How Does Statistical Analysis Help Operations Management?
Effective Measurement Effective measurement of operational performance requires that information be interpreted correctly. Too often managers reach conclusions based on a cursory look at data without understanding what it actually shows. A call center manager might compare data for two weeks and become concerned because the escalated call percentage has jumped from eight to 12 percent. But often, such data does not represent a true change or trend in performance. In this scenario, the manager might find from statistical analysis that the escalation rate is not significantly different from one week to the next, that the rate varies randomly and will go up or down without any change being made. Differentiating People & Process Critical decisions about employee advancement and salary level are often based on measures of performance; managers may not know how to properly interpret this data. For example, one employee may be rewarded for having the best efficiency rate in a quarter, while a
