Management of Organisational Operations and Projects: Analysis, Evaluation, and Strategies

Learning outcomes and pass attainment level:

1.Critically assess the principles and characteristics governing modern approaches to the management of operations and the various approaches in their design and analysis.

2.Evaluate the application of conventional quality control and improvement strategies for organisations using relevant theories, concepts and models.

3.Critically appraise a range of operations and supply chain management initiatives and techniques that can be considered in the development of an operations strategy in a global environment.

4.Determine and apply fundamental project management principles in the organisation, design and delivery of international projects.

There are two forms of assessment that will be used during the module. On a regular basis, you will gain ‘informal formative assessment’ which will be derived to aid your learning. This feedback is not recorded against your records, but is to be used by you to improve your work further. This feedback will be gained from your tutors and peers and is available through seminars, workshops and face-to-face tutorials. Additionally, students will have opportunities to arrange individual tutorials with their tutor or through emails. The second form of feedback is ‘summative’ and will be the grade and feedback gained from the business plan you submit at the end of the module (see dates below). Summative assessment and feedback will be provided via Moodle in line with Faculty policies.

This Module focuses on the management of organisational operations that are used to deliver the product (either a good or service) to the customer and the management of projects – ad hoc or ongoing. The project requires that a process or supply chain be identified, flowcharted, analysed, and preparation of project plans using various planning tools.  

A: Choose an existing process for providing an international company's goods or services, or a product or service’s supply chain and document and flowchart the process or supply chain and critically analyse the process/supply chain and offer an alternative flowchart and rationale supported by the themes, theories and concepts covered in the module.

B: Assuming the selected organisation wishes to expand its facilities in another country as there are concerns that all the provisions and facilities for direct selling are all based at one location. Thus in the event of a major disaster, such as, fire or flood, this important retail provision would be lost for some considerable time. To reduce this risk it is proposed that the increased capacity should be developed at another location in a different country. In the review and the labour force availability the board of directors have selected either Africa or Asia as being the ideal locations. The project team is made aware that no construction works are necessary for this project, therefore no building plans are required. It is anticipated that the new provision will be fully commissioned between six months to one year. The project commencement date will be at the start of the module.

Assessments and Feedbacks

You are required to produce a project plan for the proposed new facility which must include a schedule, budget, and how the project will be monitored and evaluation of the project risks and how they will be monitored to ensure everything goes according to plan.

NB: The chosen company/organisation must be discussed and approved by the tutor to ensure groups are not using the same company/organisation.

The report will include:

• A detailed process/supply chain flow chart including process inputs, process outputs, activities, activity times, processing and labour requirements.  
• An understanding of the relevant theories, concepts and models
• Critical capacity analysis of the process/supply chain, including the strategies used to address expected customer demand.
• Suggested metrics used to measure the process or supply chains performance, and how a changed process may improve them.
• Project plan with associated schedule and budget for the new facility including the rationale.
• Address other relevant issues as appropriate, such as:

1.Customer demand and process capacity relationships

2.How production is planned, from customer demand to production schedules

3.Quality Management issues

4.Product/service delivery issues

5.Collaboration and coordination issues

6.Other applicable operations, process or SCM issues or concerns

7.The use of project management tools and techniques

In the assignment, you will need to demonstrate understanding and application of theories and themes covered in the module.

There are two forms of assessment that will be used during the module.

On a regular basis, you will gain ‘informal formative assessment’ which will be derived to aid your learning. This feedback is not recorded against your records, but is to be used by you to improve your work further. This feedback will be gained from your tutors and peers and is available through seminars, workshops and face-to-face tutorials. Additionally, students will have opportunities to arrange individual tutorials with their tutor or through emails.  

The second form of feedback is ‘summative’ and will be the grade and feedback gained from the business plan you submit at the end of the module (see dates below). Summative assessment and feedback will be provided via Moodle in line with Faculty policies.

You are reminded of the University’s Disciplinary Procedures that refer to plagiarism. A copy of the Disciplinary Procedure is available from iCity.

Except where the assessment of an assignment is group based, the final piece of work that is submitted must be your own work. Close similarity between assignments is likely to lead to an investigation for cheating.

You must also ensure that you acknowledge all sources you have used.

Submissions that are considered to be the result of collusion or plagiarism will be dealt with under the University’s Disciplinary Procedures, and the penalty may involve the loss of academic credits.

If you have any doubts about the extent to which you are allowed to collaborate with your colleagues, or the conventions for acknowledging the sources you have used, you should first of all consult module documentation and, if still unclear, your tutor.