Operations Management 2nd edition

Citation

Fraser, B. (2008), "Operations Management 2nd edition", Management Research News, Vol. 31 No. 1, pp. 77-79. https://doi.org/10.1108/01409170810845967

The increasingly competitive nature of markets over the past two decades has placed a major emphasis on the key role that operations play in creating and maintaining a competitive advantage for organisations. Despite its importance, the specific area of operations management is often overlooked by both students and managers when considering the role of management in the development of competitive advantage and organisational success. Terry Hill's Operations Management attempts to address this misunderstanding by providing a managerial perspective of operations set within the context of its “significant contribution to the overall success of an organisation”. The text is designed for students who want to understand the role of operations management within the broader organisational setting, and for managers whose roles relate to the operations management function. While the focus of the text concentrates on the practice of operations management, there is an implicit recognition that operations has moved beyond the more traditional technique‐based approach. In capturing this subtle change, the text makes a strong case for the recognition of the strategic importance of operations management at the highest levels of the organisation.

Operations Management is structured in five parts, containing a total of 16 chapters. Part 1, comprising of Chapters 1‐3 introduces the three key themes, which underpin the rest of the book and explores managing operations, strategy and people for business and markets. Part 2, which includes Chapters 4‐7, concerns the design and development of services, products and delivery systems. Part 3, which comprises of Chapters 8‐14 focuses on the central management tasks within operations. Part 4, which contains Chapters 15 and 16 addresses the task of improving the operations system. Finally Part 5 illustrates operations management in practice through 31 long case studies, which cover the range of topics presented in the preceding text. Each chapter contains a number of features designed to assist student learning, including several short case examples that are directly related to the specifics of that particular chapter. For example, Chapter 8 (Managing Capacity) includes case examples as varied as “Dell's Customer Support Capacity” and “Flexible Working at BMW”. These case studies provide contemporary examples of organisational responses to different contextual demands upon operations, and embed operations management within the broader framework of management practice.

The structure of the text allows the reader to explore the intricacies of operations management in a systematic and logical manner. Of real value to the student is the “Book Map”, a flow diagram which precedes each chapter and which illustrates the links between each topic. The book map highlights the inputs‐processes‐outputs sequence of managing the operational element of the job, the context of the strategic role of operations and the need to effectively manage human resources. The author groups these aspects into two dimensions – content (what an operations manager does in terms of tasks and responsibilities) and style (how an operations manager handles the people management task). This approach allows the topics to be delineated on the map in a way which allows the student to understand how the specific issues, approaches and controls used by operations managers are related to the core set of tasks managed within the operations process. This is one of the real strengths of the text as it allows students to explore the integrative nature of operations management in a simple, yet clearly defined manner.

Terry Hill also injects a sense of reality regarding the practice of operations management through the 31 case studies contained in Part 5 and the ongoing cartoon “plot” where “characters” representing different roles in an organisation are used to highlight a number of points in each chapter. The long case studies represent an A‐Z of organisational experiences of operations, and each case study contains a high depth of detail, which allows for meaningful analysis to take undertaken by the student. One limitation of Part 5 is the discussion questions listed at the conclusion of each case study – these tend to be very general in their approach and often do not address the specifics of the case. From a teaching perspective, I would have liked to have seen more specific questions tailored to each case study and clearly linked to the learning objectives of each chapter. The cartoon “plot” revolves around life within a small computer games design company, with “characters” reflecting key organisational roles within the firm. The author approaches these cartoons with a broad sense of humour and appreciation for organisational politics, and they serve to illustrate some of the key ideas and theories within each chapter. These cartoons offer a refreshing insight into the gap between theory and practice, and are particularly useful for undergraduate students who may have not yet been exposed to the realities of organisational life.

Operations Management is a useful introductory text for both undergraduate and postgraduate students, irrespective of their core discipline. The recognition of the contribution of people to the success of operations management elevates the text to providing a solid platform for both study and application. With a text of this length, the book map is of major benefit to students attempting to understand the complexities of operations management. The interlinked structure of the chapters allows the reader to build an integrated picture of operations management in action. The recognition of the broader implications of operations management is valuable for both students and lecturers when considering the context of operations' contribution to the overall success of an organisation. It is imperative that all managers are cognisant of the role that operations management plays within the organisation. This is particularly true for human resource managers who are often called upon to “better understand the business” in order to deliver a strategic and integrated HR response to organisational requirements. Operations Management, whilst layered with descriptions of operations strategy, techniques and practices, offers managers and students the chance to come to grips with the broader implications of the role that operations management plays in organisational performance.

Overall, Operations Management is easy to read and the material it presents is easily accessible by both students undertaking management courses and managers in the field. It offers a practical, contemporary view of the essential value‐adding role that effective operations management can offer organisations, and I would recommend it as a core or recommended text for not only management students at both the undergraduate and MBA levels, but as essential reading for managers at all organisational levels.