Course Preview | Strategic Operations Management Program from Wharton Executive Education

Over the last decades, the internet, mobile computing, and now artificial intelligence have fundamentally changed how we work. Automation and robotics have already reshaped blue-collar work, and generative AI is now poised to disrupt professions such as accounting, radiology, management consulting, and education.

While jobs are disrupted, new products, services, and forms of work are also being created. At the same time, political and economic changes are reshaping globalization. Supply chains that once expanded rapidly are now being de-risked and restructured.

Much of the discussion around technology and the future of work remains abstract. What managers need are concrete, actionable insights on what to do now. To change the way work is done, one must first understand how work is currently performed. This program focuses on analyzing how work gets done, why it is done that way, and how it can be improved.

This program is taught by Christian Terwiesch together with Wharton faculty Gad Allon and Sonny Tambe. Their expertise spans operations management, supply chains, innovation, and digitization. Operations management, derived from the Latin word “opus” meaning work, examines the principles of labor and productivity. Through this lens, the program explores how the future of work is being shaped.