Operations and Supply Chain Management [OSCM] V2 Final H5 Semester 2 2024-25 | LBU

Introduction

This module is about developing your ability to examine complex businesses and organisations to determine how a business’s operations and its supply chain improves performance for customers. Operations Management is a major part of how businesses actually create value for customers, and hence produce competitive advantage. Almost all graduates will work in an operation of some kind in their first role, and those that don’t will need to understand the concepts because they exhibit inter-dependence with other organisational functions, such as marketing and HR, finance etc.

By using a range of real-life scenarios both qualitative and quantitative data in different media you will (!) learn to first comprehend, then apply and analyse, concepts and principles from the field of operations and supply chain management. The Assessment takes the form of a multi-media simulation constructed using a real-life client organisation, in which you have to navigate and analyse, and make recommendations for improvement using the tools and techniques you have learnt. The assessment is an individual and independent piece of work

The teaching team have all been practitioners in operations management, are passionate about the subject, and want to inspire you to both learn and do as well as you can in the assessment process. We have developed and refined our assessment method over the last 15 years, and the real-life business element adds to both the realism and authenticity, and more importantly develops and enhances your employability skills.
All the tutors have published a profile of themselves, their background, and expertise in MyBeckett. The best place to access their help is in the seminar class, we always allow some time in the sessions for you to ask questions, particularly about the assessment.

Module Aims

To enable students to comprehend, and selectively apply operations and supply chain management ideas to complex organisations in different sectors providing both goods and services. This is in order to assess and improve business performance and competitive position.

Module Learning Outcomes

1. Determine and evaluate the value/supply network, and process map for an operation.    
2. Use spreadsheets to manipulate and analyse data to support operational planning and design.    
3. Analyse an operation by identifying and applying clusters of operational and supply chainconcepts.    
4. Appraise how a business operation impacts performance and competitive position and be able to construct some theoretical grounded recommendations for improvement.

Module Learning Activities

The module is based on an operational model from the core textbook.

 The module is split into three parts, each relating to a separate component of assessment.

We use just three integrated recurring teaching cases, one each part to help you develop your understanding, and contain focus on application of concepts, rather than case context.

The resulting weekly schedule for each week is contained in mybeckett, and summarised later in this handbook

The teaching is all on campus but the module has some additional support elements of blended learning. All the online learning activities we utilise were employed before the pandemic, we have experience and a strong foundation for supporting blended learning.
 
Some of the terminology in learning at level 5 might be new and will be different in various modules We are aiming to create a consistent, coherent set of terms for this module, so use the following as a reference point – this is also in mybeckett.

The activities split into those which are interactive – involve communication between tutors and students, and those resources which you can use independently.

Lectures

The lectures are on campus and are configured around the different parts of the assessment. These are NOT
recorded as the Lectures are designed to be interactive and will contain live quizzes, demonstrations, videos, games etc, so attendance is beneficial. However, We will provide smaller ‘bite size’ video extracts from the lecture which are hosted in YouTube and released in the relevant week.

Seminars

The module team’s philosophy of learning about this subject is concerned with action learning, i.e. learning from doing, solving real-life problems using the theory we are trying to teach you!

It is about applying a range of concepts to business operations to solve problems, to evaluate situations and to make recommendations for improvements.

We use the three teaching cases to provide simulations of real-life scenarios in operations management, which a graduate would be doing as part of their job. The seminars therefore consist of study tasks which require you to DO SOMETHING! … but get help and feedback to support your work in the session, typically in small groups.

The study questions and teaching cases are in MyBeckett in the weekly theme content areas so you can start looking at them before the seminar if you wish or find the subject difficult. The diagram below shows how a typical seminar (tutorial) for this module.

All the study tasks are designed to be equivalent to the assessment. This means we will be asking you to do a similar task for the component assessments, but based on the assessment case, not the teaching case. Therefore, the seminar ends with a discussion about how this applies to the assessment task, and your opportunity to ask questions about this.

After the seminar you should then read the answer blog, (in MyBeckett) which is a short summary written by the module team about the task and the key learning points, including the indicative answers. The blog can serve as a useful reminder when it comes to undertaking

Key Resources to Support Learning

The diagram illustrates the main types of learning resources available. At the core of these is the MyBeckett site which contains specific tailored specific resources for the module including copies of the lecture slides, videos of lecture content, tutorial cases and questions etc.
Core textbook

The second most significant resource is the core textbook. This has been customised for us with the core (what we actually teach) of one of the best Operations Management books. The publishers offer this book at a significant (!) discount to the standard text, because of the focused content, and because it is printed 

Weekly Schedule

Assessment Overview

The assessment is set in a real-life business, based in the region. The module team have constructed a multi- media simulation based on this business and we will set tasks about operations management issues in this company to be completed within the semester.
We use this multi-media simulation for a number of reasons.

•    It simulates the complexity of an operation better than pure text.
•    It is challenging and more interesting than a text case.
•    It develops employability skills and reflects the practical real-life experience of a graduate.

You need to treat accessing the simulation similar to working in the business, in that you should make notes as you watch, listen and read the different sets of data. Not everything is relevant, and part of the task is to gather, sift and collate information from the range of data. In addition, not everything is clear, as it would be in a real visit, and not every scrap of conversation is crucial. Sometimes you may get conflicting or incomplete information in which case you may have to make some value judgements or assumptions based on the available data.

The information contained in the simulation is comprehensive, so there is no need to try and contact the business direct. Anyone who attempts to contact the business or distribute case material will incur severe MARK penalties. This could affect their productivity, damage our agreement with the business, and affect the University’s standing in the business community. The simulation, the questions and submission point are ONLY available in MyBeckett.

The assignment will require you to replicate successfully, to a degree, (in a different context) the application of theory similar to that in the tutorials. The assessment is split into three components, referred to as PARTS 1, 2 and 3. Part of the rationale for splitting the assessment within the semester so you can immerse yourself in the simulation and start to understand it as early as possible.

The assessment design of the simulation and the ongoing assignment tasks are set within designated assessment weeks, where you have both the flexibility of when to submit, and to take advantage of the support offered within those weeks in the form of formative feedback on your work by your tutor. The definitive, detailed assignment brief is laid out later in the handbook, however, below is an outline of the simulation tasks.

PART 1 of assessment is about mapping, categorising and clarifying the business’s operations and supply chain, and takes the form of a set of diagrams.

PART 2 requires you to use MS Excel to construct or analyse data sets from an operation to provide insight into how to manage an element of an operation. The actual excel sheet must be submitted as the assessment.

PART 3 is about using relevant theory to evaluate and improve operational performance and consists of an analysis report on the operation written for the company director(s) with an element that is customised for your course pathway. See the details later in the handbook for your particular pathway assessment.

Assessment Summary

Parts 1, 2 and 3 are component assessments, but are three sections of the same overall dossier set on the multi- media simulation. You have to submit all the components in order to achieve a pass in the module. Your overall mark will be a composite of all components according to the weighting identified. Any late submission penalties will be allocated to each section before compiling the overall mark.

Component Assessment Part 1

Component Assessment Part 2

Component Assessment Part 3

Re-assessment Method: For all Parts 1, 2 and 3

This is an exact repeat of the original assessment for students to ‘make good’ on their work.
The flexible deadline submission for resits will occur from 8th -15th July

Students only have to be re-assessed if they do not submit a component, or if they fail the module overall < 40. In this case they only resubmit the component(s) they failed.

Assessment Details : Business Management

Based on the Multi-Media simulation; for the SKOPOS business, contained in the MyBeckett site for Operations and Supply Chain Management. All students must answer each Part 1, 2 and 3

the submissions will be in MyBeckett – no paper copies allowed