PLEASE WRITE A RESPONSE TO THE STUDENT'S DISCUSSION POSTJOSH WROTE:Hi, my name is Josh Stumma and I’m from Manhattan Kansas. I’m an Army veteran and currently work as an Auditor for Installation

PLEASE WRITE A RESPONSE TO THE STUDENT'S DISCUSSION  POST

JOSH WROTE:

Hi, my name is Josh Stumma and I’m from Manhattan Kansas.  I’m an Army veteran and currently work as an Auditor for Installation Management Command at Fort Riley Kansas.  I’ve been an auditor now for three years and will finish my MBA in September. 

While I have not been auditing long, I spent nine years in the Army and have primarily experience the systems approach to operations management.  In the systems approach an organization can be thought of as a system composed of subsystems such as marketing, operations, finance, etc., which in turn are composed of lower subsystems.  This approach emphasizes interrelationships among subsystems, but its main theme is that the whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts.  Hence, from a systems viewpoint, the output and objectives of the organization as a whole take precedence over those of any one subsystem (Stevenson, 2017). This is very true of the structure and direction of the Army as a whole which is comprised of many levels of systems and subsystems.  At a battalion level, the subsystems include companies, each company has platoons as subsystems, from there it breaks down to squads then teams.  Each may have specific jobs and different operations but each works to support the overall objective of the Army as a whole.  The Army’s mission is to fight and win our Nation's wars by providing prompt, sustained land dominance across the full range of military operations and spectrum of conflict in support of combatant commanders (U.S. Army, n.d.).  While serving in an infantry battalion, I primarily observed how these subsystems operated in support of one another in order to help achieve our mission.  While it may not be the exact environment that is typical of the systems approach for operations management, I believe the structure, goals, and interrelationships of subsystems are very similar to that of business.

Stevenson, J. W. (2017). Operations Management, Retrieved from https://newconnect.mheducation.com/flow/connect.html

U.S. Army. (n.d.) Organization. Retrieved from https://www.army.mil/info/organization/

BRIDGET WROTE:

Hey guys!

My name is Bridget and I am currently a GM within the restaurant industry.  I have worked in full service and fast-casual concepts for the past 16 years.  I have a BA degree in hotel and restaurant management and with my MBA I am hoping to move up into a more corporate executive level of management.  I have one more class after this one to complete the program, and I am so excited to be this far along!  I live in Baltimore, MD with my family.  My husband and I have 4 awesome kids between the ages of 7-12.  They are all very active in sports, so you can image my husband is running them a lot! 

                I know the restaurant industry inside and out!  The industry has changed in a number of ways over the past 16 years.  There has been a lot of technological advancements within the industry.  Years ago, very rarely would you get a phone-in order, now we see phone-ins, online- orders, catering orders, and kiosk orders.  We have also seen a big trend set by our customers for clean foods and healthier eating options.  The government has played a part in the regulations of calorie counts on menus and full listing of ingredients of products sold within the restaurant industry.  All of which led to the modification of how we run our restaurants. 

                Our management teams usually consist of managers, General Managers, District Managers and Regional Managers.  Our district managers usually have 4-7 locations they are responsible for overseeing and our regional managers have 20-30 locations within their territory.  While these changes haven’t affected our higher-level management, they have definitely played a big role in changing our day to day responsibilities for our instore managers. I work for a fast-casual chain and there are days when we have lines to the door, $1000s of dollars of catering to pump out and online orders hitting the screen all at the same time.  The days when a restaurant manager would just manage are long gone.  You have to be very hands on, a cheerleader, a coach, a role model (because the associates are always watching); all while taking care of the guests needs you may come in contact with or anticipate while working with your associates. 

Operational Management “is the processes that creates goods and or provide services” (Stevenson).  The operational management of restaurants is constantly modifying to the new services and products we provide for our customers.  The industry is saturated and everyone is fighting for more market shares to continue brand sustainability.  It is an extremely competitive industry, that unfortunately is also a very low paying industry for our associates.  While you will always be able to find a job in restaurant management, it takes a strong personality, good leadership skills and a highly competitive person to be successful within the industry.

I am looking forward to another class with a lot of familiar names!!  Thanks for reading!

Bridget

References:

Stevenson, William.  Operations Management.  Retrieved from:  https://player.mheducation.com/#/epub/sn_a856#epubcfi(%2F6%2F30%5Bdata-uuid-da3b6a3885024c84ae8b14a865b2ea4c%5D!%2F4%2F1:0) 

RESPONSES MUST BE 150 WORDS EACH.