MANT 212 Operations Management 2012

MANT 212
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Dr Diane Ruwhiu Co-ordinator

Room:
8.21 Commerce Building
Phone:
479 8075
Email:
diane.ruwhiu@otago.ac.nz
Office Hours:
Thursday 1pm 3pm
All enquiries to Diane in the first instance
Dr Richard Greatbanks
Room:
9.09 Commerce Building
Phone:
479 8658
Email:
richard.greatbanks@otago.ac.nz
Office Hours:
by appointment only

__________________________________________________________________

Introduction
Operations management is about effectively managing people and resources
in an organisation. Throughout the course operations management concepts
will be considered in both service and manufacturing contexts, including the
public sector government and health sectors. Operations management
includes general management across all functions in a smaller company and
the management of the operations function in a larger company.
In the MANT 212 course students will learn about the design, planning,
operating, control and improvement of operations management systems.
Topics include operations strategy, product design, process design, planning
and scheduling, capacity management, inventory management, resource
requirements planning, supply chain management and quality management.
The course develops the study of operations management from the base
established in BSNS105. Due to the introduction of MANT 251 Management &
Organisation, this is the last semester where MANT 212 will be offered as
MANT 251 has a module dedicated to operations management. However, this
course provides a basis for more advanced studies in operations Management
such as operations strategy, supply chain management, operational
excellence or innovation management. This subject may be taken on its own
for interest or to complement other commerce majors.

MANT 212 Operations Management 2012

Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to:
1. Demonstrate understanding of operations management as an activity in an
organisation context.
2. Demonstrate understanding of operations management concepts and theory to
identify, analyse and resolve typical problems that arise in managing operations.
3. Illustrate understanding of the role and utility of operations management decision
making on firm performance and/or its ability to achieve a competitive advantage.
4. Reflect on operations management as a field of knowledge (theories), as an activity
(function) and, as practice (tools, techniques, strategies) in an organisational context.

Lectures
Semester Two

Wednesday 11am 12 noon

AND

Thursday 9am 11am

The lectures aim toward the objectives of maximum learning and development plus
maximum interest for the students. The lecturer will be available to discuss any problems
regarding the course or the teaching materials and students should not hesitate in asking
questions, during or after the lectures and tutorials.
Lecture slides will be available on Blackboard the day of the lecture. Please note the slides
made available on Blackboard are an abstraction of material discussed in the class. If you
miss too many lectures, you miss the content being delivered. We approach each piece of
assessment as if you have attended all classes/tutorials and therefore have very high
expectations.
Student preparation for classes in the very least should include reading the notes and print
them off before coming to lectures. In addition, students should also at least be familiar with
the required reading for each lecture.
A student representative will be appointed from the class to collect comments and
information from students and discuss these with the lecturer.

Required Readings
Essential text for this course is:Operations Management, (2010). Slack, Chambers, and Johnston, 6th Edition. Prentice Hall,
Financial Times, London.
The course follows this text closely and therefore it is essential to have access to a copy.
Previous editions will also be useful and kept on close reserve in the Central Library for your
use.
The chapters to be read in advance for each lecture are indicated in this course outline
pages 3-4. Reading the text in advance should enhance learning and participation. In
addition, small articles will be attached to each lecture as complementary reading.
There are many books and journals available in the Central Library and the Science Library
which are useful for this course. Diligent searching will reveal these. Internet sites also
contain operations management subject references, and these can often be useful. Search
by subject to find appropriate materials.

MANT 212 Operations Management 2012

MANT212 OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME

Week
Beginning

Wednesday
(1hr)

Lectures
Thursday (2hr)

Tutorial No.

Assessment
Dates

Text

What is Operations Management?

Chapters 1 & 2

Lecture 1.
Introduction to
Operations
Management
What is
operations
management?

Lecture 2.
Strategic role &
Objectives of
Operations

16th July

Lecture 3.
Operations
Strategy

Lecture 4.
Operations Strategy
Discussion Point:
How does operations
management add
value to the firm?

09th July

Chapter 3

No Tutorials

No Tutorials

Design in Operations Management

23rd July
Chapter 4

30th July

Lecture 5.
Design
What do we mean
by design
decisions in OM?

Lecture 6.
Process Design

Lecture 7.
Process
technology

Lecture 8.
The Design of
Products & Services

Lecture 9.
Layout & flow

Lecture 10.
Layout & flow
Discussion point:
How do design
decisions add value
to the firm?

Tutorial 1
The role of
operations
management

No Tutorials

Chapters 5 & 8
06th August
Chapters 6 & 7

Tutorial 1
Hand in
due Wednesday
01st August,
10pm

No Tutorials

Operations Resource Planning & Control

13th August
Chapters 10 & 11

20nd August
Chapters 12 & 13

Lecture 11.
Nature of
Planning &
Control
Why do we
balance supply &
demand?
Lecture 13.
Inventory
Planning &
Control

25th August 02nd Sept.

Lecture 12.
Capacity Planning &
Control

Lecture 14.
Supply Chain
Planning & Control

Tutorial 2 Design

No Tutorials

Tutorial 2
hand in
due Wednesday
22nd August,
10pm

MID SEMESTER BREAK

MANT 212 Operations Management 2012

Week
Beginning

Wednesday
(1hr)

Lectures
Thursday (2hr)

Tutorial No.

Assessment
Dates

Text
03rd Sept.

Lecture 15.
Resource
planning

Lecture 16. Lean operations

Lecture 17.
Quality, Planning
& Control

Lecture 18.
Quality, Planning &
Control
Discussion Point:
How do planning &
control decisions add
value to the firm?

No Tutorials

Chapters 14 & 15
10th Sept.
Chapters 16 & 17

Tutorial 3
Resource
planning &
control

Operations Improvement
17th Sept.
Chapter 18 &
19

24th Sept.
Chapters 19 &
20

Lecture 19.
Operations
Improvement
Why do we need to
improve our
operations?
Lecture 21.
Risk
management/Organising
for improvement

Lecture 20.
Operations
Improvement/Risk
management

Lecture 22.
Organising for
improvement
Discussion point:
How can we be sure
our operational
activity maintains
the highest level of
competitive
advantage?

No Tutorials

Tutorial 3
Hand in
due
Wednesday
19th Sept.,
10pm

Tutorial 4 Improvement

Challenges facing operations management

01st Oct.

Chapter 21

08th Oct.
Chapter 21

15th Oct. - 10th

November

Lecture 23.
The Operations
Challenge

Lecture 24.
Corporate social
responsibility

Why do we need to
consider the future
proofing of operations
management
Lecture 25.

Lecture 26.

No Tutorials

Tutorial 4
Hand in
due
Wednesday
03rd Oct., 10pm

No Tutorials
Discussion Point: How
does a wider view of
environment or social
responsibility influence
our OM decision
making?

Course review &

revision

End of Year Examinations

MANT 212 Operations Management 2012

Tutorials/Assignments

Tutorials are one hour and will be held on Monday 11am and 1pm (location TBA).
Tutorial attendance is a necessary and essential component of this course as they are
designed around the assessment. However, it is your responsibility to attend. The tutorial
assignments form 60% of your total mark for this course. Please read the reading material
prior to attending the tutorial. If you have not read the case, we may ask you to leave the
class. We will not give you the answers but will assist the group in understanding the
material.

Tutorial assignments there are four (Assignment ONE is compulsory, but

assignments TWO to FOUR are best 2 out of 3). The assignments must be submitted via
blackboard in the appropriate assignments folder by 10pm on the due date (see dates in this
pack). Marked tutorials will be made available via blackboard within three weeks of the due
date. Tutorial reports should address each of the case/or essay questions. Your name,
student ID number, date and tutorial group should be included at the top of the first side.

All submitted work will be put through safeassign. This programme indicates
what seems totally original and what may have been cut and pasted. That is, it can detect
any replication from any source on the internet, other assignments (from your class and
worldwide) and any published work.
MANT 212 adheres to the University regulations regarding student plagiarism. Any
student found responsible for dishonest practice in relation to any piece of work submitted for
assessment shall be subject to the Universitys dishonest practice regulations which may
result in various penalties, including forfeiture of marks for the piece of work submitted, a
zero grade for the paper or, in extreme cases, exclusion from the University.
Plagiarism is a form of dishonest practice. Plagiarism is defined as the copying or
paraphrasing of anothers work, whether intentionally or through failure to take proper care,
and presenting it as ones own. In practice, this means plagiarism includes any attempt in
any piece of submitted work to present as ones own work, the work of another (whether of
another student or published authority).
Even if all work sourced from others is
acknowledged, the extent of others work included in a piece of submitted work may be such
that the work cannot be considered as ones own.
Any student found responsible for plagiarism shall be subject to the universitys dishonest
practice regulations as outlined above. Therefore, students should make themselves familiar
with
the
Universitys
policy
on
Dishonest
Practice
http://www.otago.ac.nz/administration/policies/otago003145.html or from the University
Home Page; click on Administration Policy Database Academic Policies Dishonest
Practice Guidelines.
There is also information on blackboard under the STUDY SMART tab. If you are at all
concerned, please talk to your course coordinator, or student learning centre http://hedc.otago.ac.nz/hedc/sld.html.

MANT 212 Operations Management 2012

There are three pieces of internal assessment for MANT 212, and a final exam. Diane will be
marking all of the assessment. Tutorial assignments (3 worth 60%) = Tutorial assignment
one (20%) is compulsory. Tutorial assignments two to four are best 2 out of the 3 (40%).
Assessment

Percent

Due Date

Comments

Tutorial 1
Monday 23rd
July

20% of course
mark

10pm
Wednesday 01st
August

Operations Strategic Tutorial ONE

Assignment
Role
is
compulsory

Tutorial 2
Monday 13th
August

20% of course
mark

10pm
Wednesday 22nd
August

20% of course
mark

10pm
Wednesday 19th
September

Tutorial 4
Monday 24th
Sept.

20% of course
mark

10pm
Wednesday 03rd
October

Final Exam
TBA

40% of course
mark

To be advised

Tutorial 3
Monday 10th
Sept.

Design

Tutorial
TWO
Resource Planning &
FOUR
Control
Assignments
are best 2
out of 3.
Operations
Improvement

2 Hours
3/4 Essay Questions

Submitting Assignments via Blackboard

All assignments are to be submitted electronically via blackboard by 10pm on the day it is
due obviously if there is a problem with the blackboard server I will also know about it. So
... DO NOT PANIC! If you cant submit it email it to me: diane.ruwhiu@otago.ac.nz.
Upload your assignment in the word.doc format - I will not accept PDF. On the Upload
Assignment page, please follow the steps below to submit an Assignment:
1. Select the Content Area from the Course Menu
that holds the Assignment.

The ASSIGNMENTS button

2. Click the name of the Assignment.

For example, Tutorial One Assignment folder

The Upload Assignment page appears.

3. Complete the Assignment Materials text box
if necessary.

Not Necessary.

4. Click Browse My Computer and select a file

to attach
5. Enter a Link Title.

Attach your assignment with all the written

specification requirements as per the assignment
sheet (e.g. student ID, Tutorial, etc.)
E.G. Your lastname/firstnameassignment1 ...
so that would be RuwhiuDianeAssignment1.doc

6. Complete the Comments field if necessary.

Not necessary.

7. Click Submit when the page is complete.

Yay! But read the warnings below.

MANT 212 Operations Management 2012

WARNING! If Submit is selected, and no files are listed to attach, the Assignment is
submitted and is no longer available to the Student to complete.
BUT WAIT THERES MORE! You will have the opportunity to submit a draft of your work
into a SAFEASSIGN folder to process your work. Please note depending on the time of day it
can take several hours to process (most of the time it is within an hour). If you are concerned
about the report feedback, then let me know. For example, often it will pick up repeated
questions in the assignment being checked by other students in class.
Assessment Policy
In general the mark is based on the content of the material and whether you have illustrated
sound theoretical and practical understanding of the topic at hand. However, I expect a high
standard of writing. Therefore, the presentation of the work is important regarding the clarity
of your argument/discussion.
Written work should be formal and tidy.
Illustrate an understanding of core topics based on lecture notes and other material.
Illustrate the ability to write clearly and concisely.
Make use of appropriate resources and references. The STUDY SMART tab on blackboard
has all sorts of information about writing, referencing and researching materials.
Coherent structure and information flow, including good spelling, grammar, etc.
All rules and regulations regarding assessment at the University of Otago apply.
Marked assignments will be returned to you within 3 weeks of submission. I mark
electronically, so there will be feedback embedded in the text using track changes and
then returned to you as a PDF file. There will also be a general feedback sheet available for
each assignment on blackboard and opportunity to discuss any queries regarding the
assessment. I absolutely expect that you read the feedback and use it in your following work.
Late assignments WILL have marks taken off the final grade. For example, an assignment
handed in after 11pm on the due day will have 5% taken off (e.g. an original mark of 70%=B
will be downgraded to 65%=B-). Any assignments handed in after this time may not be
marked or may be penalised 25% off the original mark.
Safety Clause I acknowledge that there may be circumstances outside of a students
control, which can severely impact on their ability to produce satisfactory work by the due
date. In these cases, students can contact Diane prior to due date so we can discuss
suitable alternatives.
Any student whose performance on assessment is impaired by illness to the extent that an
assignment extension wont be achievable should provide a medical certificate if they wish this
to be taken into account.
Re-grading - If a student feels that the grade received for an assignment is not satisfactory, they
may request in writing for the paper to be re-graded with a rationale for their request (no more
than one page).

MANT 212 Operations Management 2012

Grading Guidelines
The following standard grading guidelines will be used when marking all parts of this paper.
Grade
A+
A
AB+
B

%
90-100
85-89
80-84
75-79
70-74

Meaning
Rare, outstanding, flawless
Demonstrates originality; beyond what was expected
Excellent
Polished; very good
Comprehensive, covers material expected; demonstrates good
understanding
B65-69
Competent work; good coverage but minor flaws
C+
60-64
Demonstrates adequate understanding of fundamentals
C
55-59
Demonstrates adequate understanding of fundamentals but some
gaps
C50-54
Barely adequate
D
40-49
Inadequate; indicates a lack of understanding
E
0-39
Very poor
The key distinction between an "A" and a "B" is that an "A" requires some originality.
The key distinction between a "B" and a "C" is that a "B" shows both greater breadth and
greater depth in terms of coverage.
The key distinction between a "C" and a "D" is that it is clear that a fairly good
understanding exists in a "C" piece of work, while a "D" indicates that understanding is
inadequate or lacking entirely in at least some of the major aspects of the assignment.

How can you help yourself

You attend classes and tutorials my approach to assessment and marking takes this
for granted.
You read the material available to you on blackboard, textbook, etc. it is there to help
you!
You read and take note of any feedback provided in assessment.
You research and read beyond the material. What we provide is a starting point.
If you do have any concerns about your writing style, or ability to communicate in written
format

please
talk
to
Diane,
or
the
student
learning
centre
(http://hedc.otago.ac.nz/hedc/sld.html),
or
the
disabilities
office
(http://www.otago.ac.nz/disabilities/). I want you to pass. I want you to pass well. But
I can only mark what is in front of me.

Class Representatives
The class representative system is an avenue for encouraging communication and
consultation between staff and students involved in a particular paper or course of study at
the University of Otago. It provides students with a vehicle for communicating their views on
matters associated with the teaching and delivery of their paper or course of study. It
provides staff with the opportunity to communicate information to and gain constructive
feedback from students.
The School of Business fully supports the class representative system. Volunteers to act as
class representatives for this paper will be called early in the semester.

MANT 212 Operations Management 2012

The OUSA then invites all class representatives to a training session, conducted by OUSA,
about what it means to be a class representative and some of the possible procedures for
dealing with issues that arise. They also provide information on the services that OUSA
offers and the role OUSA can play in solving problems that may occur. The OUSA also
provides ongoing support to class representatives during the semester. School of Business
staff will also meet during the semester with the class representatives for this paper to
discuss general issues or matters they wish to have considered.
Contact details for Class reps will be posted on Blackboard.

Concerns about the course

We hope you will feel comfortable coming to talk to us if you have a concern about the
course. Alternatively, you can report your concerns to the Class Representative who will
follow up with departmental staff. If, after making approaches via these channels, you do not
feel that your concerns have been addressed, there are University channels that may aid
resolution. For further advice or more information on these, contact the departmental
administrator or head of department.

And finally...
Our aim is to provide a good understanding of the issues and areas of decision making faced
by operations (and general) managers in practice. To do so we will use a series of current
events, text case examples, our own experiences ... and even yours! We are both committed
to ensuring an academic, relevant and even fun learning environment. That does require an
equal commitment and participation from our student body. We look forward to meeting you
all and wish you the best for a productive semester.

Diane & Richard

Disclaimer
While every effort is made to ensure that the information contained in this document is
accurate, it is subject to change. Changes will be notified in class and via Blackboard.
Students are encouraged to check Blackboard regularly. It is the students responsibility to
be informed.