Fundamentals of Management, 8th ed

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Part 5: Controlling

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effectiveness. As in any organizational endeavor, execution is the difference

between success and failure, and a study of the Orpheus approach to

management has revealed a variety of reasons for the effectiveness of

teamwork

within

the

ensemble.

Every

member,

for

example,

clearly

understands the group’s purpose and mission; every member’s role is clearly

stated and agreed on, and all members perform an equal amount of work in

meeting the group’s objectives.

1

In this chapter, we explore operations management, quality, and productivity. All these

topics figure in our opening story about Orpheus, which has taken a highly innovative

approach to each of them. To better understand why Orpheus operates as it does—and

why it’s successful in doing so—we’ll take a closer look at the basics of each of these

factors in organizational performance. We first introduce operations management and

discuss its role in general management and organizational strategy. The next three

sections discuss the design of operations systems, organizational technologies, and

implementing operations systems. We then introduce and discuss various issues in

managing for quality and total quality. Finally, we discuss productivity, which is closely

related to quality.

THE NATURE OF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Operations management is at the core of what organizations do as they add value

and create products and services. But what exactly are operations? And how are

they managed?