Thesis on "Operations Management and Marketing Modern Business"

Thesis 6 pages (1515 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Operations Management and Marketing

Modern business management incorporates fundamental elements of long-term business strategy, organizational, product and service design, financial management, operational management, and public relations & marketing management. Operations management evolved alongside technological progress and was, in and of itself, an area that greatly contributed to some of the first large-scale modern industrial production successes at the turn of the 20th century. Public relations & marketing has also existed in principle for generations, but since the relatively recent ubiquity of the computer, many industries that used to outsource publicity and marketing have added that dimension to their independent business operations.

The continuing increase in the efficiency of computer processes and communications media in modern business has increased the complexity of marketing management. The marketing department of most medium-sized business firms now routinely provide most (if not all) of the services available through the independent printing and publishing houses that used to furnish such services to business organizations. Similarly, sophisticated software applications and data analysis strategy are now conducted by marketing researchers. Modern public relations & marketing departments now comprise a wider variety of employees with very different responsibilities, training, and skill sets. Naturally, this only increases the challenges of managing a public relations & marketing department effectively.

Industrial operations management within many manual labor and product assembly processes was perfected by the middle of the 20th century. However, some of the concepts and mechanisms of administrating labor operations and heavy industry were not equally applicable to other industries, such as those that evolved as a function of technology and (especially) computer science. Manual laborers and office workers do not necessarily respond to the same types of motivations and may not define vocational satisfaction the same way.

The first generation of modern (i.e. 20th -- century) business operations managers focused mainly on mechanical elements and production line efficiency. Contemporary operations management includes aspects of personnel management functions and issues addressable substantially from the industrial psychology perspective that developed only decades after the mechanical aspects of operational business management. Whereas certain areas of overlap may exist between business operations management and business marketing management, each function demands specific management considerations and strategies.

The Evolution of Business Operations Management:

Henry Ford (1863-1947) rightfully deserves much of the credit for his revolutionary assembly line that he introduced in the United States at the turn of the century in connection with his Model-T, the first mass-produced passenger automobile that was even remotely affordable. However, many of the ideas that culminated in Ford's assembly line were equally attributable to Frederick Taylor (1856-1915) and other business minds of the period. Taylor might have been the first so-called "efficiency expert" because he analyzed every minute production detail down to the amount of time a specific bolt should take to screw into its nut and the precisely optimal weight of a shovel load (21.5 lbs) for maximum worker efficiency (Daft, 2005; Evans, 2004).

Taylor's approach to operations management and Ford's mechanical processes management did increase production and profitability in their era, but their methods are less applicable in modern business operations today. However, four fundamental principles developed by Taylor still provide a relatively accurate breakdown of contemporary operations (and personnel) management even today, a full century after their formulation (Daft, 2005; Evans, 2004).

Modern Operational Management Principles:

Taylor suggested that business operations management should be scientific in design and should include four main areas: (1) eliminating any spontaneous or "ad-hoc" production methods; (2) eliminating on-the-job training in favor of more targeted hiring and training; (3) distinguishing supervisory responsibilities from non-supervisory responsibilities and assigning employment roles according to those distinctions; and (4) ensuring operational efficiency partly through improved relationships and processes conducive to adherence to operational protocol. A century later, all four of Taylor's principles are routine business practice throughout modern business. Furthermore, despite natural differences between operational management and marketing management, all four of Taylor's principles are equally applicable to both operational business management and business marketing management (George & Jones, 2008).

The Evolution of Business Marketing:

From its inception, business marketing management emphasized applying the latest available communications technology to the publicizing of "positive press" for business concerns. Part of the early success of the infamous Sears & Roebuck Company in the late 19th century and early 20th century was its publication of the company's annual catalog. Newspaper ads were the most predominant form of commercial advertising until the introduction of the radio and the very first serial "soap operas," named for the predominance of household goods like soap marketed to housewives through the radio. By the time color motion pictures and network television made entertainers widely famous, the concept of commercial advertisement evolved into a large independent industry that produced nothing itself but became essential to many businesses of all types (Evans. 2004; Myers & Spencer, 2004).

Modern Marketing Management Principles:

Since marketing processes do not produce tangible saleable goods, the specific management principles in that business area differ in many ways from the management principles applicable to mechanical processes and operations. On the other hand, certain elements of marketing management (such as inventory control and any mechanical printing and mailing processes) are similar to industrial production processes on a much smaller scale and in much smaller proportion to other elements of modern business marketing (Locker, 2006).

However, many marketing functions (such as writing, photography, graphic art design, data analysis, and client relations) have no parallels in operational functions and require completely different skill sets among employees and management skills among supervisors. Specifically, in modern business marketing management, the ideas of Frenchman Henry Fayol (1841-1925) may be more helpful than the focus of mechanical precision of Ford and Taylor (Daft, 2005; Evans, 2004).

Whereas Ford and Taylor provided a bottom-up approach that focused on mechanical details, Fayol emphasized a top-down approach that focused on management functions and optimizing hierarchical relationships. Fayol provided fundamental principles that differed substantially from Taylor's; namely: (1) planning; (2) organizing; (3) directing; (4) leading; and (5) controlling. Within modern business marketing management, those concepts provide a much more useful framework than a bottom-up management approach. Fayol also suggested limiting the supervisory chain so that employees are not simultaneously supervised by more than one immediate supervisor, which is also characteristic of modern business marketing management. Nevertheless, in the broader sense, Taylor's four fundamental principles are also useful to the management of business marketing processes just as they are generally applicable to virtually all business processes (Daft, 2005; Evans, 2004).

Employee Motivation:

Perhaps the most important recent changes in modern business management are equally applicable to both operational management and business marketing management. Specifically, modern principles of industrial psychology suggest that management should maintain certain fundamental assumptions about employee motivation. First, management by the exception in which only unsatisfactory performance and stellar performance draw management attention is counterproductive. Second, McGregor's Theory X of negative motivation should be replaced with McGregor's Theory Y of positive employee motivation. Third, and most recent, employee satisfaction is largely dependent on how well work allows employees to balance their vocational and family responsibilities (Robbins & Judge, 2009).

Management by the exception is not conducive to optimal performance of most employees; rather, it produces a corporate culture of mediocrity in which many employees have little motivation to work any harder than necessary to retain their employment. Instead, modern industrial psychologists suggest that all managerial supervision should provide some tangible incentive for productivity, including opportunity for greater task-autonomy (if appropriate) and room for professional advancement (Robbins & Judge, 2009).

Furthermore, assumptions and policies reflecting management beliefs that employees dislike their work and perform only because they have no other choice (Theory X) is likely to project that assumption and contribute to its manifestation in employees. Conversely, where management adopts the assumption that employees are capable of deriving satisfaction from… READ MORE

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