Operations Management Flashcards
Activity
as used in project management, it is an identifiable and defined task, used together with event activities to form network planning diagrams
Back-office
the low-visibility part of an operation
Business process re-engineering (BPR)
the philosophy that recommends the redesign of processes to fulfil defined external customer needs
Processes
an arrangement of resources that produces some mixture of products and services
Co-creation
where the customer or customers play an important part in the character of the product or service offering
Broad definition of operations
all the activities necessary for the fulfilment of customer requests
Core functions
the functions that manage the three core processes of any business
Customer contact skills
the skills and knowledge that operations staff need to meet customer expectations
Directing
operations activities that create a general understanding of an operation’s strategic purpose and performance
End-to-end business processes
processes that totally fulfil a defined external customer need
Facilitating products
products that are produced by an operation to support its services
Facilitating services
services that are produced by an operation to support its products
Front-office
the high-visibility part of an operation
Hierarchy of operations
the idea that all operations processes are made up of smaller operations processes
Information technology (IT)
any device, or collection of devices, that collects, manipulates, stores or distributes information, nearly always used to mean computer based devices
Input resources
the transforming and transformed resources that form the input to operations
Internal customers
processes or individuals within an operation that are the customers for other internal processes or individuals’ outputs
Internal suppliers
processes or individuals within an operation that supply products or services to other processes or individuals within the operation
Market requirements
the performance objectives that reflect the market position of an operation’s products or services, also a perspective on operations strategy
Operations function
the arrangement of resources that are devoted to the production and delivery of products and services
Operations management
the activities, decisions and responsibilities of managing the production and delivery of products and services
Operations managers
the staff of the organisation who have particular responsibility for managing some or all of the resources which compose the operation’s function
Operations strategy
the overall direction and contribution of the operation’s function with the business; the way in which market requirements and operations resource capabilities are reconciled within the operation
Process outputs
the mixture of goods and services produced by processes
Received variety
the variety that occurs because the process is not designed to prevent it
Repeatability
the extent to which an activity does not vary
Standardization
the degree to which processes, products or services are prevented from varying over time
Support functions
the functions that facilitate the working of the core functions, for example accounting and finance, human resources, etc
Supply network
the network of supplier and customer operations that have relationships with an operation
Systemization
the extent to which standard procedures are made explicit
Tangibility
the main characteristic that distinguishes products (usually tangible) from services (usually intangible)
Transformation process model
model that describes operations in terms of their input resources, transforming processes and outputs of goods and services
Transformed resources
the resources that are treated, transformed or converted in a process, usually a mixture of materials, information and customers
Transforming resources
the resources that act upon the transformed resources, usually classified as facilities (the buildings, equipment and plant of an operation) and staff (the people who operate, maintain and manage the operation)
Volume
the level or rate of output from a process, a key characteristic that determines process behaviour
Visibility
the amount of value-added activity that takes place in the presence (in reality or virtually) of the customer, also called ‘customer contact’
Variety
the range of different products and services produced by a process, a key characteristic that determines process behaviour
Variation
the degree to which the rate or level of output varies from a process over time, a key characteristic in determining process behaviour
