Question 1

* Below is your assignment for this subject. Please read the brief and instructions thoroughly. • Using some of the concepts and tools of Process Design and Analysis, evaluate a process and provide recommendations on how it can be improved in terms of one or more operations performance objectives (i.e. cost, quality, speed, dependability and flexibility). The identified process can be in your organisation, or in any organisation that you are familiar with. In the assignment, you are required to:

o Describe the organisation. Keep the description brief but make sure that the reader can clearly understand what the organisation does and the organisational context. o Describe the process and include its process map. Again, keep this brief but ensure the reader understands what the process is, how it affects the organisation's overall performance, and how it is currently designed. Lastly, provide a high-level process map if the process is large. o Evaluate the process' current performance in terms of all five performance objectives. Given the organisation's strategy and needs, identify and discuss the performance objective or objectives that need to be improved. Analyse the process and provide recommendations on how it can be improved in terms of the identified operations performance objective (or objectives). If your recommendations include the reconfiguration of the process, make sure to include the new optimised process map. Hello Everyone,

We hope that you are enjoying the subject and successfully progressing through the assignment.

We thought it would be the right time to share some suggestions on assignment writing.

We have updated and simplified the format of the assignment so that you initially have to study only two topics, i.e. Topic 1: Operations Strategy and Topic 3: Operations Design, to complete the assignment. When you read the assignment question, please think about the following ideas: 1. Topics 1 and 3 cover the essential concepts that you need to master in order to understand the rest of the topics in this subject. The task of the assignment is to scrutinise a current strategic process design within an organisation.

2. As the textbook suggests, any operations manager needs to ask three fundamental questions before starting to design, improve or manage operations and processes. Does the business take a process perspective? Does operations & process management have a strategic impact? Finally, should all processes be managed the same way? 3. Operations design can make or break a business! Do you agree or disagree? Companies who have led the market through operational innovations such as Zara, Ikea & McDonalds have managed to sustain their growth for decades.

Even the most innovative products such as the Apple IPhone have been copied by competitors within a few years of their introduction. However, what competitors were not able to copy were their processes and the capabilities embedded within these processes. Textbook chapters 1, 2, 4 & 5 have plenty of concepts, tools, techniques, and several examples which have worked for both the service and manufacturing sectors to help you with this task.

We have introduced you to the context of the problem and the toolkit. Now it is your turn to contextualise these concepts well within your organisational setting, organise these tools & concepts in an appropriate order and apply them to diagnose the processes within your organisation to bring about improvements.

4. Please make sure to follow the required structure in the AIB assignment guide and do not forget to incorporate at least six academic or professional references. Remember, dare to customise these tools to suit your own problem situation, dare to challenge the established practices and try to bring about a new perspective of operations management to your organisation!