Operations management is about the management of the processes that produce or deliver goods and services. Operations management decisions directly affect the size, shape, quantity, quality, price, profitability and speed of delivery of the output of travel, tourism and hospitality organizations, whether at the luxury end of the market or a budget product or service.
Operations management functions in travel; tourism and hospitality include a wide range of activities, many of which are core to the experience of guests and visitors. In travel, tourism and hospitality, the term operations management is not widely employed, with the preference being for functional management responsibilities in the title, given that most businesses in the sector operate a wide range of product and service operations. The key structural features of travel, tourism and hospitality have significant implications for the management of operations in the sector. What might be called structural factors also influence the nature of operations in travel, tourism and hospitality. One of the most significant of these structural considerations relates to the impact of seasonality on demand for travel, tourism and hospitality.
A further consideration that can be included as a structural consideration is that of business ownership within the sector. The balance between small, independent operators and large, chain-owned multiples within each of the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors shapes the way that the sector operates and how they organize their business. In many parts of the developed world, there is a tendency towards increasing multiple ownership and operation, either through a direct model or through various forms of management or franchising. This imposes specific standards and requirements on the operational standards adopted in these businesses. Most operating systems in travel, tourism and hospitality have an immediate and direct impact on the customer. This is the major distinction from their counterparts in the manufacturing sector. If we take all the examples of operations systems identified in Learning Outcome 1, we can see that all of them are designed to provide goods and services directly to the customer or are in place in response to identified customer needs. There is an immediacy in this requirement that has major implications for how operating systems are put in place and the way in which they are managed.
|