Blackwell Reference Online

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Operations management (OM) is the set of activities in any organization that are concerned with the resources devoted to the production and delivery of products and services. Every organization has an operations function because every organization produces some type of products and/or services, although they call the operations function by this name. This definition encompasses service and manufacturing as well as for‐profit and not‐for‐profit organizations. OM is also ubiquitous. Everything we wear, eat, sit on, use, read, or knock about on the sports field has been produced. So has every book we borrow from the library, every treatment we receive at the hospital, every service we expect, and every lecture we attend. Moreover items were produced before they were sold in an organized manner, or before their cost was precisely calculated. OM is arguably the oldest of management disciplines. It is also a discipline profoundly influenced by practice. Unlike some management functions, the OM task is principally defined by the pragmatic challenges of immediacy. In other words, the day‐to‐day production of goods or delivery of services requires practitioners to continually make decisions and implement changes. Academic OM also tends to focus on “real” managerial preoccupations and regularly re‐dedicates itself to the needs of practitioners. Unfortunately, whilst this concern with relevance ... log in or subscribe to read full text