Operations Management

Coursework Overview
This coursework enables you to demonstrate an understanding of the principal tools, concepts and techniques covered in the lecture topics, and the ability to apply those to a real life example.

Coursework Requirement
An individual management report analysing how operations management is conceived, supported, delivered and developed in a chosen organisation.
Your report should address the following:
 the transformation model.
 operation’s performance.
 process design and layout and flow.
Within your report, you should introduce relevant theories and models in the form of a brief literature review, and consider the following:
 what critical issues or problems emerge in the particular organisation’s context;
 how the organisation is responding to them;
 in what ways the managers or practitioners perceive the issues and responses;
 how we can interpret and evaluate the findings in light of the literature; and
 what we can suggest for improvement.
Procedures
Answers need to competently draw on relevant theoretical material from the course textbook and relevant journal articles.
The report should be approached by applying theory from the course texts and readings to explain the factual events covered in the course slides and the textbook. Answers that rely entirely on repeating sections of slide material, without explaining operations theory, will not pass.
Content should be relevant and accurate. All statements need to be supported by references from the recommended text(s) and readings. Sources of ideas or direct quotations must be acknowledged throughout the report and compiled in a table of references at the end.
The format/structure of your report must include: title page, abstract or executive summary, contents page, page numbers, section and sub-section headers with numbering, titled figures and tables with sources stated, conclusions and recommendations, references and appendix items.
Make sure that you conduct a proper literature search using the Social Science Citation Index (ISI Web of Science) and Internet search engines before planning the report. Make sure that you reference all the materials consulted and provide the details of the sources. Try not to exceed the prescribed length, and submit in time.
The report should be typed in 12 points and single-spaced with 2.5cm margins (font: Arial). Figures and Tables are to be used sparingly and numbered sequentially, and more extensive data should be attached as appendices at the end.
1 Please refer to the regulations for submission of reports in ‘Procedures’, ‘Submission’ and ‘Assessment’.

In terms of evaluation, the following factors will be considered:
 Addresses the question: the relevance of content in addressing the question. e.g. discuss, compare and contrast.
 Use of research and examples: the use of material including course readings, research findings or other forms of evidence.
 Analysis and development of argument: the construction of a coherent and convincing argument for holding a particular view.
 Depth of knowledge and critical understanding: depth of knowledge of relevant literature and ability to use complex concepts and ideas.
 Originally: Provision of new insights or original ideas based on independent thought or creative thinking.
 Structure: A logical arrangement of the work into sections (introduction, main points, conclusion) with appropriate paragraphs, signposts and linking.
 Presentation: Putting across ideas clearly, succinctly and without grammatical or spelling errors.
 Referencing and bibliography: Acknowledgement of sources using appropriate citation
conventions. e.g. Harvard Business standards.

Assessment
Each piece of coursework should be no more than 2,000 words. Marks may be deducted if coursework exceeds word limit.