Operations Management

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course provides a general introduction to operations management. Operations management is the science and art of designing and controlling business processes to support an organization’s delivery of goods and services. It is a primary organization function along with marketing and finance. Operations encompass the entire organization including, design, productions, operations, marketing, sales, and customer support. This course seeks to (A) familiarize you with the primary operational challenges and issues that managers encounter, and (B) provide you with terminology, concepts, practices, and tools to address these challenges in order to gain competitive advantage through operations. This course will interest people seeking a career in managing and enhancing business processes. The course should also be of interest to people who manage interfaces between operations and other business functions such as finance, marketing, and human resources. A working knowledge of operations is critical for general managers and entrepreneurs. The course will examine how different business strategies necessitate different business processes, and vice versa, how different operational capabilities support different strategies to achieve competitive advantage. A process view of operations will be used to analyze different key operational dimensions such as quality management, resource management, and supply chain management.