Unit information: Strategic Operations Management in 2022/23

Unit name	Strategic Operations Management
Unit code	EFIMM0072
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Professor. Wang
Open unit status	Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)	Nil
Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)	Nil
Units you may not take alongside this one	n/a
School/department	School of Management - Business School
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Unit Information

The unit deals with the key operations strategy and management functions in a practical work setting. The core theme is the relevant knowledge and management skills necessary to deliver effectively and efficiently high quality goods and services in complex and dynamic environments.

This unit aims to:

• Introduce students to the core concepts of operations strategy and management and associated techniques and to demonstrate how operations contribute to organisational competitiveness.
• Examine the strategic importance of operations; the processes involved in efficiently and effectively transforming inputs into useful outputs in manufacturing, non-profit and service operations; and, the latest developments across numerous commercial sectors and organisations.
• Emphasise the importance of understanding and responding to technological and societal changes and the consideration of the future of organisations and their external environment.

Your learning on this unit

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Develop a comprehensive understanding of a range of factors including economic, environmental, ethical, legal, political, sociological and technological, together with their effects at local, national and international levels upon the strategy, behaviour and management of organisations that shape the discipline of operations strategy and management.
2. Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of operations strategy and how market requirements and resource requirements are related and the linkages between operations as a functional strategy and corporate strategy.
3. Understand and extrapolate operations theories and techniques in manufacturing, service, and non-profit contexts. It includes theories, models, frameworks, tasks and roles of management together with rational analysis and other processes of decision making within organisations.
4. Be able to apply operations management knowledge into a range of complex situations, whilst taking into account the overall implications for other areas of the business as well as changing external environment;
5. Develop the ability key interpersonal skills (e.g. team work, effective communication, oral and in writing; preparation and presentation of business reports) needed by today’s organisations working in teams.

How you will learn

Teaching will be delivered through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous sessions including lectures, seminars, drop-in sessions, discussion boards and other online learning opportunities

How you will be assessed

Formative Assessment:

This will include formative group presentations of input-transformation-output analysis for an airport case and process mapping exercise for a distribution centre case, with peer review feedback and formative assessment by tutor (ILOs 1, 3, 5)

Summative Assignment 1: Group 35% weighting

Lean Simulation Game based group assessment (ILO 4 and 5). The group assignment is to design and produce a recoded video outlining the group’s Lean Game result, how the group achieve the result; and reflection of what students learned from the Lean Game. The group coursework will be assessed in three dimensions: (1) the group performance of Lean Game (e.g., profit/finished products) 30% (2) students’ understanding of the lean principles and ability of implementing them a digitally enabled production line, 50% (3) the quality of presentation 20%, evidenced by the video content.

Summative Assignment 2: Individual 65% weighting

Integrated Assignment with EFIMM0075 Supply Chain Technology & Digitalization (3,500 words) (ILO 1,2, 3 and 4). The purpose of this integrated coursework is to demonstrate students’ understanding of how an organisation sets itself up to deliver customer requirements and critically analyse how disruptive technologies (such as artificial intelligence, robotics, blockchain, 3D printing, Internet-of-Thing, and augmented reality) can be used to improve their product/service offering. Students are required to conduct a management consultancy project on an organisation that offers a range of services or products (or a single service or product) and select an operation of your chosen organisation. To complete the coursework, students are asked to answer six tasks related to the two units. Tasks 1, 2, & 3 are related to EFIMM0072 Strategic Operations Management, and Tasks 4, 5 & 6 are related to EFIMM0075 Supply Chain Technology and Digitalisation.

Resit: If a student fails this unit (i.e., the combined mark of individual and group assessments for EFIMM0072), the student will only resit for the failed unit. Students will not take the integrative assignment again. Instead, a separate resit assignment is prepared for each unit.

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. EFIMM0072).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.