Modern Management: concepts and skills, 14/e

Operations Management

Operations management deals with managing the production of goods and services in organizations. The sections that follow define operations management and discuss various strategies managers can use to make production activities more effective and efficient.

Defining Operations Management

According to Chase and Aquilano, operations management is the performance of managerial activities that involve selecting, designing, operating, controlling, and updating production systems.22 Figure 18.3 describes these activities and categorizes them as either periodic or continual. The distinction between periodic activities and continual activities is one of the relative frequency of their performance: Periodic activities are performed ...