Dear writer, Please read the instructions well before you agree to write this paper. please before start writing provide three companies that you can write about and I will choose only one of them to be written as per the following instructions
This assessment is designed for students to demonstrate achievement of the learning outcomes for
this course:
• use appropriate concepts, theories and/or framework to analyse specific components of
operations management in practice of the selected organisation;
• demonstrate further reading and investigation;
• compare what you see with what was written in the relevant literature;
• provide a reasoned evaluation of an operation.
Students should choose an organisation that they have access to or about which they can gather
the necessary information in other ways. Students should work through the following sections and
questions relating to operations within their chosen organisation and, where appropriate, discuss
how that organisation has responded to a changing business or operational environment.
Students should write a report (using the sections and questions below as a guide) analysing and
evaluating aspects of the operations of their chosen organisation. An introduction to the operation
must be given, and, a conclusion section must also be included. Please also write an Executive
Summary for this report (which can be excluded from the word count).
Students should note that they do not need to look at an entire company but, instead, may decide
to focus on a particular business unit or operation within the company. For example, you may only
have access to one part of a multi-national organisation. This is perfectly acceptable (but you may
wish to discuss this with your lecturer/counsellor before starting).
Your analysis can be guided by some or all of the questions listed under each section. Additionally,
broader themes like Lean Operations can be considered under a number of section headings.
We do not expect students to cover every topic and question in detail. Students will have to make
explicit, reasoned choices about which topics and questions to answer in detail. In other words, apart
from Sections 1 (Introduction) and 2 (Operations Strategy) – which you must cover – you may
choose (at least) 3 of the remaining 6 sections to discuss in more detail for your chosen organisation.
Students might feel tempted to answer some of the questions mainly based on common sense, but
we strongly discourage this. We are looking for you to demonstrate achievement of the learning
outcomes for this module. Please do keep this in mind and try to demonstrate understanding and
application of theory, tools and techniques covered during the whole class – supporting your
arguments with appropriate references from the academic literature, where possible.
Eight major operations management sections are covered in this course. Guiding questions for each
section are provided below.
Section 1: Introduction to Operations Management in your chosen company [COMPULSORY
section of your report]
Provide key information about the organisation that will help the reader understand the operation.
Analyse the operation using appropriate frameworks such as 4 V’s, performance objectives, and
Product – Service continuum.
Section 2: Operations Strategy [COMPULSORY section of your report]
Discuss the operations strategy of your chosen organisation. Does your chosen organisation have
a clear operations strategy? How does the operations strategy support or complement the business
strategy? How has the operations strategy developed and changed in response to the impacts of
COVID-19?
If the organisation does not have a clear and well-communicated operations strategy, can you help
them broadly define an operations strategy or give them guidance on what they should do to develop
one?
Section 3: Product & Service Design and Innovation [OPTIONAL section; at least 3 optional sections
to be included]
Discuss the products and services offered by your chosen organisation. Do they target the same
markets or do they have different offerings catering to different markets? What operations challenges
does the product/service mix pose? How did the organisation react to the impacts and implications
of Covid-19?
If appropriate, discuss the product or service design process. Who else is involved in product and
service design (e.g. suppliers, customers, retailers)? Do they measure the impact of design and new
product development? How does the organisation encourage and manage innovation?
Section 4: Process Design [OPTIONAL section; at least 3 optional sections to be included]
Discuss the processes within your chosen organisation. Consider whether or not alternative
approaches might lead to improvements in the performance of the organisation. Can you comment
on the layout of distribution (or retail) outlets or manufacturing facilities belonging to the organisation?
Did the organisation have to make any adjustments to their processes due to the changes brought
about by COVID-19?
Can you comment on the use of technology in your chosen organisation?
Section 5: Capacity Management [OPTIONAL section; at least 3 optional sections to be included]
Outline the types of short and long term planning that are carried out in your chosen organisation.
How appropriate is their approach to forecasting? How could they improve? Discuss capacity
management: how does the organisation cope with fluctuations in demand? What alternatives might
be open to them? Is technology used to support these activities? Do you think there is adequate
feedback and control?
Section 6: Supply Chain Management [OPTIONAL section; at least 3 optional sections to be
included]
Outline the supply chain of your chosen organisation (or part of it), including purchasing, physical
distribution management and materials management. Highlight what has changed pre and post
COVID-19. How is IT used to manage the supply chain? Outline how the supply chain might be
improved. Would you say that the organisation is trying to be lean or agile?
Section 7: Quality Management [OPTIONAL section; at least 3 optional sections to be included]
Discuss the quality system in your chosen organisation. What is some of the evidence of quality
management that they have implemented? Do you think they have done enough to ensure quality
of their product or services?
Section 8: Performance Measurement & Improvement [OPTIONAL section; at least 3 optional
sections to be included]
Discuss the performance measurement system that is used in your chosen organisation. How
effective is it? What kind of organisational improvement approach (philosophy, principles and tools)
does the organisation try to apply and how successful are such efforts?
Conclusion [COMPULSORY ending of your report]
Using the information and analysis done in earlier sections, provide an evaluation of the overall
operation of your chosen organisation. You should provide a critical analysis of current performance
(summarising both the strengths and any weaknesses relating to operations management). You
could also add some specific recommendations for further improvements in key aspects of
operations management.
Further details for the report:
• This report should be 3000 words, +/- 10% as is University policy.
• Writing in a concise and professional manner is a key requirement of MBA work, and
appropriate writing and presentation are a pre-requisite.
-Professional reports is expected. Appropriate referencing should be done – please use Harvard-style referencing.
• Your report will be put through TurnitIn
• Figures & Tables should be used where appropriate, and please reference accordingly.
• Supporting information can be provided in Appendices, but they are not directly assessed,
so do not use them as a way to get around the word count.
