Assignment 8: Signature Assignment: Prescribe actionable strategies in operations management
Assignment 8: Signature Assignment: Prescribe actionable strategies in operations management
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Instructions
Background
You're the operations manager of a successful organization that has experienced a few fiscal quarters of declining profitability. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) has asked you to identify the low performing sector (or weak spot) of the organization. You'll need to write a problem-statement style report for submission.
That time has come. You’ve exhausted all the relevant operations management literature and taken introductory notes about improving your situation. You believe the answer to the organizational problem is clear and are ready to put pen to paper. The outline is set and ready to guide your thoughts as the information flows through your fingers. You have got this!
Instructions
You will write a paper that analyzes an operations management-related problem in an organization that is of interest to you. Below are the paper guidelines:
Operations management focuses on numbers and objectives that are measurable. This is not a paper whereby the student provides an overview without portraying facts and figures about the selected organization. The paper requires research; you will be expected to integrate concepts from the course to better understand the situation and make recommendations for improvement on a process, project, or program as described in class and the book. This is an in-depth analysis with full explanations and not a general overview. This paper will require an analysis of operations management issues in an organization that is familiar to the student.
- Introduction and Clear Problem Statement: Describe the organization and what it does; prepare a brief problem statement of an operations management issue in a selected organization. Include a straightforward question you wish to answer while writing the paper. (1-2 pages)
- As-Is Condition: Select one of the topics that you will discuss and describe the current condition, process, project, or root problem to solve. Use at least two (2) of the Quality Tools (Charts) to illustrate the current condition. You can use PowerPoint, Excel or Word to facilitate the diagramming method to illustrate the as-is condition. Make sure you focus on the issue of your topic do not explain the tool you are using. The concepts in the list are pre-approved. You may request approval to use an alternate concept. (2-3 pages (Not Including Chart))
- Analysis: List the inefficiencies of the current condition; illustrate the cause-and-effects to the business unit if changes are not made. List gap issues as they pertain to efficiencies in service or products due to the current business condition. Apply the analysis concepts in terms of measurable facts that can be used to prove the current condition and to measure success. (2-3 pages)
- To-Be Condition - Proposed Improvement/Solution: Describe the changes that will improve the current business condition; use the quality tool selected in the Current Condition to illustrate changes that will improve the performance of the problem statement. State the benefits as a result of making the change in terms of customer, stakeholder satisfaction, efficiencies, or cost reductions. Use the facts presented in the analysis statements as indicators of improvement. Keep in mind that they must be measurable (2-3 pages Not Including Chart)
- Conclusion: Conclude the paper with a well written, and compelling recommendation to either proceed with the change or to abort the effort. (1 – 2 Pages).
Choose a concept from the following list and use that theme for your paper.
• Improved Product Life Cycle Analysis
• Cost Reduction Process Improvement
• Customer Satisfaction Process Improvement
• Supply Side Process Improvement
• Market Side Process Improvement
• Outsourcing Analysis of a Current Internal Capability
• Job Description Analysis to Appropriately Staff an Existing Process
Length
This signature assignment must be 8-10 pages (excluding the title and reference page). Make sure all bullet points and instructions above are addressed.
References
Include at least 7 scholarly resources.
Grading
This signature assignment is worth 280 points and is due Sunday at 11:59 PM PT.
Additional Notes
Operations management requires the use of financial and non-financial metrics, so it is important that the student provides a graduate candidate’s analysis on the topics covered in the book, class and referential material from the library. Please use peer-reviewed references, or those that come from a source that is reliable. References to Wikipedia and other such sites are not acceptable nor are they scholastic. It is perfectly legitimate to use and cite interviews with your supervisors and peers as a reference; you must use at least 5 peer-reviewed articles and the book as research instruments for this paper. Proper citing is mandatory in APA format. Papers should demonstrate the student’s integration of the materials from the course related to the business chosen as the target topic of the paper.