Unit 5 Operations Management
In this unit, students return to the fundamental rationale of business management: to make goods and services that meet consumers’ needs and wants. Without efficient operations leading to products and experiences customers are satisfied with, success in the other business functions is unsustainable. In unit 5, students learn how organizations manage their operations, whether in terms of achieving an optimal cost– quality ratio or the shortest supply chain; using the most ethical means or the latest innovative techniques; or applying the highest levels of quality assurance.
Unit 5 is the part of the business management course where the relative weight of the HL material is greatest. Both SL and HL students look at different production methods and their implications as well as different ways of organizing production. At HL, students explore additional areas such as lean production, quality management, and research and development.
Operations management is the “how to” of business management. Still, it ties intimately to the “what” question of an organization’s objectives (unit 1): a new strategic direction means adjustments in operations. Good human resource management at all levels in an organization, in turn, is a pre-requisite of successful operations (unit 2). Cooperation between marketing, with the closest relation to customers, and operations, which put new ideas into practice, is also significant (unit 4).
Unit 5 can be taught through case studies in a variety of settings; visits to factories or service businesses are a good way to make the topic come alive. This unit has a very concrete dimension that invites students to explore and understand the importance of manufacturing and other types of operations, bringing the other units of the course together in a dynamic way. The nature of operations is varied and rapidly evolving across industries and locations, and thus there are plenty of opportunities to explore the concepts of change, culture, ethics, globalization and innovation.
Unit 5 is the part of the business management course where the relative weight of the HL material is greatest. Both SL and HL students look at different production methods and their implications as well as different ways of organizing production. At HL, students explore additional areas such as lean production, quality management, and research and development.
Operations management is the “how to” of business management. Still, it ties intimately to the “what” question of an organization’s objectives (unit 1): a new strategic direction means adjustments in operations. Good human resource management at all levels in an organization, in turn, is a pre-requisite of successful operations (unit 2). Cooperation between marketing, with the closest relation to customers, and operations, which put new ideas into practice, is also significant (unit 4).
Unit 5 can be taught through case studies in a variety of settings; visits to factories or service businesses are a good way to make the topic come alive. This unit has a very concrete dimension that invites students to explore and understand the importance of manufacturing and other types of operations, bringing the other units of the course together in a dynamic way. The nature of operations is varied and rapidly evolving across industries and locations, and thus there are plenty of opportunities to explore the concepts of change, culture, ethics, globalization and innovation.
Conceptual Understandings:
- Change in operations impacts other business activities
- Creative production process can disrupt the market
- Operational business changes may affect its ethical stance
- Sustainability ensures efficiency in business operations
Questions to consider:
- Is there a difference between a product that consumers perceive to be of good quality and one that businesses know is? What ethical dilemmas does the information advantage businesses have over consumers pose?
- Is a quality product always more expensive to manufacture or buy than a mediocre product? How does time perspective affect our assessment of such statements?
- Is there such a thing as an optimal production method? What evidence and whose experiences could business leaders look at to decide on this?
- Environmental costs of production are often referred to as “externalities” as they harm third parties. How does our formulation of problems affect our sense of responsibility for solving them?
- What ways of knowing do you think business leaders use in deciding where to locate their production?
- What is the role of creativity, imagination and emotion in a business context?
- Can one make an argument that the more people’s needs and wants are met, the more difficult innovation is?
- Can a business plan for a crisis?
- To what extent are our ideas dependent on our interactions with other people?
- To what extent can the human sciences provide accurate predictions?
- How might the methods used in R&D be limited by ethical considerations
- Should we hold companies responsible for the applications of products they create?
- Are there new ethical challenges emerging from the increased use of data analytics in business decision-making?
- To what extent do the classification systems we use in data analytics affect the conclusions that we reach?
- How might personal prejudices, biases and inequality become “coded into” customer loyalty programs?
- To what extent is big data changing what it means to know your customers?
- Does artificial intelligence allow knowledge to reside outside of human knowers?
- What are the moral implications of possessing large amounts of information about consumer behavior?