Explain the history of Operations Managements?

The present position where the operations management finds itself today has gone through a large number of stages to reach the present formidable stage. Although the history of operations management is not very old—the roots of this type of management can be easily linked with the concept which deals with the phenomenon of division of labor. This concept was given by Adam Smith in his very famous book ‘The Wealth of Nations’ in 1776.

Experts in the field, from the time of Adam Smith and F.W. Taylor, leading to Dodge and Tippet, have contributed to the important present status of operations management in today’s world.

The various contributors who have played a very important role in the formation and also the development of operations management are as under:

1. Adam Smith (1776)
The world has observed Adam Smith as one of the world’s best Scottish economist – who was the very first person to draw some attention towards the scientific operations management. He was the one for advocating the importance of division of labor in his book ‘The Wealth of Nations’. According to Adam Smith the division of labor was a very handy tool having the following benefits –

• Higher skill accompanied with greater degree of dexterity is achieved by the workmen who are performing work in repetition.

• Specialization in certain works or tasks by the workmen very often results in improvement of the various steps involved in the production methodology.

• Time is saved while changing from one activity to another.

Adam Smith is considered to be the originator of the production management concept, as the division of labor concept given by him served as the foundation for many other concepts of the operations management in the following years.

2. Charles Babbage (1883)
The English mathematician Charles Babbage was the first one to follow the concept advocated by Adam Smith. He advocated the concept of specialization of tasks as the next stage (logically related) to the division of labor. Babbage considered specialization in tasks as a very important advantage of the division of labor.

Charles Babbage presented his concept to the world through his book ‘The Economy of Machinery and Manufacture’ – in which he explained about the concept and the defining advantages of specialization. The pin industry finds reference in his book and also the seven operations, which include drawing, straightening, pointing, twisting, cutting heads, heading and tinning to highlight the gains, have been included. Workmen trades developed from the concept of specialization as a result of impetus which was provided in the beginning of the twentieth century.

3. F.W. Taylor (1859 to 1915)
F.W. Taylor is known as the father of scientific management – he was the one who explained the concept of functional management. Four duties of management given by Taylor are:

* Work is to be divided between the workers and the management – each of them has to take responsibility for the work for which each is best suited.

* Science of every element of the work done by man is developed in order to replace the old rule -of- thumb methods.

* The performance of workmen’s work according to the scientifically devised methods by the management and also trying to achieve the co-operation between the management and the workers in order to get highest amount of production accompanied with higher worker wages.

* The best worker is selected for performing each particular task along with training accompanied with development of the worker on individual basis.

F.W. Taylor was very much against of the approach followed by the management which dealt with allowing the workers to choose the tasks which they wanted to perform – choose the methods by which they wanted to perform a task – also getting themselves trained on the jobs.

The four principles discussed above over a period have developed into great expansions, and without these four expansions the organization is inconceivable. Taylor also contributed towards the work of direct advantage to operations management.

The rules devised for time study by Taylor are as follows: –
(a) Every element of the task under study should be analyzed.
(b) Examination of the elements should take place and the one found not to be a part of the work cycle should be dropped.
(c) Timing of the elements should be accurate and should be done with the help of a stop watch.
(d) Classification of elements should be done carefully, leading to convenience for future reference.

Taylor has also made a defining contribution in the development of principles of functional organization and a financial incentive plan called “Taylor Differential Piece Rate Method”.

4. Frank B. Gilbreth (1917)
Frank B. Gilbreth is known as the founder father of work study. He laid emphasis on explaining the importance of the correlation between the physical effort and the operators output through his two books ‘Motion Study’ (1911) and ‘Applied Motion Study’ (1917). He was the one to devise a very famous method for the classification of motions into 17 basic divisions, referred to as Therbligs by him.

5. Henry Ford ( 1913 )
The concept of mass production and organized work stations into a conveyorised assembly line was given to the world by Henry ford.

6. Henry Gantt ( 1913 )
His main contribution is the “Gantt chart “– which is a very important practical tool even in today’s world, in order to chart the production schedules and also the machine load schedules.

7. F.W Harris ( 1914 )
The first economic lot size (EOQ) model was developed by Harris – F.W Raymond also made a very important contribution in this regard.

8. Walter Shewhart ( 1924 )
In 1924 Walter was the one to introduce the concept of statistical quality control.

9. F.H Dodge ( 1931 )
Developed the concept of sampling inspection and published statistical sampling tables.

10. L.H.C Tippett ( 1937 )
The phenomenon of work sampling was developed by Tippett in order to know the manpower and machine utilization and also for setting performance standards.