works in the future, but both the roles could be said to be complementary to each other. An operations manager relies on a project manager to maintain the quality of individual projects and a project manager can only be successful with input from the operations managers. To help create customer value, both operations managers and project managers need to take cost, quality, delivery, and responsiveness into consideration. All of these aspects are important to customers. Cost and cost reduction are always factors in operations and with projects. Utilizing effective cost reduction techniques can increase efficiency and help with responsiveness to customers. Quality is vital in a company’s success. Part of quality should be meeting customer expectations. Delivery should be fast and reliable. Companies that have minimal inventory must ensure that their supply chain and operations are in good order and flow well. Lastly is responsiveness. Companies need to be able to act quickly if customers have special requests.

Invensis. 2021. How are Operations Management and Project Management interconnected? Retrieved 11Mar2021 from https://www.invensislearning.com/articles/pmp/how-are-operations-management-and-project-management-interconnected

Hansen, Brianna. 01Nov2018. 5 Reasons Why Managers Need to Learn Project Management Basics. Retrieved from https://www.wrike.com/blog/5-reasons-managers-need-learn-project-management-basics/

Meeting Customers’ Real Needs: The Nature of Service System Design. 10Feb2014. Retrieved from https://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=2170657&seqNum=2

peer 2:

I do believe that operations management and project management go hand in hand. Operations management (OM) is when a set of activities that can be transformed into outputs to create value (Heizer 2020). The value can be in the form of goods or services. Project management (PM) involves making sure all the necessary activities within the business are finished on time, within budget, meets quality goals, and the people who are assigned different projects get what they need to do their jobs (Heizer 2020). To put it in simpler terms, the operations manager would oversee the business and make sure everything is running efficiently and smoothly (Miller 2019). The project manager would oversee the planning, execution, and completion of projects in the business (Miller 2019). These OM and PM mangers must work hand in hand to complete their own tasks and keep the firm successful. If one does not understand the responsibilities of the other, it slows down efficiently. Therefore, it is very important that individuals have proper project management skills and operations management skills. Project management techniques are important in a business because the management involves three phases: planning, scheduling, and controlling (Heizer 2020). Planning is needed in operations management because it is necessary to know the goals and organization of the business. Scheduling is important because it relates to money, supplies, and people (Heizer 2020). This phrase is especially important to OM and PM because it relates all things to each other for an outcome, without one the outcome might be delayed or incomplete. The last phrase called controlling is where project management monitors all the resources, costs, budget, and quality. This is extremely important also to operations management because these things affect the business.

To have a successful business you need customers. Customers make their purchases for goods or services based on the value they expect to receive (CSCMP 2014). A business can integrate principles of both operations management and project management to create this customer value. The main two ways to increase customer value is through effective communication and organization. Customer value can be created in operation management by making sure the firm is running smoothly and efficiently. This will give customer value because it makes sure customers get quality goods or services on time. The project management would be involved in projects that increase customer value. A firm must have these types of projects to be competitive in the market. For example, many businesses have had to move online to stay in business due to the covid pandemic. I personally know a few restaurants who used to not do online delivery but are now doing it. These type of move within a business requires project management to deal with things such as increased website traffic.

References

CSCMP, Stanley E. Fawcett, Amydee M. Fawcett. (2014). Definitive Guide to Order Fulfillment and Customer Service, The Principles and Strategies for Planning, Organizing, and Managing Fulfillment and Service Operations. Pearson FT Press. https://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx? p=2170657&seqNum=2

Heizer, Jay, et al. (2020). Operations Management: Sustainability and Supply Chain Management. Pearson Education.

Miller, Kelsey. (2019 May 9). Project Management vs. Operations Management: What’s the Difference? Northeastern University. https://www.northeastern.edu/graduate/blog/project-management-vs-operations-management/