Operations management is an area of management concerned with overseeing, designing, and controlling the process of production and redesigning business operations in the production of goods or services. It involves the responsibility of ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of using as few resources as needed, and effective in terms of meeting customer requirements. It is concerned with managing the process that converts inputs (in the forms of materials, labor, and energy) into outputs (in the form of goods and/or services). The relationship of operations management to senior management in commercial contexts can be compared to the relationship of line officers to highest-level senior officers in military science. The highest-level officers shape the strategy and revise it over time, while the line officers make tactical decisions in support of carrying out the strategy. In business as in military affairs, the boundaries between levels are not always distinct; tactical information dynamically informs strategy, and individual people often move between roles over time. (Wikipidea, 2013)

Operations management is one of the central functions of all organisations whether producing goods or services, or in the private, public or voluntary sectors. This unit will provide you with a basic framework for understanding this function and discusses the role of operations managers, in particular the importance of focusing on suppliers and customers.
After studying this Unit you should be able to: define ‘operations’ and ‘operations management’ identify the roles and responsibilities of operations managers in different organisational contexts identify the operations management aspects of your own work apply the ‘transformation model’ to identify the inputs,