Description

Birmingham City University

Graduate School of Management POSTGRADUATE DEGREES

ASSESSMENT BRIEF

MODULE TITLE: Global Operations Management

MODULE CODE: BUS7080

LECTURER: Dr Juanling Huang

ISSUE DATES: June 2024

HAND IN DATES: Group Presentation on 3rd September, 2024 Individual Report on 6th September at 12pm, 2024

Learning Outcomes:

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.

Transferable skills

This assessment will assist in development of the following transferable skills:

Transferable Skill 1: Independence

• You will be engaging with independent learning throughout the module in organising your own work/learning schedule. For example, seminar prep., watching online lectures and taking notes, completing online tasks, readings and locating external information relating to the course content. In addition, your assessment requires independently researching, presenting and answering questions about your chosen business case study through Operations Management and Marketing theories.

Transferable Skill 2: Critical thinking and problem solving

• You will learn to think critically with the understanding and application of Operations Management and Marketing analysial tools in the case company. You will also learn how to think about resolutions to some of the issues identified in the module content, and in turn applied within your assessment.

Transferable Skill 3: Teamwork

• This module is 50% Group Presentation and 50% Individual Report assessed. You would be working in Groups of Maximum 6 students, and demonstrate your research skills and presentation skills as a group in the Operations Management and marketing management of the case company.

Transferable Skill 4: Communication

• You will be involved in small group discussions and make independent contributions to in-class discussions. You will also have the opportunity to contribute to the Group Presentation discussion and research with your colleagues. In addition, the Group Presentation is in-person, and involves both written, pictorial and verbal communication so each of these skills will be developed and used in this module.

Transferable Skill 5: Ability to work under pressure

• You will have deadlines for formative assessment, and you will need to work consistently throughout the module to do well. This will mean you having to set your own schedule of work and keep to your own deadlines to meet the objectives of the module. As this is an applied module, there is a pressure on you to develop a high standard of understanding as well as knowledge to meet the learning objectives of the module to a high standard.

 Transferable Skill 6: Planning and time management

• You will need to set your own schedule of independent and group work within your timetable to enable you to fully engage with all elements of this module. You will need to plan how best to complete your development of understanding and research on your case company as a group. You will do this via ensuring that you engage with the necessary readings, research and preparing for seminars, watching provided videos and external online resources, taking notes and organising your thoughts, and organising and scheduling your time to research, design and complete your group presentation for the assessment at the end of the module.

Transferable Skill 7: Leadership

• Members of each group will be offered the opportunity to take the lead in your group discussions, as well as being encouraged to make contributions to the group discussions. We will engage with topics that will challenge some views, and through your group work, you will learn to reflect on your own views and appreciate those of others, a key skill in good leadership.

Summative Assessment Overview:

Background.

The aim of this module is to explore the diverse range of activities that comprise the area of Global Operations Management. The group project will consist of a presentation supported by two artefacts. The rationale for choosing this assessment method is that it allows students to simulate real life experience of working as part of the operations management and project team involved in the planning and implementation of operations and project management issues in contemporary international organisations. The presentation covers learning outcomes 1-3 and they are best assessed in a group setting to mirror what happens in the real world. The individual report covers learning outcome 4 with project management principles in application. This approach is in line with all the programme aims and learning and teaching strategy.

Assessment

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.

Group Presentation (50%) – 20 minutes, Maximum 40 slides.

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. Each group will typically have 4-5 students with the tutor having discretion to vary the numbers.

 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.

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 project will be presented to the whole class. Your analysis of the process should cover were applicable areas of process management. The presentation will last for 20 minutes with 5 minutes for question and answer. The presentation will include among other things:

• 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/operations management, including the strategies used to address expected customer demand.
• Suggested metrics used to measure the process and operations 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 management, process or SCM issues or concerns
7. The use of project management tools and techniques.

Each group is expected to:

1. Make a 20 minute (with an additional 5 minutes for questions) presentation of the project to the class. Your group will be given no more than 20 minutes for the presentation, so it is very important to plan what information you want your audience to receive. Present the big picture – DO NOT read your slides to the class. A good rule of thumb is plan for 2 minutes per PowerPoint slide. Your presentation will be terminated after 20 minutes have passed!
2. A soft copy of the presentation slides must be saved on a USB stick to bring with you on the day of your presentation.

Individual Reflection and Evaluation Report (50%) – Maximum 1,500 words.

Each group member would need to produce their own individual reflection and evaluation report based on their Group contribution and performance. The report should identify the strengths and weaknesses of yourself as a group member or leader, the learning experience through the project, and what would you do differently to contribute to the performance improvement of this group project and the group presentation for the future.

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

Feedback

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

Formative feedback

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.

Summative feedback

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.

Presentation Assessment Constraint

Presentations should demonstrate skills in the use of PowerPoint and spreadsheet software (such as Microsoft Excel) to generate graphs of demand and capacity analysis. Presentations should demonstrate significant evidence of research and the appropriate application of tools, techniques and theories that are related to the subject areas of Marketing and Operations. The Harvard Referencing system should be used throughout. Detail notes should be presented under each slides as additional information to expand from key information or bullet points presenting on the slides.

Group work.

Working in a group is a key employability skill and as mentioned earlier, provides an opportunity to develop your leadership, communication and collaboration skills. The resources section of the module Moodle site provides key resources for you to help manage the group including:

(1) A group agreement form

(2) A meeting agenda and guidance on managing group meetings

(3) Guidance on giving feedback to group members about their work

(4) Managing group conflict

(5) Outline structure for group meeting minutes

(6) Role definition and links to online psychometric tests

If you have any queries or concerns about group work, please contact your module tutor. If group conflicts cannot be resolved, please refer to your tutor for further advice – group conflicts are unlikely to be resolved retrospectively after the submission of summative assessments.

Group Size

Tutors can change group members according to individual and group performance. Group size is limited to a min. of 3 to a max. of 6 members only.

If you are not in a group by Week 3 of the module, please contact the module tutor and request to be put in a group.

Any student failing to attend without extenuating circumstance will be failed in this component of assessment. Extenuating or exceptional circumstances need to be presented to your group tutor in advance of the presentation.

Any student who is registered with disability services will need to personally speak to their group tutor as a matter of urgency if they have specific issues or support requirements.

Further Questions

Should you have any questions about the Presentation please contact your tutor.

Guidance and Structure Group Presentation (50%) – 20 minutes, Maximum 40 slides.

 Introduction

Company Information

Main body Part 1

1. Operations Management – Apply theories that you have learn in identifying how the case company operates to produce their products / services.
2. Process Mapping
3. Summary and Recommendation

Part 2 – New Project Management (a Specific location in Africa or Asia)

1. PESTLE analysis for location selection
2. Gantt Chart for the project (Minimum 6 months)
3. Budget Plan for the project (Local currency and GBP£)
4. Risk Management

Conclusion

List of References

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Individual Report (50%) – Maximum 1500 words

Introduction – case company you are working on (the Group Presentation case company)

Reflection – Gibb’s Model

Demonstrate your Leadership skill, communication and professional skill especially in a team setting, Action Plan for future group work.

Conclusion

List of References

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