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Individual assignment
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Hi everyone. The assignment brief for the individual assessment has now been posted in the assessment
space on the module website. Please read the assignment brief before watching this short introduction to
the task.
This assignment is intended to assess your competence and sensitivity in applying module concepts,
frameworks and tools to a real organisation. The idea is to analyse and critically evaluate your chosen
operation and make recommendations for its improvements. The choice of operation is up to you; it can be
a manufacturing or a service organisation, for profit or public sector, B2B professional service, big or small.
Take this as an opportunity to follow your interests. You could choose an organisation you’re already familiar
with, but you could choose an organisation you would like to learn more about and indeed learn from.
The brief specifies two parts. In part A, you set the context of the operation. Just provide enough
information about the operational context to enable the examiner to understand the nature of your chosen
operation. The 4Vs and an analysis of performance objectives is a good way to do this and then you can
hone in on a particular problem which you wish to address.
In part B, you’re asked to select one topic from the module and then apply concepts from frameworks or
tools from that part of the module to conduct your analysis and evaluation. So, your chosen topic could
be, for example, process layout, process configuration, management of the customer experience, quality
control, capacity management or lean implementation. CSR issues may well be relevant to your chosen
organisation, but CSR should be treated as a contextual issue in part A rather than a topic in part B.
Now, in doing this task, you’ll be measured against the objectives you set yourself, so please make your
objectives for analysing and improving the operation clear at the outset. Think carefully about your choice
of operation; your choice of operation defines the scope of the task to some extent. For example, if you
choose a very simple operational process, this may constrain your opportunities for doing an interesting
and rich analysis. Suppose, for example, you chose to analyse the process layout of a small local news agent.
This will make it difficult for you to compete with someone who’s taken on a more ambitious task or a more
complex process. However, generally speaking, choosing an operation that is too small is usually less of a
problem than choosing something that is too big and complex.
If you choose an organisation which is very large and complex, it may be difficult to do an in-depth analysis.
So here, it will be best to focus down on a particular business unit, a particular product or service from
the organisation’s portfolio or a particular micro-operation, department or process. Your report should
demonstrate a robust and detailed understanding of the operation and so it is important not to trade
depth for breadth by choosing too large and complex an operation. You should not choose any of the
The Warwick MBA: IB9PZD Operations Management 1
organisations discussed as case studies during the module. Also, you should not choose the organisation
that your group chose for the group assessment. In part A, be careful to justify your ratings of the operation
when explaining 4Vs and performance objectives, but don’t spend too much time on part A, as the core of
your analysis will be in B.
In terms of topic, again, focus down and don’t trade depth of analysis over breadth by trying to do too
much. You should briefly explain your methodology, for example, what data you collected; who, if anyone
you interviewed; if you conduct a survey, then you should append the questionnaire so that I can see what
questions you asked. It needs to be clear what evidence you have for the arguments that you’re putting
forward. Also, your report should demonstrate familiarity with the operations management literature
beyond just the textbook.
You should reference concepts and tools in the report and provide a Harvard style reference list at the end
of the report. Finally, make sure your recommendations are specific, actionable and recognise limitations,
if any. In terms of presentation, do what you can to make the report accessible and easy to follow. I’m very
happy with the use of subheadings which help make the structure transparent. You can provide supporting
data in the appendices; text in the appendices do not contribute to the word count, but there is a page limit
of two pages; so use appendices judiciously.
Write succinctly and provide tight, logical arguments. Once you get into your analysis, you’ll probably find
it quite hard to keep to the word limit, but it’s very good discipline to write succinctly. Keep checking and
editing your work. It’s surprising how much scope there can be to reduce the word count and editing down
almost always improves the end product.
The submission deadline is included in the assignment brief, don’t leave it till the last minute to upload your
report as technical problems may arise, internet connection etc. Late penalties are applied automatically.
If you have any specific queries about the individual assignment, please post them on the forum to reduce
duplication and so that the responses can be shared with the rest of the cohort. I hope you have fun
working on this assignment, thanks for your attention.
The Warwick MBA: IB9PZD Operations Management 2
