MSc Management

2013/14
MNGT 503: Operations Management








Course Tutor:
Dr Stephen Eldridge
E-mail: s.eldridge@lancaster.ac.uk
This module will:
Introduce you to the functions and processes involved in managing
operations
Help you to appreciate the relationship between operations and other
functional areas such as marketing and management accounting.
Help you to appreciate the strategic role of Operations Management in
both shaping organizational strategy and helping to deliver it
Help you to understand the methods which can be used to plan, control
and improve operations.
2
1 Course Objectives
This module will:
Introduce you to the functions and processes involved in managing operations
Help you to appreciate the relationship between operations and other functional
areas such as marketing and management accounting.
Help you to appreciate the strategic role of Operations Management in both shaping
organizational strategy and helping to deliver it
Help you to understand the methods which can be used to plan, control and
improve operations.
2 The Lectures
Good management of operations is critical both to ensure that day-to-day operations run
smoothly and to deliver value to customers and the business as a whole within its overall
strategy. To deliver value, operations must identify and work to appropriate success criteria,
drive continuous improvement and be capable of delivering the changes required to develop
performance for the future. This all has to be done whilst coping with the pressures of
todays business which may mean that there is little time or energy left over to think about
tomorrow, let alone two or three years hence.

The aim of this module is to improve your understanding of operations management and its
contribution to the success of an organization. The module begins by defining what
Operations Management actually and how it relates to other functions of a business. We
then explore the key integrating role of operations as the connection between strategy and
the delivery of a product or service to a customer. Issues of process design, planning and
control and capacity management are then explored as well as the influence on the
effectiveness of the operational function of the nature of a task, the resource availability and
process and quality management. We then consider the additional performance
improvement and the experience of customer as critical aspects of operational strategy are
reviewed. The tools and concepts that will be covered in this course apply to both
manufacturing and service operations.
The outline syllabus is:
Introduction to operations management
Operations strategy and performance objectives
Product and Process design: flow, layout, technology and job design
Supply Network Management
Capacity management (short & long term)
Inventory Management
Planning and Control
Enterprise Resource Planning
Lean operations
Quality management
Operations improvement
3 Assessment
Assessment is by a two hour exam which accounts for 70% of the assessment for the course
and by a group coursework project which accounts for 30%.
3
3.1 Coursework
Students will work in teams to fulfil the following assignment specification:
Imagine you are the Operations Director of a company that provides a product or service that
is important to you in your everyday life. A new CEO has been appointed and she has asked
you to prepare a report which examines the contribution that the Operations function
currently makes to the competitive advantage of the company. You have also been asked to
outline how this contribution could be improved in the future.

For the purposes of your report you should
Identify the nature and size of the business you work for (e.g. sector, nature of business)
Clearly identify and explain the role that Operations plays in the running of the company.
Devise and justify any potential improvements to be made in the future.
Ensure that your report is supported by references to appropriate theory and case studies.

Half of the available coursework marks will be allocated to an oral presentation of the report
by the team which should be recorded (both sound and vision) and submitted to the Module
Tutor. This presentation should last 15 minutes. It should be supplemented by a written
report with a maximum length of 1500 words (excluding references). This is allocated the
remaining half of the possible coursework mark.
Students will be notified of their team by the Module Tutor on the first day of the course.
3.2 Examination
The student will sit an open-book examination of two hours duration.
4 Lecture programme
The title of each lecture and the associated reading from the recommended text book (See
Section 5.1) is described below:
Monday 23
rd
September
Lecture 1: Introduction to Operations Management (Chapter 1)
Lecture 2: Operations Strategy and Performance (Chapters 2 and 3)
Lecture 3: Product and Service Design (Chapter 4)
Case study: The Lancaster Manor
Tuesday 24
th
September
Lecture 4: Process design (Chapters 5 and 6)
Lecture 5: Supply Network Management (Chapter 7)
Case Study: Supplying Fast Fashion
Lecture 6: Capacity Management (Chapter 8)
4
Wednesday 25
th
September
Lecture 7: Inventory Management (Chapter 9)
Case Study: The Lancaster Bakery
Lecture 8: Planning and Control (Chapter 10)
Case Study: Lancaster/Goenka Prestige Hire
Lecture 9: Lean Operations (Chapter 11)
Thursday 26
th
September
Lecture 10: Quality Management (Chapter 12)
Case Study: The Lancaster Bank (2)
Lecture 11: Operations Improvement (Chapter 13)
Case Study: Erdington Group plc
Lecture 12: Assignment Briefing

5 Books and Journal Articles
5.1 Recommended Core Text
Slack, N., Brandon-Jones A. & Johnston R. (2011) Essentials of Operations Management, FT
Prentice Hall, ISBN: 978-0-273-75242-4.

5.2 Supplementary Reading
Slack, N., Chambers, S. & Johnston, R. (2010) Operations Management, (6th Edition), FT
Prentice Hall
Hill A. and Hill T. (2011) Essential Operations Management, Palgrave MacMillan.
Fitzsimmons J.A. and Fitzsimmons M.J. (2011) Service Management: Operations, Strategy,
Information Technology (7
th
edition, International edition), McGraw-Hill.
Hayes R., Pisano G., Upton D. and Wheelright S. (2005) Operations, Strategy, and
Technology: Pursuing the Competitive Edge, John Wiley and Sons.
Johnston, R. & Clark, G. (2008) Service Operations Management (3
rd
edition), FT Prentice Hall
Slack N. And Lewis M. (2011) Operations Strategy, 3
rd
edition, FT Prentice Hall.
Slack, N., Chambers, S., Betts, A. & Johnston, R. (2009) Operations & Process Management:
Principles and Practice for Strategic Impact, 2
nd
edition, FT Prentice Hall
Klassen R.D. and Menor L.J. (2006) Cases in Operations Management, Sage Publications.
5
Goldratt, E.M. & Cox, J. (2006) The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement, (3
rd
edition)
Gower Publishing Ltd.
Womack, J.P., Jones, D.T. & Roos, D. (2007) The Machine That Changed the World (3
rd

edition) Simon & Schuster Ltd
Liker, J. (2004) The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest
Manufacturer McGraw-Hill Professional
5.3 Suggested Journal Readings
Lecture 1: Introduction to Operations Management
Bowen J. and Ford R.C. (2003) Managing Service Organizations: Does Having a Thing
Make a Difference? Journal of Management, 28/3, pp447-469.
Bowen and Ford (2003)
Chase R.B. and Apte U.M. (2007) A History of Research in Service Operations: whats the big
idea? Journal of Operations Management, 25, pp375-386.
Chase and Apte (2007)
Lecture 2: Operations Strategy and Performance
Heracleous L. and Wirtz J. (2010) Singapore Airlines Balancing Act, Harvard Business
Review, July-August, pp145-149.
Heracleous and Wirtz (2010)
Lectures 3 and 4: Operations Design
Bitner M.J., Ostrom A.L. and Morgan F.N. (2008) Service Blueprinting: A Practical Technique
for Service Innovation, California Management Review, 50/3, pp66-94.
Bitner, Ostrom and Morgan (2008)
Dasu S. and Chase R.B. (2010) Designing the Soft Side of Customer Service, MIT Sloan
Management Review, Fall, 52/1, pp33-39.
Dasu and Chase (2010)
Hyer N.L. and Brown K.A. (2003) Work Cells with Staying Power: Lessons for Process-
Complete Operations, California Management Review, 46/1, Fall, pp27-52.
Hyer and Brown (2003)
Lecture 5: Supply Network Management
Baltacioglu T., Ada E., Kaplan M.D., Yurt O. and Kaplan Y.C. (2007) A New Framework for
Service Supply Chains, The Service Industries Journal, 27/2, pp105-124.
Baltacioglu et al. (2007)
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Cox A., Watson G., Lonsdale C. and Sanderson J. (2004) Managing appropriately in power
regimes: relationship and performance management in 12 supply chain cases Supply Chain
Management: An International Journal, 9/5, pp357-371.
Cox et al. (2004)
Chopra S. & Sodhi M.S. (2004) Managing Risk to Avoid Supply-Chain Breakdown MIT Sloan
Management Review, Fall, 53-61.
Chopra and Sodhi (2004)
Ellram L.M., Tate W.L., and Billington C. (2004) Understanding and Managing the Services
Supply Chain Journal of Supply Chain Management, Fall, 40/4, pp17-32.
Ellram, Tate, and Billington (2004)
Fawcett S.E., Magnan G.M. and Ogden J. (2007) Achieving Word Class Supply Chain
Collaboration: Managing the Transformation, Institute for Supply Chain Management, pp1-
12.
Fawcett, Magnan and Ogden (2007)
Fisher M.L. (1997) What is the right supply chain for your product? Harvard Business
Review, March-April, pp105-116.
Fisher (1997)
Hopkins (2010) Your Next Supply Chain MIT Sloan Management Review, Winter, 51/2,
pp17-24.
Hopkins (2010)
Johnsen T.E., Johnsen R.A. and Lamming R.C. (2008) Supply Relationship Evaluation: The
Relationship Assessment Process and Beyond European Management Journal, 26, 274-287.
Johnsen, Johnsen and Lamming (2008)
Knemeyer A.M., Zinn W. and Eroglu C. (2009) Proactive Planning for catastrophic events in
supply chains Journal of Operations Management, 27, pp141-153.
Knemeyer, Zinn and Eroglu (2009)
Lambert D.M. and Cooper M.C. (2000) Issues in Supply Chain Management, Industrial
Marketing Management, 29, pp65-83.
Lambert and Cooper (2000)
Lee H.L. (2002) Aligning Supply Chain Strategies with Product Uncertainties California
Management Review, 44/3, pp105-119.
Lee (2002)
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Power D. (2005) Supply chain management integration and implementation: a literature
review Supply Chain Management: an International Journal, 10/4, pp252-263.
Power (2005)
Taylor D.H. (2000) Demand amplification: has it got us beat? International Journal of
Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, 30/6, 515-553.
Taylor (2000)
Lecture 6: Capacity Management
Klassen K.J. and Rohleder T.R. (2002) Demand and capacity management decisions in
services International Journal Of Operations and Production Management, 22/5, pp527-
548.
Klassen and Rohleder (2002)
Lectures 7 & 9: Inventory Management and Lean Operations
Hines P. Holweg M. and Rich N. (2004) Learning to evolve: a review of contemporary lean
thinking International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 24/10, pp994-
1011.
Hines, Holweg and Rich (2004)
Lee S.M., Olson D.L., Lee S-H., Hwang T. and Shin M.S. (2008) Entrepreneurial applications
of the lean approach to service industries The Service Industries Journal, 28/7, pp973-987.
Lee et al (2008)
Mehri D. (2006) The Darker Side of Lean: An Insiders Perspective on the Realities of the
Toyota Production System Academy of Management Perspectives, 20/2, pp21-42.
Mehri (2006)
Spear S.J. and Bowen H.K. (1999) Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System
Harvard Business Review, 77/5, pp96-106.
Spear and Bowen (1999)
Spear S.J. (2004) Learning to Lead at Toyota Harvard Business Review, 82/5, pp78-86
Spear (2004)
Lecture 8: Planning and Control
Davenport T. (1998) Putting the enterprise into the enterprise system Harvard Business
Review, July-August, pp121-133.
Davenport (1998)
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Lecture 10: Quality Management
Seth N., Deshmukh S.G. and Vrat P. (2006) A conceptual model for quality of service in the
supply chain International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, 36/7,
pp547-575.
Seth, Deshmukh and Vrat (2006)
Lecture 11: Operations Improvement
Bhuiyan N. and Baghel A. (2005) An overview of continuous improvement: from the past to
the present Management Decision, 43/5, pp761-771.
Bhulyan and Baghel (2005)
Chakravorty S.S. (2009) Six Sigma Programs: an implementation model International
Journal of Production Economics, 119, pp1-16.
Chakravorty (2009)
Johnston R. (2004) Towards a better understanding of service excellence Managing
Service Quality, 2/3, 129-133.
Johnston (2004)
Smart P.A., Maddern H. and Maull R.S. (2009) Understanding Business Process
Management: implications for theory and practice British Journal of Management, 20,
pp491-507.
Smart, Maddern and Maull (2009)
Wirtz J. and Johnson R. (2003) Interview with service champions Singapore Airlines: what it
takes to maintain service excellence Managing Service Quality, 13/1, pp10-19.
Wirtz (2003)
Additional readings will also be placed on the virtual learning environment.
6 Administration

Lecture slides, case studies and other teaching materials are available from the module page
on the Sakai VLE.

For the regulations covering the module, such as late submission, plagiarism, illness,
attendance, etc, please consult your programme handbook.