The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course: Operations Management

CHAPTER 7PROCESS EFFECTIVENESS

If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.

—W. EDWARDS DEMING

While it is important to have an organizational perspective of technology, quality, and effectiveness, most results are achieved through process and/or project management. This is the focus of our remaining chapters. First, we will examine ways to achieve organizational goals and competitive advantage through process effectiveness.

Recall that operational systems are transformational; they alter, store, inspect, and/or transport inputs into outputs by adding value. They can transcend organizational boundaries. And they can always be improved. Operational systems are a combination of processes. Some processes ...