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Practical approaches to managing operations: strategy, capacity, IT, networks and supply chains, operations improvement. A mainstream course for Operations Management majors.
In today’s business environment, organisations can no longer view their operations as isolated technical problems. In order to succeed, organisations need to identify their competitive advantages and develop their operations’ capabilities accordingly. This course focuses on the understanding of broader concepts of operations and strategy from the managerial perspective. The course is largely based on case studies from a range of industries (manufacturing, health, retail, etc.) in order to provide specifics and different approaches across a typical set of organisations. Topics covered will include: operations strategy, capacity strategy, vertical integration and outsourcing, operating networks, IT and operations improvement.Preparation for classesThis course is discussion based – this is inevitable due the nature of the topic and the learning objectives. In order to succeed, you must be prepared for each lecture. This means not only reading the material but also thinking about it and conceptualising it prior to the lecture. LEARN gives you all information about the topic of each lecture; what do you need to prepare and what questions we will debate (obviously, these are not all the questions but this should give you the backbone of our discussions). The reading is all either from the textbook by Hayes et al or it is available on Learn.Preparation for each class is not overwhelming if you do it on a regular basis! Your reward will be continuous and enjoyable learning during the class hours and much less (or none) preparation for the test!NOTE: If you miss a lecture, you are responsible for obtaining all notes or handouts. I will not require attendance in line with the University policy except for the APs – you must turn up to be assessed. You will be given your presentation date during Week 1 of the course.
(1) MSCI220 or MSCI270 or MGMT270; (2) 22 points 200 level from MSCI, MGMT, ACIS or AFIS. RP: MSCI221 or MSCI271 or MGMT271
MSCI320, MSCI370
MSCI370
MSCI221 or MSCI271 or MGMT271
Pavel Castka
Article Presentation & Class Participation (20%)This assessment consists of two parts: article presentation (AP) and class participation (CP). For AP, each student will be assigned to a group and each group will be asked to present one article or a case during the course (labelled as “APs” on Learn). You will have 10 minutes for your presentation. Your task will be:(a) To summarize the key points from the article/case and present it to the class. You should spend about 5 minutes on this task.(b) To present the group’s viewpoint on the article/case. You may choose to agree/disagree with the article or debate when the argument from the article is applicable and when it is not. You should bring additional examples/literature to demonstrate your points. Criteria for assessment:• Overall presentation: your presentation has to be well organized; i.e. the flow of the argument needs to be natural, slides need to be engaging and adding additional value to your talk (pure reading of the slides is a bad practice), the team members needs to contribute more or less equally, you need to maintain the 10 minutes window; presenters must not read the material and their presentation style needs to be engaging.• Ability to communicate the key points from the article/case: Your presentation has to communicate well the content of your article; you need to be able to present the key points without oversimplifying the content of the article. At the same time, you must not overwhelm the class with a lot of (less important) details. • Understanding of the topic: You need to go beyond presenting the bare content of the article/case. Your talk will indicate that you clearly understand what you talk about. Your argument will make sense and you will be able to substantiate the main arguments from the article by a reasonable amount of examples.• The debate: You need to be able to go beyond the article and debate its relevance/irrelevance/limitations from your point of view. Again, your argument needs to “make sense” and you will be able to substantiate the main arguments by a reasonable amount of examples.CP will be assessed during the year based on your contribution to the discussions in the class. You should aim to contribute to the class, however, quality of participation is far more important than quantity – a concise and to the point remarks will be rewarded – not pointless ‘talks’. Please realize that if you do not speak, I will have to cold-call you some time. Criteria for class participation:• Is there a willingness to participate?• Do comments demonstrate understanding of the topic?• Are the points relevant for current discussion?• Are the points linked to the comments of others?Assignment - case write-up (individual - 30%)For this assignment, you will be asked to write up one case analysis. You may choose from one of the following cases:AP 2 ZARAAP 3 OutsourcingAP 6 A pain in the supply chainAP 8 Vandelay IndustriesCase analysis reports must be submitted at the beginning of the class in which the case is discussed. For instance, if you choose to analyze the ZARA case, you must submit your assignment before the lecture on Friday 15 April.In preparing your write-up, you may focus on the following issues:* Business Environment: Comment on the overall business environment (customers, competitors and company) and the value proposition of the firm.* Competitive Environment: Comment on how the firm should compete (cost, quality, productivity, variety, etc.).* Process and Operations Analysis: Examine the process to see if it matches the firm's underlying competitive strategy. * Recommendations: Based on your process and operations analyses, provide some suggestions for the firm to improve. Evaluate the risks and challenges associated with your recommendations and propose risk-mitigation strategies.* Exhibits (if any): Tie your exhibits to the text of the report.The length of the report should not exceed 1500 words. Please download the individual coversheet for your assignment.Test - 50%:More details will be confirmed during the course.
Hayes, Robert H; Operations, strategy, and technology : pursuing the competitive edge ; Wiley, 2005 (Other readings are available on Learn).
Departmental Academic Policies If you require a hard copy of this document, please ask the course co-ordinator. The Department assumes that you have read this document. You should also read the “Information related to courses and assessment” on page 32 of the Enrolment Handbook 2011 (also in UC Calendar under “General Course and Examination Regulations”).Dishonest PracticeThe University of Canterbury considers cheating and plagiarism to be serious acts of dishonesty. All assessed work must be your own individual work unless specifically stated otherwise in the assessment guidelines. Material quoted from any other source must be clearly acknowledged. You must not copy the work of another person (student or published work) in any assessment including examinations, tests and assignments. Any person, who is found to have copied someone else's work, or to have allowed their work to be copied, will receive a fail grade for that piece of assessment and may face disciplinary action which may lead to a fine, community service or exclusion from the university.IMPORTANT: Where there are concerns regarding the authorship of written course work, a student can be required to provide a formal, oral explanation of the content of their work.Coversheets - Group and Individual
Domestic fee $630.00
International fee $2,775.00
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
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