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Purpose of this handbook  The purpose of this Module Handbook is to provide you with specific information that under-pins the design, delivery and management of this module

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Purpose of this handbook

 The purpose of this Module Handbook is to provide you with specific information that under-pins the design, delivery and management of this module.  It is your responsibility to familiarise yourself with the contents of this Module Handbook and to talk to your seminar tutor if you have any questions.  

This isn’t the only handbook available to you. Alongside this handbook you will also have access to the Institutional University Handbook which will provide you with information that is central to your studies, including policies and regulations, student support and wellbeing and all the services available to you through Student Support.

You will also be given a Programme Handbook which will detail the design, delivery principles and management of your programme. It will also provide you with an overview of your key contacts for your programme of study and list all the modules you will be / might be studying throughout the duration of your award.

                  

Contents

Section 1: Module Introduction                 4

Module Leader                 5

Seminar Leader                5

Academic Librarian          5

Changes made to this module in response to student and other feedback            6

Section 2: How Your Teaching and Learning is Organised                7

Module Aim       8

Module Learning Outcomes        8

Module Teaching and Learning Strategy                8

Module Teaching and Learning Resources            8

                Moodle                8

                Reading List and Other Resources            9

Module Study Plan          10

Section 3: How Your Assessment and Feedback is Organised       13

Module Assessment Strategy    14

                Key Dates            14

                Inclusive Support Plan (ISP) arrangements           15

Coursework Brief 1         18

                Summary information    18

                Assessment instructions               18

                Group work        18

                Presenting coursework for assessment                 19

                Assignment length / equivalent                19

                Use of Turnitin 19

                Submission instructions                20

                How your work will be marked 20

                Feedback            20

                Assessment criteria rubric assessment 1               22

Coursework Brief 2         23

                Summary information    23

                Assessment instructions               23

                Group work        23

                Presenting coursework for assessment                 24

                Assignment length / equivalent                24

Use of Turnitin 24

Submission instructions                25

How your work will be marked 25

Feedback            25

Assessment criteria rubric assessment 2               27

Examination       28

Summary information    28

Examination instructions              28

How your work will be marked 28

Feedback            29

 

                 

 

 

5

Changes made to this module in response to student and other feedback

Students are asked for feedback on their experience of every module at the midpoint of the semester and towards the end of the module.  This is your opportunity to discuss with the module team what is working well for you and more importantly if there are things that concern you regarding this module.

The feedback you provide at the mid-semester point is used to provide additional guidance, support or clarification.  The feedback you provide towards the end of the module is used to inform the future development of the module.

In response to student feedback and the Module Review Report on the previous run of the module, no changes were recommended for implementation this semester.

                  

 

8

Module Aim

The aim of any industrial, service, public sector or retail organisation is to deliver goods and services of the quality, quantity, cost and availability that will satisfy customers’ needs, while at the same time making most efficient use of resources. Since all organisations and business functions use processes to produce and deliver outputs, the fundamental concepts and principles introduced in this module are equally applicable in any business sector and for any business function.

 

This core module explores the complex and interconnecting relationships between functional areas and the real world of business. In particular, the module seeks to link the development of students’ knowledge and understanding about how business operations can be most effectively and efficiently managed with the other core themes of this MSc Programme, notably issues of ethics, environmental sustainability, global business, complexity and uncertainty, and continuing professional development.

 

Module Learning Outcomes

1.            Analyse the nature of the transformation processes used in organisations to add value and achieve competitive advantage.

2.            Evaluate complex organisational problems and prepare an operations improvement programme based on a robust analysis of performance.

3.            Use competently a range of techniques for the analysis, planning and control of operations.

4.            Demonstrate the ability to communicate arguments effectively both orally and in written form.

 

Module Teaching and Learning Strategy

Teaching on this module is in a workshop format. Mini lectures are linked to short case studies (including video cases) from international organisations in a range of sectors. Students are directed to relevant sections of the recommended texts and to key articles. Teaching is structured around the strategic elements of the learning outcomes and allows students to practice in class some of the detailed techniques used in the management of operations and processes.

 

Module Teaching and Learning Resources

Moodle

The Moodle site contains useful information such as assessment information, announcements and other module information. In addition to this there are 8 sections, each of which corresponds to the week of study. Here, you will find any 9

information relating to a particular topic/week, including lecture/workshop slides and additional resources such as articles and videos. 

Reading List and Other Resources

See: https://rl.talis.com/3/brookes/lists/9E080025-F07D-036E-46C77911848C9CC1.html

 

The key text Slack, N. and Brandon-Jones, A. (2019) Operations management. Ninth edn. Harlow, England: Pearson.

 

10

Module Study Plan

Wee k   Lecture                 Directed Learning Activities

3              Introduction to the module and operations management             Slack et al. (Operations Management) - Chapter 1

4              Operations strategy        Slack et al. (Operations Management) - Chapters 2, 3

5              Lean operations               Slack et al. (Operations Management) - Chapter 15

6              Supply chain management and supplier selection             Slack et al. (Operations Management) - Chapter 13

7              Process design and analysis         Slack et al. (Operations Management) - Chapters 6, 7, 8

8              Managing operational capacity  Slack et al. (Operations Management) - Chapter 10, 11, 14

 

 

 

Postgraduate Module Handbook 2022-23

11

9              Quality and risk in operations     Slack et al. (Operations Management) - Chapter 17, 18

10           Assignment surgery        Assignment due Friday 2nd December @ 1pm

 

 

 

 

Postgraduate Module Handbook 2022-23

 

 

Module Assessment Strategy

This module follows the principles of the University’s Assessment and feedback policy developed in conjunction with the Student Union, to ensure good practice and transparency in assessment and feedback processes. The Assessment and feedback policy can be found on your Programme’s Moodle site.

Please note: the Institutional University Handbook which will provide you with information that is central to your studies, including policies and regulations, student support and wellbeing and all the services available to you through Student Support. The core information is also available on Moodle via the drop-down menu under ‘Student Help’.

The individual assignment allows students to select for analysis the operations of a designated large organisation from a list provided by the Module Leader. These will be from different business sectors operating in different countries. The assignment task is not prescriptive in its detail, since every type of organisation will have different operating priorities. 

Students will need to understand the operating environment of their selected operation and select the appropriate concepts and theories to allow them to undertake a robust analysis and evaluate strengths and weaknesses. The final deliverable is a series of recommendations either for improvement or to enable the organisation to maintain its competitive position through its operational capability. 

Key Dates

Assessment Component              Weighting           Learning

Outcomes

Assessed             Submission Date              Feedback Date

Final written report         100%     1 - 4        2/12/22                6/1/23

 

Please ensure you submit your assignment no later than the deadline set above (these are fixed deadlines, but students may exceptionally secure an extension if last minute untoward circumstances affect your ability to submit on time). Please see your Programme Handbook for more details.  Please note the use of this extension is monitored and restrictions in place for overuse. 

https://www.brookes.ac.uk/students/your-studies/exceptional-circumstances/

If there are circumstances preventing you from being able to study and meet the ongoing requirements of this or other modules then please get in touch with your Academic Adviser of Student Support Co-ordinator for advice.

Inclusive Support Plan (ISP) arrangements

Recommendations for Reasonable Adjustments are made in accordance with the provisions of the Equality Act 2010. These are detailed in Inclusive Support Plans (ISPs) and need to be implemented unless there is a clear rationale for this not being possible, in which case we are accountable as a university for this decision.

Students who have an extension because of an ISP, please contact your Module Leader if you are unclear about your revised deadlines.

If you would like to request a review of your Inclusive Support Plan (ISP) or to have your needs assessed for an ISP, contact the Inclusive Support Service.on inclusivesupport@brookes.ac.uk  

 

The Blue Marking Card adjustment is only available to students who have an Inclusive Support Plan (ISP) specifying this adjustment. Eligible students who wish to use this adjustment must add a blue card:

https://www.brookes.ac.uk/students/inclusive-support-service/exams-andassessments/blue-marking-cards

Inclusive Support Plan (ISP) extensions of up to 3 weeks are applicable for some students on all assignments in this module. If you have an Inclusive Support Plan you can check the full details of the adjustments, including whether you have coursework extensions, in Student Self Service. 

https://generalssbprod.ec.brookes.ac.uk/BannerExtensibility/customPage/page/student_ISP 

 

                 

Coursework Brief 1

 

Summary information

Type of assessment:      Report 

Individual or group:         Individual 

Component weighting: Contributes 100% of the total module grade

Learning outcomes assessed      1 - 4

Submission date:             2/12/22

Feedback date:                 6/1/23

 

Assessment instructions

?             You must prepare and submit an original business report addressing the tasks identified later in this section, but summarised below.

?             Your report must analyse and evaluate the operations management of an organisation, or of a specific business unit/division, and draw conclusions over the extent to which its operational capability supports its corporate strategy and provides competitive advantage.

The Organisation

You must select one focal organisation as the subject of your assignment. Where the organisation has different divisions or a disparate product/service offer, you may have to select one specific area of the organisation for study (i.e., you will need to define the scope to be covered in your report). You may also find it appropriate to select by geographical region, or if the organisation has disparate operations, one of these.

 

The organisation selected should meet the following criteria:

?             It should be a well-known business – you will find more data/information on large well-known businesses;

?             It must have a website that is available in English and produce annual reports in English;

?             It is recommended that your selected company be publicly listed/publicly traded on the stock market – you will find more data/information available on such organisations.

 

The Content of the Assignment

You are required to demonstrate your learning from the course material by analysing and evaluating the operations management of your chosen organisation (or business unit/division) in a report containing the following sections.

 

1.            A brief introduction to the organisation, including an overview of the environment in which it operates and the pressures that its sector faces. This will give the reader sufficient context to make sense of the report (maximum 500 words).

 

2.            An analysis of the operations of the selected organisation – you must apply the transformation process model and the 4Vs model (and consider the implications) to your selected organization and their operations. In addition to this you should select two further topics/concepts covered in the module or from your wider reading (relating to operations management) this might be (as appropriate to the organisation) – performance objectives and current performance, the types of operating process, the service concept (what the operations systems are designed to deliver), location and layout, capacity management, the scheduling and control of resources, supply chain management, quality assurance or the application of TQM principles, the application of ‘lean’ principles.

 

This section is likely to represent the largest part of the Report and it is for you     to decide which concepts/theories/models you include in this section.

 

3.            The identification of the major strengths and weaknesses of the operation – achieved performance against required performance. From your analysis, you should also consider the extent to which the operations functions support the broader business strategy of the organisation, and the extent to which the organisation’s operations capability is used to create competitive advantage.

 

Presenting coursework for assessment

Your assignment when submitted should not include your name – we use a system of anonymous marking to reduce the risk of any unconscious bias. For some authentic assessments, there may be an exception to this, so please confirm with your Module Leader.

 

The authentic and essential requirements for this piece of assessed work are;

?             The report must contain a reference list. All sources cited must be referenced in the report. The Harvard referencing system must be used. 

?             You must use at least 10 academic sources other than the set texts (and ideally substantially more). In addition to academic sources, you’re expected to utilise ‘other’ sources to provide information, data and insights into your selected organisation and its operations.

?             The assignment must be structured and presented as a formal business report.

?             Arial font size 12 is recommended for the main body/text.

Assignment length / equivalent

Whilst we acknowledge that learners will prepare and produce assessments in different ways and at different paces, an indication as to how much time it will take you to prepare, produce, edit and submit this assessment is detailed below.

It is anticipated that approximately 40 hours should be allocated to preparing and completing the assignment. The report length should not exceed 2,500 words, this is a maximum value and there is no 10% leeway. Use of Turnitin

The new Turnitin policy effective from September 2022 can be found via this link. You are expected to be familiar with it. It is important to know that the reference list and quotations are included in the overall similarity report, and that these matches are expected and not problematic.

For more information on how to interpret your similarity index report, please refer to this link.

Submission instructions

?             You will need to submit your assignment no later than 1pm on Friday 2nd December, 2022.

?             You can submit your work as a Word document or a PDF.

?             To submit this assignment, a dropbox can be found in the ‘assessment’ section in Moodle.

?             A draft dropbox will be available to allow students to check their Turnitin/similarity score.

 

How your work will be marked

Once the submission date has past your module tutors will begin to mark your work. There are a number of phases to this which ensure fairness is maintained across the whole team including a pre marking calibration meeting, marking and post-marking internal moderation of grades.  Following internal moderation, a sample of work is reviewed by the External Examiner for the programme to ensure that the standards applied are comparable to those at other institutions. To read how your work is moderated please go to your programme handbook for details.

 

Feedback

Feedback on your work will be provided in a range of ways at various times throughout this module, and different feedback will serve slightly different purposes. Feedback is designed to support your learning and help you to improve subsequent work, so you need to engage and get the most out of the feedback provided. 

Please note that feedback is provided throughout the module not just on formally assessed tasks. It will be provided on your work and contribution in class, on the formal assessment tasks and, in some circumstances, during student office hours. 

If you would like further information about feedback, or how to use it, please talk to your academic tutor on this module or your Academic Adviser or Programme Lead.

Students will receive written feedback via the Turnitin Feedback Studio in Moodle. Feedback will be in three forms, summary/overview comments, in-text comments, and rubric.

Assessment feedback will normally be provided within 15 working days of submission. Please note that all marks are provisional until they are ratified by an Examination Committee.

 

Assessment criteria rubric   

 

Assessment

Criteria & weighting        Distinction 70-100%         Very Good  60-69%         Threshold Pass 50-59% Marginal Refer 4049%                 Refer             0-39%

Does it answer the question? (50%)        Outstanding work entirely focused on the assignment question.                 Effective work highly focussed on the assignment question and objectives.         Satisfactory work focussed on the main purpose of the assignment question and objectives.             Unsatisfactory work that is not focussed on the main purpose of the assignment question and objectives.   Failing work that has not addressed the assignment question or objectives.

Is the knowledge up to date, from sources from a wide range of literature and well integrated? (10%)   The work shows up-todate, comprehensive and detailed knowledge of the subject area and relevant literature integrates theory with practice.      The work shows effective knowledge of the subject area and relevant literature.             The work shows satisfactory knowledge of the subject area and relevant literature.                The work contains some shortcomings in terms of evidence of the subject area and relevant knowledge.               The work has serious shortcomings in terms of evidence of the subject area and relevant knowledge.

Are the student’s arguments clear

and well supported?

Illustrated with theory and/or practice? (20%)    The work demonstrates the student has developed his/her own ideas based on a wide range of evidence that has been thoroughly analysed, applied and discussed.      The work demonstrates where appropriate insightful use of theory to illuminate key aspects of practice, showing some development of the student's own ideas applied and discussed and related to a variety of sources of evidence.                 The work demonstrates key themes are used in an appropriate and straightforward manner using appropriate terminology that informs analysis of theory and/or practice where appropriate.       The work demonstrates little evidence of the application of literature to illuminate theory and/or practice where appropriate.                 The work demonstrates little evidence of the application of literature to illuminate theory or practice where appropriate. 

 

 

Does the work show evidence of critical analysis and synthesis with good practice?

(15%)    The work demonstrates

the student can

effectively critically review evidence, and draw very good and appropriate conclusions that effectively integrate theory and practice.       The work demonstrates the student can effectively

critically review evidence, and draw some good conclusions that integrate theory and practice.                 The work demonstrates that some evidence has been collected and some ideas have been developed through a mixture of description and criticism and some integration of theory and practice.    Evidence is weak and

ideas are

underdeveloped

through lack of critical edge, a tendency towards description, and a failure to appropriately integrate theory and practice.               Evidence is weak and

ideas are underdeveloped through an absence of critical edge, predominance towards description and a failure to appropriately integrate theory and practice.

Is it well presented and structured, with appropriate acknowledgement for sources? (5%)           The assignment is presented

professionally, communicates key messages and arguments with convincing substantiation, and contains accurate referencing in appropriate format.          The assignment is highly organised with clear

messages and arguments that are substantiated with evidence, and contains accurate referencing in appropriate format.                 The assignment is organised to structure material that is relevant with some coherence of message, and argument is backed by a limited range of references in appropriate format The assignment fails to organise ideas coherently, to provide a

clear message, argument, or substantiation and is supported by an inadequate range of references.      The assignment fails to organise ideas coherently, to provide a

clear message, argument or substantiation and is supported by an inadequate range of references.