NUST Business School

Operations Management (OTM-606)

Spring 2013 Project Deliverables and Grading Information

1. Objectives of the Group Project

1.1. To learn with practice, how operations are currently managed at the selected subject organisations in Pakistan 1.2. To learn with practice, how to identify areas of operational inefficiencies in complex, multivariate, real life professional situations 1.3. To get a hands on practice of how to audit, analyse and redesign operations for achieving organizational goals and objectives with help of models and actionable recommendations 1.4. To simulate real-life professional scenarios that an operations manager or a consultant might face

2. Convening Group Activities

2.1. All groups must exchange their contact details with each other ASAP 2.2. All groups should discuss the possible project options, and note down their proposed organisations (alternatively referred to as clients, this point onwards) along with the pros and cons of each option 2.3. Every group must keep a log/register of their: 1. Internal as well as external communication procedures 2. Dates of activities 3. Decisions taken collectively 4. Minutes of meetings 5. Problems encountered 6. Solutions found 7. Steps taken 8. Visits arranged 9. Questionnaires and other research methods 10. Contact details of clients (name, address, phone number, email address) 11. Emails/letters etc. sent internally (within the group) or externally (to the clients or research organisations etc.) 12. Any other information you might find relevant to judging the performance of this project 2.4. For monitoring purposes, you should be ready to provide the above information upon my demand at any stage during the course of this project 2.5. One member of the group will have to act as overall group leader (symbolic) and convenor whod primarily be responsible for overlooking all internal and external communication. Theyll act with maximum possible consultation, though occasionally they may use discretion. They should also often assign/delegate some actions and decision-making to other members 2.6. Responsibility of maintaining the log/register should be rotated among all group members. 2.7. In unlikely cases of internal disputes, the group leader will be the first person of contact for group members. Group leader may escalate any serious issues to me for resolution

3. Subject Organisation Selection Criteria

3.1. Organisations from government, public service or commercial sector may be chosen. Some examples are: hospitals, manufacturers, restaurants, Edhi Foundation, Food Street, etc. 3.2. The organisations you choose must have enough margin of work. This will be a subjective thing. For example, a sole-proprietor with more value-addition processes may have better margin of work/study for you than what a commission agent of rice exports with sales force of 20 and a turnover of 20 million would have. So talk to me about each proposal and well together assess the margin of work. 3.3. Groups must be able to visit the clients frequently. To judge on this criterion, consider the location, cultural issues, security procedures and clients willingness and support

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3.4. Senior management (or resourceful operations managers) of your selected organisations should be accessible for the groups 3.5. Groups should be able to access information regarding each of the 10 strategic operations management decisions being taken (knowingly or unknowingly) by their clients 3.6. Your own/family companies may be chosen for the project. However, in such case youll be expected to achieve much higher standards of research, recommendations and implementation 3.7. Any group wanting to choose start-up enterprises will be strongly encouraged to do so. If you intend to choose such organisations, please conduct a preliminary study (introductory report) a week sooner than other groups and discuss it with me to judge the suitability of such organisation

4. Communication with the selected organisations

4.1. Although, most of you will probably communicate with your proposed clients informally to get their consent for studying their operations, at some stage before formally starting your project, you must write a formal request letter or email to them containing: 1. Your own introduction and interest in the organisation 2. Your request to conduct a study of their operations 3. Introduction of your project and possible components of your study 4. Benefits that the client should expect off your project 5. Logistic support you expect off the clients 6. Your proposed timeline of visits and back office activities (the things that youd do on your own between the visits) 7. Your gratitude to the selected clients for providing you with the opportunity to work with them and learn 4.2. The letters must be written professionally, in either English or Urdu (according to the clients norms) 4.3. You should get your letters approved by me before sending them off to the intended recipients

5. Deliverables
5.1. Preliminary report on your project, due before the 6th session, should include: 1. Internal communication log as mentioned in 2.3 above1 2. External communication log 3. Project task planning methodology2 4. Contact details of the group leader 5. Contact details of the resource person(s) in your selected organisation 6. Basic facts about the company 7. Important statistics 8. Organizational mission and strategies (actual and perceived)3 9. CSFs, core competencies and activity maps (optional at this stage)4 5.2. Exploratory report on your project, due before the 11th session, should include the specific components about each critical OM decision. I shall announce those components at the end of each session and upload a summary on to LMS. 5.3. Final report on your project, due before the 15th session, should include your analysis of each of the critical OM decision being taken (or needed to be taken) at your organisation. Your analysis may include models in MS Excel, Project or any other programmes, data charts, solutions to operational problems, suggestions for successful implementation of your recommendations etc. More company-specific advice on this deliverable will be provided to you in your group meetings with me.

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At this stage of your project, include only the applicable sections of 2.3 Such as, how will you divide your work on a given timeline, and among the group members etc.? 3 Actual will be those on official documentation. Perceived would be those which a manager would be able to describe from the top of their head. In progressive organisations, actual and perceived would be the same 4 If you choose not to include this information in preliminary report then it will become mandatory part of your second report. So it may be a good idea to gather this kind of information early on while youre at it anyway Page 2 of 3

6. Grading Criteria
6.1. The project will be assessed on a 200-point scale, where 10 point will reflect 1% of your course grade. Thus, the total weightage of these 200 points will be 20% of the course grade. 6.2. Please note that all group members may get different points for their conduct and contribution in the project. 6.3. Preliminary component of the project is worth 20 points, or 2% of the total course grade. This will be further divided into two parts: 1. 10 points for the correctness and completeness of the information submitted 2. 10 points for quality of internal and external communication (i.e. timely written letters, quality of group profiles, division of work among the group members). 6.4. Exploratory component is worth 80 points, or 8% of your total course grade. This component is not the same as your exploratory report due before 11th session. In fact, that report will only make up a part of the total exploratory component. Exploratory component will make up of all of your findings, whereas the exploratory report due in 11th session will only contain your analysis of 6 critical OM decisions of your client. The division of points for this component is as follows: 1. 8 points for critical thinking reflected in your efforts while completing this component 2. 16 points for the quality of communication (e.g. how well the research questions were communicated to the client; how well the group meetings were organized; how was the report written?) 3. 24 points for the quality of your research content5 4. 32 points for the quality of content you were able to gather as a result of your research 6.5. Analyses and Recommendations component is worth 100 points, or 10% of your course grade. The division of points for this section will be: 1. 10 points for critical thinking 2. 20 points for quality of internal and external communication 3. 70 points for the quality of analyses, recommendations and implementation suggestion

6.6. General Conduct during the Project

7.1. Be cooperative and courteous to your group members. Youre all on the same team and your collective objective is the same: to learn (and to get a good grade). End of the day, any difference in the grades of one groups members will actually be defined by each members professionalism, efforts and proactive contribution. 7.2. Be grateful and respectful to your clients. Striving to create a memorable experience for them to work with you 7.3. Always respect the time of your clients. Be punctual for meetings with them. Dont overstay your welcome period whenever you visit them. Ask relevant and thoughtful questions. Better still, send them your questions via email or fax where possible/practical before you actually arrive to meet with them so that your client gets a chance to prepare the answers too 7.4. Your work will undergo continuous monitoring and evaluation. All members of each group must remain prepared to answer impromptu questions relevant to their projects progress. If you are unaware of the current status of your project or if you know less than your group members, your group leader and you will individually lose points. Primarily, it will be your own responsibility to keep up with the pace of your group. The group leader will also be required to ensure the best coordination among group members. 7.5. Like Mr. Corleone is a man who insists on hearing bad news immediately (1972, Tom Hagen/Duvall in The Godfather), I do too. Dont wait for the last moment until something goes horribly wrong (especially in cases of disputes). Group leaders must keep me informed about anything developing to be potentially problematic

All the best!

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This is distinguishable from the quality of communication during your research. Quality of communication during research will be assessed by your professionalism in contacting your customer, being punctual and polite, writing emails/letters in correct language etc. Whereas, the quality of your research content will be judged by answering: how relevant your research questions were; and how much area you could cover through your research questions? Etc. Page 3 of 3