Operations and Information Management Module-OM Assignment

Assignment Details:
Topic: Operation management
Document Type: Assignment Help (any type)
Subject: Project Management
Deadline:*: As Per Required
Number of Words: 3000
Citation/Referencing Style: Harvard
 

Background

Operations Management (OM) is an important aspect of business (Slack et al, 2013; Greasley, 2013; Patton et al, 2011).  Both service and manufacturing organisations use OM to ensure they are competitive and assist in providing and maintaining good levels of customer service (Johnson et al, 2012).  Developing a system of an organisations operation can be advantageous both for both the customer and organisation (Bamford and Forrester, 2010).  Subsequently, once a system has been developed and understood it should be possible to determine why the system works well, or not well, and to recommend possible production related improvements that will assist both parties concerned.
Task
In this assignment analyse a production system (service or manufacturing based) with which you are familiar; a shop, restaurant, transport system, doctor’s surgery are all possible examples. Your tutor will give some guidance on your choice of organisation/case study. Your assignment should address the following questions:

1. Critically appraise how well the inventories and/or assets within the production system are currently managed.
2. Provide a detailed illustration of the key operations involved within your chosen production system presenting a logical operational flow.
3. From the illustration in point two, identify two points where the organisation’s delivery system may fail to align its operational performance measures, clearly demonstrating your reasoning and understanding behind this.
4. Discuss how a lean approach could be utilised in the production system to potentially reduce the failings discussed in point three.
5. Identify threekey findings discussing the extent to which the lean approach chosen may assist the production system with aligning its operational performance measures.

Format
Your assignment should be in a report format, being clearly structured using headings, sub-headings etc.  It is not necessary to include an executive summary at the beginning of the report.  Your assignment should be presented using Times New Roman (TNR) 12 font, 1.5 line spacing, and it should be approximately 3,000 (+/- 10%) words in length.  Your word count is from the introduction to the end of the conclusion section.
You must endeavour to use theory explicitly at all stages, but do not spend too much time describing a theory. While you must be explicit about the theories, models, techniques etc. that you use, you can assume that the reader is familiar with them. What the reader requires is evidence of your ability to understand and apply the theory, and learn from in order to support the development of your findings and/or ideas.
You must cite all sources on which you have relied, for example textbooks, journal articles, web pages etc. using the Harvard Bibliographic referencing system. If you do not cite allsources, then you may be accused of plagiarism, and that in turn may endanger your success in passing the module. If you are in any doubt about how to reference your work, please obtain guidance from your tutor for this module.
Please do use diagrams, illustrations, tables, graphics etc. wherever these are helpful, and remember that these do not count towards your word limit. If you do use these, please do notput them in the appendices if they are part of your discussion.  Appendices are the appropriate places to put supporting material, however, remember if the reader is satisfied with the main points of your discussion; the supporting information within the appendices may not even be reviewed.

Marking Criteria

Your assignment will be marked against the following criteria:

1. Evidence of your ability to use Operations Management (OM) theory in order to help you think in a critical way, and to develop an understanding of how key operational decisions are made within the chosen production system.  (20%)
2. Evidence of your understanding of how different OM and Lean approaches could contribute to addressing the aim of your assignment.  (20%)
3. Evidence of your understanding of the strengths and weaknesses inherent in various OM and Lean approaches in your chosenproduction system. (15%)
4. Evidence of your understanding of the limitations placed upon the OM and Lean options available to your chosen production system.  (20%)
5. Your ability to convey your conclusions and recommendations in a reasoned, supported and credible manner. (15%)
6. Accurate grammatical and economical use of English.  A good presentation standard using the report format.  Appropriate citation of sources using the Harvard Bibliographic Referencing System. (10%)

The above criteria and the following grading matrix will assist in providing guidance as to the mark allocation.

Submission

As discussed previously,your assignment should be approximately 3,000 words (+/- 10 %) in length.  The assignment is to be submitted electronically via Online Campus.  Please ensure that:

1. Your name is clearly marked on the front of your title page.
2. You have a copy/backup of your assignment.

Please ensure you submit your work on or before the deadline, any late submitter will be dealt with as per University guidelines.
Thank you and Good Luck!
Dr Jonathan D Owens

References

• Bamford, D R and Forrester, P L (2010).  Essential guide to Operations Management: concepts and case notes.  John Wiley.  ISBN 978-0-47068-816-8.
• Greasley A (2013).  Operations Management, Third Edition, John Wiley.  ISBN 978-1-11997-854-1.
• Johnston R; Clark, G and Schulver, M (2012) Service Operations Management: Improving Service Delivery, Fourth Edition, Pearson.  ISBN 978-0273740483.
• Slack, N; Brandon-Jones, A and Johnston, R (2013).  Operations Management, 7^th Edition.  Pearson.  ISBN 978-0-273-77620-8.
• Patton, S; Clegg, B; Hsuan, J and Pilkington, A (2011).  Operations Management.  McGraw Hill.  ISBN 978-0-0771-2617-9.

Learning Outcomes (from module specification) addressed in this Assignment.

Please remember your overall grade for this assignment will represent a judgement to the extent to which you have provided evidence that you have addressed the following learning outcomes offered in the module specification.

• Critically analyse the theory, concepts and models of operations and information management and demonstrate an understanding of the importance of information management in global organisations.
• Analyse and critically evaluate the ways in which operations are adapted in view of specific market culture and customer requirements, and the role and importance of operational excellence in various aspects of competitive advantage.
• Use the basic tools and techniques to plan and improve all aspects of the operations function and understand the application of the control systems that can be used for operations management in a wide variety of environments.
• Identify and utilise appropriate methods for collecting and analysing data related to operations and information management.
• Locate, summarise and synthesise a range of information from published literature and electronic sources on operations and information management.
• Use and evaluate a variety of tools for improving organisational performance
• Manage effectively their own time and learning.
• Improve their research skills, and data analysis and presentation. Manage their time to meet deadlines in both group discussions and in preparation of in-class activities

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MBA 7002 Strategic Management Assignment

Word limit: 3000 words
Weighting of assessment: 50% total marks
Learning Outcomes Covered

• Acquire skills in identifying opportunities through internal and external analysis
• Critically assess and value bases of growth and sustainability of business organizations
• Acquire skills in interpreting and making sound managerial decisions.

Brief

• This is an Individual Assignment
• You are required to produce an academic/research document maximum 3000 words.

Topic:
Opportunities never cease for entrepreneurs with strategic minds
Great entrepreneurs like Sir Richard Branson believes that greater the volatility in the external environment, greater are the opportunities the firm can capture. Real opportunities are not mere “Chances”, but what the changing socio economic, political, and technological environments create and offer for the entrepreneur to revolutionize the organization. The pillars of growth and sustainability are Strategic capability, Competitive Advantage(s), and Superior Customer Service. (Example – “Facebook” of Mark Zuckerberg). Some argue that a fourth pillar too should be added. This pillar is the “Triple Bottom Line”, where the purpose of the organization go beyond private profits and embrace the people and planet factors.
Tasks

1. Identify an entrepreneur (Name) who captured a great opportunity and critically evaluate the opportunity he/she captured. Critically analyse the organization’s strategic capability and the competitive advantage(s).
2. Critically review the following statement, “Strategic capability, competitive advantage(s), and superior customer service as pillars of growth and sustainability are out-of-date concepts. Commitment to the ‘Triple Bottom Line’ is the all-encompassing strategy for growth and sustainability.”
3. Globalization and regionalization have promoted the following business strategies: Outsourcing, Networking, Merging, and Acquisitions. Often these strategies lead to the need of partnering with different cultures. Critically analyse how the adverse effects of cultural differences due to partnering can be managed.

Assessment criteria
The following criteria will be used when marking your Assignment:

1. Correct selection of the entrepreneur, and critical evaluation of the opportunity he/has captured. The organizational strategic capability and competitive advantage(s) explained (30%)
2. The critical review of the statement in Task 2 is rational, demonstrates that the candidate has a sound knowledge about the concepts(30%)
3. Excellent and logical critical analysis of how the adverse effects of cultural differences are managed.(25%)
4. Extent and relevance of references and conformity to Harvard systems of citations (15%)

Marking Scheme

 
Very important
You must use Harvard Referencing system throughout your work. Correct in-text referencing is required and a full and correct reference list needs to be provided. Please note for academic acceptance, it is important to refer to adequate sources in building critical arguments with regard to this assignment. Generally, the lecturer expects minimum of 20 latest sources from accepted recommended journals, required reading and recommended readings. For a list of required and recommended reading, please refer the “Module Specification” section of the student handbook.
REPORT STRUCTURE

• Paper Size :                 A4
• Word Count :             3000 words
• Printing Margins :    LHS; RHS: 1 Inch
• Binding Margin :      ½ Inch
• Header and Footer: 1 Inch
• Printing :                   Single Sided
• Basic Font Size :      12
• Font Style :               Arial/Times New Roman
• Presentation :          Bound Document

 
Important Information for Students

• A hard copy spiral bound document must be submitted to the postgraduate department and the softcopy of the assignment should be uploaded to ICBT SIS on or before the deadline. In addition to this the softcopy of the assignment should be uploaded to the TURNITIN via Cardiff Met Moodle. Students must upload the softcopy before the hardcopy submission. The submission of hardcopy and uploading of softcopy must take place on or before 04.30 pm on the submission day.

Please log on to www.icbtsis.lk to upload your assignment.
For TURNITIN submission please log on to www.cardiffmet.ac.uk  and submit through the Moodle.

• Uploaded softcopy should be named as MBA-(subject number) (followed by the Cardiff met student ID.

E.g. for Delivering Successful Projects Assignment
MBA-7024 -2000000

• Students are expected to keep a backup of all the assignments. ICBT and Cardiff Metropolitan University have all the right to re call for soft copy of any assignment at any time during the course.
• Please note that plagiarism is treated as a serious offence and therefore the work you produce must be individual and original although may work in groups in some instances (Please refer to Student Handbook on Plagiarism & Cheating).
• All sources of information must be referenced using “Harvard referencing” where a reference listing should be included at the end of the assignment.
• Please note that the submission date given for this assignment is the final date that you can upload the assignment. No late submissions are allowed by the system. (Please refer to the Student Handbook on Assessments – Late Submissions).
• Please refer to Student Handbook on Assignments – Re-submission, mitigating circumstances procedure.
• Please include the assignment coversheet in your answer. Please avoid copying assignment question in your answer file.

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