operations management-1
Report on Total Quality Management
May 25, 2020International Trade Law
May 26, 2020operations management-1
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE: A CASE STUDY OF CHANGE IN THE INFORMATION STYSTEMS IN AN INSTITUTION OF HIGHER LEARNING
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The research paper aims to integrate operations management with how management can effectively manage the human capital in the organization in order to implement change.
Change is the process through which an organization reinvents its products and processes in order to gain competitive advantage in the market or cope with environmental changes.
The paper reports on the importance and how management can use organizational and role redesign, flexi time programs, staff learning and development and recruitment as tools of bringing change in the information systems in a learning institutions in the United States.
The paper also discusses the latest trends and the way organizations have evolved over time in the methods and tools used in bring change in the organizations human capital.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 Introduction¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦4
2.0 Change¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦5
2.1 Environmental and organizational factors¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦5
2.2 Technological and Industry Trends¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦6
2.3 Social Economic factors¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦.7
3.0Application¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦..7
3.1 Organizational Redesign¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦.8
3.1.1 The Learning Organization¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦8
3.1.2 Developing a change Oriented Organization¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦9
3.1.3 Flatter organizations¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦.9
3.2 Role Redesign¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦10
3.2.1 Employee Involvement¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦.10
3.2.2 Suggestion schemes¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦..10
3.2.3 Self Managed Teams¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦10
3.3 Staffing and Development¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦..11
3.4 Flexi Time¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦..11
3.5 Recruitment¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦.12
4.0 Conclusion¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦12
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Operations management is a very crucial element in any successful organization. As put in slack et al. (2010, p.1) it is the process through which management ensure that resources are efficiently and effectively used in the production of goods and services. It entails the designing and redesigning production processes to ensure that efficiency and effectiveness is achieved.
Operations management is aimed at value creation through strategic management of the production process. Mollenkopf et al. (2011, p.391) say that organizations can increase their competitive edge in the industry by increasing customer value. Customer value can be achieved through strategic alignment of the organizations resources with the market needs.
Production process requires inputs and an environment that is conducive to produce outputs. Bititci et al. (2011, p.157) argues that the management of an organization is responsible for bringing out the full potential of the organizations resources through strategic management of the organizations processes.
In order to be successful in operations management the leadership of the organization has to identify the inputs into the production processes of goods and services and how these inputs can be managed to increase the value derived from them and hence increase value creation in the organization.
The inputs include the human capital, technology, material resources and knowledge. Management has to establish how these resources should be strategically combined to influence the production process positively for the organization to attain competitive advantage. This can be achieved through learning for the human capital, innovation of ideas through knowledge management, and control measures for the material resources to avoid wastage.
2.0 CHANGE
Change is inevitable in organizations due to the changing dynamics in the environment that organizations operate as put in Conceição and Altman (2011, p.33-43). Rodney (2009, p.5) says that organizations have to embrace change and aim to bring beneficial change to the organization that lead to value creation.
Conceição and Altman (2011, p.33-43) say that change can be based on the processes of the organization. According to Wendy (2011) to be successful in implementing change in an organization the management of the organization have to identify; the drivers of change, which departments of the organizations the change will affect and how to strategically implement the change to ensure that the change will be beneficial to the organization.
Change can be influenced by a number of factors which may include; economic, environmental, organizational, social, business and industry factors.
2.1 Environmental and Organizational Factors
Organizations do not operate in a vacuum Conceição and Altman (2011, p.33-43), the factors that influence and are influenced by the operations of the organizations are its environment. These factors include; political factors, technological factors, social-cultural factors, legal factors, the consumers of the organizations products and the government.
According to Wiley Publishers (2011) organizations environment can either be stable or dynamic. Stable environments enable management to predict future outcomes and hence planning and control processes are less complex. Dynamic environments are characterized by constant changes and unpredictability which calls for management to constantly innovate their processes resulting in change.
Many organizations may be unable to unable to keep with constant change influenced by unpredictable environment due to lack of capacity necessary to adopt the change According to Buono and Kerber (2010, p.9-12).
These organizations have to adopt a flexible organization structure that enables change to be implemented with ease as put in Wiley Publishers (2010).
Organizational factors include; the size, type and age of the organization as put in Wiley Publishers (2011). The stage the organization is in its life cycle determines the level and type of change the organization requires competitive in the industry. Young organization need to constantly implement change in order to compete with already established organizations in the industry. The type of the organization also determines the intensity of change and kind of change instituted in the organization. Finally big organizations require innovating constantly in order to serve their large markets effectively unlike small organizations that require change when it is absolutely necessary.
2.2 Technological Factors and Industry Trends
The rate at which the technology used in the production processes used by the organizations dictates need for change in the organization. The organization has to be in a position to adopt any new technology in the industry in order to remain competitive and take advantage of economies of scale brought about by the technology. This will help the organization to keep up with new industry trends in the market.
Buono and Kerber (2010, p.9-12) say that for a company to remain competitive in the industry it has to create capacity to adopt any new technology in the market to enable it to keep up with market trends. An organization can transform is processes into a network through implementation of information systems that help the organization to be more effective as put in Iveroth (2010, p.136-153).
2.3 Social Economic Factors
Social economic factors refer to changes in societal attitudes and the economic factors influencing the organization such rates of inflation. Societal attitudes determine the type of products produced by the organization. Change in societal attitudes will determine the kind of change required to be implemented for the organizational products to align with prevailing societal attitudes.
The society has been moving towards a technological world where most processes are computerized and organizations offer their products on the internet.
Economic drivers relate to the way the economy influences the products demanded by the consumer and how the organizational can align its products and services to suit the changes. Currently global changes dictate that the consumer value can be created through organization redesigning its structure to be more technologically oriented.
3.0 APPLICATION
Planned change in organizations calls for management to strategically manage the processes of production in order to create value. According to Cohen (2002, p.2) to implement change successfully management has to create awareness for the need for change among the employees affected by the change.
Change is a process that requires creation of awareness within the organization and creating capacity for the required change. This can be achieved through preparing the staff by training and learning and redesigning the organization and role of employees to facilitate adoption of the change as put in Cohen and Kotter (2002, p.1-5).
This research paper presents a case study of the correlation between training and development process and cultural change in information systems of an institution of higher learning in the United States. The change was aimed at improving the efficiency of all information systems in the institution. This was implemented through training and development the institutions staff and changing their perception towards information technology.
3.1. Organizational Redesign
The institutional processes and transactions are all computerized. The institution has three branches and management wants to create network that links the three branches to the main college. This calls for the organization to redesign its structure in order to build capacity that can allow it to constantly adopt new technology in the market to cope with changing dynamics in the market Buono and Kerber (2010, p.9-12).
3.1.1 The Learning organization
An organization that improves employee performance by advocating for learning to is a learning organization as put in Conceição and Altman (2011, p.33-43). Learning leads to improved performance which in turn leads to increased productivity in the organization.
According to Heim and Ketzenberg (2011, p.449) change in the organization can be implemented through learning. This is implemented through the training and development of the employees of improves the way they execute operations in the organization.
Learning is a continuous process. According to Pergola and walters (2011, p.1-17) organization learning is imperative for any organization that want to survive in the industry. Learning should be incorporated into the organization culture to make adoption of change successful.
Learning in the institution can be implemented through the system survey method as put in Pergola and Walters (2011, p.1-17). This method involves; identification of the problem or driver that necessitates the need for learning, identifying the possible solution to the problem and then establishing the areas that the staff requires to improve on and that can be facilitated through learning.
3.1.2 Developing a change Oriented culture in the college
According to Conceição and Altman (2011, p.33-43) the organization culture determines its affinity towards change. The management of the organization has to ensure that the staff embraces change creating the need for learning to enable the change is beneficial to the organization as shown in the figure below.
To develop a change oriented organization management need to deal with barriers to the learning system in the organization as put in Schimmel and Mustang (2009, p. 399-416). This can be achieved by developing a learning culture aimed at instituting change in the college. This will help the institution to adopt new technology in the market as soon it is introduced enabling the institution to keep up with market trends.
3.1.3 Flatter Organizations
According to Denise (2007, p.244-258) organization need to remove the hierarchies that cause bureaucracies in the organization and hinder specialization and effective transfer of tacit and explicit knowledge among peers and in turn hindering the learning process.
The institution can adopt a flatter organization structure where staff members in all three subsidiaries and the main college share knowledge freely enabling the learning process to take place concurrently with the operations of the institution.
3.2 Role Redesign
According Paula et al. (2005, p.732-733) recently many organizations have been adopting role redesign in an aim to encourage beneficial change to originate from any level in the organization. Role redesign is concerned with autonomy at the work place and feedback.
Organizations are moving away from centralized organization structure where decisions originated mainly from the top and the employees role was too follow given procedures to flatter organization that encourage employees to participate in idea generation thus participating in decision making process.
3.2.1 Employee Involvement
Employee involvement in the change process is very important as it eliminates the issue of resistance to change because the employees feel that change originated from them rather being forced on them.
The institution can encourage employees to contribute on plausible ways that the information system can be improved to cater for changing needs of the students and accommodation of changes in industry trends.
3.2.3 Suggestion Schemes
This entails holding employee meeting where the employees brainstorm on identified areas that require change. The institution can encourage suggestion schemes by holding employee meetings on a regular basis that come up with solutions to problems in the information system as put in Paula et al. (2005, p.732-733).
3.2.4 Self Managed Teams
The institution can encourage idea generation through developing self managed teams in the various branches to come up in-house ideas on how to solve problems and ideas of how to improve the exciting information systems to suit the needs o the students and adopt changing market trends.
3.3 Staff Training and Development
Paula et al. (2005, p.732-733) argues that staff training and education should be done every time the organization reinvents its processes and adopts new technology. This will increase efficiency at the work place and help the employees to embrace change because they understand their new roles.
Staff development is done through role redesigning and redefinition. It entails the employees job re-definition to involve a wider scope of role or when the employee is required to specialize in one area in the organization as put in Paula et al. (2005, p.732-733).
The institution can indentify training needs of the staff in the institution to ensure that individual employees are competent to handle new information system processes introduced in the various departments.
3.4 Flexi Time
As put in Veena (2011) employees should be allowed to work whenever and where they feel comfortable as this increases productivity and save the organization cost of buying extra resources required so as to accommodate all employees in the organization.
This can be facilitated through cloud computing where the employee can easily access data required to make decisions and operate effectively for example on their mobile phones. Veena (2011) says that cloud computing is the future of information technology.
By encouraging flexible working hours the institution will motivate the employees to work harder because they have the freedom to attend to other personal needs whenever the job is not too urgent.
3.5 Recruitment
Recruitment of competent individuals who are willing to embrace organizational change is the key to achieving organizational change. Morrisson (2010, p.31-33) says that the young generation is more willing to accept change and work towards making a difference in the organization through introducing new ideas to the organization.
As put in Taylor (2011) the recruitment process has evolved over time and the human resource department does not have to rely on information given by potential candidate for a certain position. The human resource department is now in a position to get the right person for the right job through getting employee information from the human resource databases available on the internet.
The institution can ensure it recruits open-minded individuals by ensuring during recruitment process the potential candidates are tested on their ability to be innovative and ability to embrace change through role plays.
4.0 CONCLUSION
Operations management is the process through which organization increase value creation through effective and efficient management of organizational resources.
Change is very crucial component for any organization that wants to achieve competitive advantage in the industry. A major factor influencing change in the organization is the human capital. If management of the organization is able to influence human capital to be change oriented the organization will be able to change with the changes in the environment and market trends.
Managing organizational change through management of the human capital can be achieved through organizational and role redesigning, flexi time programs, training and development and recruitment.
References
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Buono, A. F., and Kerber, K.W. (2010) Intervention and Organizational Change: Building Organizational Change Capacity.
Cohen, S. D. and Kotter, P. J. (2002)The Heart Of change: Real life stories of How People change Their Organization, Havard business Press.
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Appendices
Figure 1; Organizational Culture Change Process (Online) available from <http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?vinst=PROD&fmt=4&filenumber=1&clientid=45065&vname=PQD&RQT=309&did=2321018691&scaling=FULL&ts=1305530093&vtype=PQD&rqt=309> Retrieved on 16th May
