Operations management (OM) is the set of activities in any organization that are concerned with the resources devoted to the production and delivery of products and services. Every organization has an operations function because every organization produces some type of products and/or services, although they call the operations function by this name. This definition encompasses service and manufacturing as well as for‐profit and not‐for‐profit organizations. OM is arguably the oldest of management disciplines. It is also a discipline profoundly influenced by practice. Unlike some management functions, the OM task is principally defined by the pragmatic challenges of immediacy. In other words, the day‐to‐day production of goods or delivery of services requires practitioners to continually make decisions and implement changes.