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Resources for Students Attending Online Operations Management Schools

operations managementOperations management is a very broad topic. It is an important area for businesses and encompasses all activity a company does. It involves production of their goods and services as efficiently as possible to include cost effective actions and good customer service. Operations management involves project management, change management, and more. These blog posts are designed to help you become an excellent operations manager.

Project Management

Project management involves all aspects of running a project. Project management is important to businesses because it helps things go efficiently in the organization. Read these posts to learn more information.

  1. The Blurring Line Between Operations and Project Management
    This post discusses the similarities between project management and operations management. It explores how closely intertwined the two positions are.
  2. Ten Articles Which Every PMP Aspirant Must Read.
    In today's competitive job market, any certification you can earn can be the difference between getting the job and hearing, "Don't call us, we'll call you." This post gives resources designed to help you pass the PMP exam.
  3. Good Project Management e-journal / newsletter
    If you are looking for good articles to help keep you informed about what is going on in the project management space, you have to check this post out. This post lists several articles related to project management.
  4. Delivering value
    Here you will find lists of some requirements necessary for completing a project successfully. Read this post to have success with your company's projects.
  5. How effective is your project team?
    This post takes a hard look at the effectiveness of a project team. It explores what makes one effective.

    Networking

    Networking is important both during a job hunt and once you get your job you still need to keep up with your network. Read these posts to learn about how to network.

  6. Networking: How Do You Do It?
    This post gives information on how to network successfully. This is an important skill for job hunters.  It will also be important once you get on the job, to help you find clients.
  7. Business Networking Tips and Tricks from An Expert
    In any field, it is important to network. You need to network with your peers to stay updated with what is going on in your field. Read this post to get some information about networking.
  8. Building A Business By Referring Others First
    It is good to know how to build up a good reputation among your peers. One good way to do that is to send them referrals. Read this post for more information about that.
  9. Help Me: I Feel Uncomfortable at Networking Events!
    Does the mere thought of dressing up and schmoozing with business professionals you don't know make you want to slit your throat? If so you, need to check this post out for ideas about how you can feel more comfortable at networking events.
  10. The Official Nametagscott Guide to Stick-to-itiveness, Part 1
    One important factor of a successful project manager is the ability to complete a project. You need to be able to stick to whatever the task at hand is. Read this blog if you have problems in that area.

    Team Building

    Team building is beneficial for businesses because you have to be able to work together as a team. If you can't work together as a team, you won't get anything done. Read these posts for more information about team building.

  11. Team Building
    As Operations Manager, you will, at some point in your career be responsible for fostering a team spirit amongst the people that work with you. This post will shed some light on that topic.
  12. Build Your Team
    Team Building Inc. gives insights into what team building means to today's companies. This is a good read for anyone responsible for helping people work well together.
  13. Music Team Building: Is It Real Team Building?
    This blog post discusses a method to build teams using the song creation process as a model. Read the blog post to see if you can use this at your company.
  14. Core Values And Effective Team Building
    This blog post is useful for anyone that is charged with the task of building teams in their company. It discusses how to use people's core values to build teams effectively.
  15. A quick team building energiser: Team Jump
    If you are looking for a neat team building exercise, stop by this post. This post describes an activity whereby you try to get everyone doing the same activity at the same time.

    Data Mining

    As an operations manager, you will be responsible for gathering data about various aspects of the business. You will have to know how best to gather the data and how best to analyze the data. Read these posts to learn more about data mining.

  16. Optimizing Discounts with Data Mining
    Michael Trick gives future Operations Managers insights on how to use data to create discounts that are tailor made to individual customers. This is important no matter what the size of your business since it will encourage people to do business with you.
  17. 10 Very Interesting People (VIP) in Data Mining
    This post lists ten key people involved in data mining. Check out what these people have to say about this subject when you visit this blog. This blog links to things they have written about data mining.
  18. The Data Budget
    This posts discusses the relation between the amount of data and the accuracy of it. It explores the notion that more data means that you get a better analysis.
  19. Lists Of English Words
    During the course of your tenure as an operations manager, you are bound to come across some slang terms that you may not understand. Maybe one of the members of your focus group might be from a different part of the country than you are. This information should help you decipher what the people are trying to tell you.
  20. 5 + 4 Actionable Tips To Kick Web Data Analysis Up A Notch, Or Two
    At some point in your career, you may have to interpret data regarding the company's website and make decisions based on reports generated by your web team. This blog post gives some tips to help with that.

    Study Skills and Note Taking Skills

    When you are taking college level classes, it is important to learn how to take notes effectively.  You also need to learn how to study effectively. Read these posts to learn how to do both of those things.
  21. Ten Ways to Improve Your Grades Half-Way Through an Online Course
    No matter how well you study and plan, you might fall behind in your studies. Here are some tips to help salvage the rest of the semester.
  22. Ferris Bueller Has Given Me A Fun Way To Study
    If you are looking for a different way to study other than being bored out of your mind as you read your material alone, read this blog post. This teacher gives a new way to study in this post.
  23. Habits
    This post explains how your habits affect your life and your grades. Read this post to get a handle on what makes good and bad habits.
  24. 5 Easy Review Tricks That Maximize Learning
    This post gives information designed to help students get the most out of their learning time.  This is the first part of a series of posts on this subject.
  25. The Art of Stealth Studying: How To Earn a 4.0 With Only 1.0 Hours of Work
    This post gives information about how to earn a good grade without spending a lot of time studying. This is ideal information for non-traditional students to learn.

    Social Media

    Social media is important in today's business. You can use social media to monitor what your customers are saying about your business. Read these blogs to learn how to use social media effectively.

  26. LinkedIn Best Practices: 5 Keys to the Perfect Invitation
    LinkedIn is becoming an essential social media tool in any business person's toolbox. It can help you find the perfect candidate to fill any position. You can even find potential business partners on LinkedIn. Read this post to find out how to use LinkedIn correctly.
  27. Pros and Cons Of Social Networking Sites
    This Squidoo lens shows the pluses and minuses of using social networking sites. Be sure to check this out for a balanced review of these powerful tools.
  28. Social Media Multi-tasking Worse than Marijuana
    This post discusses the danger of trying to do social media related tasks while doing other things. This post suggests that multi tasking in this manner isn't a good use of time.
  29. Social Branding For Dummies (Part 1)
    No one is calling you a dummy; far from it. This post sheds some light on how to effectively use social media to maintain and improve your company's image in the eyes of your potential clients.
  30. How Social Should Companies Be
    Mo Blogs Mo Problems gives insight on how much companies should participate in social media. There is also a discussion on how many people you should follow back and what it looks like to your network when you don't follow people back.

    Productivity

    Productivity is important to your company's bottom line. Read these blogs to discover how to manage your time better and the steps needed to make your business a success.

  31. Get Productive With 25 Free Mac Apps
    This blog post lists 25 free applications that are compatible with the Macintosh designed to help you make the best use of your time. As an adult student, these are important tools as you will be juggling a lot more responsibilities now that you are taking college classes.
  32. How To Be Productive When Life Blindsides You
    The focus here is on tips to handle things that life throws at you. You know, when the kids get sick, the computer dies, and the car breaks down on the way to work. Read about how not to lose your mind when stuff happens.
  33. 5 Time Management Tips I Learned From Years Of Hating Tim Ferris
    You shouldn't have to hate someone to learn time management skills. Instead you can just read this blog post and learn about managing your time wisely.
  34. The Other Side Of Productivity
    This post explores the benefits you reap when you are productive. This serves as an excellent reminder for those days when you don't feel very productive.
  35. Review of the BlackBerry Torch’s Task App
    Sometimes you need to rely on technology to help you be more productive. This post provides a review of the Torch Task App by BlackBerry.

    Operations Management

    Operations management involves managing a company's resources. It involves how employees deal with customers. It also involves how you manage the supply chain. Read these blogs for more information.

  36. Operations Management Optimization
    Operations management concerns the way management can make work flow better. Read this post to learn ways to maximize the way employees complete tasks and use company resources.
  37. Customer Service Tip-Don't Call A Customer A Jerk
    Part of Operations Management is managing how your employees treat your customers. This blog post illustrates what can happen if one customer gets treated poorly by an employee.
  38. What's the State of Customer Service?
    Good customer service appears to be a lost art. This blog post goes into more details about the dying art of taking good care of your customers.
  39. Change Model 3: John Kotter's 8 Steps of Leading Change
    As leaders of organizations, operations managers must be prepared to deal with change. Change is inevitable in the business world.  Read this post to get ideas on how to deal with change.
  40. Improve the Quality Of Customer Experiences
    Service Untitled discusses ways you can improve your customer's experience at your place of business. You can't go wrong by focusing on your customer.

    Healthy Living Tips

    Being healthy is something that never goes out of style. That will help you get good grades and also help you relieve stress. Read these posts for ideas on how to stay healthy.

  41. Grape Juice Can Improve Your Memory
    Are you looking for something besides Mountain Dew and Red Bull to drink while you study? Try grape juice. This blog will give you more information about how drinking grape juice can improve your memory.
  42. Lose Weight At A Healthy Rate
    This post shows healthy ways to lose weight. Check this post out if losing weight is on your list of goals.
  43. Hiking As Therapy
    After hours in front of the computer, you will eventually need to spend some time outside. This post explores the use of hiking as therapy
  44. Food For Fuel
    When you are working out, you need to eat the right food. This post tells you what foods to eat to get the maximum results from your workout.
  45. The Best Thing You Can Drink For Your Health
    This blog post gives you tips on healthy things you can drink. You can make this to drink when you study instead of the traditional study beverages.

    Money Management Tips

    It is important to learn to manage your money well.  Money management is important for all adults, including students. The information below provides tips and good financial information to help you manage your money well.

  46. 7 Financial Tips From the Great Depression
    Although things have not gotten nearly as bad as they were during the Depression, it can never hurt to learn some tips from people that survived during the worst economic crisis in our country's history. Read this post and use the tips that you can use to help ease your financial burden and save some money.
  47. 15 Ways to Save Money on Heating Bills This Winter
    When the temperature drops, expenses sometimes go up. This article gives you information on how you can save money on your heating bills.  Enjoy.
  48. Individual Beef Pies – Repurposing Spaghetti Sauce ($5 Dinner Challenge)
    This blog post shows you how to create a meal for under $5.00. This will be useful even after you finish your studies.
  49. Budget Friendly Dates for Married Couples
    Just because you are married and on a budget does not mean that the romance has to die. Read this post to learn how to plan budget friendly dates.
  50. How to Start an Emergency Fund on any Budget
    It is important to save for a rainy day. However, if you are on a tight budget, that might be hard to do. This post gives information on how you can start an emergency fund no matter how small your budget is.

As you can see, there are a lot of skills an operations manager needs in order to be successful.  You have to know how to organize things and people.  You have to know how to organize personal resources and company resources.  Hopefully the blogs in this article will give you a good starting point as you embark on this versatile career.

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seattlemunicipalarchives/2710933334/

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