One of the main problems of operational management is the lack of effective methods of communication between co-workers; therefore, some employees remain without management’s attention. This problem occurs mainly with line employees, that is, with the part of the staff that performs the bulk of the work and has a set of essential functions (Boysen et al., 2022). This category of employees is directly engaged in producing goods or service provision. Still, often, their actions are worked out. In this regard, the guiding staff may not consider their contribution and opinions and generally lose sight of them when planning operations management.
I agree that certain companies neglect line staff, as they often perform a clearly defined amount of work, and the management does not control or communicate with this group of employees. This entails several operational risks, as one significant link remains without control and without collecting feedback. From my experience, I will cite a situation when storekeepers who ensure the availability of goods on the shelves missed the delivery of a large batch. The management attempted to search for this product. Still, it excluded the possibility of storekeepers’ errors concerning losing buyers, and the product remained unrealized. The management made a mistake in that they did not control the work of the storekeepers, and there was a more global error in the work of the entire store.
Line staff is an integral part of the work of all big enterprises in producing goods or services. This group of employees is often neglected when planning operational management, which leads to errors or poor quality of work (Sherf et al., 2019). Managers must consider line personnel when planning operational management and establish active communication with them (Preeti, 2023). This will help create more precise and competently constructed communication between departments and will help avoid gross mistakes at work.
References
Boysen, N., Schulze, P., & Scholl, A. (2022). Assembly line balancing: What happened in the last fifteen years? European Journal of Operational Research, 301(3), 797-814. Web.
Preeti, G. (2023). Importance of front-line managers and why they cannot be forgotten in leadership development. ELB Learning. Web.
Sherf, E., Tangirala, S., & Venkataramani, V. (2019). Research: Why managers ignore employees’ ideas. Harvard Business Review. Web.