Respond with 150 words

Nicole- Operations Management is an important aspect of business that is required when producing goods or services that allows for more efficient production. OM can be defined as all the activities that create value for a business. The value is in the form of goods and services, and it is created by transforming inputs into outputs (Heizer et al., 2020). According to the textbook, there are four main reasons why Operations Management needs to be studied. OM is one of the major functions within an organization because it allows us to study how people organize themselves for productive enterprise (Heizer et al., 2020). It is also studied to give a better understanding as to how goods and services are produced, as well as to give a better understanding as to what operations managers really do. Another main reason to study OM is because it is a very costly part of an organization and a large percent of revenue is spent on OM functions (Heizer et al., 2020). To sum it up, operations management needs to be studied because it can provide a great chance for a business to improve their profitability. Additionally, studying the ten strategic operations management decisions will give a better understanding as to how and why operations managers make the decisions that they make. When it comes to making decisions that can increase profitability for a business, it is important to know how to perform the functions of the management process before making decisions. Overall, studying and having knowledge on operations management will help managers be the best managers they can be, do their job better, and increase the profitability of an organization.

Respond with 150 words

Deborah- In order to run an efficient and successful enterprise, it is important that management is well-versed in the principles and practices of operations management. Therefore, it is important for potential and existing managers to study this discipline. Operations management involves procedures and activities that turn inputs into outputs that create value for a company (Heizer et al., 2016). Since production is such a vital part of an organization’s success, its costs must be appropriately managed through operational decision-making. Furthermore, knowledge of how to efficiently produce a product or service helps to create a competitive advantage for a firm. In today’s growing competitive global marketplace, operations managers are continually tasked to help make an organization more productive by tweaking productivity variables such as labor, capital, and management. These managers must also be able to understand and apply the functions of the management process to their operational decisions. Furthermore, the understanding and application of accounting, statistics, and finance principles will also aid in making sound strategic operations decisions (Heizer et al., 2016). The strategic operations management decisions that operations managers must be prepared to address include the “design of goods and services”, quality control, “process and capacity strategy”, location and layout strategy, human capital strategy, supply chain strategy, inventory control and management, scheduling, and maintenance (Heizer et al., 2016, p. 8). Furthermore, being able to understand these different functional aspects of a business and how operations interact with them helps to develop better managers (Wilson, 2019). Finally, gains in efficiency and productivity derived from sound operations management decisions can have lasting positive effects on firms, on the economy, and on overall living standards.