General Manager/Operations Managers

Career Overview

General and operations managers oversee operations that are too diverse and general to be classified into one area of management or administration. Responsibilities may include formulating policies, managing daily operations, and planning the use of materials and human resources. They make staff schedules, assign work, and ensure that projects are completed. In some organizations, the tasks of chief executive officers may overlap with those of general and operations managers.

Education

Although education and training requirements vary widely by position and industry, most top executives have at least a bachelor’s degree and a considerable amount of work experience.

Future Outlook

Employment of general and operations managers is projected to grow 6 percent from 2019 to 2029, faster than the average for all occupations. Organizations will continue to rely on these workers to help them operate successfully.

Work Environment

They work for both small and large businesses, ranging from companies in which they are the sole employee to firms with hundreds of thousands of employees. Top executives frequently travel to attend meetings and conferences or to visit their company’s local, regional, national, and international offices.

Recommended High School Courses

Psychology
Business
Communication
Finance
Marketing
Statistics

Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.
Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Learning Strategies - Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
Management of Financial Resources - Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
Management of Material Resources - Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
Management of Personnel Resources - Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Systems Analysis - Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
Systems Evaluation - Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Originality - The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
Selective Attention - The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

Analyze data to inform operational decisions or activities.
Analyze financial records to improve efficiency.
Direct organizational operations, projects, or services.
Direct sales, marketing, or customer service activities.
Prepare staff schedules or work assignments.
Determine pricing or monetary policies.
Monitor performance of organizational members or partners.
Direct financial operations.
Provide basic information to guests, visitors, or clients.
Implement organizational process or policy changes.
Develop organizational goals or objectives.
Develop organizational policies or programs.
Conduct employee training programs.
Hire personnel.
Develop marketing plans or strategies.
Determine resource needs.
Manage construction activities.
Recommend organizational process or policy changes.
Manage environmental sustainability projects.
Plan facility layouts or designs.

Schools

Bethany College- Lindsbor...

Bethel University

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Bradley University

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Clackamas Community Colle...

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Colorado Mesa University

Columbia International Un...

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Corban University

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Dallas Baptist University

Delaware Technical And Co...

Depaul University

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Florida Southwestern Stat...

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Potential Scholarships

5 Strong Scholarship

Agnes M. Lindsay Scholars...

Approx Salary Expectation

Currency:

Low End:

$45,050.00 /yr

Avg/Med:

$100,780.00 /yr

High End:

$208,000.00 /yr

Related Careers

Accountants and Auditors

Entrepreneur

Public Relations Specialists

General Manager/Operations Managers

References

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/.
Trend Analysis - Explorer the Market, Labour Market Information, Government of Canada https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/trend-analysis.
O*NET OnLine, National Center for O*NET Development, https://www.onetonline.org/.