Operations Management in Healthcare Operation management is the organization and control of the core business activity of providing goods and services to customers (Encarta, 2005). In the healthcare industry, operations management generally focuses on providing a healthcare service to patients. An organization has three basic functional areas and these are: finance, marketing and operations (Operations Management, 2004, p.4). Since operations is one of the three core functions of an organization, it holds strong significance in the healthcare industry. The content of this article will explain what operational management means to the writer and why it is important for a healthcare organization. What is operations management? The specific division of operations management comes from reading chapter 1 of the online textbook entitled Operations Management. Explained further in the book, operational services are products of transforming inputs into outputs. Producing products differs from providing services in seven factors: degree of customer contact, uniformity of input, labor content of jobs, uniformity of output, measurement of productivity, production and delivery, quality assurance, and quantity of inventory (Operations Management, 2004, p. .6). Operations management includes many processes, all of which should be carefully considered by the manager. These processes include: forecasting, capacity planning, scheduling, inventory management, quality assurance, employee motivation and training (Operations Management, 2004, p.8). Operations management also includes different models, quantitative approach, trade-off analysis, prioritization, ethics, study of… center of paper… and sustenance should never be compromised.ConclusionOperations Management is an important aspect of the healthcare industry. Without operations managers, no organization would run smoothly and successfully. Studying pre-existing operations management models can be a smart approach to truly understand this field. But as technology advances by the minute, new concepts and tools should be adapted for managing operations. The book titled Operations Management strategically explains the different concepts, divisions and approaches of operations management. ReferencesEncarta (2005) Definitions: Operations Management. Retrieved September 15, 2005, from http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=561533832 .Operations Management (2004). Introduction to operations management. The McGrawHill Companies.