| Learning Outcome 1: Critically evaluate how operations management contributes to the competitiveness of an organization. - PC 1.1: Critically discuss the principles, theories, and concepts of operations management.
- PC 1.2: Evaluate the impact of productivity, workflow, and quality on organizational competitiveness.
- PC 1.3 Critically discuss the integration of core operational strategies with the overall business strategy.
Learning Outcome 2: Critically evaluate how quality management processes and supply chain networks contribute to achieving the overall strategic objectives of an organization. - PC 2.1: Critically discuss the application of principles, techniques, and practices of quality management in operations management.
- PC 2.2: Evaluate the critical role of supply chain network design in aligning the operations strategy to the overall business strategy.
- PC 2.3: Develop appropriate performance indicators to effect monitoring, control, and continuous improvement of company operations.
- PC 3.1: Critically discuss how the synthesis of management information systems assists the operations management process.
- PC 3.2: Evaluate the use of a wide range of ICT applications in supporting and enhancing the management of operations in organizations.
- PC 3.3: Critically analyze the appropriate methods, requirements, and the use of current and emerging technologies for the optimization of operational processes.
- PC 4.1: Analyze the principles, practices, methodologies, and tools to develop project specifications, schedules, control, and evaluation of projects.
- PC 4.2: Evaluate the contribution of project leadership during change and management of stakeholders.
- PC 4.3: Implement and manage a project using scheduling tools and project controls.
Learning Outcome 3: Critically evaluate the information management/systems in relation to the operation management processes. Learning Outcome 4: Design a project plan for a given business scenario and implement a project. |
| Scenario: You are acting as the operations and quality consultant for a chosen organization (preferably where the learner is currently working or any other organization of your choice). You have been asked by the board of directors to prepare a report to review the operations and quality management processes in the organization. You are required to look at the existing supply chain networks, operations management, and quality management processes, procedures, and systems within the organization and evaluate the competitiveness of the organization in achieving key strategic objectives. It is also imperative to evaluate the information management/systems in the organization in relation to such operations management processes. |
| You should make use of relevant academic literature, theories, current issues, principles, and concepts in operations and quality management. Although the report should be centered around one main case organization, students are encouraged to compare various outcomes and scenarios with other organizations within similar or dissimilar sectors. You MUST follow the report format, which should include an executive summary and contain the following sections: - You should provide a brief introduction to the chosen organization and highlight the operations management challenges that the organization currently faces. You should then critically discuss the application of operations principles and their impact on the organization’s success. The quality management framework of the organization must be highlighted, describing its role in ensuring that the organization meets its strategic goals. [20 marks]
- Within the chosen organization, the impact of productivity and workflow on the organization's competitiveness must be discussed. You must also conduct a critical evaluation of the way in which key operation strategies of the organization contribute to the business strategies of the enterprise. With supply chains playing a key role in many operations, you must, through research, describe how a supply chain network design was developed to align with (or to contribute to) the overall business strategy within the organization chosen or any other. Examples must also be discussed where the organization would have implemented the necessary performance indicators to ensure that monitoring, control, and continuous improvement within its operations become a standard best practice. [25 marks]
- Critically discuss the role of management information systems in assisting management towards achieving their strategic goal and operations success within the chosen organization. You should then conduct a critical evaluation of the role of ICT applications in supporting as well as enhancing operations management, again within the chosen enterprise. Finally, you must proceed to analyze several requirements, appropriate methods, and technologies such as AI that could help in the optimization of the operations within the organization. [20 marks]
- This question is project-based. You could apply a project methodology to address the challenges the organization now faces, as discussed earlier in your report. In doing so, you must analyze and apply the necessary project management scheduling tools, development of the project specifications, and other aspects of the project methodology that would ensure that the project was properly controlled, monitored, and evaluated at the end, which would all contribute to a successful project. In concluding, and as part of your project methodology, you must evaluate the contribution of project leadership to effectively bring about the change in attitudes and to help achieve all project goals. The importance of managing the expectations of all stakeholders within the project should also be discussed, completing the final aspect of the project’s methodology. [25 marks]
- The report presentation must afford the reader a critical analysis of the research findings, including the required reference styles, structure, and overall grammatical expectations. [10 marks]
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