Operations Management Approaches and Leadership Decision-Making

This report explores key approaches to operations management and the vital roles that leaders and managers play in achieving business objectives, using Steve Jobs and Apple Inc. as a case study. It assesses how factors within the business environment impact operational management and decision-making, covering aspects like product cost, employee training, scheduling processes, competition surveys, working processes, and corporate social responsibilities. The report details how effective operational management, as demonstrated by Steve Jobs, contributes to a company's viability through decisions related to product design, quality management, supply chain, inventory control, and maintenance. The analysis emphasizes the importance of adapting to market competition and maintaining ethical standards to ensure long-term sustainability and success.

Management and Operations
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Table of Contents
Task – 3......................................................................................................................................3
LO3............................................................................................................................................3
LO4............................................................................................................................................6
Reference....................................................................................................................................8
Appendix....................................................................................................................................9
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Task – 3
LO3
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and
managers play
Operational management is one of the vital tasks in a business enterprise. It involves a set of
responsibilities – operating business operations effectively and efficiently, utilizing
organizational resources effectively, managing and satisfying customers in a business and so
forth (Dufosse et al, 2017). The managers and leaders in the management of a company
produce high quality of products and provide excellent services to the customers. Innovation
is also an essential part of a business. In the competitive market, it is necessary to innovate
products and services continuously for the success in the competitive market. In this context,
an example of Steve jobs has been taken to highlight how the great leader of ‘Apple’ has
helped the company to achieve success in the competitive market.
Steve Jobs is an innovator in the field of computer and he has been a source of inspiration in
the life of many people. As a founder of Apple Computers, he fetched a revolution in the
world of computer through his innovation. Steve Jobs followed many types of theories and
styles in his business life to innovate and made the Apple Company. IBM was the stiffest
competitor of Apple and IBM could affect Apple’s sales. In that situation, Steve followed
some leadership styles to mitigate the competition in the market. Steve applied
Transformational theory, at the time of discovering the iPhone and other television models,.
Steve, as a Transformational leader, developed the objectives of products and explained to his
followers. Thus, Steve, through diversification among the team members in the company
motivated the team members. The team members became confident. Steve also resorted to
the situational theory for innovation in his company. Situational theory is a theory, which
does not follow a particular model. Through situational theory, Steve realized the situation
and applied different strategies for different situation.
Steve Jobs always managed his teams in an excellent manner. He both managed the
employees in his organization and the customers in the market. Apple’s approach in
innovation was not user-driven. Steve Jobs recognized all the employees in his company and
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appreciated them through many ways, through his management styles. Culture is one another
essential through which the employees have been influenced and motivated in the company.
As a manager, Steve Jobs spent months over a particular product and researched that
particular product. He presented each different product in the market to make it more
attractive and to explain the utility of that product.
As an ideal manager, Steve helped his employees in many cases in an unexpected way. When
any of the Apple’s employees fell sick, he helped them and talked to doctors for their
treatment. Steve did not imitate others’ management styles and instead he followed his own
styles of management.
P5 Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business
objectives
The viability of a company depends on the execution of operation management of the
company. Steve Jobs, in Apple, set the operation management with the objectives of the
company and then he guided the operation management of the company. The meaning of
operation management is to run an organization smoothly. In the operation management of
Apple Inc., the leader and manager, Steve Jobs’ decision is related to design of the product,
quality management, process and inventory control and some others. Following are the
decision areas related to Steve Jobs’ decision making for the growth of ‘Apple’:
Design of the products and services: Apple’s processes of products are handled by a
number of the officials of the company. For instance, the production development of Macs is
related to a Senior VP of Macs Hardware Engineering and Mac Software Engineering. In the
field of operation management this VP discuss with a senior VP of the company (Rowland,
2017).
Management of quality: The senior VP for operation in Apple Inc.’ coordinates with other
ten VPs to ensure the compliance with the standards of the quality of Apple. The VP ensures
higher quality of the products in various areas.
Support from Human Resource Department: Apple’s human resource managers support
the workforce of the company from all aspects to maximize the production of the company.
Apple’s suppliers get adequate support from the HR with some directives for designing of the
process. Steve, through the HR managers of Apple, emphasized the optimization of capacity
and efficiency.
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Location: The location strategy of Apple is different from other companies. The company
has a limited seller in urban areas for maximization of the brand exposure. The company has
more than 450 stores in about 16 countries in the world. The strategy of maintaining limited
sellers has led the company to earn highest revenue in the United States (Rowland, 2017).
Supply-chain process of the company: Steve as a leader and manager, of Apple, introduced
an excellent supply-chain management process in the company. An automation process is
continued in the company to monitor the operation of the suppliers. This monitoring on the
one hand, ensures the productivity of the suppliers and on the other hand, ensures the
compliance of the code of conduct.
Management of inventory: Through this strategy of operation management, the inventory of
Apple Inc. is handled in different ways. One of such inventory methods is ‘first in and first
out method’ in which all the old products go out before launching any new product of Apple
Inc. The store managers of Apple Inc. also handle inventory through management policy.
Scheduling method: The scheduling process is done through both manual and automation
processes. The scheduling activities on the one hand are done through automation process
and on the other hand, the manual scheduling process is used in some stores of the company.
Thus, the capacity and utilization of resources are maximized.
Maintenance: Steve introduced a maintenance team to maintain the activities in Apple.
Different maintenance teams are there for different activities of the company. For example,
the IT team of Apple manages the IT related operations, the VP in HR department, ensures
that the personnel of the company have adequate skills and competency to maintain their
performance and such others (Rowland, 2017).
Evaluation of productivity: The managers in the operation management department of
Apple Inc., monitor and evaluate the activities in different departments for higher
productivity of the company.
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LO4
P6 Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational
management and decision-making by leaders and managers
There are some factors that influence the operational management of leaders like Steve Jobs
in Apple Inc. The factors are the following:
Cost of products: Steve Jobs, as an ideal leader and manager in Apple Inc., emphasized on
the cost of the products and products strategies are used in the company to satisfy the
customers at maximum level. The main products of Apple Inc. are the iPhone, iPods and Mac
Book. The products of apple Inc. are reported to be slightly more expensive than other
company’s products. Apple Inc’s cost is cut and labor is outsourced. Most of the components
are outsourced from Asian industry and thus, all the products are transformed into finished
products in a cost effective way . If the cost of products is not fixed in a cost- effective way,
then there will be a negative effect on the company (Cooper, 2017).
Employee training: The managers and leaders in Apple Inc., provide proper training to make
the employees aware and expert regarding the features of products and services of the
company. Thus, the employees become skilled through training and they answer the queries
of their customers in sales. Thus, customers are satisfied leading to the organization’s
productivity.
Scheduling process of the company: The mangers and leaders in Apple Inc. follow two
types of scheduling. The first one is the automation scheduling through which the activities in
supply chain is done and the second is the manual scheduling through which functions are
maintained in individual store of the company. Thus, the organizational resources are utilized
in right method and capacity of the company is maximized.
Competition survey: The managers in Apple Inc. survey the market in the competitive
market. Competition is one of the major components in a business firm to be considered. The
mangers through a market survey compare the trends of the customers regarding the use of
Apple Inc’s products with that of the other companies. With this survey, the managers can be
aware of the future trends of the customers regarding the products and services of the
company (Bloom et al., 2015).
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Working process: The working process has a great influence in any organization’s success.
The working processes introduced by Steve Jobs in Apple Inc. are quite different from other
companies’. Firstly, the designs of the products of the company are different ones from other
companies’. The team in design department produces the products with excellent models to
attract customers. Secondly, the executives of apple make a review of the entire working
processes of the company on every Monday to evaluate the quality of products. Finally, the
packing of the products of Apple Inc. is in such a way that it can attract customers (Jeston,
2014). Thus, through the working processes, the pioneers of the company attract a large
number of customers.
Corporate social responsibilities of Apple Inc.: To maintain corporate social
responsibilities is a trend nowadays for gaining a strong image and sustainability of the
company and hence, Apple Inc follows this strategy. The managers and leaders of Apple
conduct education program to educate weaker sections and children of the society. The
managers of the company have enforced codes of conduct for its suppliers. The managers
have introduced the health and safety policies in the company for the welfare of the
employees. Through environment-friendly products, Apple has decreased power
consumption.
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Reference List
Bloom, N., Propper, C., Seiler, S. and Van Reenen, J., 2015. The impact of competition on
management quality: evidence from public hospitals. The Review of Economic Studies, 82(2),
pp.457-489.
Cooper, R., 2017. Supply chain development for the lean enterprise: interorganizational cost
management. Routledge.
Dufosse, E.D., Patry, N. and Reiner, W., Gvbb Holding SARL, 2017. Operational
management solution for media production and distribution. U.S. Patent 9,614,885.
Jeston, J., 2014. Business process management. Routledge.
Rowland, C. 2017. Apple Inc. Operations Management: 10 Decisions, Productivity -
Panmore Institute. [online] Panmore Institute. Available at: <http://panmore.com/apple-inc-
operations-management-10-decisions-areas-productivity> [Accessed 7 Jun. 2018].
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Appendix
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