Strategic Operations Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Strategic Operations Management - Essay Example Hayes (p 10) says that operations role is bigger than that of just implementer of strategy. It is here that new ideas emerge, new knowledge, capabilities and learnings are getting acquired. New strategies are often arising even as one is being implemented. Emergent sense of what the strategy should be will come from the experiences and feedback from its operating staff based on which mid course strategy corrections could be done. An operations strategy is never complete without an appropriate implementation plan. The viability of strategy depends crucially on the manner of its implementation; a sound implementation can salvage poor strategy and best of strategies can be wrecked by bad implementation (Bettley et al). For this the plan must be clearly articulated, along with a monitoring plan. It will clearly communicate to the operations team the rationale behind the plan, the role of different functions, linkage between functional goals and strategy, clarity on concepts like market qualifiers and market winners and also the tradeoffs assumed. It will clearly communicate the start, timelines outcomes and the action needed by each function. It will be clear about resource allocation and plans for filling in gaps (for example new training in customer handling, training for use of new IT technology, etc). For instance the strategy may call for greater outsourcing instead of manufacturing which may mean smaller b udgets and dash hopes of expansion for the manufacturing department. The rationale behind this will need to be clearly communicated. Finally it will have a clear implementation agenda on when to start, where to start, the pace of implementation, how it will be coordinated and by whom. For the operations strategy to be successful, it would need to be a collaborative effort. OS should not follow a top-down approach alone; it should be predominantly bottom-up. For one it would help in drawing upon the knowledge and experience of the operations team. It will also be a sure method of communicating to the operations team the business strategy the organisation is following. It will be the surest way to ensure appropriateness of the strategy because operations manager will be able to see the fit better than anyone else and come out with gaps and shortcomings of the resources to meet the strategy. This approach would also ensure the ease and speed of implementation as much of the details of the plan are already considerably internalised by the operations team. Sadler (2000) says that a suitable planning process involving busy managers who are highly focussed on operations and a facilitator would greatly increase the chance of success of implementation of operations strategy. Friend (p 247) says that strategy so developed has to be communicated to the operations team in a way that they will take ownership of the implementation. Developing and communicating the plan will avoid "organisational myopia", i.e., inability to see between their own functional departments. It will also avoid unwanted grouse some functional personal may develop because they feel that their department has been neglected. Friend also says that a process developed in a collaborative manner