Operations Management: Key Theories, Concepts, and Principles

Appraising Theories, Concepts, and Principles for Service and Manufacturing Industries

Assignment task 

The scenario is that you have been instructed by your Operations Manager to produce a report recommending improvements to an operations practice in the organisation. 
 
This assignment has been designed to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate your achievement of the following module learning outcomes: 

1 Appraise the theories, concepts and principles of practice from the area of Operations Management and their application to the service and manufacturing industries

2 Evaluate the application of alternative Operations Management Techniques – Capacity, Quality and Supply Chain Management  

3 Evaluate the potential use of technology for supply chain management 

4 Apply a range of Operations techniques to the management of a business 

5 Evaluate how supporting functions interact with operations and aid their success

Task requirements 

Select an organisation and apply all four of the questions below. Ensure work is supported with evidence from research (academic theory and company research) 

A brief introduction and conclusion is also required which is included in the word count. Word count is 2,500 (+/- 10%) 

1 Identify one operation management practice within a chosen organisation  
 

2 Critically analyse how this operation management practice impacts the organisation in regards to efficiency 
 

3 Evaluate how technology could be embedded in this process or evaluate how this has already been achieved 
 
4 What supporting functions are linked to this operation management practice and evaluate how can they assist with ensuring organisational success?

How your work will be assessed 

Your work will be assessed on the extent to which it demonstrates your achievement of the stated learning outcomes for this assignment (see above) and against other key criteria, as defined in the University’s institutional grading descriptors. This assignment will be marked according to the grading descriptors for Level 5.

Submission details 

This assignment should be submitted electronically. Please use the relevant Turnitin submission point in the Submit your work area in your VLE module shell. 

Please ensure that your work has been saved in an appropriate file format. Turnitin will only accept the following file types: Microsoft Word and PDF. Your file must also contain at least 20 words of text, consist of fewer than 400 pages and be less than 20MB in size. 

You can submit your work as many times as you like before the submission date. If you do submit your work more than once, your earlier submission will be replaced by the most recent version. 

Once you have submitted your work, you will receive a digital receipt as proof of submission, which will be sent to your forwarded e-mail address (provided you have set this up). Please keep this receipt for future reference, along with the original electronic copy of your assignment.

Submission date and time 

This assignment should be submitted before 14:00 UK time on 7th December 2021 
 
Work that is submitted up to 10 working days beyond the submission date will be accepted as a late submission. Late submissions will be marked and the actual mark recorded, but will be capped at the pass mark (typically 40%), provided that the work is of a passing standard. Work submitted after this period will not be marked and will be treated as a non-submission. 

Operations Management (OM) is a field that deals with the design, operation, and improvement of production systems to create goods and services. OM principles and concepts have been applied to both manufacturing and service industries to enhance efficiency, quality, and customer satisfaction. In this response, I will appraise some of the key theories, concepts, and principles of OM and their application to service and manufacturing industries.

1. Lean Manufacturing Theory: This theory aims to minimize waste and increase efficiency by continuously improving production processes. It is based on the principles of just-in-time (JIT) and the elimination of non-value-added activities. Lean manufacturing has been widely applied to manufacturing industries, but it can also be applied to service industries. For instance, it can be applied in hospitals to reduce wait times for patients or in banks to streamline processes to reduce customer wait times.

2. Total Quality Management (TQM) Theory: TQM aims to improve customer satisfaction by continuously improving the quality of products and services. It emphasizes customer focus, employee involvement, and continuous improvement. TQM has been applied to both manufacturing and service industries. In manufacturing, TQM is used to reduce defects and improve product quality, while in service industries, TQM is used to improve service quality and customer satisfaction