ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS

MOD003345 Operational and Project Management

WRITING YOUR ASSIGNMENT:

• This assignment must be completed individually.
• You must use the Harvard referencing system.
• Your work must indicate the number of words you have used.  Written assignments must not exceed the specified maximum number of words.  When a written assignment is marked, the excessive use of words beyond the word limit is reflected in the academic judgement of the piece of work which results in a lower mark being awarded for the piece of work (regulation 6.74).
• Assignment submissions are to be made anonymously. Do not write your name anywhere on your work.
• Write your student ID number at the top of every page.
• Where the assignment comprises more than one task, all tasks must be submitted in a single document.
• You must number all pages.

SUBMITTING YOUR ASSIGNMENT:

Your work must be submitted on to Turnitin on VLE as a MS Word document only. If you submit a PDF document your work will not be marked.

In order to achieve full marks, you must submit your work before the deadline. Work that is submitted late – if your work is submitted on the same day as the deadline by midnight, your mark will receive a 10% penalty. If you submit your work up to two working days after the published submission deadline – it will be accepted and marked.  However, the element of the module’s assessment to which the work contributes will be capped with a maximum mark of 40%.

Work cannot be submitted if the period of 2 working days after the deadline has passed (unless there is an approved extension). Failure to submit within the relevant period will mean that you have failed the assessment.

Requests for short-term extensions will only be considered in the case of illness or other cause considered valid by the Director of Studies Team. Please contact DoS@london.aru.ac.uk. A request must normally be received and agreed by the Director of Studies Team in writing at least 24 hours prior to the deadline. See rules 6.64-6.73:

http://web.anglia.ac.uk/anet/academic/public/academic_regs.pdf

Exceptional Circumstances: The deadline for submission of exceptional circumstances in relation to this assignment is no later than five working days after the submission date of this work. Please contact   the   Director   of   Studies   Team   -   DoS@london.aru.ac.uk.   See   rules   6.112   –   6.141: http://web.anglia.ac.uk/anet/academic/public/academic_regs.pdf

ASSIGNMENT QUESTION - MOD003345 Operational and Project Management

Select a company you are familiar with and one that is relevant to your degree in which you feel you have employability aspirations.

This selected organisation could be the same you selected for you first coursework.

Select one organisation from any of the below industries:

• Financial Services e.g. Banks, Insurances, Payments systems, Trading Brokers etc
• Hospitality e.g. Hotels, Restaurants, Airlines, Events, Transportation etc
• Manufacturing e.g. Automotive, Construction, and Textile.
• Retail e.g. High-Street / Online Stores, Supermarkets, Clothing stores etc

For this assignment you are required to prepare a comprehensive consultancy management report of 2,500 words about your selected organisation. This will be your chance to impress management and improve your employability prospect within their operations department. The report must address both Task 1 and Task 2:

TASK 1

Select TWO of the below operations topics.

1. Inventory Management – (Slack, Chapters 13)
2. Supply Chain Management – (Slack, Chapter 12)
3. Total Quality Management (TQM) – (Slack, Chapter 17)
4. Capacity Management – (Slack, Chapter 11)

For each of the two selected topics, you are required to critically discuss the main theories / concepts / frameworks AND you are also required to apply them by discussing real examples from your selected organisation.

TASK 2

The recent pandemic impacted the operations of your organisation and plenty of planning is required to adapt future operations of your selected organisation after the pandemic.

You are required to discuss TWO specific and justified recommendations that your operations department should provide to the Human Resources Department OR to the Finance Department in order to reduce the challenges due to the recent pandemic on the overall running of your business.

Thus, this consultancy report will illustrate your understanding of the role of the operations department in creating competitive advantage at your selected organisation (LO1). It will also show to your new line manager the interdependence of the operations department on other functions within the company (LO2).

The suggested standard report format should include the following sections:

• A cover page
• An executive summary – 1 page, with brief overview of report content.
• A contents page – 1 page, showing all relevant sections and sub- sections
• An introduction – 300 words about your selected organisation
• Findings section – 2000 words as main body with four subsections as guided.
• A Conclusion section – 200 words – as overall conclusion
• A reference list – minimum of 8 to 10 academic sources in Harvard system.
• Appendix – optional

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

1. Knowledge & Understanding of theories / concepts (Skills). – 25 marks.
2. Research and Application by providing industry examples (Content)– 25 marks
3. Quality of Recommendations provided (Content, Skills) – 25 marks
4. Report Originality, Structure, Presentation, Referencing. (Skills) – 25 marks

READING REQUIREMENT

-  Slack N. and Brandon-Jones A. (2019). Operations Management, (9th Edition), London: Pearson. Core Chapters: 9, 11, 12, 13, 17.

-  Slack N. and Brandon-Jones A. (2018). Essentials of Operations Management (2nd Edition), London: Pearson. Core Chapters: 6, 7, 8 & 12,

-  Other industry reports from your selected organisation.

Students should also consult the main academic journals in the field:

-        Production and Operations Management

-        Manufacturing & Service Operations Management

-        International Journal of Operations & Production Management

-        British Journal of Management

-        Harvard Business Review

-        Sloan Management Review

ARU GENERIC ASSESSMENT CRITERIA AND MARKING STANDARDS: LEVEL 6 – the Depth stage

Assessment criteria inform the assessment process by providing academic staff with a link between academic standards as set at the level of the award (these are defined in Section 2 of the Academic Regulations) and academic standards at module level. Assessment criteria are written in a language that is both generic and general, reflecting the Generic Learning Outcomes of ARU awards which, in turn, reflect the principal national reference point for academic standards, the Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications of UK Degree- Awarding Bodies (FHEQ) (QAA, 2014).

Assessment criteria are not to be confused with marking schemes.

Assessment criteria identify student achievement of generic learning outcomes in the broadest possible terms by correlating three key variables - level of learning, marking standards, and student achievement - in a taxonomy of statements about assessment.

• level is as identified in the FHEQ and ARU’s Academic Regulations, ranging from Level 3 (Access), through Levels 4-6 (Undergraduate) to Level 7 (Postgraduate). A separate table is provided for each of the five levels

• marking standards are identified by means of a percentage scale covering the mark of 0% (zero) and ten mark bands: 1%-9%, 10%-19%, 20%-29%, 30%-39%, 40%-49%, 50%-59%, 60%-69%, 70%-79%, 80%-89% and 90%-100%. Marking standards are expressed as rows in the following tables

• student achievement consists of a hierarchy of descriptors which are used by markers to distinguish between grades of student achievement:

A marking scheme is used at module level to inform the first marking and internal and external moderation of each item of assessment. Marking schemes identify the knowledge and skills which students must demonstrate to achieve the learning outcomes of the module and are used to calculate the total mark to be awarded for an individual item of assessment. ARU’s generic assessment criteria are intended to advise the writing of marking schemes, ensuring that they are broadly comparable across the institution.

A module marking scheme customises the ARU’s generic assessment criteria to fit a specific item of assessment for a module, identifying the basis on which marks are awarded. A marking scheme may range from the fairly general to the highly specific. In relatively open- ended assessments (e.g.: where students are asked to select one of a range of essay questions) a Module Leader would not necessarily expect to provide a detailed marking scheme specifying a ‘model answer’ to each specific essay question, but rather to provide a general marking scheme which identifies the characteristics of a good essay and can be applied to any of the essay questions set. The same would apply to many aspects of practice, performance or studio work. In contrast, less open-ended assessment tasks such as translation would require both a ‘model translation’ of the passage and a detailed marking scheme adapted to the specifics of the passage translated.

To facilitate consistency first markers constantly refer to the marking scheme when marking student work. They pass the marking scheme on to the internal moderator/second marker and eventually to the external examiner with student scripts. This enables all parties to understand the basis on which marks are awarded and lends a fundamental transparency to the assessment process. It should always be clear to the internal moderator and external examiner how marks have been determined.