Operations Management Assignment Term Two 2014-2015 .

Background
Operations Management (OM) is an important aspect of business (Slack et al, 2013; Greasely, 2013; Patton et al, 2011). Both service and manufacturing organisations use OM to ensure they are competitive and assist in providing and maintaining good levels of customer service (Johnson et al, 2012). Developing a system of an organisations operation can be advantageous both for both the customer and organisation (Bamford and Forrester, 2010). Subsequently, once a system has been developed and understood it should be possible to determine why the system works well, or not well, and to recommend possible production related improvements that will assist both parties concerned.
Task
In this assignment analyse an operation of your choice. You need to be able to visit and observe this operation in practice. For example you could select a shop, cinema, restaurant, bar, library, gym or garden centre. Your tutor will give some guidance on your choice of operation. Your assignment should address the following questions:
1. How is each of the five performance objectives evident in your chosen operation? Analyse their importance to the operation.
2. Which types of process technology are evident in the operation? Critically analyse the use of technology in the operation.
3. Which capacity constraints exist within the operation? Critically discuss the utilisation of the existing capacity.
4. From your previous answers, how can the operation be improved to better meet its performance objectives? Make at least two specific recommendations for improvement based on industry best practice and academic literature.

Format
Your assignment should be in a report format, being clearly structured using headings, subheadings etc. It is not necessary to include an executive summary at the beginning of the report. Your assignment should be presented using Arial 12 font, 1.5 line spacing, and it should be approximately 3,000 (+/- 10%) words in length. Your word count is from the introduction to conclusion sections. You must endeavour to use theory explicitly at all stages, but do not spend too much time describing a theory. While you must be explicit about the theories, models, techniques etc. that you use, you can assume that the reader is familiar with them. What the reader requires is evidence of your ability to understand and apply the theory, and learn from in order to support the development of your findings and/or ideas.
You must cite all sources on which you have relied, for example textbooks, journal articles, web pages etc. using the Harvard Bibliographic referencing system. If you do not cite all sources, then you may be accused of plagiarism, and that may endanger your success in passing the module. If you are in any doubt about how to reference your work, please obtain guidance from the library and/or your academic librarian(s) for this module.
Please do use diagrams, illustrations, tables, graphics etc. wherever these are helpful, and remember that these do not count towards your word limit. If you do use these, please do not put them in the appendices if they are part of your discussion. Appendices are the appropriate places to put supporting material, however, remember if the reader is satisfied with the main points of your discussion; the supporting information within the appendices may not even be reviewed.
Marking Criteria
Your assignment will be marked against the following criteria:
1. Evidence of your ability to use Operations Management (OM) theory to help you think in a critical way, and to develop an understanding of how key operational decisions are made in the company/case of your choice.
2. Evidence of your understanding of how different OM approaches could contribute to addressing the aim of your assignment.
3. Evidence of your understanding of the strengths and weaknesses inherent in various OM approaches to your company/case choice.
4. Evidence of your understanding of the limitations placed upon the OM options available to your chosen company/case.
5. Your ability to convey your conclusions and recommendations in a reasoned, supported and credible manner.
6. Accurate grammatical and economical use of English. A good presentation standard using the report format. Appropriate citation of sources using the Harvard Bibliographic Referencing System.
N.b : You should talk about specific branch of the shop or manufacture , for example like this a branch of starbucks in Lincoln , Uk (( http://www.starbucks.co.uk/store/2549/gb/lincoln-high-street/313-high-street-lincoln-eng-ln5-7dr ))