Operations & Project Management Assignment Sample

Operations and Project Management Assignment Sample

Introduction - Operations and Project Management

Operations and project management is an essential factor which needs to be considered by the organisations so that the effectiveness in the overall performance could be done in the desired manner. The effective management of the project has to consider various aspects related to the project such as the management of resources, understanding of tools, skills and knowledge. It is very important for the management to focus on all the related activities so as to carry out the project in a well-managed manner. The operations and activities of the project are very complex in nature. Thus proper concern on all the activities is to be taken into consideration in the appropriate manner. The report here will be focusing on the understanding of project management practices and the concept of continuous improvement of the project. Alongside this, the project life cycle will be discussed concerning the application of PLC in project management. The cases and examples to enhance the understanding of the project will be focused on.

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Part 1

An Introduction to Your Chosen Organisation

The competitive market has given challenges to many companies in operating and managing the projects and their related activities. Using the example of Crowcube organisation the understanding and concept of operations management could be able to understand in the required manner. The company is a crowdfunding organisation established in the UK with the concern of obtaining money or funds so as to avail to the enterprises for the fulfilments of their needs to carry out the business activities. The company was statured in the year 2001 and had an only concern to generate funds which could be effectively used to carry out all the related operations and activities of small enterprises (Crowdcube, 2019). The market opportunities are high at the same time the challenges are also there, thus this company provide financial assistance to the enterprises to obtain growth and opportunities and to sustain in the challenging environment. The model and concept that is been considered by the organisation are "all or nothing" which helps in pitching and reaching to the target people where the fundraising gets to obtain. The authorisation and regulation of the crowd cube are getting done through proper financial code of conducts. The ultimate objective is to work as an effective fund provider project for the entrepreneurs of an upcoming generation with innovative ideas but lack financial resources.

An Explanation of Operation vs Operations Management 

The operations and operations management many times are understood to be similar there is a difference in the way one is operating and the way an operational activity is managed. Thus the difference between operations and operations management is as below-

In the project, the activities that are get performed to obtain the ultimate goal is understood to be as operations. The operation in the organisation included many activities which have to be well organized and carried out as per the project's goals and objectives. It is one of the prime concerns that are needed to be planned so that the tasks and activities could be carried out effectively (Reid and Sanders, 2019). In other words, it could be stated as the decision and its related actions made by the teams and the participants of the project. The activities or operations are productions, services, distributions, management and many more. These are to be well operated by the management of the project team.

The operations management at the same time is understood to be as the backhand plans that is get performed to carry out the operations of the project. The management is basically to manage and organise the required activities and plans as per the needs and requirements of the operations. It can also be understood as the arrangements related to the designing as well as the controlling of the entire working of the project from the initial stage till the final outcome. The planning, organising, directing controlling coordinating and monitoring are the major functions involved in the operations management (Reid and Sanders, 2019). Management as is required in any activity, the operations manager will also need to carry out the project's work in an effective and efficient manner.

Conduct a Review and Critique of the Implementation of Operations Management Principles within your Chosen Organisation. Relate these to Six Sigma Methodologies and Lean Principles.

The operations management is an important aspect which is needed to be carried out in an effective manner to obtain the success and growth of the firm. This will help the organisation to attain the goals of the project in a well effective manner. Thus to implement the operations management approach in the project it is highly needed to understand what exactly are the principles that have to be taken into consideration (Asif, 2019). The principles of operations management implementation are many some of them are as below-

• Reality: - It is one of the key areas which need to consider by the operations management team. The consideration has to be on the problems more rather than on the used techniques. This is because the tool itself cannot be able to resolve any kind of issue.
• Accountability: - According to Randall Schaeffer's principle, the accountability is understood to be as owing up of the responsibilities where the roles and duties of the staffs involved in the project have to be well structured and designed. This will help in maintaining the proper standard in the quality by the workers (Asif, 2019). 
• Causality: - This principle states that problems and its cause has to be identified then only the further operations and remedial activities could be able to get performed in the appropriate required manner.
• Variance: - The differences in the set standards and the actual performance have to be identified so that appropriate actions could be taken. This will also help in obtaining innovation and creativity in the operation’s activities(Asif, 2019).
• Humility: - The management team has to understand that every costly thing will not result in a positive manner. Costly trials as well as the process involving errors need to be avoided and can ask for assistance to function in a better way.

Six sigma method

The six sigma method is one of the quality maintain a tool that the company can adapt so as to maintain the standard level of the quality of the work. This method is listed on top techniques used by the organisations to carry out the activities and operations in an effective and efficient manner. This method is very helpful for the Crowdcube organisation to carry out all its funding activities with effectiveness along with this the variances can also be able to get managed in the appropriate required manner. Using the six sigma approach of operations management by the company will be able to reduce the level of defects because six-sigma defines the level of defects as 3.4 in one million opportunities. This means that the level of quality will be extremely high and defects are comparatively very low (Shah, et. al., 2019).

Lean principle

This is the method that is helpful at the same time very beneficial for project management to identify the inefficiencies in the operations and activities. With the effective use of this principle in the Crowdcube can be able to carry out its operations and activities of crowdfunding in an effective and systematic manner. This method is also concerning the improvement of the operations and the level of activities been performed. It is important because with the help of this the organisation will be able to carry out the functions in the well structured and appropriate defined manner.  Thus with the continuous improvement, the company could be able to perform its functions in the required manner to meet the organisational goals and objectives (Davies, 2019).  

Analyze the extent to which the Operations Management of the Chosen Organisation Meets the Requirements of that Organisation, Appropriate Theories, Concepts and/or Models.

The operations management of the company is adapting the different strategies so as to carry out the operations and activities in an effective and appropriate manner. It is very important for the company to consider the effectiveness of the operations management principles and methods. The company is following the different principles of the operations management so that it can be able to obtain the set standards and objectives (Cameron and Green, 2019). The management has effective planning and standards which will help in obtaining the sustainability and stability in the market along with this it has been understood that the organisation is well structuring all its operations and functioning as per the needs and requirement.

In accordance with quality standards, the company is focusing to ensure that the operations and activities are get performed in an effective manner. The continuous improvement it hr prime concern that is been focused on by the company. The total quality management is one of the approaches that could be used by the firm which will assist it to obtain management for its quality and standardised work. This is helping the firm to meet its ultimate objective to provide assistance to the new enterprise in society (Tidd and Bessant, 2018).

Prepare a Continuous Improvement Plan based on your Review and Critique of Operations Management Principles within your Organisation. 

Issues faced	Improvements	Action/strategy	Measurement criteria	Timescale
Understanding the issues	Understanding about the inventory	Recording the information about the inventory	Enhancing the level of performance. Analysis of the functions of the inventory system (Hidalgo, et. al., 2017).	2 weeks
Lack in the  planning	Doing effective planning	Practising distribution of the services	Scheduling the work and doing effective services as well as operations system.	2 Weeks
The requirement for the information gathering	Evaluating the information in a detailed manner.	Management of the operations (Hidalgo, et. al., 2017)	Concept analysis and setting up the proper forecasting system	2 Weeks
Inappropriate  business model	Doing an effective decision-making process with planning	Work planning	Demand management and effective sales and operations planning	4 Weeks
Poor idea generation	Learning and gathering information so as to enhance the planning method.	Use of effective work ideas	Adapting creative ideas and thoughts (Hidalgo, et. al., 2017)	1 Week
Inappropriate work structure	Making sure to prepare effective scheduling and structure,	Using the effective monitoring system.	Tracking information and preparing proper WBS.	1 Week
Poor communication	Effective implementation of the communication tools	Focus on client/customer Centralised on the customers (Hidalgo, et. al., 2017)	Understanding the requirements of the customers and deliver the information accordingly	1 Week

Using Continuous Improvement Principles make at least Two Justified Recommendations which could Improve the Operations Function Detailed in the Case Study.  

The continuous improvement plan is effective so that the company can be able to develop an understanding of the areas that need to be improved in the required manner. It is recommended that the company must adopt effective strategies and tools for its appropriate functioning. The software system is one of the suggestions that need t to be considered by the company to develop and perform in an effective manner. Another significant thing needs to rake in consideration is the resource management plan. (Shen, et. al., 2016) This will assist the company to manage all its activities in order to retain and improved its standards and level of quality working.

Part 2

Section 1

An Overview of the MFI Project 

The MFI Company is one of the leading organisations in the furniture organisation in Europe. It is having is more than 250 stores and outlet in the UK and mainland Europe. The company is effectively using different strategies for its functioning. The customer base if the firm is also very strong and effective; along with this the company has also strategies for its long term sustainability in the comparative market. The motive what the company is aiming to achieve is to enhance the productivity along with this the sales has also been focused to get increased. The staffs of the company are also highly involved in the growth and development of the company, they are very well trained and qualified. This is the prime concern that has been made considered by the company (Business Case Studies, 2019). The quality management system that has been used by the MFI organisation is the total quality management. This is enhancing the productivity and overall growth standards of the company. The customer feedback is effectively get addressed by the company so that the effect could be obtained and customer-based could be strengthened.

A business case

Significance

The significance of the project is to attain long term sustainability in the market along with this the company is also willing to expand its worth and value at a wide range. The services are planned to be availed in a satisfactory manner (Business Case Studies, 2019). Thus the aim of the project is to effectively enhance the sales and profit targets to sustain and survive in the competition concerning the customer satisfaction level.

Target market

The targeted customers of the company are both Europe and British customers (Business Case Studies, 2019). The main focus of the firm is on the British customers who are facing issues with the products and services of the company.

Cost benefits

The project is effectively concerning about the cost and the benefit that MFI will obtain is related to the current strategy. The controlled cost will be there are the company will use its available resources and utilise it in an effective manner, thus the cost will not get incur must in the project.

Project Plan

• Initiation- In this phase, the MFI Company will be planning and making sure that the activities that are needed for the project have to be initiated with a proper setup and structured standards. Thus the company will choose the subjective project and put efforts to start on (Evans, et. al., 2019).
• Planning- Here in this phase the company will be developing plans and strategies so that the project could be able to get done in a proper and systematic manner. The use of the strategic and tactic tolls will be done in this stage (Evans, et. al., 2019).
• Execution- This stage I where the company will be implementing the plans into action. The activities of the project will be get started to perform the way it can attain success.
• Closure – this is the final phase of the project where the MFI Company will reach to its set standards and ends the project by finalising all its work (Evans, et. al., 2019).

Prepare a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for developing a new product.  

Produce a Gantt chart based on the WBS above clearly depicting critical path and project completion time frame.  

Action plan

S. No.	Activities	Start date	End date	Timescale
1.	Identification of problems	1 Jan 2020	7 Jan 2020	1 Week
2.	Project initiation	8 Jan 2020	21 Jan 2020	2 Weeks
3.	Analysis of Stakeholders	22 Jan 2020	31 Jan 2020	1 Week
4.	Budget selection	1 Feb 2020	29 Feb 2020	4 Weeks
5.	Project planning	1 March 2020	7 March 2020	1 Week
6.	Designing	8 March 2020	14 March 2020	1 Week
7.	Execution	15 March 2020	21 March 2020	1 Week
8.	Validation	22 March 2020	28 March 2020	1 Week

Gantt chart

Critical pathway

Provide and analysis with theoretical and conceptual arguments to justify the use of project methodologies, tools and leadership required within the given project. 

According to the project information availed from the case study, it has been understood that the management of the company is effectively operating its operations and activities with the use of effective operations management tools and methods. Total quality management is understood to be one of the best and most reliable methods for maintaining quality standards. The project wishes to avail satisfactory services to the customers and to enhance the sales of the company the TQM strategy and methods is best suitable (Honarpour, et. al., 2018). The company is also trying to adopt a reliable and suitable leadership approach that will help in managing the staffs. This will assist in effectively so that the work could be able to get performed at a high standard, meeting the total quality management. the smooth functioning will get obtained with the help of effective leadership style. The most evidently assistive style is the democratic style.

Section 2

Review and critique the effectiveness of the PLC - using the appropriate theories models and concepts - used or implied in the MFI project 

• Benchmark Theory: This is one of the significant theories which will help the company to carry out the operations and activities in an effective manner. The standard when get set in an appropriate manner will help in attaining quality standards. The PLC is effectively get practised by the help of the applied theory (Wind and Van Harten, 2017).
• Programme Theory: This will help in obtaining actual results as the company will be able to adapt the effective programs and policies in an effective manner. The project life cycle will be performed in the most desired and effective manner by this (Cram, et. al., 2019).
• Stakeholder theory: Stakeholder's theory will help in attaining the needs and requirements of the stakeholders as per the project needs. The stakeholders are important thus project life cycle will be helping in maintaining healthy operations (Cram, et. al., 2019).

Critically analyse how the use of appropriate theories, concepts and models in the PLC will differ between large projects and other small-scale projects.  

The small scale business will be less risk taken and will not think big initially as per the PLC. The companies will be focusing on the performance matrices and the adaptive model could be used so as to carry out the work. With the help of this method the projects performed will be making sure that the activities are up to date and be accepting any sudden changes and market requirements (Grishko, et. al., 2016).

At the same time, the large scale business will be setting significant and proper standards which they are operating effectively to get met. The company or the large project will be setting benchmarks so that the entire work has to be getting performed on the basis of that standard set. This will assist in the attainment of the project’s scope and goals with quality and ultimately help in obtaining attainment of customer satisfaction (Wind and Van Harten, 2017).

What different techniques could be used to ensure quality, scope and tenure in the project implementation? 

There are different techniques that can be used by the project manager in the effective implementation of the project activities. it is important for the organisation to ensure the quality standards, the scope of the project and the time tenure required in the project implementation.

Techniques to ensure the quality	Cause-and-effect diagrams, Pareto diagrams  check sheets, histograms, flowcharting, etc.
Techniques to ensure the scope	Defining proper deliverables, desired objectives, set standards and SMART objectives (Bojo and Aminu, 2017).
Techniques to ensure the tenure	Setting time schedules, providing Gantt chart, Work break down structure and critical path method of the project

Conclusion

From the aforementioned discussion, it has been understood that the effectiveness and appropriateness in the operations and management system are important to be considered by the project team. It has also been understood that the organisation has to adapt effective operations management strategies and principles to carry out effective working. The objectives and goals have to be attained this will be done when effective planning of each activity and operations are get done by the company for its planned projects. Leadership approaches are also very significant to be adapted to perform effective functioning for the project activities. The PLC has also been determined and understood in an effective and understandable manner which helps in enhancing the understanding of the readers.

References

• Asif, M., 2019. Lean Six Sigma institutionalization and knowledge creation: towards developing theory. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, pp.1-18.
• Bojo, S.A. and Aminu, M., 2017. Rethinking Strategies of the Modern Supervision: Scope, Principles and Techniques.
• Business Case Studies, 2019. Developing-a-customer-focused-sales-strategy. [Online]. Business Case Studies. Available at: [Accessed: 16th May 2020].
• Cameron, E. and Green, M., 2019. Making sense of change management: A complete guide to the models, tools and techniques of organizational change. Kogan Page Publishers.
• Cram, A., Hopson, R., Powell, M., Williams, A. and Kaul, A., 2019. Challenges and possibilities in developing a programme-theory model through stakeholder engagement, dialogue, and reflection.
• Davies, C., Lyons, C. and Whyte, R., 2019. Optimizing nursing time in a day care unit: Quality improvement using Lean Six Sigma methodology. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 31(Supplement_1), pp.22-28.
• Evans, O.O., Susan, W.E.R.E. and Samuel, W.A.B.A.L.A., 2019. INFLUENCE OF PROJECT LIFE CYCLE ON INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECT PERFORMANCE IN REGULATED SAVINGS AND CREDIT COOPERATIVES. International Journal of Project Management, 1(1).
• Grishko, A., Goryachev, N., Kochegarov, I., Brostilov, S. and Yurkov, N., 2016, February. Management of structural components complex electronic systems on the basis of adaptive model. In 2016 13th International Conference on Modern Problems of Radio Engineering, Telecommunications and Computer Science (TCSET)(pp. 214-218). IEEE.
• Hidalgo, M.E.C., Muñiz, Y.A.S., De León, A.J.C., Aleu, F.G., Vazquez, J., Verduzco-Garza, T. and Lozano, J.A., 2017, April. A continuous improvement project to increase the fulfillment level in a wire and cable company. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management(pp. 456-468). IEOM Society.
• Honarpour, A., Jusoh, A. and Md Nor, K., 2018. Total quality management, knowledge management, and innovation: an empirical study in R&D units. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 29(7-8), pp.798-816.
• Reid, R.D. and Sanders, N.R., 2019. Operations management: an integrated approach. John Wiley & Sons.
• Shah, A.C., Herstein, A.R., Flynn-O'Brien, K.T., Oh, D.C., Xue, A.H. and Flanagan, M.R., 2019. Six Sigma Methodology and Postoperative Information Reporting: A Multidisciplinary Quality Improvement Study With Interrupted Time-Series Regression. Journal of surgical education, 76(4), pp.1048-1067.
• Shen, Y.C., Chen, P.S. and Wang, C.H., 2016. A study of enterprise resource planning (ERP) system performance measurement using the quantitative balanced scorecard approach. Computers in Industry, 75, pp.127-139.
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