Friday, July 8, 2011

Project Management and How It Relates to Operations Managers and Operations Management

An operations manager is also considered to be a project manager from a certain perspective, and rightly so.

From the time the role of an operations manager was first thought of, the role has experienced notable evolutions. A manager who was supposed to actually look after the day-to-day operations of an organization is now supposed to be a stakeholder in generating revenue for the organization.

Globalization and perfect competition (as the economists call it) have broken the geographical and trade barriers, and enterprises now have the opportunity to do business in other countries. Naturally, this has resulted in increased competition, and all organizations are stretching their resources to survive and thrive in such an environment.

How did enterprises respond to heightened competition?

Enterprises all over the world have responded to increased competition by enhancing the role of an operations manager (of course, this was just one of the ways). A manager was earlier responsible for ensuring smooth operation of day-to-day operations in an enterprise.

An operations manager is now also deemed responsible for profitability. New tools and ideas have been implemented to evaluate the performance, and needless to say, the role is being evaluated threadbare. Let us say that in a nutshell, the responsibilities have increased, and so has the nature of job.

Why is an operations manager also known as a project manager?

Departmentalization: Enterprises have categorized each delivery of goods and services to a client as a project. For example, if an enterprise is delivering a huge consignment of goods to a client, the entire consignment is reckoned as a project.

An operations manager who oversees the operations related to consignment delivery is termed the project manager. Naturally, he r is expected to perform roles that were so far unknown.

Evaluation of the role: Obviously, all deliveries of goods and services have come to be considered as a project. As stated earlier, new tools and ideas are being implemented to ensure higher quality and timely compliance of the deliverables.

Statistics and matrices are being increasingly used to evaluate the performance of a project. Of course, the best thing about these initiatives is that progress and performance can be measured and objective goals can be set for subsequent deliverables.

Increasing compliance parameters: Compliance parameters have become more stringent all over the world, and new standards are evolving continuously. Many standards were hitherto applicable to service companies only (for example, an information technology enterprise), but these standards have rolled on to other enterprises as well, and naturally, operations managers are required to execute projects in a manner that is compliant with the agreed standards across the enterprise. The best aspect of these initiatives has been a marked improvement in the overall capabilities.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5072515

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