Postgraduate Course: Operations Managment (MBA) (BUST11207)
Course Outline
| School |
Business School |
College |
College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type |
Standard |
Availability |
Not available to visiting students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) |
SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits |
10 |
| Home subject area |
Business Studies |
Other subject area |
None |
| Course website |
None
|
Taught in Gaelic? |
No |
| Course description |
The aims of this course are
&· to provide an integrated and coherent introduction to the major aspects of modern Operations Management for students with limited operations management experience;
&· to provide students with operations management expertise an opportunity to share it with their co-students;
&· to provide students with an appreciation of the inter-relation between Operations Management and the other functional management disciplines;
&· to provide a foundation for advanced specialist modules in Management Science, Technology & Innovation Management, Quality Management, and Electronic Commerce in semester 2.
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites |
|
| Prohibited Combinations |
|
Other requirements |
None
|
| Additional Costs |
None |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Delivery period: 2011/12 Semester 1, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
|
WebCT enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
| Location |
Activity |
Description |
Weeks |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
| No Classes have been defined for this Course |
| First Class |
First class information not currently available |
| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course students should be able to
&· analyse an organisation as a network of transformation processes;
&· outline and critically compare alternative approaches to operations improvement, including the Business Excellence Model, the use of Balanced Scorecards, the construction of management science models and the implementation of innovative process technologies;
&· discuss the linkages between the design of product and processes and the operations system;
&· describe the concept of Supply Chain Management and the organisational and technological means available for co-ordinating material flows across inter-organisational boundaries;
&· describe elements in Technology Management and be able to discuss the practical use of the elements;
&· be able to relate operations strategy to broader concepts of business policy covered in other courses;
&· be able to integrate the concepts covered in the course and relate them to current real-world organisational scenarios, suggesting possible methods for operational improvement;
|
Assessment Information
The course will be assessed by
a group wiki report (40%)
a group online simulation exercise (20%)
an individual reflection on a case study used in class (50%) (2500 words maximum completed by end final week).
|
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Session 1: The Ubiquity of Operations
This session provides an overview of Operations Management. The key concept of a transformation process is introduced and the characteristics of different types of operations (manufacturing, public/private sector service) are discussed from an operations point of view with references to the performance objectives. The strategic importance of operations is noted and the role of the operations manager explored.
Session 2: Lean Operations
This session introduces what has become the dominant paradigm for the management of operations: Lean. The roots of Lean are traced back to the just-in-time inventory techniques pioneered over twenty years ago by Toyota, the growth of teamworking and the Total Quality Management movement of the 80s.
Session 3: Resources Planning and the Management of Technology
The history of IT in solving planning problems will be briefly outlined and the emergence of Enterprise Resource Planning systems discussed. Specifically debates about the organisational impacts of ERP systems will be explored and the choices in implementing the systems explicated. This session will use the case of ERP to explore more general issues in Technology Management, an emerging key area related to operations management, one that has been given great impetus by recent rapid changes in information, communication, transport and production technologies.
Session 4: Design in Operations Management
The session will focus on operations design in general including the design of products and services, supply networks, processes and flow, and methods such as life-cycle considerations and QFD are introduced. The linkages between the design process and workflow and job design as well as job organisation are explored providing and awareness of how the design process affects the design of the operation.
Session 5: Supply-chain Management
The reasons for the growing importance of inter-organisational relationships and procurement in operations management are discussed and the distinction between market and partnership relationships explored. In particular the key role of interorganisational IT systems in facilitating supply-chain management, for example in supporting vendor managed inventory, will be considered.
Session 6: Operations Improvement
The history of operations improvement is surveyed, from Taylorism through to Business Process Re-engineering. The importance of the management of expertise in operations improvement is highlighted, contrasting Taylorist Scientific management with the more fashionable Knowledge Management perspectives on expertise.
Session 7: Operational Risk and Project Management
This session will briefly cover the management of operational risk and discuss critically why the banking industry is seen ironically as the sector in which these techniques are most highly developed. This session will also cover the principles of project management then use a case-study to investigate its practice.
Session 8: Development of and Implementation of Operations Strategy
The process of developing an operations strategy ensuring that operations are aligned with customers and overall business policy will be considered. The importance of a coherent overall framework for the management of operations and their improvement will be discussed and the need to integrate this with wider business policy addressed. Students will give informal unassessed feedback on their group wiki reports.
|
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords |
Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser |
Mr Ian Graham
Tel: (0131 6)50 3797
Email: Ian.Graham@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary |
Mr Stuart Mallen
Tel: (0131 6)50 8071
Email: Stuart.Mallen@ed.ac.uk |
|
copyright 2011 The University of Edinburgh -
1 September 2011 5:43 am
|
University Homepage