Page 357 - Operations Strategy

332 CHAPTER 9 • THE PRoCEss of oPERATions sTRATEgy – foRmulATion And imPlEmEnTATion
Central operations as trainer

Moving from the market requirements to the operations resources emphasis shifts
the focus more to the development of internal capabilities. If the mind-set of central
operations is top-down, their role becomes one of a ‘trainer’. Trainers go to some effort
to develop clear objectives, usually derived from overall company strategy, and devise
effectual methods of instructing their ‘pupils’. Because the specific needs of indi-
vidual operations may differ, ‘trainer’ central operations may devise improvement
methodologies that can, to some extent, be customised to each business operation’s
specific needs. However, their approach is likely to be common, with a relatively
coherent and centralised view of operations development. Even if individual busi-
ness operations do initiate contact with central operations, they do so in the role of
clients seeking advice on central policy from ‘consultants’ who bring a standardised
approach. These internal consultants can, however, accumulate considerable experi-
ence and knowledge.
Central operations as facilitator
In some ways this final type of central operations is the most difficult to operate effec-
tively. Central operations are again concerned with the development of operations
capabilities but do so by acting as facilitators of change rather than instructors. Their
role is to advise, support and generally aid the development and deployment of capa-
bilities through a process of mentoring business operations. They share responsibil-
ity with the business operations in forming a community of operations practice. The
development of the relationships between central operations and business operations is
crucial in encouraging shared learning. The value placed on these relationships them-
selves becomes the prime, though somewhat diffused, mechanism for control of the
improvement process. Implicit in this type of central operations is the acceptance of a
relatively long-term approach to operations development.

Central operations and information networks

The different types of central operations will play different roles within the informa-
tion network that connects business operations to central operations and to each other.
Figure 9.8 illustrates the likely nature of these information networks. In both the gov-
ernor and trainer types, central operations are the dominant power player. Their vision
of what the individual business operations should be doing dominates the rest of the
network. When the emphasis is on individual business operations performance, as in
the governor type, there is relatively little, if any, communication between the busi-
nesses. Because operations resource competences are more diffuse than hard perfor-
mance measures, the trainer type will have to accommodate the needs and views of
business operations to some extent and also rely on individual business operations
having some, albeit weak, sharing of operations practice. Central operations that adopt
a more emergent approach implicitly accept a two-way relationship between them-
selves and the business operations; only in this way can central operations be aware of
emergent practice. The curator type, by publishing comparative performance data, is,
to some extent, encouraging some communication between the individual business
operations. The facilitator type of central operations, however, is entirely dependent on
regular, strong and two-way communication between themselves and the community
of business operations that they guide.

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