Scope & Nature Essay Example for Free

Scope Nature Essay The scope of operations management ranges across the organization. Operations management people are involved in product and service design, process selection, selection and management of technology, design of work systems, location planning, facilities planning, and quality improvement of the organizations products or services. The operations function includes many interrelated activities, such as forecasting, capacity planning, scheduling, managing inventories, assuring quality, motivating employees, deciding where to locate facilities, and more. We can use an airline company to illustrate a service organizations operations system. The system consists of the airplanes, airport facilities, and maintenance facilities, sometimes spread out over a wide territory. The activities include: Forecasting such things as weather and landing conditions, seat demand for flights, and the growth in air travel.   Capacity planning, essential for the airline to maintain cash flow and make a reasonable profit. (Too few or too many planes, or even the right number of planes but in the wrong places, will hurt profits.) Facilities and layout, important in achieving effective use of workers and equipment. Scheduling of planes for flights and for routine maintenance; scheduling of pilots and flight attendants; and scheduling of ground crews, counter staff, and baggage handlers. Managing inventories of such items as foods and beverages, first-aid equipment, in-flight magazines, pillows and blankets, and life preservers.   Assuring quality, essential in flying and maintenance operations, where the emphasis is on safety, and important in dealing with customers at ticket counters, check-in, telephone and electronic reservations, and curb service, where the emphasis is on efficiency and courtesy. Motivating and training employees in all phases of operations, Locating facilities according to managers decisions on which cities to provide service for, where to locate maintenance facilities, and where to locate major and minor hubs. Now consider a bicycle factory. This might be primarily an assembly operation: buying components such as frames, tires, wheels, gears, and other items from suppliers, and then assembling bicycles. The factory also might do some of the fabrication work itself, forming frames, making the gears and chains, and it might buy mainly raw materials and a few parts and materials such as paint, nuts and bolts, and tires. Among the key management tasks in either case are scheduling production, deciding which components to make and which to buy, ordering parts and materials, deciding on the style of bicycle to produce and how many, purchasing new equipment to replace old or worn out equipment, maintaining equipment, motivating workers, and ensuring that quality standards are met. Obviously, an airline company and a bicycle factory are completely different types of operations. One is primarily a service operation, the other a producer of goods. Nonetheless, these two operations have much in common. Both involve scheduling activities, motivating employees, ordering and managing supplies, selecting and maintaining equipment, satisfying quality standards, and—above all—satisfying customers. And in both businesses, the success of the business depends on short- and long-term planning. The operations function consists of all activities directly related to producing goods or providing services. Hence, it exists both in manufacturing and assembly operations, which are goods-oriented, and in areas such as health care, transportation, food handling, and retailing, which are primarily service-oriented. A primary function of an operations manager is to guide the system by decision-making. Certain decisions affect the design of the system, and others affect the operation System design involves decisions that relate to system capacity, the geographic location of facilities, arrangement of departments and placement of equipment within physical structures, product and service planning, and acquisition of equipment. These decisions usually, but not always, require long-term commitments. Moreover, they are typically strategic decisions. System operation involves management of personnel, inventory planning and control, scheduling, project management, and quality assurance. These are generally tactical and operational decisions. Feedback on these decisions involves measurement and Control. In many instances, the operations manager is more involved in day-to-day operating decisions than with decisions relating to system design. However, the operations manager has a vital stake in system design because system design essentially determines many of the parameters of system operation. For Example, costs, space, capacities, and quality are directly affected by design decisions. Even though the operations manager is not responsible for making all design decisions, he or she can provide those decision makers with a wide range of information that will have a bearing on their decisions. A number of other areas are part of the operations function. They include purchasing, industrial engineering, distribution, and maintenance. Purchasing has responsibility for procurement of materials, supplies, and equipment. Close contact with operations is necessary to ensure correct quantities and timing of purchases. The purchasing department is often called on to evaluate vendors for quality, reliability, service, price, and ability to adjust to changing demand. Purchasing is also involved in receiving and inspecting the purchased goods. Industrial engineering is often concerned with scheduling, performance standards, work methods, quality control, and material handling.  Distribution involves the shipping of goods to warehouses, retail outlets, or final customers. Maintenance is responsible for general upkeep and repair of equipment, buildings and grounds, heating and air-conditioning; removing toxic wastes; parking; and perhaps security. The operations manager is the key figure in the system: He or she has the ultimate responsibility for the creation of goods or provision of services. The kinds of jobs that operations managers oversee vary tremendously from organization to organization largely because of the different products or services involved. Thus, managing a banking operation obviously requires a different kind of expertise than managing a steel- making operation. However, in a very important respect, the jobs are the same: They are both essentially managerial. The same thing can be said for the job of any operations manager regardless of the kinds of goods or services being created. The service sector and the manufacturing sector are both important to the economy. The service sector now accounts for more than 70 percent of jobs in the United States, and it is growing in other countries as well. Moreover, the number of people working in services is increasing, while the number of people working in manufacturing is not. The reason for the decline in manufacturing jobs is twofold: As the operations function in manufacturing companies finds more productive ways of producing goods, the companies are able to maintain or even increase their output using fewer workers. Furthermore, some manufacturing work has been outsourced to more productive companies, many in other countries that are able to produce goods at lower costs. Many of the concepts presented in this book apply equally to manufacturing and service. Consequently, whether your interest at this time is on manufacturing or on service, these concepts will be important, regardless of whether a manufacturing example or service. Operations management is often used along with production management in  literature on the subject. It is therefore, useful to understand the nature of operations management. Operations management is understood as the process whereby resources or inputs are converted into more useful products .A second reading of the sentence reveals that, there is hardly any difference between the terms production management and operations management. But, there are a least two points of distinction between production management and operations management. First, the term production management is more used for a system where tangible goods are produced. Whereas, operations management is more frequently used where various inputs are transformed into tangible services Viewed from this perspective, operations management will cover such services organization as banks, airlines, utilities, pollution control agencies super bazaars, educational institutions, libraries, consultancy firm and police departments, in addition, of course, to manufacturing enterprises. The second distinction relates to the evolution of the subject. Operation management is the term that is used now a day. Production management precedes operations management in the historical growth of the subject The two distinctions not withstanding, the terms production management and operations management are used interchangeably. Scope of Production and Operation Management The scope of production and operations management is indeed vast. Commencing with the selection of location production management covers such activities as acquisition of land, constructing building, procuring and installing machinery, purchasing and storing raw material and converting them into saleable products. Added to the above are other related topics such as quality management, maintenance management, production planning and control, methods improvement and work simplification and other related areas.

The Devil in Dr Faustus Essay -- Doctor Faustus Essays

The Devil in Dr Faustus  Ã‚   In Scene 3 Mephastophilis appears to Faustus in his real form. Faustus reacts with disgust and asks the devil to come back in a shape more pleasant to the eye - as a Fransiscan friar. Faustus’s reaction is typically renaissance - he objects to ugliness and craves aestheticism. It also shows his sense of humour (or rather sense of irony) - as he says â€Å"That holy shape becomes a devil best† (l 26). What is striking is that when Mephastophilis appears first, Marlowe does not bother to describe him. True - he does not talk of the physical appearance of any of the characters as well, but a devil is a creature that, in our twentieth century opinion, is clearly in need of some footnote specifying what he looks like. But there is no such footnote. The early seventeenth century audience did not need a description of the devil like the twentieth century audience does. The Middle Ages had accustomed people to viewing the devil as a hideous, disgustingly ugly and frightening creature. The renaissance was a revolution in terms of imagery. The devil became more hu...

Diary of Lady Murasaki Response Questions

Diary of Lady Murasaki Response Questions 1. Drawing evidence from the text, describe Lady Murasaki. Who is she? What is important to her? How important is she politically? Why do you think she keeps her diary? What are her frustrations with life at court? How typical/atypical is she as a woman in Heian Japan? Lady Murasaki was a Japanese poet at the Imperial court and served under Empress Shoshi. She writes this diary during her experiences at court and she finds the life of a lady-in-waiting, or a servant that has social certainty, and the events that are unfolded in court are important. She describes in her diary how she feels helpless at court and she is unhappy with her low rank in society compared to others in the Fujiwara clan which frustrates her, but makes her more inclined to write about it and keep a diary. She is a pretty typical woman in Heian Japan, but she often writes about how the other court women were less educated than her and that she was stronger-willed. 2. What does the text reveal about the political world of Heian Japan? What is the role of the emperor? What is the role of the regent? Which is more ‘important’? How do people gain and maintain political power? What happens to those who lose political power? During the Heian period of Japan the land was controlled by family clans and whoever was the most powerful family held the most importance. Within the family there is also ranks of political power branching down from the Emperor and Empress, but most of the other ranks are all related to each other through the family clan. The Emperor is the head of the family clan is said to be in that position by a heavenly right, while a regent is more of a governor addressing political issues. Both are important, but while the Emperor is the symbol of the people and their unity, the regent sparingly makes the differences in how the people get to live. 3. What does the text reveal about the roles of men in Heian Japan? How are they identified? What is their role in the family, in politics, in religion, in military? How much power and what type of power do men have? What do you find surprising about what is considered important/unimportant for men during Heian Japan? Why? Men controlled the majority of society as like any culture during this time period. The military was solely inhabited by men as was the political power, but women were allowed to be present in court and other social events. They had a good education and if they were in a political position they learned Chinese because it was used for legal documents and record keeping. 4. What does the text reveal about the roles of women in Heian Japan? How are they identified? What is their role in the family, in politics, in religion? How much and what type of power do women have? What do you find surprising about what is considered important/unimportant for women during Heian Japan? Why? Women during this time were surprisingly better off than in other centuries. They were excluded from public affairs, but involved in court as we can see in the diary. They were also educated and involved with events around the palace such as ceremonies, weddings, and poetry reciting. Women had to know how to dress correctly, but once they did they were expected to learn to dress very formally and elegantly. 5. What does the text reveal about social classes and social mores in Heian Japan? What are the differences between the social classes? How does social class affect the way people live and the political power they wield? What are the social expectations for men and women? What is good behavior/what is bad behavior? Does any of this surprise you? Most of Japan’s social class was in agriculture and lived outside the city walls and never entered the palace. Within the palace there are a separate set of social classes. The Emperor and Empress will always sit at the top of the ladder, but amongst everyone else there are strict guidelines to follow. Passages in the diary describe the uses of colors in clothing and how some colors shouldn’t be worn by certain social classes. The diary also accounts hat giving presents alter throughout social class. Nobles get the best gift and then the different ranks of courtiers, first rank being the highest and sixth rank one of the lowest. What does the text reveal about religion in Heian Japan? What is the role of religion? What type of religion do you see represented? What are the religious concerns of Lady Murasaki? What do her religious concerns reveal about life in Heian Japan? The religion of Shintoism can be seen with the heavenly right for the Emperor to rule over the people within his family clan name and to protect the imperial family. During the birth of Fujiwara no Michinaga, towards the beginning, Murasaki writes about the Buddhist priests coming and performing exorcisms and warding off evil. Lady Murasaki later writes that she â€Å"immerses [herself] in reading sutras for Amida Buddha†, which shows what kind of religious practices she participates in. All of these religions being present throughout the diary tells that religion is at a point of uncertainty in Heian Japan and there are many influences that come with them.

The Awakening Womens Role in Society - 1547 Words

Have you ever wondered what the lifestyles of Nineteenth Century women were like? Were they independent, career women or were they typical housewives that cooked, clean, watched the children, and catered to their husbands. Did the women of this era express themselves freely or did they just do what society expected of them? Kate Chopin was a female author who wrote several stories and two novels about women. One of her renowned works of art is The Awakening. This novel created great controversy and received negative criticism from literary critics due to Chopins portrayal of women by Edna throughout the book. The Awakening is a novel about a woman, Edna Pontellier, who is a confused soul. She is a typical housewife that is looking to†¦show more content†¦Adele is a mother-woman that lives for her children and Reisz despises children. Edna does love her children but she cant express her true identity. In the Creole society, mother-women idolized their children, worshipped the ir husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels. (Justus, 109) Edna Pontellier was dissatisfied with the life of a mother-woman because she couldnt release her true identity. Neither friends nor lovers could help her release her identity as a free woman. The tragedy within the book that James Justus likes to point out is that despite her emotional changes Edna cannot release her identity. As a result, she commits suicide. From a different aspect, Kenneth Eble explores and examines the tragedy of Ednas suicide. In his article, Eble starts off by first saying that the novel is about sex. Then he refers to Chopins biographer, Daniel Rankin and argues what Rankin believes about the novel. According to Eble, Daniel Rankin called The Awakening exotic in setting, morbid in theme, erotic in motivation. He refers to Edna as a selfish, capricious woman. Eble thinks otherwise. Kenneth Eble emphasized that Edna is not delud ed by the ideas of romance, nor is she the sensuous but guilt-ridden woman of the novel. Eble concludes that Ednas struggle for her identity and herShow MoreRelatedKate Chopins The Awakening: Womens Role In Society Essay1504 Words   |  7 Pageshusbands. Did the women of this era express themselves freely or did they just do what society expected of them? Kate Chopin was a female author who wrote several stories and two novels about women. One of her renowned works of art is The Awakening. This novel created great controversy and received negative criticism from literary critics due to Chopins portrayal of women by Edna throughout the book. The Awakening is a novel about a woman, Edna Pontellier, who is a confused soul. 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