College of Business and Economics, Cal.

State University, Fullerton

Managing Operations
MGMT 339
Naser Nikandish

Managing Operations
Course information
Instructor: Naser Nikandish
Email address: nnikandish@Fullerton.edu
Office Hours: a. Tuesday 12:00-1:00
b. Tuesdays 2:15-2:30
c. Tuesdays 3:45 - 4:00
d. Tuesdays 5:15 - 5:30
e. By appointment
Material: 1. Managing Operations & Supply Chain Management MGMT 339
By Stevenson, Bateman, Snell, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2017
2. Additional articles, case studies, and book chapters
will be provided (hard copy and/or soft copy) during the semester

Note: all meetings, except the final exam, will be via zoom. Link to all zoom meet-
ings: https://fullerton.zoom.us/j/8274273688

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES

This is an introductory survey course to Managing Operations 1 . In this course, first we will
learn about planning and controlling as two main functions of Management and then we will
focus on learning Operations Management tools and their role in planning and controlling an
organization.
Firms in any industry need to design and manage its business processes that transforms
inputs into final products. Operations Management is the knowledge of development and
delivery of products and services in an efficient way. Along with finance and marketing,
operations is one of the three primary functions of a firm. At the risk of being simplistic,
one may say that marketing induces the demand for products (goods and services), finance
provides the capital, and operations produces and delivers the product.
1
We use Operations Management (OM) and Managing Operations terms interchangeably

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Operations Management encompasses objectives such as customer service, quality, cost

efficiency, price competitiveness, responsiveness, coordination with suppliers and customers,
and new product design. For example, it deals with methods for ensuring quality, improving
productivity etc. Managers today are increasingly focused on the operational competitiveness
of their firms because of economic uncertainty, increasing technological changes, greater
availability of computerized data, shift in economic activity from manufacturing to services,
and increasingly uncertain demand for products and services.
One major objective of operations management is to design operations to better match
supply with demand. Aligning supply with demand will give a firm significant competitive
advantage over its rivals. A firm can achieve a better match through the implementation
of a number of quantitative models and qualitative strategies. These “tools of operations
management” will be introduced and surveyed in this course. The tools and concepts gained
from this course shall apply to all business functions industry wide. This course aims to

1. Familiarize you with the problems and issues confronting operations managers.

2. Provide you with the language, concepts, insights and tools to deal with these issues in
order to gain a competitive advantage through operations.

COURSE MATERIAL
The course material will help us to accomplish above-mentioned goals. Your textbook is a
contemporary customized introductory text book in Operations Management. This textbook is
specifically designed for California State University, Fullerton students. This textbook keeps
a wonderful balance between quantitative depth and intuitive managerial insights. It also
provides ample number of examples from different industries.
In addition, articles pertinent to each lecture topic will be assigned. These articles are
carefully chosen from Business and Management magazines and newspapers such as
Harvard Business Review, Forbes, California Management Review, The Wall Street Journal,
Businessweek, and The New York Times. Reading these articles not only will increase
your knowledge of Operations Management, but also will help you understand how different
businesses work. They also provide a good insight about managers’ challenge in the new era.
A few points about reading these articles:

• Most of these articles are recent (not older than 10 years ago). However, please pay
attention to their publication date; business environment has significantly changed since
2008 and these articles reflect the business environment of the publication time.

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• You are expected to read these articles before every lecture. You will also see questions
in your exams from these articles. Hence, read them carefully and come prepared to
every class!

• Note taking and summarizing while reading these articles is highly recommended. These
notes will help you in class discussions and exam preparation.

COURSE WEBSITE
We will use Titanium to facilitate communication. Your course website will contain information
on syllabus, lecture notes, case studies, assignments, practice problems, etc. It is your
responsibility to check course website on a daily basis.

PREREQUISITES
The prerequisites for this class are all lower division core courses or the instructor’s consent.
The course co-requisite is Management Science ISDS 361A. If a student is unqualified, he/she
must drop this class immediately, according to the standard procedure. It is your responsibility
to check if you fulfill the prerequisites. Besides official prerequisites, basic knowledge of ele-
mentary mathematics and probability/statistics is necessary and would be extremely
useful. In addition, you are expected to have a basic working knowledge of MS Excel includ-
ing the use of simple formulas, functions, and charts. http://www.Lynda.com is an extremely
useful training website that contains educational material in different areas including but not
limited to basic mathematics, probability, MS Excel, etc. Fortunately http://www.Lynda.com
is available via TITANium free of charge for all CSUF community. Make sure to check it out
and utilize it.
If you have any concerns regarding the prerequisites, please feel free to contact me.

ELECTRONICS POLICY
Our classes will be fully online via Zoom. Zoom link is already posted in course website.
Please make sure that your cellphone, tablets, all other electronics are silent; specially during
our Zoom sessions. Please silence your phones upon class start. Please refrain from texting,
checking your Facebook account, etc during the lectures.

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College of Business and Economics, Cal. State University, Fullerton

FINAL EXAM POLICY

College of Business and Economics (CBE) policy is that all exams are to be held in-person,
including exams in hybrid and virtual classes. This is MANDATORY for all CBE classes.
Students who feel uncomfortable taking an exam on campus are encouraged to review the
safety measures being taken by the campus at
https://app.smartsheet.com/b/publish?EQBCT=26985bc57e0f4760a940f9f593f53d9a
If, after reviewing these safety measures, a student is still not comfortable taking the
in-person exam with the class, a student may choose to make arrangements with an approved
external testing center at the student’s own expense. It is the student’s responsibility to locate,
arrange for, and cover the cost for an in-person testing center (typically a local community
college or university). Students must notify their instructors of the location and contact
information of the testing center a minimum of two weeks prior to the scheduled exam date, in
order for the instructor to coordinate with the testing center. The instructor is responsible for
determining the validity and legitimacy of the in-person testing center.
Additionally, based on individual student needs, one or more of the following options may
be available. Instructors do not need students to disclose any information about decision-
making relating to the options below. If verified by the respective offices below, the office will
communicate with the instructor directly if there are any accommodations to be made.

• If you are asking because you need an accommodation due to a disability, please contact
Disability Support Services. The DSS website at
https://www.fullerton.edu/dss/
contains ways to reach DSS staff and ask questions.

• If you are asking because you need an accommodation for medical/health reasons,
please contact Health Services. The Health Services at
https://www.fullerton.edu/health/
website provides ways to reach Health Services staff and schedule appointments.

• If you are asking because you prefer a non-in-person option, please contact your
academic adviser so they can discuss whether there are alternative courses that you
can take (virtually) that will help you make continued progress towards your degree.
Undergraduate student advising is available at
https://business.fullerton.edu/Programs/Undergraduate/Advising
and Graduate student advising is available at:

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College of Business and Economics, Cal. State University, Fullerton

https://business.fullerton.edu/Programs/Graduate/Advising

Final exam of this course will be conducted in person. Date of the final exam is
posted in Titan Online.

CALCULATOR FOR YOUR FINAL EXAM

You will need a calculator for your exams. Please plan on acquiring one accordingly. You can-
not share a calculator with your classmates during your tests. You do not need a sophisticated
fancy calculator; a calculator as basic as Casio FX-300ES is more than enough. You are not
allowed to use calculator app on your phone during the exam!

USING SLACK APP

We will be using Slack app for majority of course communications. Slack app is not a
replacement for email or communication via course website. It is just another communication
channel offered. You can communicate with me via email, course website, or Slack app. We
will discuss the details during the very first lecture.

FIRST LECTURE ATTENDANCE

Attendance in the first lecture of this class is required. If you miss the first lecture of the class,
your course will be administratively dropped. Please contact the instructor before the first
lecture if you will miss the first lecture due to an emergency.

GRADING and “RULES OF THE GAME”

Course grade will be based on the following criteria:

Homework assignments: 30%

Quizzes: 40%
Final Exam: 30%

We will have two midterms and one final exam. Exams will cover the assigned textbook
material, class lecture content, and assigned newspaper articles. Each exam covers the

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College of Business and Economics, Cal. State University, Fullerton

material subsequent to the previous exam except the final exam. Exams will be closed-book,
closed-notes. There will be no make-up exams except for acceptable family emergencies or
health reasons. In these cases, you might be asked to provide back up documents.
Final grades are based on a standard 90, 80, 70% basis (with adjustments when needed)
in which: 90% and above = A; 80-89.99% = B; 70-79.99% = C; 60-69.99% = D; Below 60% =
F. Additionally, I will assign +/- grades as needed. Details of the grading scale is listed in the
following page.

Letter Grade Percent Grade 4.0 Scale

A+ 97.00-100.00 4.0
A 93.00-96.99 4.0
A- 90.00-92.99 3.7
B+ 87.00-89.99 3.3
B 83.00-86.99 3.0
B- 80.00-82.99 2.7
C+ 77.00-79.99 2.3
C 70.00-76.99 2.0
D+ 67.00-69.99 1.3
D 63.00-66.99 1.0
D- 60.00-62.99 0.7
F Below 59.99 0

PROCTORIO
Your quizzes will be conducted via Proctorio. I’ll provide detailed information about this during
the semester.

TEACHING METHOD
Teaching methods will be of the hybrid format. We will meet for about 70 minutes per week;
and then you will be provided will the recording of parts of the lecture. It is each student’s
responsibility to watch these videos outside the classroom. In order to solidify students’

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College of Business and Economics, Cal. State University, Fullerton

learning, there will be a frequent, mostly weekly, assignment from the discussions and the
pre-recorded lectures.

ASSESSMENT
The main purpose of the degree program at the College of Business & Economics at California
State University, Fullerton is to provide you with the knowledge and skills that prepare you
for a successful career in business. In order to assist us in achieving this goal, we will use a
number of assessment tools to track your progress throughout the MCBE curriculum. Please
expect to participate in MCBE assessment activities in several of your courses while at the
MCBE. As you do so, you will assist us in identifying our program’s strengths and weaknesses
as well as areas for potential improvement. In other words, you are making an important
investment in the value of your degree.
Assurance of Learning is an integral part of both our AACSB and WASC accreditation
and this statement helps keep students aware of this process. For more information on our
College-based assurance of learning efforts, please visit our Assessment Center website at:
http://business.fullerton.edu/centers/CollegeAssessmentCenter.

ACADEMIC HONESTY
As a member of California State University Fullerton, you are expected to read and abide by
USP 300.021 on ACADEMIC DISHONESTY. Here is the link to UPS 300.021: http://www.
fullerton.edu/senate/documents/PDF/300/UPS300-021.pdf. If you do not understand the
rules, please ask for clarification. It is your own responsibility to check the rules. Potential
violations of the University’s Policy on Academic Dishonesty will be treated seriously and
penalties may include failure in the course or even expulsion.

STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Any student with a documented disability who requires academic accommodations should
contact California State University Fullerton’s Disability Support Services (DSS) office at
657-278-3112 or visit http://www.fullerton.edu/dss to request an official letter outlining
authorized accommodations.

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College of Business and Economics, Cal. State University, Fullerton

ATHLETES
If you are an athlete and need to miss a class/homework submission and/or exam, you need
to notify me by email of your pending absence by the end of the second week of classes and
support your absence with relevant documents. I will accommodate your absence based on
University Policy Statement.

RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS
If you must miss a class, an examination, or an assignment in order to observe a religious
holy day, you will be given an opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable
time after the absence. You must notify me by email of your pending absence by the end of
the second week of classes.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE

This is a core required course for all business majors that covers a great deal of material and
concepts that will be new to you. Consequently, I expect that you will find the course to be
rather challenging. To perform well, it is crucial that you spend time on a weekly basis on the
readings and articles, and come prepared to every lecture. Throughout the semester I will
provide you with ample number of practice problems; make sure to go over those problems.
Please utilize office hours as much as you could and ask your questions throughout the
semester and let me know if you have any questions/concerns as soon as possible.

EMERGENCY INFORMATION
The safety of all students attending California State University Fullerton is of paramount
importance. During an emergency it is necessary for students to have a basic understanding
of their personal responsibilities and the University’s emergency response procedures. In the
event of an emergency, please adhere to the following guidelines:

• Before an emergency occurs:

1. Know the safe evacuation routes for your specific building and floor.
2. Know the evacuation assembly areas for your building.

• When an emergency occurs:

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College of Business and Economics, Cal. State University, Fullerton

1. Keep calm and do not run or panic. Your best chance of emerging from an
emergency is with a clear head.
2. Evacuation is not always the safest course of action. If directed to evacuate, take
all of your belongings and proceed safely to the nearest evacuation route.
3. Do not leave the area. Remember that faculty and other staff members need to be
able to account for your whereabouts.
4. Do not re-enter building until informed it is safe by a building marshal or other
campus authority.
5. If directed to evacuate the campus, please follow the evacuation routes established
by either parking or police officers.

• After an emergency occurs:

If an emergency disrupts normal campus operations or causes the University to close for
a prolonged period of time (more than three days), students are expected to complete the
course assignments listed on the syllabus as soon as it is reasonably possible to do so.
Students can determine the University’s operational status by checking the University’s
website at http://prepare.fullerton.edu/ or http://www.fullerton.edu, or calling
the University’s hotline number at 657-278-4444, or tuning into area radio and television
stations. Students should assume that classes will be held unless they hear or read an
official closure announcement.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
Course tentative schedule is given in the following page. Note that this is just a tentative
schedule and will be updated based on students’ progress as semester advances. Also, in
case of a canceled class, we will have a make-up session. Note that in the following table, B
stands for Bateman part of the textbook and S stands for Stevenson part of the textbook. As
an example, S4 means chapter 4 of Stevenson part of your textbook.

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COURSE TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

Session Date Topic & Chapter Deliverable
1 Aug. 24 Syllabus & Course Overview, B1 & S1
2 Aug. 26 Introduction to Management (b) , B1
3 Aug. 31 Planning & Strategic Management (c) , B4
4 Sept. 2 Planning & Strategic Management (c) , B4
5 Sept. 7 Planning & Strategic Management (c) , B4
6 Sept. 9 Introduction to Operations Management (b, d) , S1
7 Sept. 14 Quiz 1
8 Sept. 16 Strategy & Productivity (b, d) , S2
9 Sept. 21 Product & Service Design (a, b, d) , S4
10 Sept. 23 Strategic Capacity Planning (c, d) , S5
11 Sept. 28 Strategic Capacity Planning (c, d) , S5
12 Sept. 30 Strategic Capacity Planning (c, d) , S5
13 Oct. 5 Quiz 2
14 Oct. 7 Process Selection & Layout (a, d) , S6
15 Oct. 12 Process Selection & Layout (a, d) , S6
16 Oct. 14 Process Selection & Layout (a, d) , S6
17 Oct. 19 Inventory Management, S13
18 Oct. 21 Inventory Management, S13
19 Oct. 26 Quiz 3
20 Oct. 28 Inventory Management, S13
21 Nov. 2 Inventory Management, S13
22 Nov. 4 Inventory Management, S13
23 Nov. 9 MRP & Aggregate Planning (c, d) , S11 & S12
24 Nov. 16 Quiz 4
25 Nov. 18 Project Management (a, c) , S17
26 Nov 30 Supply Chain Management (b, d) , S15
27 Dec. 2 Supply Chain Management (b, d) , S15
28 Dec. 7 Just In Time (JIT) Systems (b, d, e) , S15
29 Dec. 9 Just In Time (JIT) Systems (b, d, e) , S15

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College of Business and Economics, Cal. State University, Fullerton

Key for course schedule: (a) ethical issues; (b) global issues; (c) political, social, legal,
regulatory, and environmental issues; (d) technological issues; (e) impact of demographic
diversity on organization

FINAL EXAM DATE

Final exam of this course will be in-person. For In-Person Final Exam date, please
check Titan Online.

COURSE ALTERATION
I reserve the right to make any necessary changes to the syllabus and course as the class
progresses.

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