Unit 4 Operations Management Assignment McLaren Technology

Program	Diploma in Business
Unit Number and Title	Unit 4 Operations Management McLaren Technology
QFC Level	Level 4

Introduction

Operations management McLaren technology report has been conducted over the topic operations management in business. For every business management of the operations of the business is an important part. Operations are managed in an effective manner with a motive to attain the objectives of the organisation. The main focus of the organisation is on the administration of the functions of the organisation so as to performing these functions in the most appropriate manner. This report covers the different aspects related to the operations management of an organisation. This program discusses the key elements of the operational management and the importance of the operations management in an organisation, the manner which the organisation can enhance in capabilities to deal with the elements of the environment by producing safely, timely, within the budget, high quality and complying with the laws, link between the concepts of operations management and strategic planning, a diagram for explaining the typical business and using the three E’s for explaining the link between both the concepts. It also covers the tension between the cost minimisation and maximisation of the quality, importance of the five performance objectives in operational  business management  for the products and services and the strategic objectives, importance of the linear programming for the operation of the organisation, critical path analysis of the independent activities of the organisation, importance of capacity planning, inventory planning and quality control in the operational management and the two operational performance objectives which can be determined by using the linear programming and a network diagram.

For gaining a better sight of the different aspects related to the operations management in business an organisation of United Kingdom has been selected named as “McLaren Technology Group” a British conglomerate. It was founded in 1985 by Ron Dennis. Its headquarter is located in McLaren Technology Centre, Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. It offers products and services related to technology, consumer electronics, formula one, food and restaurants, television and automotive to its customers for enhancing their satisfaction level by meeting the expectations.

Task 1

1.1 Outline the key elements of operational management and explain the significance of operations management with reference to your chosen organisation.

The term operational management can be understood as the management function of the organisation which executes the operations of the organisation so as to maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of the organisation. McLaren Technology Group is a huge organisation which is providing wide range of products and services to its customers. The main focus of operation management is over the execution of the functions of the organisation for the purpose of designing, operating and improving the system and performance of McLaren Technology Group. It enables McLaren Technology Group to analyse the needs for the purpose of development and improvement in the quality of the services and products offered to the customers so as to achieve the objectives of the organisation. It enables McLaren Technology Group to control and establish coordination among the different activities of the organisation. Operation management focuses over the attainment of the level where the resources of McLaren Technology Group are utilised in an effective and efficient manner. It is the responsibility of an organisation to provide safe and secure services to the customers (Clegg, et. al., 2013).

There are three elements of operations management and these three elements are discussed below:

• Customer: every organisation need to gain knowledge of the customers and the requirement of the customers so as to provide the products and services as per their needs. Operation management gathers the details related to the taste, preference, and choice, willing of the customers to pay for the product or serviceso as to produce the products and services as per the requirement of the customers. McLaren Technology Group is managing it operations for the purpose of attracting large number of customers towards the business (Hübner, et. al., 2015).
• Process: process can be understood as the stage in which the raw material is transformed in the final output for the customers. Operation management focuses over the execution of the different processes of the organisation in an effective manner. McLaren Technology Group is executing its processes by effectively managing the operations of the organisation.
• Capacity: capacity in relation to an organisation can be understood as the limit of the organisation to produce the output from the inputs used. Operations management helps the organisation in enhancing the performance of the organisation by managing the operations or functions of the organisation in an effective manner. McLaren Technology Group is measuring its performance and analysing the ways through which its capacity can be improved by managing its operations in a better manner (Hübner, et. al., 2015).

1.2 Discuss the extent to which the chosen organisation can enhance its competitive capabilities by producing safely, timely, to cost, to quality and within the law.

The level of competition in the  business environment  is increasing at a very fast speed. For the purpose of meeting the expectations of the customers from the organisation and for coping with the increasing competition in the business environment, every business or organisation need to produce quality, safe and secure products or services for the customers and that too on time so as to grab the opportunities and to execute the operations of the organisation within the legal framework. McLaren Technology Group is offering variety of products or services to its large customer base so as to ensure their safety and gaining a competitive advantage over the others in the business environment. By producing the safe products or services and secure products or services it ensures the safety of the customers and enhances the image or reputation of the organisation in the business environment (Hübner, et. al., 2015). Producing the products or services on timeand within the budget will enable McLaren Technology Group to gain an advantage by using the available opportunity for offering services or goods to the customers and potential customers.Quality of the products and services offered by an organisation plays an important part in predicting the chances of survival and growth of the organisation in the business environment. McLaren Technology Group is focusing over the quality of the products and services so as to enhance the satisfaction level of the customers. Rules and regulations need to be complied by every organisation so as to avoid the adverse impacts over the existence of the organisation.McLaren Technology Group can develop trust, loyalty and image among the customers and the society by producing the products and services safely, maintaining the quality, producing within the budget and within the time and by complying with the rules and regulations framed by the government (Jung, et. al., 2015).

1.3 Explain clearly the link between operations management and strategic planning referring to your chosen organisation.

Operations management can be understood as the administration process for used by the business for business practices so as to ensure the achievement of the highest level of effectiveness in the operations of the organisation. Strategic planning can be understood as the planning process or the method used by an organisation for the purpose of defining the strategies of the organisation. Both these aspects focus over the attainment of the objectives of the organisation. The main role of operations management is to establish coordination between the different functions of the organisation so as to ensure the attainment of the goals of the organisation. Every organisation need to manage its operations in an effective manner so as to make sure that the resources are utilised in an effective manner. Planning is an important part for every organisation which provides a framework for the execution of the activities focusing over the targets.McLaren Technology Group need to include strategic planning in its operations management as both the aspects will help the organisation in enhancing the performance of the organisation. Operations management and strategic planning used together will help the organisation in managing the different operations of the organisation by formulating plans for the execution of the activities of these operations in an effective manner which makes the implementation process easy (Poister, 2010).

1.4 Please produce a systems diagram to illustrate a typical business with reference to your chosen organisation.

Task 2

2.1 Using the ‘Three Es’ explain the link between operations management and strategic objectives. Use relevant examples to support your answers.

The three E’s include economy, efficiency and effectiveness and the motive behind using these three E’s is to improve the performance of the operations of the organisation. The concept of economy helps in minimising the cost involved in the operation of the organisation. This enhances the profit margin of the organisation as the cost of the operation gets reduced. Efficiency involves performing the activities or operations of the organisation in a flexible and smooth manner. Effectiveness ensures the execution of the operations of the organisation well on time so as to achieve the targets within the time frame decided for the operation. Strategic plan provides flexibility to the operations by drawing a framework for the operation of the organisation. McLaren Technology Group is involving strategic planning in its operations management so as to maintain the level of effectiveness in the operations performed by the organisation for the purpose of providing services and products to the customers and potential customers. It is ensuring the effective implementation of the plans so as to execute the operations in an economic manner. Strategic planning need to involve these three E’s so as to provide effectiveness and efficiency to the operations management of McLaren Technology Group (Latifi, et. al., 2014).

2.2 Based on your chosen organisation identify and explain the tension between cost minimisation and quality maximisations.

The main objective or motive of every organisation existing in the business environment is to maximise the quality of the products or services offered by it and to minimise the cost involved in the producing the products and services for the customers. Cost minimisation and quality maximisation are two crucial elements for every business which enhances the performance of the organisation in the business environment. McLaren Technology Group is offering wide range of products to its customers in the different parts of the world so as to attract the customers and to satisfy the needs of the customers and to improve the performance of the organisation for the survival and growth of the organisation. In this competitive world, with the increase in the level of competition the need to analyse the aspects which can lead to improvement in the quality of the product and services and reduction in the cost involved in the product and services. McLaren Technology Group needs to analyse the aspects which will help in the achievement of these two aspects which ensures the enhanced performance of the organisation as well as provides competitive advantage to McLaren Technology Group. Both the aspects affects the performance of the organisation at large as these directly affects the products or services provided by the organisation to its customers (Ryals & Humphries, 2010).

2.3 Based on your chosen organisation critically evaluate the importance of the five performance objectives in operational management of the products and services and the strategic objectives.

Performance objectives can be understood as the objectives of organisation which it wants or wishes to achieve for managing its performance. The five performance objectives in operational management of the products and services and the strategic objectives for McLaren Technology Group are speed of the organisation in the execution of the operations of the business, dependency level of the functions or operations of the organisation on other functions, quality of the product or the services offered by the organisation, performing the activities in a flexible manner and ensuring the level of effectiveness in the cost of the operations. McLaren Technology Group needs to achieve these five performance objectives so as to ensure the effectiveness in its performance or operations. McLaren Technology Group need to maintain speed in performing its operations so as to ensure that it achieves the objectives and uses the opportunity available to it well on time. Quality of the product or services needs to be maintained as it affects the satisfaction level of the customers at large. McLaren Technology Group need to focus over the maximisation of the quality of the products and services offered by it and minimising the cost involved in the operations of the organisation and of the products and services offered by it (Hakan Alt nta, et. al., 2010).

Task 3

3.1 And 3.2 discuss the importance of linear programming to the operations of the chosen organisation and critically evaluate the significance of dependant and independent activities in critical path analysis and network planning of your chosen organisation.

Linear programming is applied in the operations of an organisation or a business so as to ensure or to determine that the allocation of the resources is done in an optimal manner. It determines the effective allocation of the resources available with the organisation so as to maximise the profits or the organisation by utilising the available resources in an effective manner. Linear programming is an important aspect for McLaren Technology Group as it manages the operations and the flow of the resources in the organisation (Donkers, et. al., 2014). Dependant activities in a critical path analysis can be understood as those activities which depend upon other activities for the execution or the execution of these dependant activities cannot start before the completion of the activities on which it depends on. Independent activities in critical path analysis can be understood as those activities which are not dependant over the completion of other activities for the execution. Both the activities are important as these are the part of the operations management of the organisation (Daigle, 2016).

3.3 Explain the importance of capacity planning, inventory planning and quality control in operational management and identify it with your chosen organisation.

Planning is an important aspect for every organisation as it provides a framework or a guide for the further operations of the organisation. It forms a base for the operation of the activity of the organisation. Capacity planning can be understood as the process which facilitates determination of the production capacity required for the purpose of meeting the demands of the customers by the organisation. Inventory planning can be understood as the process which facilitates determination of the inventory level which needs to be kept by the organisation for matching the demand and the supply. Quality control can be understood as maintaining the  quality management  level of the products or services produced by the organisation so as to ensure the satisfaction level of the customers. McLaren Technology Group needs to plan the capacity of the organisation and the operations of the organisation so as to maintain the proper supply for the demand. It also needs to formulate plans for the inventory so as to keep proper inventory level and to maintain or set the quality standards for the operations of the organisation (Erkoc & Ertogral, 2016).

Task 4

4.1 And 4.2 Illustrate how two operational performance objectives can be determined using linear programming and produce a network diagram showing critical paths for an activity of the chosen organisation. Use relevant activities of your chosen organisation to support your argument.

McLaren Technology Group has used linear programming for analysing the issues and problems related to the different operations of the organisation. It has helped in solving the complex problems and improving the quality of the decisions taken by McLaren Technology Group for its operations. Linear programming helps in maintaining the quality of the operations as well as flexibility of the operations of McLaren Technology Group (Khaki & Rashidi, 2012). The critical path analysis of the activities of McLaren Technology Group is as follows:

Activity                                                     Proceeded by               Elapsed time (days)

A – Identification of the market condition          -                                      4

B – Arrangement of funds                                    -                                 13

C –Employing human resource                        A &B                                7

D –Installation of machines                            B & C                                 6

E –Production process                                    C & D                              19

F – Marketing of the product                             E                                     7

G –Sale of the product or services                     E                                    27

H –Collecting feedbacks                                  G                                     5

4.3 Explain how quality is achieved using the following: Quality assurance; quality control mechanisms; and variance analysis in the operations of this organisation

For the attainment of the quality there is a need to set standards which will help in making comparison between the predefined standard or level of the quality and the actual quality of the operations of McLaren Technology Group. Quality assurance, quality control mechanism and variance analysis helps McLaren Technology Group in managing the operations of McLaren Technology Group by acting as a check over the quality of the operations of the organisation and of the products or services offered by the organisation to the customers. All these concepts focus over maintaining the quality as per the standards (Hu & Ho, 2016).

Conclusion

This program has helped in gaining the knowledge of the various concepts related to operations management in business. From the execution of this program it can be concluded that operations management is a crucial aspect for every business so as to manage the effectiveness of its operations.This report has helped in the generation of an understanding of the operations management and strategic planning. It also provided  information knowledge  of the three E’s and its usefulness in linking operational management and strategic planning. It also explains the link between the minimisation of the cost and maximisation of the quality of the products and services offered to the customers and their role in enhancing the performance of the operations of the organisation.

References

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