Operations Management

Background:
In today’s highly competitive and fast-changing business and technology environments, it is imperative
that operations managers step back from their day to day routines, and rethink how the operations intends
to contribute value to the business and articulate a clear vision that can guide the operations decisions.
Reflecting on what you learned and the current state of operations within a selected organisation, write an
essay that evaluates the current level of contribution of operations to the business and articulate a clear
vision that can guide the operations management decisions.
The organisation can be your company or any organisation you are familiar with.
Format:
See template.
On the cover page of your document, state the title of the essay, your name, student ID and the word count
In the first section, provide a brief description of the organisation and explain why you think operations
management is important for the organisation. (about 200 words)
In the second section, use either Hayes and Wheelwright’s model, or Chase and Haye’s model (see pages
48–49 of the textbook and the two articles provided below) to identify the current level of contribution
(i.e. the current stage) of the operation. Justify your answer by referring to relevant operations resources
and capabilities within the organisation (approximately 300 words).
In the third section, critically analyse the five key performance objectives (i.e. Quality, Speed,
Dependability, Flexibility, Cost) for the selected operation and evaluate how well the current performance
is aligned with customer requirements of the business (approximately 500 words).
In the final section, based on your evaluation, articulate a new vision for the operations, explaining the
intended contribution (i.e. the desired future stage), relative priorities of the key performance objectives
and associated trade-offs (approximately 250 words).
In your essay refer to the following two seminal articles Hays and Wheelwright (1985): if you have
chosen a manufacturing organisation, or Chase and Hayes (1991) if you have chosen a service
organisation, for understanding of the four stages of maturity of operations:
Chase, RB & Hayes, RH 1991, ‘Beefing up operations in service firms’, Sloan Management Review, vol.
33, no. 1, pp. 15–26.
Wheelwright, SC & Hayes, RH 1985, ‘Competing through manufacturing’, Harvard Business Review, vol.
63, no. 1, pp. 99–109.
Assessment Requirements
The required word length for this assessment is 1250 words (plus 10% before penalty applies).
In terms of structure, presentation and style:
given the length of this report, you are not required to follow the standard report format. Instead, follow
the structure explained above, and the Interim Assessment Essay Template provided here.
You are required to use at least six (6) academic references for this essay.
All references must be from credible sources such as recent academic articles, books, magazines,
company documents and industry related journals.