Strategy and Operations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Strategy and Operations - Essay Example The operational level deals with production and control, inventory management, material handling, equipment maintenance policies and inspection and quality control. Tactical level deals with plant layout, structuring, equipment selections and replacement and project management. Strategic level deals with fixation of location and size of the manufacturing plants, and also deals with the structure of networking and services and developing technology supply chains (MIT Sloan School of Management, 2010). The operations function of any company moves in the direction on what the company’s business is all about. If the organization is into a manufacturing business, then it’s an operation that produces the products. If the organization is a service provider, then operations offers the services. Operations management involves managing various segments of operations (Krannert School of Management, 2010). The operational management provides the manager with the tools and techniques in performing the operational, tactical and strategic levels of operations in the organization that produces goods and services. Operations management is a vital part of business that deals with the production of goods and services and engages the accountability of certifying the business operations that are effective and efficient. It is the management of resources and the allocation of merchandise and services to consumers (Technology for Future, 2010). This process is popularly used in garages, service shops, furniture restorer, printers that produce tickets for the local social event and includes numerous precision engineers such as specialist tool makers (Slack & Et. Al., 2010). In this process identical units are produced in a group called as batches. The units in one batch may differ significantly with the other batch. Each batch is different from other as the designs are different (Caplan, n.d.). This process is

Effective Team and Performance Management Essay - 2

Effective Team and Performance Management - Essay Example . Precisely, this discussion demonstrates personal and interpersonal awareness in addition to skill formation and development. The main reason for describing the personal and interpersonal awareness within a given team is to attempt explaining or creating an understanding of the effective management and performance of such groups. Effective team and performance management are the main epicenters of this discussion. In order to obtain the objective of the discussion, this paper is divided into three main parts excluding the introduction. The parts include reflection, alternative action, and overall learning. Reflection section of the discussion attempts to identify the key issues besides describing each of mentioned issues. In addition, the section provides an analysis of key issues involved while carrying out the activities of the team within the three contexts; investigating crime, lost on the moon, and egg challenge. Alternative action section identifies the recurring/overarching problems within the team whilst conducting its specific activities, avoidance of such problems, and impact of team members in ensuring that activities of team were effectively achieved. Lastly, the overall learning (conclusion) section identifies aspects learnt in the tasks and their relevance to future professional life. Team The team comprising of 6 members, 4 ladies and 2 gentlemen was formed on the basis of persons from different nationalities from Africa and Asia. Three main activities formed part of the seminar activities for purposes of understanding personal and interpersonal characteristics. The activities included lost on the moon, crime investigation in Park near Cambridge City Centre, and the egg flying contest. All these formed the seminar activities, which were aimed at evaluating effective management of teams or groups. Reflection During formation of the team of the four ladies and two gentlemen, I realized that there was so much potential not only in me but also other team members. Though anxious, I found it enjoyable and exciting to engage with people that were like strangers to me. Anxiety is one of the indicators within a person as described by Myers Briggs (Elwyn, Greenhalgh, and Mcfarlance, 2001, p.119). The first step was to introduce each other. In this process, team members wer e uneasy given the fact that they did not know each other. The idea of introduction to get to know each other was borrowed from Tuckman’s (1965) group forming stage. During the forming stage, Tuckman (1965) identifies that team members are always anxious due to being strangers. Other than problems of introduction, the team within its introduction stage had no clear specific individual roles and responsibilities, chain of command, and hierarchy of authority. What’s more, it is difficult to explicitly define roles and responsibilities of every member during the formation stage (Tuckman, 1965; Landale, 1999, p38). As Goleman (2002, p.253); Irvine et al (2002); and Kilman (1974) identify, there was a possibility of diversity conflict especially following that members of the team came from diverse backgrounds. The second activity within the formation stage involved identification of a team leader. Without a team leader, a group will not be spearheaded to the right direction since no one particular person will be responsible for initiating and directing activities