operations management

operations management Order Description   Individual Assignment - Objectives The operations function of any enterprise has a direct and significant impact on the competitiveness and success of the firm. Upon completion of this project, you will have gained a deeper understanding of how the goals and objectives of an operation are realized in the way they do business. The project will draw upon the skills, concepts and models we have discussed this semester – e.g. operations strategy, process mapping, quality management, lean whichever is relevant to the organisation you study – and apply them to a real-world setting. Assignment Select an organisation that you can apply what you are learning on this course, and research relevant material in journals This could be a service operation, such as a coffee shop, other retail or distribution, transport or manufacturing operation but it has to be one where you can identify the contribution of operations management. Required: 1. Evaluate the objectives of the selected organisation. You might discuss aspects of operations strategy, goals and objectives, contribution to competitive priorities, order qualifiers/winners, customers. Flowing on from this analysis, in a strategic sense what is operations management expected to deliver? 2. How does the organisation do operations? How does OM translate these organisational goals into tangible outcomes and processes? What does it aim to be exceptional at? How is it delivering the competitive advantage identified above? Essentially address the question how does the operations management of your organisation deliver on the strategy? 3. • Example outputs could be: process flow diagrams, customer statistics (as appropriate), appropriate process measurements, benchmarking, where are operations visible where are they back office in support of performance objectives, etc. 4. The next five years. OM has been taught in this course as strategically aligning the tangible and intangible resources, operational capabilities and operational processes with the performance objectives of the organisation. But performance objectives evolve and change over time. In this last part analyse how and why your selected organisations’ environment might change – and then critical reflect on how the operation management will have to change/evolve to meet these new requirements, drawing on your answers to parts one and two above. Essentially address the question why will operations management have to change over a time frame of roughly the next five years [N.B. In this part we know no one can predict the future, you will be marked on the quality of your thinking, the arguments you use]. • Example outputs: Your answer may include (but not be limited to): changing demographics new markets emerging, increased competition, changing infrastructure of changing buyer behaviour, changing delivery modes e.g. high street, on-line, omni channel etc . Report Specifications Your report should be a maximum of 4000 words including title page, in–text references, and appendices. Sticking to a strict word limit is difficult and an important skill for you to acquire, so make sure that you write in a concise and focused manner. It should be typed font size 12 and 1.5 line spacing. You must include a word count at the start of the report. Consider the environment – please print double-sided and do not use plastic covers or bindings. An essential feature of the reports is to illustrate how theoretical constructs or models can help to explain the actions of organisations in practice. You are therefore advised to read widely. In fact, unless you have read and referenced at least 10 discrete references, it is unlikely that you have done sufficient reading. Beware of sources from the Internet: apart from reputable and academic references that can be downloaded through the Internet, most Internet references are not considered reliable for an academic piece of work. Academic journals generally offer a better source than textbooks. Please use the Harvard referencing system. This requires you to state the surname of the author(s) in the text of your report, followed by a comma and year of publication e.g.: “Kraljic (1983) states that….” If you use direct quotes, then the page number should follow e.g.: Kraljic (1983: 112) “The profit impact of a given supply item can be defined in terms of volume purchased, percentage of total purchase cost or impact on product quality or business growth”. Failure to reference properly constitutes a violation of university regulations i.e. plagiarism and is a serious offence. In your bibliography you provide the following full details of each reference: Kraljic, P. (1983) Purchasing Must Become Supply Management, Harvard Business Review, Sept. – Oct., pp. 109-117.   Operations Management assignment FRONT COVER Name Student number ……………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………… Marking Criteria <40 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80+ Understanding of the Operation – 60% Extent to which report provides a critical overview of the organisations’ operations and relationship with business strategy Many major gaps   Some minor gaps Adequate Good Comprehensive Expert Familiarity with literature – extent to which report draws on relevant OM Non existent Superficial Adequate understanding Good understanding Considerable understanding Thorough understanding Background information Missing Limited or far too much Adequate Useful Good Excellent Insight- 30%   Analysis of the Operation (issues and recommendations) Little or none Some evidence Reasonably developed Well developed Highly developed Highly developed and mature Critical ability Poorly developed Superficial Limited Generally well-developed Highly developed Outstanding Originality – including choice of organisation None None Limited Some Considerable Unique contribution Clarity and structure – 10% Introduction including Executive Summary Missing Only partial grasp of purpose of introduction Limited Generally well developed Detailed over view, i.e. how report is organised, outlines key details of what reader expects in each section Succinct and complete - what was done, why, how, what was concluded and recommended Presentation Very confused and lacking in clarity and quality of expression Poorly structured with some confusion Structure is a little difficult to follow, some lack of clarity Clear and well structured but could be improved Very clear and well structured, referencing and bibliography layout correct Fluent and well structured, relevant diagrams, pictures, figures NB The criteria are not equally weighted