305-operation management | English homework help

CHIFLEY BUSINESS SCHOOL

ATMS 305

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT

Date: Please refer to your lecturer for details

Marks: 40% of total assessment

Recommended length: Maximum of 3500 words (excluding appendices, references or table of

contents)

While some may see this as a restriction in the level of detail you may include, its purpose is to

encourage you to focus on the issues and key concepts for each question. The word limit also

encourages you to write concisely, a skill highly valued in business.

Topics covered: 1–5.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

All assignments are to be submitted online by the due date. Instructions for how to submit your

assignment are included with these study materials.

Hardcopy submissions will not be accepted.

PRESENTATION OF ASSIGNMENT

You should include a title page that lists your name, Student ID and the unit number and title.

Number all pages sequentially.

Any published material you refer to should be properly referenced and included in a bibliography

at the end of your assignment (see Plagiarism notice overleaf).

© Chifley Business School, 2012.

PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism is a form of cheating, by representing someone else’s work as your own or using

someone else’s work (another student or author) without acknowledging it with a reference. This is a

serious breach of the Academic Regulations and will be dealt with accordingly. Students found to

have plagiarised can be excluded from the program.

Plagiarism occurs whenever you do any of the following things without acknowledging the original

source:

copy information from any source (including the study guide, books, newspapers, the internet),

use another person’s concepts or ideas,

summarise or paraphrase another person’s work.

How do I avoid plagiarism?

To ensure you are not plagiarising, you must acknowledge with a reference whenever you:

use another person’s ideas, opinions or theory

include any statistics, graphs or images that have been compiled or created by another person

or organisation

paraphrase another’s written or spoken word.

By understanding and using one of the referencing systems detailed in My Resource Centre on e-

Communities, you will be able to avoid plagiarism.

There are three main referencing systems:

the Harvard or author/date system; e.g. ‘Smith (1985) listed five key factors’

the Oxford or footnote system, e.g. ‘Smith listed five key factors1’

the use of end notes in place of footnotes.

For further information on referencing please refer to My Resource Centre on

e-Communities.

What are the penalties?

The penalties for plagiarism are:

deduction of marks,

a mark of zero for the assignment or the unit, or

exclusion from the program.

Plagiarism is dealt with on a case-by-case basis and the penalties will reflect the seriousness of the

breach.

Please note: claiming that you were not aware of need to reference is no excuse.

A T M S 3 0 5 O P E R A T I O N S M A N A G E M E N T

A S S I G N M E N T

THE TASK

Conduct a full appraisal of the operations function in an organization (the ‘is process’), based on

empirical data; and then suggest how the process might be improved (the ‘should be process’) to enhance its performance.

You may choose to study the organization where you work (or your particular division), or another organisation with which you are familiar. If you do not work in the operations area then take this opportunity to find out about it.

RECOMMENDED APPROACH

Begin your assignment by providing a brief description of the background of the organisation or division you have chosen. Discuss the business in broad terms and use SWOT analysis to outline how it competes and what its special strengths are.

Then provide an integrative picture of operations as they are now, and give some details that indicate the complexity of the tasks involved. This should include a description of the product (or services) range, the manufacturing (or services) processes, the plant layout and the system of materials (or information) flow, and what the operatives do.

Then refer to the theory presented in your study guide, textbook and other reading to critically evaluate how that organisational process is currently managed. Factors to discuss include:

whether or not this is a focused operation with a well-defined competitive strategy and systems which support it

planning stages that are necessary in order to implement the organisation’s operations strategy—how precise are plans, and how important are short-term control activities to accommodate random or unexpected events?

the main problems operations managers face—are they related to the workforce, cost control, or

some other aspects of competition and customer satisfaction? Does the marketing function help

or hinder operations in any way?

Finally, prepare a set of recommendations for improving the organisation’s performance and/or productivity, within the context of its goals, values and culture. Cite relevant key performance indicators at the process level, such as cycle time, cost, quality, etc. Expected gains in performance improvement must be emphasised.

Please note that you should include an executive summary, introduction and conclusion in your report.

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

This assignment should enable you to:

apply concepts, frameworks and techniques introduced in the first five topics of this unit to an organisational setting

develop data gathering and synthesizing skills

develop critical analytical and problem-solving skills relating to performance and productivity issues

select and apply findings in relevant literature to an organizational system redesign.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

The UAE is currently in the process of building the country’s first nuclear reactor facility to generate power, thus reducing demand on its natural oil resources. The facility will be part of a strategic energy initiative within this country but might possibly attract criticism from other nations because of its geographic closeness to Iran, the recent tsunami caused nuclear disaster in Japan, the Chernobyl incident and what might be described as a current general uneasiness about nuclear generated power, globally. Australia for example has political policies in place that currently prevent these countries from engaging in any large scale nuclear power generation, even though that country is a significant supplier

of “yellow cake”, a raw material used in nuclear power generation around the world.

Executive summary

Overview of the contents of the report, including aims and methods; conclusions and recommendation

(5 marks)

Introduction

Purpose of the report, scope, methodology, assumptions, limitations and organisation background

(5 marks)

Discussion and analysis supported by the literature

Appropriate use of theory, concepts and principles covered in the study guide, textbook and other literature to support the discussion:

·          What Operations Management issues that we have been discussed in unit 305 do you believe should be taken into consideration in the construction and operations of this facility?

(5 marks)

·         How for example might the issues of quality assurance and product and process design be used to alleviate such international concerns?

(5 marks)

·         What operational policies must be set in place to ensure successful long term operations of the

UAE nuclear facility?

(5 marks)

If the suggestion was made that nuclear waste with its half-life of 1000 years be buried inside Jabel

Hafeet, because it is a stable rock formation, how do you believe that Al Ain locals would react?

What alternatives for waste storage might you suggest?

(5 marks)

Conclusion

Presentation of logical deductions that can be drawn from the analysis and discussions.

(5 marks)

Report presentation

Format, quality of expression, clarity of ideas, referencing and correct reference list layout. Meeting the word limit.

(5 marks)

Total marks (40 marks)

A T M S 3 0 5 O P E R A T I O N S M A N A G E M E N T

NOTES

Your assignment answers need to be clearly written and any assumptions and conclusions you draw must be supported by reference to the material in your study guide, prescribed texts, readings or other sources.

Include appendices if they are required to provide a clearer understanding of relevant details.

However, these should not be extensive or you may run the risk of making the document too large to submit online.

Provide a reference list if you use any information from a published source. This must be set out in an internationally acceptable format. (The test for a proper reference is that someone else must be able to access the source by using the information provided.)

See the booklet ‘Managing Your Study’ for more information on writing and presenting your assignment