1.

Introduction
background

1.1 Organization

Whisper communications Limited brought into existence four years back operating as mobile phone dealer for nearly all the major networks in Uk such as T-mobile 3 and so on. Organization positioned as third party, first party is the network service provider, and second party is the supplier who supplies the actual handset and third party is whisper communication who gets the consent of customers in subscribing monthly contract phone. Organisation approach customers via text message by adopting a tool of communication mix (direct marketing) aiming to switch pay as you go customers onto monthly contract. Effective operations management tasks or functions are a key to success for whisper communication.

WHAT IS OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT Operations management is the activity of managing recourses which produce and deliver products and services. The operations function is the part of the organization that is responsible for this activity. Every organization has an operations function because every organization produces some type of products and/or services (slack et el, 2009) The application of operation management to our everyday activities is illustrated in the following quotation "operation management is about the way organizations produce goods and services. Every thing you wear, sit on, use, read or knock about on the sport field comes to you courtesy of the operations managers who organized its production. Every book you borrow from the library, every

treatment you receive at the hospital, every service you expect in the shops and every lecture you attend at University allo have been produced"(Slak et el, 1995) This definition reflects the important nature of Operations Management: It is a central activity in organizing things or can be considered as transformation process.

Operations are a transformation process. They convert a set of resources (INPUTS) into services and goods (OUTPUTS). These resources may be raw materials, information or the customer itself. These resources are transformed into final goods or services by way of other transforming resources the facilities and staff of the operation. Examples: Raw materials: Furniture maker, who takes wood, cuts and planes it, and then polishes it until a Information: A tourist office gathers and provides information to holiday makers, and assist in Customers: At an airport we are one of the many resources being produced. The operation we are

piece of furniture is produces as finished product. advising on places to stay and visit. involved in is about processing out ticket and baggage, moving from ticket desk through customs and duty-free areas, to deliver us to the awaiting plane. There are key elements operations managers need to consider. Operations are about: Designing services, products and delivery systems Managing and controlling the operations system; and Finding ways to improve operations. 2

OPERATIONS IN ORGANIZATIONS: The operations function is important for organization because it produces the goods and services which are its reasons for existing, but it is not the only function. It is however, one of the three main functions of the organization. Three functions are: The marketing function - which is responsible for communicating the organization's products The product/service development function which is responsible for creating new and The operations function- which is responsible for fulfilling company request for service

and services to its markets in order to generate customer requests for services; modified products and services in order to generate future customer requests for services; through the production and delivery of products and services. In addition, there are support functions which allow core functions to operate effectively. These include:

The accounting and finance function: This provides the information to help economic decision-making and manages the financial resources of the organization; The human resource function This recruits and develops the organization staff as well as looking after their welfare. ,(Slack et el,2009) The operations system in an organization is the part that produces the organization's products. In some organizations the product is a physical good (refrigerators, break fast cereals); while in others it is a service (insurance, health care for the old people). However, these organizations have something in common. They have a conversion process, some resource input into that process, the out puts resulting from the conversion of the inputs, and information feedback about the activities in the operation system, Once goods and services are produced they are converted into cash (sold) to acquire more recourses to keep the conversion process alive. For all operations, the goal is to create some kind of value added, so that outputs are worth more to consumers than just the sum of the individual inputs. Hence, operations interfaces with many different disciplines and many themes are developing which require the support of Operations management.

"Operations management is about developing and managing value-adding processes and supporting these through various tools, techniques and methods" (Voss, C.A 1995)

ROLE OF OPERATIONS MANAGERS: (slack et el, 2009) operations managers are staffs of the organization who have particular responsibility for managing some, or all, of the resources which compromise the operations functions. In some organizations operation manager could be called with other titles for example he

or she can be called as a "fleet manager" in a distribution company or the "administrative manager" etc. There are some general classes of activities that apply to all types of operation Understanding the operations strategic performance objectives Developing an operations strategy for organization Designing the operations products, services and processes Planning and controlling the operations Improving the performance of the operations The social responsibility of operations management

MANUFACTURING VS SERVICE OPERATIONS: A conversion process that includes manufacturing (or production) yields a tangible output a product in contrast; a conversion process that includes service yields an intangible output, an action performance or an effort. For example Mesfin Industries manufactures a lot of tangible products, where as an airline like British Airways offer air transport service to passengers which is an intangible out put. Common features that distinguish Manufacturing Operations from Service Operations: Tangible and intangible nature of output Consumption of out put Nature of work Degree of customer contact Customer participation in conversion Measurement of performance

The manufacturing is characterized by tangible outputs (products) that customers consume over time, jobs that use less labour and more equipment, minimum customer contact, no participation from customer in conversion process (in production) , and complicated methods for measuring production activities and resource consumption as products are made.

Where as service is characterized by intangible out puts, out puts that customers consume immediately, jobs that use more labour and less equipment, direct customer contact, frequent customer participation in conversion process and basic methods for measuring conversion activities and resource consumption. However, some services are equipment based like computer software services, Internet services, telephone services etc. Some services are people based like tax accounting services, hair styling etc. Gino, F. and Pisano,G (July12, 2007) Toward a theory of behavioural operations : Author explains operations management as multi- disciplinary field that investigates the design management. And improvement of processes aimed at the development, production, delivery and distribution of products and services (Weiss and Gershon, 1989). Research on operations focuses on explaining differences in operating performances across organization (e.g. productivity, quality, product development lead time etc) and, as a normative field, identifying the implications of processes, structures and systems. Where as historically OM focused mainly on manufacturing environments, the field today also cover issues relevant to R&D, services, supply chains(logistics and distributions), and retailing. Design includes the provision of various process, policies and strategies that forms the overall operating system. Setting inventory policy, determining plant size and location, specifying a product development process, deciding which It system to deploy, and creating incentive plans are just a few examples of common operating system design issues. Management refers to the decisions and actions that take place within the constraints imposed by the design of the operating system. It involves activities such as implementing policies, procedures and strategies; making contingent decisions, coordinating processes; identifying and solving problems; responding to uncertainty and unforeseen problems; and motivating people. Improving the system refers to experimentation and learning activities geared toward enhancing operating performance over time. FUNCTIONS OF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT: Operations management function in general includes planning, directing, organizing, staffing, motivating and controlling to achieve the set organizational goals. Plus, operation managers perform many other activities as given below.

Facility location and layout design Job Design and work measurement Demand-forecasting Planning and controlling operations Materials management Inventory control and management Purchase management Total Quality management Supply chain management Project management Maintenance management

Sunil chopra, William lovejoy, and Candice Yano describe the scope of operations management as surrounding these multi-disciplinary areas: Supply chains: Management of all aspects in relation to providing goods to customer from its making to the disposal. Operations Management/Marketing interface Determining what customer values prior to product development. Operations Management/Finance interface: Capital equipment and inventories comprise a sizable portion of many firms assets.

Service Operations: Coping with inherent service characteristics such as simultaneous delivery/consumption, performance measurements etc.

Operations strategy: Consistent and aligned with firm other functional strategies.

Process Design and improvements Managing the innovations process.

Model represents how services are interrelated

Intranet

Whisper Communication Network Service Provider

Server
Customer

Extranet

Supplier

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN WHISPER COMMUNICATION Main operations in whisper communication take place in Customer service, Sales, Inventory management, Purchase. These departments are heavily relied upon, the effectiveness of operations will ensure that the company is able to make profit and will continue to operate. The collapse of

operations in any department will halt the progress of company. All the departments are interlinked with each other. Inventory Management and It/Database: Previously order was generated by sales executive; it used to get send to supplier through uploading customers detail on a spread sheet, costing extra time and labour. Now company uses an online database system in order for operations to become timelier, less costly with minimum labour. Members of the firm and supplier are trained for it, and provided appropriate access rights as shown in figure.

Full Access Rights Management Access Rights Reasonable Access Rights Limited Access Rights

Supplier

When a call is attended by lead allocation agent, he/she uploads the details of customer on an online database, details include customers name, address, and a weekly/monthly expenditure on pay as you go phone, further these agents change/allocate the lead onto sales executives name based on the quota of each sales rep for the purpose of converting those leads onto monthly contract. (Brett Hurl 2008) On top of that they wanted to reduce cancellations by improving the quality of sales through monitoring their recorded phone calls which will assist in reducing cancellations, and at the same 10

time they were focusing on having a separate retention team whose role will purely going to based on saving cancellations. As discussed earlier company also wanted to overcome the issues faced by customers, such as late delivery and long call waiting queues Organisation also operating customer service (CS) and sales operation through

outsourcing in India along with an alienated lead allocation department who answers only sales calls and generate a (lead) for sales executives. Organisation has a facility of company e-mail for the purpose of getting and answering

customer service enquiries via e-mail. Organization also has a customer satisfaction department for the purpose of cutting down

on cancellations. Strategies are shown in the form of diagram

Online Database

Customer Satisfaction Department

Outsourcing

Enquiries via E-Mail

Enquiries via E-Mail:

11

For effective operations an email address for answering and receiving customer service enquiries is in place. This (CS) enquiry e-mail address is designed to overcome consumer issue of waiting in queue for long. Order winning and order qualifying criteria In an organisation there are five performance objectives: Quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost. These objectives can then be broken down into order-winning, order- qualifying and less important factors. Order winning factors are "Those things which directly and significantly contribute to winning business"(slack et el. 1995 p72). So they are essentially what the business does that places it above its competitors in the customer eyes. Order qualifying factors on the other hand are : "Those aspect of competitiveness where the operation performance has to be above a particular level just to be considered by the customer "(slack et el 1995 p72)

2.1.4 Customer Satisfaction Department:

Customer Satisfaction Representative role includes preventing customer from cancelling agreement and it also include re-closing the deal, only sales person can have these persuasive qualities. To ensure that operations runs smoothly sales executive manager David Tongue did InHouse retention training of the chosen candidates and further these candidates moved on board. So order qualifying factors are merely what a customer expects at the very minimum from a company of this kind. The impact of inaugurating online database has improved the overall functions operating in organization The time sales agent submit the order for processing can straight a way viewed supplier.They then deliver the handset instantly. (Williams 2008).

12

Enhancement of lead allocation department will entitle management to easily (Younes 2008)

evaluate the number of leads taken per sales agent. For details refer Appendix (5).

The advancement of answering queries via e-mail will reduced the number of

calls comparing past. (Hurl 2008) Expansion of retention department will bring down the rate of cancellation. For

details refer Appendix (6). (Hurl 2008).

2.5 Outcomes Achieved:

The upshot of the applied strategy and the systems are mentioned below: Issue of receiving inappropriate calls by sales executives and customer services

representatives has been resolved. Customers do not wait in queue for more than 5-7 minutes. Supplier delivers the handset within two working days. An all time low monthly sales figures has sharply boosted at it highest point ever,

an increase of more than 195% took place. Refer figure (5) Improvement in quality of sales and drifting down of cancellation by nearly 6%

happened to be seen. Refer figure (6) (Hurl and Williams 200

13

Supply Chain Dynamics and Bullwhip affect The bullwhip effect refers to the phenomenon that order variability increases as orders move upstream along the supply chain. This phenomenon is known as "." the first law of supply chain dynamics". This effect is explained by researchers both in theories and practice and has several important implications. The BWE can lead to excess inventory or unused as well as overused capacity. It increases the operating costs of the supply chain system and lead to supply and demand mismatches in customer service levels.

14