Faculty of Business and Law

Assignment Brief 2023/2024

Unit Title:
BUSINESS / OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Unit Code: 5Z5Z1010 Core: YES Level: 5
5Z5Z0031
Assignment Identifier: 1CWK100

Unit Leader: Edward Bielinski

Contact Details: [email protected]

Submission Date: See date Feedback Return Date: See Date on Moodle
on Moodle
Submission Instructions: Moodle
Feedback Return Information: See Moodle
Assignment Task and word count: Individual Report / 2000 Words (+/- 10%)

Unit Learning Outcomes Assessed:

1. Evaluate and map an operation using a range of techniques

2. Assess the relevance of operations management techniques to particular cases
3. Evaluate theories and knowledge expressed in the literature to particular areas of the
operations management discipline

Early Career/ World Class Professional Skills (PLOs) being introduced / developed / assessed:

AOL Programme learning outcomes: embeded:

1. AOL: 1.1.1. Identify and interrogate relevant data and literature sources using
methods appropriate to level of study and to discipline
2. AOL 1.1.2A Apply theory to discussion and analysis
3. AOL 2.1.1 Organise work in a logical structure in order to draw conclusions that
follow from line of argument
4. AOL 2.1.2 Apply consistent and appropriate referencing and in text citations
5. AOL 4.1.1 Identify and explain professional and commercial/corporate issues
Assignment Details and Instructions:

This is an Individual Assessment: Report 2000 Words (+/-10%)

An evaluation of the operational management function within an organisation

Operations managers within organisations are required to continually research issues

within operations and provide recommendations for improvement to maintain
competitive advantage within the marketplace.

Task: You are required to write an individual 2000 Word report to include an evaluation
of operational management processes of your chosen organisation, and provide
recommendations for the organisation to maintain competitive advantage.

The report MUST include the following sections;

- Title of report (provide your own creative title)

- Contents page and Page Numbers to be provided
-
- Introduction
- Mission Statement of chosen organisation
- Input-Transformation- Output Model of chosen organisation (not included in word
count)
- Critical Incident Technique (provide a creative title)
- Polar Diagram of chosen organisation (not included in word count)
- Evaluation to Operational Management Literature
- Recommendations and Overcoming Resistance to Change
- Summary
-
- Word Count to be provided (2000 Words +/- 10%)
-
- Reference List, follow MMU Harvard Reference style accurately

Select an organisation of your own choice, which may be from a range of contexts
including;

 retailing (face to face or online)

 hospitality (hotels, restaurants, coffee shops, bars, airlines, amusement parks)
 gyms
 car repair
 banking
 financial services
 consulting
 public transport to cable/ Sky etc….
 You may also select business-to-business contexts

Note: The Critical Incident will determine the organisation of choice.

The Assessment is broken down into the following sections, please align to the word
counts per section;

Section 1: Introduction:

Provide an overview of structure of the report and introduce the organisation to be

evaluated. (100 Words, approx.)

Section 2: Mission Statement:

Include the role of mission statements within operational management and include the
mission statement of your chosen organisation. (200 words, approx.)

Section 3: Input – Transformation – Output:

Draw an Input – Transformation – Output (ITO) diagram for the operation that produces/
provides your product/ service. The ITO diagram should allow the nature of the
organisation to be understood on its own.
You may include academic literature and wider sources, especially in relation to
environmental, national and government regulations and performance measurement
and control.
Ensure all sections of the I-T-O are populated, environmental factors and measurement
control to be included, and arrows incorporated within the diagram.
(No word count aligned to this section. This should be an A4 size diagram. Academic
references must be included in the Reference List)

Section 4: Critical Incident Technique (CIT)

This part of the report requires you to experience your chosen organisations operations
first hand. Visit the organisation, in person or online, and reflect on the operational
management issues that created satisfaction or dissatisfaction in the service encounter.

The visit, in person or online, must facilitate the investigation of a significant

occurrence you can identify with (such as a critical events, incidents, process or
issues), you are able to observe and experience the way the critical incident was
managed by the organisation, and you are able to identify the outcome in terms of
your own experience; strengthened, unchanged, weaken or broken.

The CIT is to written, in first person, in a personal reflective manner

This section may follow the following structure;

(a) The Organisation, Location and When did it occur.

(b) Cause (what caused the CIT and why it is a CIT),

Course of Action (Solve – what did the employees do/ processes within the
organisation),
to Result (What was the outcome. What was the impact on your customer relations
(strengthened, unchanged, weaken or broken).
This section is to include academic sources, including a definition of CIT, advantages
and disadvantage of the theory, and why they are important within operational
management (400 Words, approx.)

Provide a creative title for the CIT.

Note: The CIT will determine the organisation to be selected for your report
overall.

Section 5: Polar Diagram

Draw a polar diagram of the service encounter within the organisation.

The polar diagram must compare expectation (how important is a performance objective
of the product/ service to a customer/ you) with your experience (what was actually
delivered within your experience, as indicated in the previous CIT).
It must be easy to differentiate between the two on the polar diagram.

Underneath the polar diagram provide an analysis of each of the 5 performance

objectives with reference to expectation to experience.
The Scores of the 5 Performance Objectives for both expectation to actual experience
must be displayed and commented on.
(Provide a brief evaluation for each 5 performance objective; evaluate on scores
provided)

There is no requirement to cite academically within this section. (No word count aligned
to this section)

Section 6: Evaluation to Operational Management Literature

The principal focus of Section 6 is to evaluate the alignment of the operational

management components of the organisation as presented within this report; mission
statement, ITO diagram, CIT and the analysis of the Polar Diagrams, to operational
management academic literature.

Through this evaluation the operational management issue/ issues resulting in your
satisfaction or dissatisfaction in the service encounter should be identified.

Critically evaluate the operational management theory to the CIT within the organisation.
Part of Section 6 must be supported by academic literature.
The choice of operational management theory is your own, but it is advisable in one of
the operations seminars you check your choice is appropriate.
Examples of operational management theory include; service quality, service failure,
service delivery, customer delight, process choice, performance objectives, capacity
management, forecasting, inventory management etc.

You may focus on one operational management, or more; caution; the greater the
number of theories included the less in-depth the evaluation.
Higher marks are awarded through clear in-depth evaluation of the CIT to operational
management theory, not on number of theories incorporated.

The principal focus of Section 6 is on your ability to analyse operations to operational

management theory.
(Academic sources are required. 1000 Words, approx.)

Section 7: Recommendations and Resistance to Change

With reference to the Customer outcome (strengthened, unchanged, weaken or broken)

in Section 4 and the evaluation of the service experience to operational management
theory in Section 6, provide recommendations to the chosen organisation on how the
CIT occurrence could be removed or developed/ advanced in the future, as appropriate.

For each recommendation, provide guidance to the organisation of how this could be
implemented effectively and how any resistance to change within the choice
organisation could be overcome.
(No academic sources required. 300 Words, approx.)

Section 8: Summary

Provide an overview of the main outcome of this report to the organisation; a closing
evaluative statement is to be included.
(No academic sources. 100 Words, approx.)

Word Count to be provided (2000 Words; +/- 10%)

Section 9: Reference List

Include a full reference list, following MMU Harvard reference style

A minimum of 15 academic sources required. A range of academic sources are to be

included including academic texts, journals and online sources. Dictionaries are not to
be used for providing definitions. Literature must not be copied and pasted.

Notes on format:

This is an individual report assessing your ability to formulate and collate a formal,
professional report on an organisation; providing clear evaluation of operational
management practices and providing recommendations for competitive advantage.

The report must be presented clearly and a wide range of academic sources included.
Legibility:Use minimum Arial 12pt font, 1.5 or double-spaced

Academic Integrity, Academic Misconduct and Plagiarism

Academic Integrity is about engaging in good academic practice. It means being honest
and transparent, and demonstrating rigour and accuracy in your work. This can include
the proper citation and referencing of the sources of your ideas and information,
ensuring that you are using appropriate research methods, or checking that your work is
free of errors.

Additional information, video tutorials and guides to support good academic practice and
maintain Academic Integrity in your assignments can be found on the Academic Integrity
area of the Academic and Study Skills page on Moodle.

Academic Misconduct is any action that could give you an unfair advantage in
coursework, exams, or any other assessed work, which could lead to undermining the
academic standards of the University. This includes practices such as plagiarism, self-
plagiarism, collusion, contract cheating or falsification of data. Full details of the
Manchester Metropolitan University guidelines for Academic Misconduct and definitions
of terms can be found here.

Late submissions & Assessment Mitigations:

Please refer to this link

https://www.mmu.ac.uk/academic/casqe/regulations/assessment/docs/ug-regs.pdf for
details of MMU’s late submission policy.

Please Note: Your tutor cannot grant extensions. If you think you are unable to submit
on time due to a health or some other unforeseen issue you must contact the student
hub and apply through formal channels for Assessment Mitigations:
https://www2.mmu.ac.uk/student-case-management/guidance-for-students/exceptional-
factors/

Plagiarism and Academic Integrity:

The work submitted must be your own. All submissions are checked for originality using
various tools such as Turnitin. Please refer to the University’s guidelines
https://www2.mmu.ac.uk/student-case-management/guidance-for-students/academic-
misconduct/

Marking Criteria:

Your submission will be marked using the stepped marking scheme. Your grade will
show which marking band your work is in, and whether you are at the top, middle, or
bottom of the band. Stepped marking is used to simplify the marking process for staff
and make it clearer to students in which band their work sits.
 Mark UG
Classification
95-100% Outstanding
90% Very High First
85% High first
80% Mid First
75% Low First
72% Marginal First
68% High 2:1
65% Mid 2:1
62% Low 2:1
58% High 2:2
55% Mid 2:2
52% Low 2:2
48% High third
45% Mid third
42% Low third
38% Marginal Fail
35%
32%
28% Clear fail
25%
22%
18% Poor Fail
15%
12%
8%
5%
2%
0% Non
Submission

See Moodle for Unit Specification

Assessment Marking Criteria Rubric

This is how your work will be graded. You will receive an overall grade that will be GUIDED by each of the criteria. The mark will fall into a 2, 5,
or 8. This grade may be achieved by the demonstration of strengths in different areas.

University Standard Descriptors:

Level 5
Graduate Demonstrate a high degree of Express ideas effectively and Find, evaluate, synthesise and use
Outcome Apply skills of critical analysis to real professionalism* eg initiative, creativity, communicate information Find, evaluate, synthesise and use
Grade world situations within a defined range motivation, professional practice and appropriately and accurately using a information from a variety of sources
Range of contexts self-management. range of media, including ICT (AOL 2.1.1, AOL 2.1.2
(AOL 1.1.1, AOL 1.1.2a) (AOL 4..1.1)

Links between operational Operational management of the Report is communicated fluently, An innovative report which is
86 – management theory and the operation
are evaluated with original insight.
operation and the CIT is insightfully
evaluated to the characteristics of an
using appropriate IT thoroughly designed and carried out,
analysis of operational management
100% The content demonstrates an excellent
operations manager. theories and information from both
secondary and primary sources are
knowledge of operational management critiqued, bringing original insight to the
theories, models and concepts. analysis.

MMU Harvard reference and reference

list are fully accurate. MMU Harvard reference and reference
list are fully accurate.
Links between operational Operational management of the Report is communicated An original report is designed and
70- 85% management theory and the operation
are evaluate critically.
operation and the CIT is meticulously
evaluated to the characteristics of an
convincingly, using appropriate IT carried out, analysis of operational
management theories and information
operations manager from both secondary and primary
The content demonstrates knowledge sources are analysed, bringing insight
of operational management theories, to the analysis.
models and concepts.

MMU Harvard reference and

Reference list are mostly accurate. MMU Harvard reference and
Reference list are mostly accurate.
Links between operational Operational management of the Report is communicated effectively The report is thoroughly designed and
60 – 69% management theory and the operation
are evaluated.
operation and the CIT are rigorously
evaluated to the characteristics of an
and thoroughly, using appropriate IT carried out, analysis and critique of
operational management theories and
operations manager. information from both secondary and
The content demonstrates a solid primary sources.
understanding of operational
management theories, models and
concepts.
MMU Harvard reference and
MMU Harvard reference and Reference list contain some minor
Reference list contain some minor errors
errors.
Links between operational Operational management of the Report is communicated clearly and The report is carefully designed and
50 – 59% management theory and the operation operation and the CIT are thoroughly confidently, using appropriate IT carried out, analysis and critique of
 are analysed. evaluated to the characteristics of an operational management theories and
operations manager. information from both secondary and
The content demonstrates an primary sources.
understanding of operational
management theories, models and
concepts.

MMU Harvard reference and

MMU Harvard reference and Reference list contain errors.
Reference list contain errors.
Links between operational Operational management of the Report is clearly communicated, The report is designed and carried out,
40 – 49% management theory and the operation
are constructed.
operation and the CIT are evaluated to
the characteristics of an operations
using appropriate IT analysis and critique of operational
management theories and information
manager. from both secondary and primary
The content demonstrates an overview sources.
of operational management theories,
models and concepts.

MMU Harvard reference and MMU Harvard reference and

Reference list contain many errors. Reference list contain many errors

An adequate range of links between There is evidence of partial Communication of the report is There is a partial attempt to design the
30 – 39% operational management theory and
the operation is constructed.
identification of operational
management within the operation to the
inadequate or confused, limited
usage of IT
report ad carry out the report, some
analysis of operational management
characteristics of an operations theories and secondary and primary
The content demonstrates an adequate manager. sources.
overview of operational management
theories, models and concepts.

MMU Harvard reference and

Reference list contain mainly errors. MMU Harvard reference and
Reference list contain mainly errors.
Links between operational Limited evidence of operational Communication of report is There is an inadequate attempt to
0 – 29% management theory and the operation
are confused or wrong.
management within the case study to
the characteristics of an operations
inadequate and
insufficient usage of IT
confused, carry out the report and to collect and
analyse secondary and primary
manager. sources to operational management
Operational theories, models and theories.
concepts included are confused or
wrong.

MMU Harvard reference and MMU Harvard reference and

Reference list are incorrect throughout. Reference list are incorrect throughout.
END OF DOCUMENT