Is the position of Operations Officer a redundant one?

[C.E. Evans]

I think by the time they finally figured out what O'Brien's rank was, he was probably a senior chief petty officer (at least his insignia was closest to one in the U.S. Navy anyway). But if I understand it correctly, as a noncom he could still be a department head if so appointed by a senior commissioned officer.

It may also have been that he was the highest ranking person in the department if everyone else was an enlisted below the rank of chief, IMO. I could also see something similar like that for Harry Kim staying an ensign for 7 years if he was the only officer in the Voyager's operations department to begin with and other positions like chief engineer or tactical officer had higher billets...

 

[T'Girl]

If you talking about a person who's in charge of the day to day allocation of resources. Manages the assignments of personnel - changes their duty shifts as needed. Coordinates between various departments and department heads. Monitors engineering, sciences, security, etc.. Over sees training and cross-training. Prepares the ship ahead of time for survey, diplomacy, combat.

Isn't this person The First Officer?


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[MollyRoger]

If you talking about a person who's in charge of the day to day allocation of resources. Manages the assignments of personnel - changes their duty shifts as needed. Coordinates between various departments and department heads. Monitors engineering, sciences, security, etc.. Over sees training and cross-training. Prepares the ship ahead of time for survey, diplomacy, combat.

Isn't this person The First Officer?


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actually, traditionally, that was the Quartermaster

 

[indolover]

I just wanted to interject some additional confusion.

Is Operations Manager (Ops, Data) the same as Chief of Operations (O'Brien)?

Data seemed to be more resource management, O'Brien more engineer and maintenance, and this has been mentioned already.

But if these are all regarded as the same Operations position, how can we account for the seeming discrepancy in ranks?

With Data, it would seem to be a high level position, to be held by a senior officer.

With O'Brien, the position is held by a petty officer (or whatever lesser rank you attribute to poor Miles).

With Kim, the position is held by an ensign, a raw graduate right out of the academy.

So what exactly are the qualifications for this Ops position?
Does it require a senior officer, junior officer, what?
Does it depend on the nature of the posting?

A head of a department on a ship is by definition a senior officer, irrespective of rank.

Perhaps on the Enterprise it was held by Data since the Enterprises D and E were capital ships/ships of the line. On a lesser ship like Voyager, it wouldn't matter as such.