Role of Operations Management1

The organization that is familiar with me is the Vons Incorporations. The

reason why its familiar with me is because I work there and have been employed

there for the past five years since I’ve been out of high school. I wasn’t certain at the

beginning of how operations management worked because I never knew what it

was. After doing the research on operations management, I understand some of the

concepts and realize that operation management has everything to do with every

individuals have to do with their lives.

Operation management has been stated as the design, operation, and

improvement of the systems that create and deliver the firm’s primary products and

services. In my organization from what I’ve seen, there are multiple vendors and

truckloads that come to bring the products into the store. For example, there is a

truck that comes in the morning and our Receiving manager and his team distribute

the products to put on the sales floor. All the managers come around six or seven in

the morning and check if there are any new loads that came in for their department.

The departments in our store are the Deli, Produce, Bakery, Meat & Seafood, and

Pharmacy.

Each department has its own manager and all the managers of each

department report to the store manager. The store manager is not the only manager

that the departments report to, but also the department manager of the whole

district. For example, I started working in the produce department for about a few

weeks without any proper training and they left me with a lot of stuff to do for the

department and it was huge disaster. Little did the produce manager and the

experienced produce clerks know that the department manager for district made a

Role of Operations Management2

surprise visit to the store and I was working that day. He knew that I was new in this

department and that there was training me properly because I was closing most of

the time. He gave me a few tips and let me know that most important thing

is to make sure the sales floor is nice and put out the ethnic produce products, such

as the papayas, onions, and avocados. The district department wasn’t upset at me,

but I could tell from the body language that he wasn’t too happy with the

produce manager that were working before me in the department.

Another area of operations management that relates to my organization is

about getting the day-to-day work done quickly and efficiently at low cost. The way

that works in my organization is at the end of the year when the company reduces

the costs by cutting hours. Employees in the middle of the food chain that usually

get 40 hours are getting around 30 hours, while the employees on the top of the

food chain are getting 40 hours as well. The supervisors that are usually guaranteed

the 40 hours get the cashier hours while the managers must work even harder to

get a bonus at the end of the year for saving the hours.

The managers must also work in the checkstand more often than they

normally do. An example of how managers find ways to cut the employee payroll is

using combination clerks. Combination clerks pay raises vary depending on the

amount of hours that the manager gives them. A combination clerk could be

working in the produce which require food clerk pay that starts at $8.90, but then

have them work liquor department or general merchandising which starts out as

$8.20. So when the time comes to save hours, the combination clerk could possibly

not get the food clerk hours and settle for general merchandise pay at $8.20. The

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company will save $0.70 hourly by cutting the combination clerks hours.

As for improvements in customer service, the organization has improved by

establishing the Just 4 U program for its customers. When customers who are

already club members sign up for the program, they receive discounts on items are a

part of the program, personalized deals, coupons, and sometime free items. This

program has been available for the past eight months. For the individuals who still

haven’t registered for the Just 4 U program, they will receive a 10 percent discount

on all the items they purchase when they register. A courtesy clerk will get one of

the Ipads from the customer service desk and ask for their information to register. If

the customer is not comfortable giving our their information for whatever reason,

we give them the site and brochure to where they can sign up online at home. There

is also a Vons application as well if they want to add items on to their program to

receive the discounts.

References

Chase, R. B., Jacobs, F. R., & Aquilano, N. J. (2006). Operations management for competitive advantage (11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies.

Safeway:ingredients for life. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.safeway.com/ShopStores/Employee-Resource-Center.page

Safeway family stores :just 4 u program & app. (2012, July 19). Retrieved from http://myfrugaladventures.com/2012/07/safeway-family-stores-just-for-u-program-app/