Project Management and General Operations Management: Differences

General Operations Management

A general operations manager has a wider scope of responsibility than the project manager — and the general operations manager role is permanent while the project manager role is temporary. 

Operations management is an ongoing function in an organization that performs activities that produce products or services. Operations are ongoing; some examples include accounting and human resources. An organization needs those roles no matter what initiative(s) they may be working on. There are three main types of systems in operation and production management in both manufacturing and service industries:

1. Mass production system
2. Batch production system and
3. Non-repetitive systems.

Mass Production System

Industries with high-demand products or services and high investment use the product-oriented mass production system, which centers on the important processes that help produce that product or perform the service. Special purpose equipment, such as automated conveyors, are used to perform the functions needed for the product or the service, making it very efficient in producing large quantities of product or service. 

Batch Production System

When several products or services are required in the same factory, the batch production system serves as a good alternative—especially when the demand is not high, the investment is low, and when flexibility is a must. The system is adjusted when production changes from one product to another. Here the complexity of management increases over the batch production system, which is process-oriented, where a mass production system is product oriented.

Non-repetitive System

Systems related to low demands are very different from the other two types; the systems put more emphasis on planning, monitoring, and controlling the activities of the product and/or services. The requirements of these systems result in the growth of project management.

As you can see, the difference between product-oriented, process-oriented, or project-oriented management is very thin and hard to define. To use a simplified example, planning and designing a new car model is a project—whereas running a factory that builds the cars is a mass-production system. When it’s time to change the model of the car, it’s time for a more flexible and adjustable process-oriented system.

Project Management

As given earlier, the very fact that the role of a project manager is temporary; a project team is basically a short-term association. In a fixed general operations management team, the team members report directly the manager who leads that team; those member roles in the team will generally be long-term. The manager is responsible for creating a good team working and setting the norms and behaviors of the team. He/she needs to build trust and respect in the team, encourage the sharing of information, opinions, and feelings for the benefit of the team, and set targets to appraise the performance of the team members.

On the other hand, a project team will be made of people from different departments across different sites of the organization. Though the project manager’s job is similar, sometimes project team members may often report to the department manager as well as reporting to the current project manager. As the priority of the other departmental manager's changes, the project team’s stability can waver. 

It can be challenging to maintain teamwork as the team members may change every now and then to accommodate the priorities of the departments. In a changing team, the team members who do not know each other may find it difficult to share information, opinions, and feelings openly. As the member often reports to more than one manager, appraisal of his or her work may pose a problem or two.

Project management vs General Operations management

Conclusion

Put simply, PMP® Certification Training is unique and highly planned, yet unpredictable. The principal difference between project management vs operations management is that the project manager has a temporary role, which leads to some specific differences and difficulty in the case of team-building effort.