{"id":3143,"date":"2023-02-19T16:11:45","date_gmt":"2023-02-19T16:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontobusiness\/chapter\/operations-management-in-the-service-industry\/"},"modified":"2025-05-27T20:32:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T20:32:10","slug":"operations-management-in-the-service-industry","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontobusiness\/chapter\/operations-management-in-the-service-industry\/","title":{"raw":"Learn It 13.1.2: What Is Operations Management?","rendered":"Learn It 13.1.2: What Is Operations Management?"},"content":{"raw":"<h2>Operations Management in the Service Industry<\/h2>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_8057\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]<img class=\"wp-image-8057 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/content-cdn.one.lumenlearning.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/02\/22154459\/pexels-sergio-souza-1782146-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"amusement park at night\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/> Figure 1. The operations of service business like an amusement park is focused on providing customers with a positive experience.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<p>In businesses that produce services, the need for operations management may seem less obvious, since they don\u2019t produce tangible goods. Operations management is all about transformation\u2014taking inputs and transforming them into outputs\u2014and it involves things like suppliers, supply chains, and logistics. All of these things are present in service industries. Consider the operations of service business like an amusement park. Although the company doesn\u2019t manufacture products, it is still producing an experience. The following breakdown gives you an idea of how and why operations management is so important to this kind of business:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>How do you control the crowds? How many guests should be let into the park before the lines for the rides are unacceptably long?<\/li>\r\n\t<li>How many cars should be attached together on the rollercoaster to maximize the number of riders but still ensure their safety and security?<\/li>\r\n\t<li>For July 4th weekend, how many tons of ice cream need to be ordered to supply all the ice-cream carts and keep all the hot, tired, and hungry patrons happy?<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Where do you purchase the park\u2019s supplies? That's everything from souvenir cups to paper plates and napkins for the restaurants to hand soap for the restrooms.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>How do you staff entrances and exits? How much security is enough to let guests feel comfortable letting their children roam around?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>As you can see, even when the primary product is a service, there are still many pieces for an operations manager to keep track of.<\/p>\r\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\">[ohm2_question height=\"350\"]4323[\/ohm2_question]<\/section>","rendered":"<h2>Operations Management in the Service Industry<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8057\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8057\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8057 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/content-cdn.one.lumenlearning.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/02\/22154459\/pexels-sergio-souza-1782146-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"amusement park at night\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/content-cdn.one.lumenlearning.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/02\/22154459\/pexels-sergio-souza-1782146-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/content-cdn.one.lumenlearning.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/02\/22154459\/pexels-sergio-souza-1782146-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/content-cdn.one.lumenlearning.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/02\/22154459\/pexels-sergio-souza-1782146-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/content-cdn.one.lumenlearning.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/02\/22154459\/pexels-sergio-souza-1782146-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/content-cdn.one.lumenlearning.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/02\/22154459\/pexels-sergio-souza-1782146-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/content-cdn.one.lumenlearning.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/02\/22154459\/pexels-sergio-souza-1782146-65x43.jpg 65w, https:\/\/content-cdn.one.lumenlearning.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/02\/22154459\/pexels-sergio-souza-1782146-225x150.jpg 225w, https:\/\/content-cdn.one.lumenlearning.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/02\/22154459\/pexels-sergio-souza-1782146-350x233.jpg 350w, https:\/\/content-cdn.one.lumenlearning.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/02\/22154459\/pexels-sergio-souza-1782146.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8057\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 1. The operations of service business like an amusement park is focused on providing customers with a positive experience.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In businesses that produce services, the need for operations management may seem less obvious, since they don\u2019t produce tangible goods. Operations management is all about transformation\u2014taking inputs and transforming them into outputs\u2014and it involves things like suppliers, supply chains, and logistics. All of these things are present in service industries. Consider the operations of service business like an amusement park. Although the company doesn\u2019t manufacture products, it is still producing an experience. The following breakdown gives you an idea of how and why operations management is so important to this kind of business:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How do you control the crowds? How many guests should be let into the park before the lines for the rides are unacceptably long?<\/li>\n<li>How many cars should be attached together on the rollercoaster to maximize the number of riders but still ensure their safety and security?<\/li>\n<li>For July 4th weekend, how many tons of ice cream need to be ordered to supply all the ice-cream carts and keep all the hot, tired, and hungry patrons happy?<\/li>\n<li>Where do you purchase the park\u2019s supplies? That&#8217;s everything from souvenir cups to paper plates and napkins for the restaurants to hand soap for the restrooms.<\/li>\n<li>How do you staff entrances and exits? How much security is enough to let guests feel comfortable letting their children roam around?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As you can see, even when the primary product is a service, there are still many pieces for an operations manager to keep track of.<\/p>\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"ohm4323\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/ohm.one.lumenlearning.com\/multiembedq.php?id=4323&theme=lumen&iframe_resize_id=ohm4323&source=tnh&show_question_numbers\" width=\"100%\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/section>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"menu_order":4,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Operations Management\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Wikipedia\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Operations_management\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Revision and adaptation\",\"author\":\"Linda Williams and Lumen Learning\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Practice Question\",\"author\":\"Robert Danielson\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"amusement park\",\"author\":\"sergio souza\",\"organization\":\"Pexels\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/black-and-white-ferris-wheel-1782146\/\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"part":3138,"module-header":"learn_it","content_attributions":[{"type":"cc","description":"Operations Management","author":"","organization":"Wikipedia","url":"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Operations_management","project":"","license":"cc-by-sa","license_terms":""},{"type":"original","description":"Revision and adaptation","author":"Linda Williams and Lumen Learning","organization":"","url":"","project":"","license":"cc-by-sa","license_terms":""},{"type":"original","description":"Practice Question","author":"Robert Danielson","organization":"Lumen Learning","url":"","project":"","license":"cc-by","license_terms":""},{"type":"cc","description":"amusement park","author":"sergio souza","organization":"Pexels","url":"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/black-and-white-ferris-wheel-1782146\/","project":"","license":"cc-by","license_terms":""}],"internal_book_links":[],"video_content":null,"cc_video_embed_content":{"cc_scripts":"","media_targets":[]},"try_it_collection":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontobusiness\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/3143"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontobusiness\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontobusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontobusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontobusiness\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/3143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9661,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontobusiness\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/3143\/revisions\/9661"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontobusiness\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3138"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontobusiness\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/3143\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontobusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontobusiness\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=3143"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontobusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=3143"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontobusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=3143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}