BBA 103OPER Subject Overview V7Feb13 (6)

©Australian Institute of Business . V2Mar11 – CD:2011:10ed 0

Bachelor of Business Administration

LEARNING MATERIALS

OPERATIONS 1

©Australian Institute of Business. V7Feb13 - SCJ:2010:6ed 1

103OPER Operations 1 Subject Overview

SUBJECT OVERVIEW

How to use your study pack ........................................................................... 2

Learning from the Workplace ......................................................................... 2

Introduction to the subject............................................................................. 5

Content .......................................................................................................... 5

Resources ....................................................................................................... 8

Assignment ................................................................................................... 10

Online Revision Quizzes ................................................................................ 12



How to use your study pack Your study pack for this subject contains the following materials:

- These learning materials, including the following: - Subject Overview (which includes the introduction, subject content, list of

resources and assignment), and - Topics

- Sample Exams - Articles - Supplementary Resources (if any)

The information contained in your study pack has been designed to lead you through your learning process. Note that the learning materials are not a replacement for the textbook. Learning materials for each topic in the subject are based on specific chapters in the textbook. You should read the textbook along with these learning materials, and concentrate your study on the issues raised. Learning activities and/or discussion questions are included in the learning materials. Advanced students might wish to pursue more of the discussion questions at the end of the appropriate textbook chapters. Note that the examiner does not expect that you to memorise all of the issues that are discussed in the textbook or in these learning materials. It is more important in the exam to be able to demonstrate that you understand the various concepts and to show how they can apply to practical examples of organisations in your country or region. Some of the topics list one or more journal articles related to that topic’s content. For exam purposes, the textbook will be the primary source to answer exam questions, but if you are able to do additional reading, information from the journal articles or elsewhere may help you to achieve a higher grade. Finally, online quizzes and sample exam papers are provided to help you test your understanding of the subject. Learning from the Workplace Studying at the Australian Institute of Business is a unique experience. There are no artificial boundaries between the workplace and the classroom. The world of work is never far away from everything we do. It is no coincidence that the Institute’s strap-line is ‘The Practical Business School’. Indeed, our very mission is



to provide distinctive business and management education in national and international environments based on AIB’s orientation towards work-applied learning.

So how do we do this and how will you experience the difference? The answer is that learning from the workplace is embedded in all aspects of your course. Let us see how this works in practice.

Practitioner experience as entry requirement for students

For a start, most students will already have experience of the workplace and in postgraduate programmes this is a prerequisite. This will enable you to see whether theories make sense in practice and, in turn, to bring real-life problems to the classroom. You will very quickly find, too, that you can also learn from each other, sharing experiences and looking for solutions.

Academic facilitators with practical experience

Of course, all of our facilitators are required to have appropriate academic qualifications, as well as relevant workplace experience. With this background, they can bring interesting examples into classroom discussions. In addition, with our international coverage we are very keen that facilitators can relate the various subjects to conditions in different parts of the world, making it all much more meaningful to you as the student.

Design of courses and learning materials

Work-applied research is integrated in all of our courses. This is why we include a work-based assignment in every subject in our undergraduate as well as postgraduate programmes. It is also why you will be asked to undertake at least one work-based research project in the course of your studies. With the guidance of an experienced project supervisor, you will be able to explore a topic of your own choosing, ideally based on a problem that you want to address in the workplace.

Teaching and learning strategies

Even the way you learn will often be more like a workplace situation than a traditional classroom. You will be encouraged to work in groups and to share your understanding of real-world situations. As well as your own selection of case studies, you might discuss one presented by the facilitator or perhaps taken from a textbook. Course objectives are achieved when you relate your readings, course materials and facilitator guidance to the workplace. It is a ‘to and fro’ process, backwards and forwards between the classroom and the workplace, reflecting on the links and developing your own ideas.



Design of course assessment

Finally, even the various forms of assessment are designed with the workplace in mind. You will be expected not merely to describe what you observe in the workplace, nor just to replicate what you have read in a textbook or journal article, but rather to achieve a combination of the two. We will be looking always for a balance between theory and practice. As you progress through your course this should become almost second nature to you – reading what others have written on the subject but also looking at what you see in the world around you.

All of the above amounts to a distinctive approach to learning, known as work-applied learning. You will see in the following diagram that knowledge of various aspects of business and management is enriched through projects related to the workplace. This leads to questioning of what you already know and ultimately to well-informed, practical outcomes that can take you well beyond what you could find in libraries alone. To explain a little more, the natural starting point is where you see the Q. Start by asking questions about a problem that has to be solved through a project, which is shown as P1, then move on to read about the existing knowledge, K, on this subject. Armed with that material, back you go to P1 to see if the explanations make sense, and then you can achieve project and learning outcomes, P2. But that cycle is not the end of it because, on the basis of what you have learnt, you will now want to return to the questioning stage and repeat the whole process. In theory, you can repeat the cycle yet again as each time your understanding will be refined by more practical experience. Theory and practice, as you will discover, go hand in hand and this model helps to show how this is achieved.



Learning is an adventure, a journey of exploration. At AIB we encourage you to be bold, to cross the line between the classroom and the workplace. We will support you along the way and our hope is that the experience will be enjoyable as well as productive. There are no limits to what you can discover, no end to the learning process. Introduction to the subject Welcome to the Operations I subject in your BBA program. The study of operations management is about designing, managing and controlling the operations and processes that produce an organisation’s products and services. Operations management is a critical activity for all businesses because it is one of the primary managerial functions. So we need to have a good grasp of how operations and processes are managed and that is what this subject is about. Note that this subject precedes Operations II which continues the study of operations management into additional areas of operations and process study. You may not be required to take Operations II in your particular major, but I would urge you to complete Operations II as an elective so that you will be thoroughly furnished with all the necessary skills to manage an organisation successfully.

The objective of this subject is to provide you with a depth of knowledge about the basic concepts of operations management. It complements other subjects that you study in your BBA program such as Marketing Principles and Practice, Distribution and Marketing Logistics, Purchasing and Supply Chain Management, Project Management, and of course Operations II. The subject has been clearly set out around a good textbook, so we are sure you will do as well in the subject's assessment as you want to. Note that there is now a wealth of information available on the Internet about various aspects of this subject. A simple Google, or other search on any question you may have should expose a good deal of relevant information. Content 1. Introduction to operations management

Objective: To obtain a basic understanding of what operations management is about.

Parts: What is operations management? Managing processes The different characteristics of operations processes Activities and model of operations management

Article: Hammer, M and Stanton, S 1999, ‘How process enterprises really work’, Harvard Business Review, November-December.



2. Operations performance Objective: To understand operations management performance objectives. Parts:

The importance of performance objectives. The five operations performance objectives: quality, speed, dependability, flexibility

and cost Trade-offs between performance objectives.

Article: Deo, BS and Strong, D 2000, ‘Cost: the ultimate measure of productivity’, Industrial Management, vol. 42, no. 3, May-June. 3. Operations strategy Objective: To understand the impact of operations strategy on the successful achievement of organisational objectives. Parts:

Understanding operations strategy in the context of business strategy The four perspectives on operations strategy The process of operations strategy

4. Process design Objective: To learn how to describe, analyse and improve operations processes. Parts:

Introduction to process design and process design objectives Types of processes and the volume/variety effect on process design Detailed process design The effects of process variability

Articles: Hammer, M 1990, ‘Reingineering work: don’t automate, obliterate’, Harvard Business Review, July-August. Shostack, GL 1982, ‘How to design a service’, European Journal of Marketing, vol. 16, no. 1. 5. Operations management in the design of products and services

Objective: To understand the role of operations management in product and service design. Parts:

Introduction to product and service design and the importance of good design The five stages of the product/service design process [Note that the product &

service design process is covered in other subjects, so it is important here to



understand the links between the design process and operations and process management.]

Benefits of interactive design 6. Supply network design Objective: To understand the role of the supply network and its design in the overall operations process of the organisation. Parts: Introduction and the supply network perspective [Note that there is no need to study

supply chain management in this topic. The later subject of Operations II covers details about supply chain management.]

Configuring the supply network The location of capacity Long-term capacity management

7. Operations layout and flow Objective: To understand the importance of process layout and flow in achieving operations and customer service objectives. Parts:

• What is operations or process layout? • The basic layout types • Choosing an operations layout • Detailed design of the layout

8. Process technology

Objective: To understand and evaluate basic process technologies. Parts:

• What is process technology? • Understanding process technologies - materials-processing; information-processing;

customer-processing • Evaluating process technologies • Implementing process technologies

Article: Hackett, GP 1990, ‘Investing in technology: the service sector sinkhole?’, Sloan Management Review, Winter. 9. Job design and work organisation in operations management Objective: To explore the design of jobs and how work is analysed and organised to achieve operations management objectives. Parts:

• Job design



• Task allocation • Designing job methods – method study and work measurement • Ergonomics and workplace design • Designing for job commitment – behavioural approaches to job design

Articles: Adler, PS 1993, ‘Time and motion regained’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 71, no. 1, January-February. There are some core issues among the topics that should be mastered for a basic understanding of this subject. The exam paper (that will require answers to four questions out of six on the paper, in three hours) may cover these core issues and may also cover other issues. These core issues are: 1. Operations management and operations performance 2. The characteristics of operations processes and their implications for operations

management 3. The four perspectives on operations strategy 4. Process analysis and design 5. Operations management in the design of products and services 6. Supply network design 7. Operations and process layout and flow, particularly applied to service operations. 8. Process technology and how to evaluate alternative technologies 9. Job design and work organisation including ergonomics, methods improvement, and

job commitment.

Resources Prescribed Text Book Slack, N, Chambers, S and Johnston, R 2010, Operations Management with MyOMLab, 6th edn, Prentice Hall (ISBN: 9780273731603) Note that the 6th edition is not too different from the 5th edition. Students who cannot obtain the 6th edition might be able to use the 5th edition with only a somewhat slight disadvantage. Nevertheless, students should be cautioned that using an old edition of a textbook could cause them to miss new concepts that may be covered in exam questions. Required reading of journal articles The following selected up-to-date journal articles are also shown under each relevant topic in the contents section above.



Adler, PS 1993, ‘Time and motion regained’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 71, no. 1, January-February. Deo, BS and Strong, D 2000, ‘Cost: the ultimate measure of productivity’, Industrial Management, vol. 42, no. 3, May-June. Hackett, GP 1990, ‘Investing in technology: the service sector sinkhole?’, Sloan Management Review, Winter. Hammer, M 1990, ‘Reingineering work: don’t automate, obliterate’, Harvard Business Review, July-August. Hammer, M and Stanton, S 1999, ‘How process enterprises really work’, Harvard Business Review, November-December. Shostack, GL 1982, ‘How to design a service’, European Journal of Marketing, vol. 16, no. 1. Recommended reading

In general, students will not need to go beyond the set textbook for their reading in order to pass this subject. Advanced students or those seeking higher grades may want to read more widely than the set textbook, and the following books provide a guide to further reading and study.

Bozarth, C and Handfield, RB 2006, Introduction to Operations and Supply Chain Management, Prentice Hall

Davis, MM & Heineke, J 2005, Operations Management: Integrating manufacturing and services, McGraw-Hill

Davis, MM, Aquilano, NJ & Chase, RB 2003, Fundamentals of Operations Management, McGraw-Hill

Finch, BJ 2006, Operations Now, McGraw-Hill

Gilgeous, V 1997, Operations and the Management of Change, Pitman Publishing Parker, S and Hall, T, 1998, Job and work design: organizing work to promote well-being and effectiveness, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage (Recommended for general reading only and for students wishing to delve more deeply into issues of job and work design) Ramaswamy, R 1996, Design and Management of Service Processes, Addison Wesley Longman Raturi, RS & Evans, JR 2005, Principles of Operations Management, Thomson South-western Saville, J & Reid, H 2002, Managing Effectively, Prentice Hall, Australia



These texts will be contextualised to reflect the unique circumstances of the particular industry, enterprise or student/client group especially those from overseas. Recommended reading of journal articles The following articles are suggested for additional reading and for the benefit of advanced students. Bitner, MJ 1992, ‘Servicescapes: the impact of physical surroundings on customers and employees’, Journal of Marketing 56, April. Hammer, M and Stanton, S 2004, ‘Deep change: how operational innovation can transform your company’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 82, iss. 4. Hayes RH and Pisano, GP 1994, ‘Beyond world class: the new manufacturing strategy’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 72, no. 1. Reference journals Harvard Business Review Industrial Management Journal of Operations Management Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Production and Operations Management Sloan Management Review

Assignment Either

a) Practical application of concepts in a local organisation.

Assignment objective: To briefly describe and analyse an operations process in a local organisation in your country or region, and to explore how this process might be improved by applying at least one of the core concepts you have learned in this subject.

Assignment description: Find a process preferably in a local organisation in your country or region. Describe and analyse the key tasks of the process and evaluate how well the process operates now. This means finding out how well the process is performing particularly in terms of the five operations management objectives. Having analysed the process, discuss the potential improvements in the process that might result from the application of at least one of the concepts covered in this subject. Your report should be brief, well written and presented, and capable of being given to the manager of the business as a serious recommendation for change. Your report should cover the following points:



A brief overview of the organisation and the process, with a description of the operating elements or tasks in the process, together with any available performance information such as output or production rate, cycle time, productivity measures, etc). A detailed flow diagram of the process showing what happens from raw materials through to the finished product or service, including the flows of information and communication. A brief evaluation of the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the process in terms of the five performance objectives – quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost. You should also try to identify any problems with the process for example, layout issues, cost, quality, bottlenecks, and job design issues and so on. Brief analysis of the opportunity for improving the process using at least one of the concepts covered in this subject. This might include: the design of the process, or changes to the flow process particularly based on the four Vs; process layout; supply network configuration (particularly if the process you have chosen is part of a supply network); process technology; or job design. Brief practical recommendations for improvement based on your analysis. For example, you might summarise the improvement and briefly suggest how it should be implemented. Bear in mind that your recommendations should be potentially cost effective i.e. you must try to justify the improvements from the point of view of their practical feasibility.

Or

b) Case study analysis Your local lecturer will select a short-to-medium length case study (preferably set in your own country or region) from your textbook, or obtain one from sites like http://www.asiacase.com/ or http://www.caseplace.org/#. That is, the local lecturer will select the case (although you may like to recommend one to them), your lecturer will restrict the number of different cases used in the class to just one to increase the reliability of the assignment marking process. In that case, identify three or four management challenges covered in this subject, and address how those challenges can be met using the principles developed in this subject. Be sure to cite and reference the name and source of your case as well as other references in your assignment report. Important Instructions 1. Assignments must contain proper citations and referencing using the Harvard style

referred to in the AIB Style Guide, that is: a. citations (or in-text references) of quoted and paraphrased materials to support

your arguments/comments, and b. a reference list relating specifically to your in-text references.

http://www.asiacase.com/

http://www.caseplace.org/



2. Your grade will be adversely affected if there is no/poor citations and/or reference list, as referred to above.

3. Assignments of this nature normally contain between 5 and 10 relevant references from different sources in the reference list.

4. All references must be from credible sources such as books, industry related journals,

magazines, company documents and latest articles. 5. You are encouraged to make use of the AIB online library which can be accessed

through the AIB website. 6. AIB checks assignments with anti-plagiarism software. Please carefully check your

assignments before final submission to ensure that all quoted and paraphrased materials are properly cited and referenced.

7. The total number of words should be 2000 words (excluding your cover page, an

abstract, table of contents, list of references or appendices.) Penalties may apply when you exceed the word limit. You can place any supporting material that exceeds this word limit into appendices. However, a reader should not have to look at an appendix to determine the main thrust of the points you are making in your assignment. So make sure all your main points are in the body of your assignment and refer there to the appendices that will support the points you are making.

8. You are strongly advised to carefully read the AIB Style Guide for clarification of

these requirements.

9. For guidance on how to write an assignment, please refer to AIB Assignment Guide.

Online Revision Quizzes AIB has created various online quizzes which it makes available on its website, to assist students in undertaking their BBA course. There is one quiz for each BBA subject. The purpose of the quiz is to provide students with a self-assessment tool prior to sitting their exam. The quizzes are not assessable and are merely provided to assist students with their study of each subject. While it is not compulsory to use the quiz, we would highly recommend it. To access the quizzes for your BBA subjects please visit this site: http://www.aib.edu.au/www/pages/misc/quiz/bba We trust that you will find these quizzes useful in your studies.

http://www.aib.edu.au/www/pages/misc/quiz/bba

BBA 103OPER Subject Overview V7Feb13 (6)

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