As required in the course outline, you have a term paper to develop describing an operations issue within a business unit that you know as an employee or as a customer. This assignment is a start at writing a term paper by outlining the topics in a presentation as an outline and then writing the details in a formal paper. You will be working on these slides up through week 3 and required to brief them during the course. A final version of the slides and the paper are due in week four, we are going to work on the topic and content of the slides and paper over the next few weeks.

This week you are only responsible for a slide describing the organization, introducing a problem and then constructing a problem statement in a question format. This is a rough draft so the takeaway is formulating a problem statement that you can use to write your paper. You are learning how to compose a problem statement so the instructor is expecting a rough draft and not a finished product.

The key to the assignment is to ensure that the problem being addressed is an operational issue and not strategic, or so large in scale that it would take years to address. Operations Management deals with the day-to-day processes of running efficiently so focus on something that can have measurable results on a short term basis. The instructor will have an example in lecture.

2nd Draft Slides” link above to submit your assignment, as well to get more information regarding the due date and grading rubric. You are to submit your slides for week 2 to include the revised introduction statement, problem statement, as-is and analysis sections for this week. This rendition of the slides is not a final product and will be due on Tuesday

Paper:

Each student will prepare a paper that analyzes an operations management related problem in an organization that is highly familiar to the student. Ideally, the student should use their work as the topic; it will be possible to choose an organization other than work provided that the student can meet the requirements of the assignment.

Operations management requires the use of financial and non-financial metrics so it is important that the student provides a graduate candidate’s analysis on the topics covered in the book, class and referential material from the library. Please use peer-reviewed references, or those that come from a source that is reliable. References to Wikipedia and other such sites are not acceptable nor are they scholastic. It is perfectly legitimate to use and cite interviews with your supervisors and peers as a reference; you must use at least 5 peer reviewed articles and the book as research instruments for this paper. Proper citing is mandatory in APA format.

Operations management focuses on numbers and objectives that are measurable. This is not a paper whereby the student provides an overview without portraying facts and figures pertaining to the selected organization. The paper requires research; you will be expected to integrate concepts from the course to better understand the situation and make recommendations for improvement on a process, project or program as described in class and the book.

Papers should demonstrate the student’s integration of the materials from the course related to the business chosen as the target topic of the paper. This paper will require analysis of operations management issues in an organization that is familiar to the student. The paper will require the following sections: (Pages are recommended guidelines)

1. Introduction and a Clear Problem Statement: Describe the organization and what it does; prepare a brief problem statement of an operations management issue in a selected organization. Include a clear question you wish to answer through the process of writing the paper. (1 page) (10 Points)

2. As-Is Condition: Select one of the topics that you will discuss and describe the current condition, process, project, or root problem to solve. Use at least two (2) of the Quality Tools (Charts) to illustrate the current condition as it exists. You can use PowerPoint, Excel or Word to facilitate the diagramming method to illustrate the as-is condition. Make sure you focus on the issue of your topic do not explain the tool you are using. The concepts in the list are pre-approved. You may request approval to use an alternate concept. (2 pages (Not Including Chart)) (20 Points)

3. Analysis: List the inefficiencies of the current condition; illustrate the cause-and-effects to the business unit if changes are not made. List gap issues as they pertain to efficiencies in service or products as a result of the current business condition. Apply the analysis concepts in terms of measurable facts that can be used to prove the current condition and to measure success. (2-3 pages) (20 Points)

4. To-Be Condition – Proposed Improvement/Solution: Describe the changes that will improve the current business condition; use the quality tool selected in the Current Condition to illustrate changes that will improve the performance of the problem statement. State the benefits as a result of making the change in terms of customer, stakeholder satisfaction, efficiencies, or cost reductions. Use the facts presented in the analysis statements as indicators of improvement. Keep in mind that they must be measurable (2 pages Not Including Chart) (30 Points)

5. Conclusion: Conclude the paper with a well written, and compelling recommendation to either proceed with the change or to abort the effort. (20 Points) (1 – 2 Pages)

6. References: APA Format and proper citings within the text of the paper.

Make sure you have each section in your paper and follow APA guidelines for papers. Remember to use at least five (5) peer reviewed references for this paper.

Choose a concept from the following list and use that theme for your paper:

•Improved Product Life Cycle Analysis

•Cost Reduction Process Improvement

•Customer Satisfaction Process Improvement

•Supply Side Process Improvement

•Market Side Process Improvement

•Outsourcing Analysis of a Current Internal Capability

•Job Description Analysis to Appropriately Staff an Existing Process

During Week 1 and 2 students will turn in a slide show in MS PowerPoint to assist them with writing the final paper. This will be reviewed to provide preliminary feedback on the progress towards a completed paper. Please indicate the Quality Tools being used. A rough draft is due during week 1 and final submittal in week two as outlined elsewhere herein.

WARNING: This assignment is different from what you have experienced in other classes. Pay very close attention to the “facts and figures” requirement of this paper; operations management is based upon objectives that can be measured. Nebulous objectives and performance metrics yield inappropriate results; business is all about results so the analysis of the current condition must have parameters that are frequently measured as a natural course of doing business.

It is very important that you pay attention to the directions above and comply with each of the requirements. Weaknesses of past papers have included not addressing each of the required areas. Missing a section means the points are lost. Organizing the paper differently from the requirements leads to producing a more superficial, descriptive paper rather than the required analytical treatment. It is to your benefit to make it easy for the instructor to find the material by following the prescribed format and APA guidelines.

Frequently, students forget to refine their problem statement. The problem statement should be a concise question that is to be answered in the paper. Failure to state a clear problem statement in the first section of the paper will result in an immediate loss of 10 points. Section 1 of the paper should build an introduction that leads to a clear and concise problem statement and is where the paper prepares the reader for the following analysis. Use a concept from the approved list or receive written permission to use an alternative. Do not integrate introductory section with the analysis section. Remember, recommendations are expected to address a question through practical actions. A final word, ask questions for clarification.

Term papers will be from 10-12 pages long (not including reference page or other pages you may choose to use, i.e. cover page, table of contents, or abstract page), doubled spaced, 12 point Times-New Roman or Arial type, one inch margins, and use the APA standards for reporting references. You must use a minimum of five outside, peer-reviewed articles from the university’s online library. Papers not using required outside, peer-reviewed sources will result in up to a 10 point deduction. All sources used must be properly cited. This includes all web pages used, whether you use quotes or not.