1. Why study operations management in the supply chain?
2. What is the difference between the terms “production
management” and “operations management”?
3. What is the difference between operations management
and supply chain management?
4. What are the key decisions made by sourcing and logis–
tics managers?
5. How does the work of an operations manager differ
from the work of a marketing manager or a finance
manager? How are these functions similar?
6. How is the operations management function related to
activities in human resources, information systems, and
accounting?
7. Describe the nature of operations management in the
following organizations. In doing this, first identify the
outputs of the organization and then use the five deci–
sion types to identify important operations decisions
and responsibilities.
a. A college library
b. A hotel
c. A small manufacturing firm
8. For the organizations listed in question 7, describe the
inputs, transformation process, and outputs of the
production system.
9. Describe the decision-making view and the view of
operations as a process. Why are both views useful in
studying the field of operations management?
10. Write a short paper on some of the challenges
facing operations management in the future. Use
newspapers, business magazines, or the Internet as
your sources.
11. Review job postings from various sources for
management positions that are available for operations
management graduates. Summarize the responsibilities
of these positions.
12. Describe how the view of operations as a process can
be applied to the following types of work:
a. Acquisition of another company.
b. Closing the books at the end of the year.
c. Marketing research for a new product.
d. Design of an information system.
e. Hiring a new employee
