Question :
This assessment will cover:
- Evaluate the operational management with all their decision-making functions.
- What are the ways to improve the operational performance?
- Give appropriate recommendations to Oman.
Answer :
INTRODUCTION
Operation management is a management process which is concerned with converting input to finished goods & services and to serve its customers effectively. The process concentrates on designs, controls the process and redesigns the operations of business to bring changes in the production of goods and services and to bring higher level of efficiency. Oman air is the national airline operating regular domestic and international flights serving the passengers. Oman air also caters regional air taxi services and charter flights. This study will research about operation management's decision areas of Oman Air industry. This research will also include ways to improve the operational performance of Oman air and a comparison with a competitor will be done using 4Vs.
TASK
1. Operational Management's Decision Areas
A company utilises resources to transform it into goods and services. And operation management is the process to design and establish a plan and control the process and also maintains it and bring improvements in the process(Pettigrew, 2014). And in order to bring improvements in the processes the operation management have to make certain decisions regarding quality, stock management, layout or process design, location strategy, human resource management, supply chain management, etc. The Oman air company providing airline services also requires operation management to operates its business and decisions needs to be made in respect to bring improvements in the operational processes to serve passengers efficiently.
Quality
Development of the airline industry forces operation management to improve the quality of their services to gain competitive advantage. Improving the quality of services of Oman air results in attracting the new passengers and retaining the current ones. Customer's satisfaction is the service quality that is provided by airlines' company. Operation management aims at providing best services to customers and focuses on meeting the needs and wants of customers.
The quality of services of Oman air improves by operation management's decision's on providing on-time performance, avoiding mishandled baggage and resolving passengers complaints(Albers and et.al., 2017). The operation management of Oman airlines services also focuses on satisfying the passengers and improving the process by giving accident or safety considerations. The quality of air lines services also includes financial stability of the company, ability of airline to provide comfort and hassle-free services to passengers. Therefore, operation management makes appropriate decision's regarding the quality of services being provided to passengers as it influences the passenger's decisions and affects the business of airline.
Inventory management
Operation management needs to maintain inventory as different market brings different challenges and opportunities and therefore operation management need to make strategies and plans to maintain and control the inventory of the company to sustain competitive advantage. The operation management of Oman air focuses on maintaining its seat inventory in order to implement the methodologies of airlines and to face the competition and sustain its place. Airline industries offers wide range of fare tickets for seats in the flight. And decisions are made by operation management to control the number of seats in different fare classes and also maintains or controls the inventory(Bromiley and Rau, 2016).
The inventory management by operational department of Oman air manages and distributes inventories through different sales channels and aims at providing the advanced level of services at cheapest price. The operation management make decision in order to prevent the cancellations and also adopts provision regarding delays and ensures the best use of maintenance personnel. The aim of operation management in regard to inventory management is to provide the best services at low cost and ensuring human resources i.e. maintenance personnel is utilized effectively.
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Layout or Process Design
The process or layout design is a process focusing on developing a plan for production of the product or services which are to be provided. It includes various points such as technology used, customer's participation, personnel levels, stock requirements in order to determine the smooth flow of materials, human resource and information. The operation management aims at improvising the process design or layout in order to manage various processing requirements and meet the needs and wants of customers(Castro, 2016).
The operation management of Oman airlines improves the process design to make sure that the process performance is appropriate and it meets the expectations of customer and to create value in their minds. The layout is designed in a way that it organizes everything and it benefits the business through its appropriateness. The operation management of Oman air improves the process design by making decisions regarding the schedule of flights for both domestic and international flights. Operation management also focuses on execution of the airline schedule planned and the execution of process design or layout. The process is designed in such a way that it provides services as expected by the passengers at low price, so it maximizes the revenue retention(Jacobs, Chase and Lummus, 2014). The operation management of Oman air makes process design in order to improve and ensure the smooth flow of work or operations using adequate resources and appropriate information which facilitate meeting the expectations of passengers. The factor's personnel and passengers, resources and machinery are integrated in a way that create well-functioning system plan which helps to meet the objectives of the organisation.
2. Comparison Between Oman Air And Emirates Using 4vs
In airlines service industry, operation management's decision supports to improve the system and process that facilitate in meeting the expectations of passengers. The operation management uses 4Vs i.e. volume, variety, variation and visibility to ensures safe conveyance of goods and passengers. The comparison between two airlines companies i.e. Oman air and Emirates using the 4Vs is given below.
| Comparison between Oman air and Emirates using 4vs | OMAN AIR | EMIRATES |
| Volume | Oman air has fleet size of 53 and 50 destinations in 27 countries operating its domestic and international flights. | Emirates has a higher fleet size of 257 and it operates its domestic and international services in 140 destinations in over 70 countries(Leung, Chu and Cheung, 2017). |
| Variety | The Oman airline focuses on bringing variety in services through providing in-flight experience such as latest international films, TV news, as well as music and games(Jensen, 2017). | The Emirates aim at providing the best services to its passengers through the personnel of crew who can speak over 60 languages bringing diversity and variety. |
| Variation | Oman air brings variation in service provided in order to attract the customer and sustain competitive advantage(O’Connor and et.al., 2017). | Emirates fails to do so as it focuses on maintaining the current passengers and so fails to bring variation in the services offered. |
| Visibility | Oman air maintains visibility in its process which ensures airlines safety in the minds of the passengers. | Emirates fails to maintain visibility in the minds of the passengers as it is the big airline industry operating its business worldwide and so it is difficult to maintain visibility. |
3. Ways To Improve Operational Performance
The main aim of operation management is to manage the process of business in a way that brings innovation which result in achieving the objectives of the organisation and to sustain competitive advantage and earn profits. Therefore, operation management should aim at improving the performance of operations which will benefit the organisation(Pettigrew, 2014). And in order to meet the expectations of passengers, the operation management of Oman air should use different strategies which are as follows.
Implementation of Total Quality Management(TQM) or quality assurance is the process which includes all the steps taken by a company which ensures higher quality of goods or services and it aims at meeting the customer's expectations(WHAT IS TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM)?, 2018). The TQM process should be used by operation management of Oman air to ensure customer's satisfaction, involvement of employees in decision making and which will benefit in continuous improvements in services offered.
Statistical Process Control is an approach used to improve the process and ensuring that it is being made in accordance with predetermined specifications(Roy and Mukherjee, 2015). The operation management of Oman air should focus on monitoring the process by testing the output of the services offered.
The Oman air should focus on linking the operations of airline and passengers, so that it makes a bridge between them which will make the passengers to easily understand the operational process. The Oman air should further invest in technology to deliver the improvised process and increase its profitability and sustain in the competitive market by meeting the customer's expectations.
CONCLUSION
A proper management of operations system is required to make proper decisions to meet the uniqueness of the business environment. The study highlights the importance of decision making by operation management in business to meet the expectations of customers and to uphold a competitive advantage in the market and increase profits. The operation management focuses on identifying key opportunities from the business environment and improves the operational process or performance in order to meet the expectations of customer's.
REFERENCES
- Albers, S. and et.al., 2017.Strategic management in the aviation industry. Routledge.
- Bromiley, P. and Rau, D., 2016. Operations management and the resource based view: Another view.Journal of Operations Management.41. pp.95-106.
- Castro, R.B., 2016. Operations Management.
- Jacobs, F.R., Chase, R.B. and Lummus, R.R., 2014.Operations and supply chain management(pp. 533-535). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
- Jensen, R.S., 2017.Pilot judgment and crew resource management. Routledge.
- Leung, J., Chu, S.C. and Cheung, W., 2017. A Design Theory for Supply Chain Visibility in the age of Big Data.
- O’Connor, P. and et.al., 2017. Methods used to evaluate the effectiveness of flightcrew CRM training in the UK aviation industry.Crew Resource Management: Critical Essays.
- Pettigrew, A.M., 2014.The politics of organizational decision-making. Routledge.
- Roy, S. and Mukherjee, I., 2015. A framework for service quality improvement in multi-stage processes.International Journal of Services and Operations Management.21(2). pp.150-174.
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