Page 13 - DMGT501_OPERATIONS_MANAGEMENT

Unit 1: Introduction to Operations Management

enhancing employee well-being and development, and fostering motivation that are Notes
vital to the success of management policies in practice.

5. Production Management – Information Systems: Information systems provide, analyze,
and co-ordinate the information needs of production. The distributed processing
environment and the growth and evolution of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems
for the organization have a direct impact on production. It allows organizations to generate
relevant information and make appropriate information available when needed. The
operational plans become the driver of all business planning including recruiting, cash
flows, and marketing promotions. With Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) systems
IT plays a very important role.
In many organizations, similar activities are performed at different locations or at the same
location by different people. Examples would be a manufacturer with plants spread out all over
the world. However, knowledge is rarely, if ever, shared among employees performing similar
jobs. Information technology provides an option for managing and sharing knowledge. It
dramatically improves the task of managing knowledge. Advances in process automation allow
firms to redefine their core processes and design better systems to accommodate the needs of
product and service variety. E-commerce creates new demands for managing processes while
also providing new opportunities for reconfiguring them. Much progress in information
technologies is wasted if the production function does not respond to the challenges created by
the increased availability of information and knowledge.
This approach emphasizes cross-functional thinking and relates it to the context of overall
activities of the organization. Production Management measures the effectiveness of people,
processes, and technology so that an enterprise can perform better, faster, and with greater
productivity. It provides customers with products and services; and supports corporate strategies
by working with marketing, finance and human resource areas.

Differences between Production and Operation Management
The field of management that deals with the supervision, planning and redesigning business
operations in the manufacture of services as well as goods is called as Operations Management.
This comprises the responsibility of making certain that the operations in a business are carried
out in an efficient as well as effective manner for both parties. The organizational lifecycle
operation inside a firm that deals with the forecasting, planning or marketing of products or a
particular product at all stages of the life cycle of that product is called as Product management.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 7