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1 MGT800 (Service Operations Management) Consulting Project Guide and Marking Rubric Overview This project offers students an opportunity to act as business consultants. By applying the theories and concepts introduced by this subject, students will identify service quality gaps, critically analyse them and recommend improvements, which would have a positive effect on the quality and service delivered by the organisation to its customers. Students will choose a unique company/organisation and work individually. The work must be done in the form of a consulting report (approx. 2,500 words). The report must comply with the ICMS Style Guide (2018) and dwell on at least five (5) academic sources (journal articles, book chapters, conference papers, etc.) published after 2007 in English. In general, the preparation and writing of a consulting report will involve the following: 1. Selection of a product or service experience, process, operation or activity within a company (not an entire industry group or an entire company operation). 2. An analysis based on both the primary data (gathered from surveys, interviews and discussions with customers or managers and from your observations) and any secondary sources available (published materials, internet, video and audio resources). 3. A critical assessment of the process/activity and of its alignment with company goals. 4. A proposal of recommendations based on the above-mentioned analysis to improve the process/activity. 5. A discussion of how the proposed improvement(s) could be implemented and of its expected benefits (in terms of product, service experience, process, operation or activity). Instructions to students Choice of topic • Choose a company/organisation where you will have relatively unrestricted access to information. Ideally this will be an organisation where you work or have worked, but the link could equally be via a friend or family member. • As much as possible, make the management aware of the project and gain their approval to examine the operations and collect some qualitative data. Most management will welcome the opportunity to learn something new about their own business and get a consulting report (particularly if it is for free and provided you are not too obtrusive). They could even have a request to examine particular aspects of their operations to have the improved. 2 • If unable to gain direct access to a company/organisation, the project can be based around any business that you believe could benefit from such report. In this case, all information and data must be collected from secondary sources (still you can do some primary data collection, like surveying the customers opinion, recording the waiting times or service times etc.). • For larger organisations, the report should be focused on one aspect of their operations. This can be one type of service or one product class. Report content Whilst not every theory and concept covered in the course will be applicable to every organisation, students should be able to adhere to the basic report outline detailed below. 1. Industry background: Briefly describe the general industry and aspects that are common to all those who compete in it. This should include descriptions of the general value created, the service offered, the different types of customers targeted and the different ways in which companies in that industry choose to compete, etc. 2. Company/organisation background: How is quality defined in the organisation? Using the ‘Gap Model’ (studied in Week 5), diagnose at least 2-3 quality gaps that you found in the organisation’s services or product. Remember that the overall objective of the assignment is to come up with recommendations for the company/organisation on how to close these gaps. The assignment should show the evidence of comparative research performed on other company/organisation in the same or similar sector of economy. 3. Select a customer service process. The process chosen must have a direct relationship with the value the company/organisation aims to offer to its customers. A process flow chart or blueprint (studied in Weeks 3-4) is to be included in the report and critically evaluated through the following questions: • To which extent does the process support the strategic intentions of the organisation? • Does each activity add value? • How is capacity defined? What is the capacity of the process? What are the bottlenecks of the process? • Are queues an issue with this process? If so, how and why do they form? How are they managed? 4. Create a Process Control Chart. Collect, plot and analyse various data from the process (studied in Weeks 6-7). A minimum of 10 data points (observations) is required. It is recommended that student commence this task well before the assignment is due. The process control chart should be evaluated through the following questions: • What are the customer specifications relevant to the chosen process? • Is the process under control? • What are the common and special causes of variation? How can these be reduced? 3 • Is the process stable? • Is the process capable? • Can the process be simulated using a computer package (like ExtendSim)? What questions would be worth answering through the simulation? 5. Current management issues. What main employee management approaches or techniques does the organisation follow? How do they relate to the quality output of the chosen process? 6. Value chain. What supply/value chain is involved? How is it managed? Is there any inventory? Is there any opportunity to implement Lean Processes or the inventory management techniques discussed in the subject? What are the main sources of waste? How could these be eliminated? Recommendations Based on the analysis above, what recommendations could you propose to improve the quality of the company/organisation’s product or services? Implementation If the recommendations were to be implemented as an improvement project, what main issues the organisation should consider? What would be the major milestones to achieve? Note: students are not expected to do the implementation, just discuss its feasibility. Students will be asked to present briefly their work (in the form of the ‘3-minute thesis’) in Week 14. This will be an informal, unmarked activity for the benefit of the class. General comments and marking criteria The report must include the following: 1. ICMS Cover Page (Student Declaration); 2. An executive summary; 3. A table of contents; 4. The main body of the report should be approx. 2,500 words; 5. Appendices with any number of exhibits (charts, tables, graphs, etc.) may be added to support the main body of the report; 6. A list of used references, including websites accessed. There are four main criteria for success in this assignment: 1. Understanding: the report should demonstrate a clear understanding of the 4 company/organisation, the chosen process and relevant management issues. 2. Substantiation: the report should be underpinned by studied theories and actual data. 3. Insight: the work must demonstrate critical evaluation of and insight into the chosen process. 4. Presentation: the report should be well structured and clearly presented. Below is the list of common report deficiencies: 1. Too much focus is on describing the industry, industry competitors, structure of company/organisation; and too little attention is devoted to analysis and evaluation of operational problems. 2. Not enough studied material is used (i.e. writing about a generic service problem rather than the application of a studied quality tool or framework). 3. Insufficient explanation of the implemented method (i.e. how data was collected and analysed). 4. Not enough evidence of further academic reading. Beyond the prescribed textbook, various academic books and journal articles may contain ideas and useful analytical tools that can provide valuable inputs for your consultancy report. 5. Poor structure and/or text flow. The report proposes disjointed sections that are not connected into a cohesive argument that integrates them. 6. Lack of signposting. The introduction should explain the structure of the report and identify analytical tools and methods used in it. 7. Lack of self-critique. The report must critically evaluate the utilised tools and methods and highlight their limitations. 5 Marking Rubric The following criteria will be used when marking your report: Student Name: Student Number: Equivalent Grades: E = Excellent, V = Very Good, G = Good, S = Satisfactory, U = Unsatisfactory E V G S U Presentation (25%) • Length, legibility, spelling, punctuation and grammar is correct. • Executive summary, table of contents, and introduction are sufficient. • Exhibits, appendices and referencing are following the ICMS Style Guide. Understanding (25%) • Industry and organisation background • Description of the chosen process • Relationship between the process and organisation’s strategy • Benefits from process analysis or simulation • Supply/value chain management potential Substantiation (25%) • Data collected (primary and secondary). • Usage of studied theories and concepts. Insight (25%) • Comprehensive data analysis offered. • Opportunities for lean management proposed (queue or inventory management) • Recommendations for process improvement • Implementation difficulties outlined. • Limitations of report stated. Comments: Grade: HD D CR P F