Operations Management
Have you ever wondered how airlines determine the price you pay for a specific flight, or how clothing companies use distribution networks to move particular items from manufacturers to retailers? Curious as to how oil and gas firms establish purchasing contracts to deal with price volatilities, or how your favorite sports league decides its regular season schedule? These types of questions—and many others—are the focus of operations management.
What is Operations Management?
Operations management (OM) involves the essential steps of producing goods, quality control, quality management, managing the supply chain, facilities management, product formulation and design, ordering of goods, warehousing of goods, contacting vendors, and purchasing of external products. Operations management is a great choice for students who are detail-oriented and constantly think about how to make processes more efficient.
Operations management graduates are very influential in the business world. When it comes to deciding how to produce a certain automobile or ordering the right amount of product, they are the ones in charge. There are job opportunities in areas such as distribution and logistics, purchasing, quality assurance, inventory control and warehousing. This is a very exciting and rewarding field of expertise and should not be overlooked!
A Major in Operations Management
Students choosing the operations management major have the opportunity to obtain marketable and valuable skills through a series of courses that are both practical and relevant. Students learn about highly important concepts in today’s business environment such as forecasting, supply chain management and logistics, E-commerce, purchasing, spreadsheet modeling, and quality management. These topics are frequently presented through an analysis of actual business cases.
Operations management is one of six majors you can choose within the Bachelor of Commerce degree program. Students choose a major in second year and access to some of the majors is based on academic performance. Operations management is a non-restricted major, open to all students in the program.
In many of our courses, students complete a term project in which they explore how real organizations carry out the concepts discussed in a particular course. This permits students to 'learn by doing'.—Keith Willoughby, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor of Finance and Management Science,
Hanlon Scholar in International Business
The U of S Advantage
Business Co-operative Education Program
Co-op education allows you to take what you've learned in the classroom and apply it in real life work situations.
The Cameco Business Co-operative Education Program provides students with eight months of relevant work experience and the opportunity to develop relationships with influential business contacts. You will also receive coaching and skill-building sessions in the areas of networking, etiquette and interview success prior to going out on your co-op term.
Third year students from all majors are welcome to apply. The number of participants and companies continues to grow every year, with the ultimate goal of being able to accommodate up to 200 students.
Career Development Goodspeed Career Services manages the co-op program and offers many career development services exclusive to Edwards School of Business students.
Career Opportunities
Students who major in operations management have been very successful at obtaining employment in a variety of organizations, including real estate firms, logistics companies, agricultural manufacturers, and mining businesses. Some of their job titles include:
- Quality Assurance Analyst
- Integrated Logistics Manager
- Inventory Control Director
- Real Estate Analyst
- Production Planner
A Stepping Stone
Students who graduate with a major in operations management can pursue a professional designation in a number of areas, including purchasing, inventory and quality.
Get Involved!
JDC West Operations management students have the opportunity to participate in the JDC (Jeux du Commerce) West Business Competition or informally, JDC West, which is the largest undergraduate business competition featuring top business schools and students from across Western Canada.
SIFE Saskatchewan Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Saskatchewan is a non-profit student organization that develops impactful economic development programs. They are an affiliate of the national organization
Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship ACE and the international
SIFE organization.
AIESEC AIESEC (Association Internationale des Étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales), the world's largest student-run organization, is an international platform for young people to discover and develop their potential to have a positive impact on society. Through active participation in internship programs and national conferences, students have the opportunity to develop their professional skills and develop an international perspective while making many friends and memories. Student members have an opportunity to network with alumni and business partners, and become a global citizen.
Sample Courses
The operations management major includes courses from a variety of areas, including financial reporting, auditing and management skills.
- Comm 395 - Business Forecasting - examines process of business forecasting involves the study of historical data to discover their underlying tendencies and patters and the use of this knowledge to project the data into future time periods.
- Comm 491 - Purchasing & Supply Management - introduces fundamentals of purchasing and supply management, including terminology, concepts, procedures and models.
- Comm 493 - Total Quality Management - deals with the concepts of total quality control, strategic quality planning, managment of process quality and other aspects of quality management.
Admission Requirements
The following is a list of high school subjects required for admission. Please select the province/territory where you completed high school.
Additional Information
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