COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Copyright Regulations 1969 This material has been reproduced and communicated to you by or on behalf of Kaplan Business School pursuant to Part VB of the Copyright Act 1968 (‘Act’). The material in this communication may be subject to copyright under the Act. Any further reproduction or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection under the Act. Kaplan Business School is a part of Kaplan Inc., a leading global provider of educational services. Kaplan Business School Pty Ltd ABN 86 098 181 947 is a registered higher education provider CRICOS Provider Code 02426B. Assessment Information Assessment Information Subject Code: GB560 Subject Name: Designing, Implementing and Improving Processes Assessment Title: Assessment 3 - Individual Project - Essay Weighting: 30% Total Marks: 30 Due Date: Submitted via Turnitin by Monday January 30th 1155 pm AEDT _____________________________________________________________________________________ Assessment Description GB560 Assessment 3: Individual Project - Essay Weighting: 30% Length: 2000 words Instructions: Using the two paragraphs shown below as a starting point, write an essay that demonstrates how both Benchmarking and Lean Six Sigma can be used by organisations to facilitate change in their business processes to enhance and sustain their competitive advantage. In your essay you need to discuss the following: a. What are Benchmarking and Lean Six Sigma? b. How can both be applied to business process change? c. How have organisations actually used one or both to improve their processes? (Case Studies) d. How could you apply Benchmarking and/or Lean Six Sigma to your current organisation or to an organisation you know well to identify business process change improvements? You are expected to demonstrate a high standard of research to support your statements and assertions. As a guide you are expected to use a minimum of 20 references. The use of contemporary (recent) publications will be valued in assessing the quality of research. The references must be authoritative and not sourced from Wikipedia, Slideshare, Businessballs or other non-academic sources. The essay must be formatted to Kaplan guidelines and the Harvard Referencing System must be used for the references and citations. The essay must be submitted through Turnitin. Any evidence of academic misconduct (plagiarism) will attract the appropriate penalty as published in Kaplan’s policies and guidelines. These penalties include the possibility of being given a mark of zero for the assessment. Any student who is not sure of how to meet the requirements of this assessment is encouraged to discuss the issue with their lecturer at the earliest opportunity.COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Copyright Regulations 1969 This material has been reproduced and communicated to you by or on behalf of Kaplan Business School pursuant to Part VB of the Copyright Act 1968 (‘Act’). The material in this communication may be subject to copyright under the Act. Any further reproduction or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection under the Act. Kaplan Business School is a part of Kaplan Inc., a leading global provider of educational services. Kaplan Business School Pty Ltd ABN 86 098 181 947 is a registered higher education provider CRICOS Provider Code 02426B. Assessment Information “Benchmarking improves performance by identifying and applying best demonstrated practices to operations and sales. Managers compare the performance of their products or processes externally with those of competitors and best-in-class companies and internally with other operations within their own firms that perform similar activities. The objective of Benchmarking is to find examples of superior performance and to understand the processes and practices driving that performance. Companies then improve their performance by tailoring and incorporating these best practices into their own operations—not by imitating, but by innovating.” http://www.bain.com/publications/articles/management-tools-benchmarking.aspx Lean Six Sigma is a new business improvement methodology, combining both Lean and Six Sigma methodologies. The goals of Lean are to eliminate waste from processes and increase process speed by focusing on what customers actually consider value and working back from that. Six Sigma is used to eliminate process variation and make process improvements based on the customer definition of quality, by measuring process performance and process change effects. When combined they create a business improvement methodology that can be used for the standardisation and integration of business processes. Importantly, organisations that have adopted the Lean Six Sigma methodology have been seen to be able to deliver goods and services in a cost effective manner, with minimal waste.COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Copyright Regulations 1969 This material has been reproduced and communicated to you by or on behalf of Kaplan Business School pursuant to Part VB of the Copyright Act 1968 (‘Act’). The material in this communication may be subject to copyright under the Act. Any further reproduction or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection under the Act. Kaplan Business School is a part of Kaplan Inc., a leading global provider of educational services. Kaplan Business School Pty Ltd ABN 86 098 181 947 is a registered higher education provider CRICOS Provider Code 02426B. Assessment InformationAssessment Marking Rubric Criteria HD (High Distinction) 85%-100% DN (Distinction) 75%-84% CR (Credit) 74%-65% P (Pass) 50%-64% NN (Fail) 0%-49% Score Generic analysis of Benchmarking and Lean Six Sigma 5 marks Full and skilful analysis of the two concepts. Excellent analysis of the two concepts. Competent but limited analysis of the two concepts. Basic analysis of the two concepts demonstrating limited insight into the rationale for use in business. Very limited or poor analysis of the two concepts. /5 Application to business process change 5 marks Full and skilful discussion of how Benchmarking and Lean Six Sigma can be applied to business process change. Logical and reasoned discussion of how Benchmarking and Lean Six Sigma can be applied to business process change. Competent but limited discussion of how Benchmarking and Lean Six Sigma can be applied to business process change. Basic and limited discussion of how Benchmarking and Lean Six Sigma can be applied to business process change. Very limited or poor discussion of how Benchmarking and Lean Six Sigma can be applied to business process change. /5 Case study selection and analysis 10 marks Excellent and logical analysis and evaluation of the chosen case studies demonstrating the use of Benchmarking / Lean Six Sigma in business process change. Clear reasoned analysis and evaluation of the chosen case studies demonstrating the use of Benchmarking / Lean Six Sigma in business process change. Clear but limited analysis and evaluation of the chosen case studies demonstrating the use of Benchmarking / Lean Six Sigma in business process change. Basic analysis and evaluation of the chosen case studies demonstrating the use of Benchmarking / Lean Six Sigma in business process change. Very limited or poor analysis and evaluation of the chosen case studies linking Benchmarking / Lean Six Sigma to business process change. /10 Application to familiar organisation 5 marks Full and skilful application of the concepts to the organisation chosen. Competent and logical application of the concepts to the organisation chosen. Logical but limited application of the concepts to the organisation chosen. Basic application of the concepts to the organisation chosen. Very limited or poor application of the concepts to the organisation chosen. /5 Referencing 5 marks Excellent and skilful integration of substantial research to support analysis within the word limit. Very good evidence of wider research to support analysis within the word limit Good evidence of wider research to support analysis within the word limit. Limited evidence of wider research to support analysis within the word limit. Little or no evidence of wider research to support analysis within the word limit. /5 Comments: Assignment Mark/Grade: Total score /30 COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Copyright Regulations 1969 This material has been reproduced and communicated to you by or on behalf of Kaplan Business School pursuant to Part VB of the Copyright Act 1968 (‘Act’). The material in this communication may be subject to copyright under the Act. Any further reproduction or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection under the Act. Kaplan Business School is a part of Kaplan Inc., a leading global provider of educational services. Kaplan Business School Pty Ltd ABN 86 098 181 947 is a registered higher education provider CRICOS Provider Code 02426B.