Strategic Operations management is a crucial component of any organisation’s success or survival in the global market. Approaching this subject from a truly managerial perspective, this module develops to provide a clear and concise coverage, whilst the updated case study gives an opportunity to highlight on practice and further explore the concepts and techniques.
Operations Management is changing and getting more challenging but it still requires a much more prominent profile in business management context. There are a few reasons for this Managers have seen it as a tool to keep cost down, enhance potential to improve revenue, promote an appropriate allocation of capital resources and most importantly, develop capabilities that provide for future competitive advantage. The strategic impact of applying operations management techniques is vital now in shaping the organisation strategic direction. Moreover, the scope of operations management has been extended with internalisation. Global supply chain management has proven that no isolated operation can survive and the need of effective integration is the only way to say competitive. Al the aforementioned factors have implications on how to utilise operations management approaches in practice e. This module has been designed into three separate emphases (principles, diagnosis, and practice) yet connected to serve one objective which is to manage/improve both service and manufacturing industries. It also explores the strategic role of operations management in knowledge intensive ventures by tackling some of the critical ‘do’s’ and don’ts’ in operations, staring from concrete, real-life examples and argues for a solid connection between operations management and the strategy of the venture.
The aim of the module is to demonstrate that operation strategies can deliver competitive advantage. The module helps to build on the participant’s experience and understanding of operations in order to achieve more lean and flexible enterprises. It also enables them to gain a critical awareness of current strategic operations management problems and new insights of how to assess the risk associated to those issues in order to propose an effective business solution.
In addition, the module looks at some recent ideas that go beyond transactions based on operations management and that focus instead on optimisation. Factory Physics is an excellent example of this way of thinking.
System Understanding
Operations and Processes; Operations Strategy; Performance Objectives; Integration of Functional Areas; Profit vs Value-for-Money; Public and Private Perspectives.
Design of Operations
Process Design; Supply Network Design; Operations Parameters; Work Flow Modelling; Process Analysis
Operations Management
Nature of Planning and Control; Capacity Planning and Scheduling; Resource Planning and Control; Enterprise Resource Planning; Supply Chain Management
Lean Operations
Factory Physics; Lean Thinking; Lean concepts; Lean Synchronisation; Agile Organisations; Theory of Constraints; Variability (sources, basics, and influence); Optimisation
Quality Systems
Quality Control, Total Quality Management, Business Excellence; 6-Sigma
The pedagogical approach for this module is based mainly on the sharing of knowledge and experiences directed and facilitated by the class lecturer.
The module incorporates a range of learning teaching methods (e.g. classroom based, directed study, and independent learning) in forms of: lectures, tutorials, class assignments/pre-reading, class discussions, case studies (best practices), and practical projects.
Teaching methodology ranges from 30% teacher-centred to 70% student-centred learning approaches which assigns a significant responsibility to the participant in the learning process, for example; participants are defining the business operations and start analysis phase from the gained experiences in different context and practical examples in the first lectures. Evaluating the operation logic and taking responsibility for delivering an effective solution for the problem is the participant role under the lecturer supervision. Guest lecturers seminars provide the participants with better understanding of real-life problems in different sectors.
| Module Content & Assessment | |
|---|---|
| Assessment Breakdown | % |
| Formal Examination | 50 |
| Other Assessment(s) | 50 |