Question 1: According to Slack et al. (2016), operations managers' responsibilities can be divided into four categories: "direct, design, deliver, and develop:
- Direct includes understanding relevant performance objectives, setting an operations strategy, managing innovation, and the scope of the operation;
- Design includes the design of the operation and its processes and resources;
- Delivery includes the planning and controlling of the activities of the operation;
- Develop includes the improvement of the operation over time" (p. 32).
- On the basis of these four categories, critically evaluate what you would understand to be an operations manager's responsibility in the specific context of an organisation of your choice.
Question 2: In discussing the balanced scorecard, Slack et al. (2016) say it "is a commonly used approach to performance measurement and incorporates measures related to:
- How do we look to our shareholders (financial perspective)?
- What must we excel at (internal process perspective)?
- How do our customers see us (the customer perspective)?
- How can we continue to improve and build capabilities (the learning and growth perspective)?"