Rationale

This course aims to provide students with the opportunity to develop an understanding of the nature and importance of operational management and how it relates to strategic planning and the attainment of an organisation’s strategic goals. Students through this course will develop a critical understanding of how to organise a typical production process and an ability to apply relevant techniques to the production of an operational plan for a typical business. Emphasis will be placed on the improvement of certain intellectual, practical and transferable skills as well as on the development of critical thinking, numeracy, quantitative skills and on the enhancement of the academic, personal and professional development.

 Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course students will be expected to:
(i)    Discuss and explain the systemic nature of organisations and how effective operations management contributes to organisational performance.
(ii)   Critically examine the importance of the external environment and its effect on the organisation.
(iii)  Discuss and explain the different methods of developing higher levels of efficiency and effectiveness including the role of process, layout, product and job design, and the use of specific quality improvement methods.
(iv)  Conduct process planning and evaluate supply chain management activities and the application of capacity management techniques.
(v)   Describe the usefulness of financial, operational and planning techniques in project management.
(vi)  Explain how to measure and improve performance.