Capella University Operations Management Issues and Decisions Proposal Discussion

Capella University Operations Management Issues and Decisions Proposal Discussion

Question Description
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Overview
Create a proposal to address operations management issues and decisions as they apply to a fictional bank.Operations management is the core of any business. It is the management function that coordinates all the activities in relation to product/service reliability, quality, efficiencies, delivery, and meeting customers’ expectations.SHOW MORE
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Context
Today’s global economy has forced companies to focus on how they deliver their product or service to their customers. Companies must now continuously evaluate better ways to reduce cost, improve quality, and give the customer more than was expected.Operations management is an integral part of this process because it focuses on the transformation of needed inputs to desired outputs. This transformation includes office, production, manufacturing, and vendors or suppliers, as well as other things that affect the company’s ability to deliver superior quality products.
Operations management includes the use of the facilities, equipment, materials, technology, and, most importantly, the employees. These operational activities are designed relative to sustainability concerns. Understanding operations management will allow you to see the flow of the product or service.A product or a service starts with design. A key component of the design process is to determine whether a product or service can be offered at a price point that will produce a profit for a company. A key consideration in design is any cost or environmental impact affecting sustainability concerns.
Another aspect of operations management is that companies must strive to improve the work environment for their employees and enhance sustainability concerns. People are a company’s most important resource, and managers must take care of their employees in order to grow and maintain industry leadership.
Our fast-paced economy has shortened the product life cycle, by forcing companies to update more often in order to serve their customers and stay ahead of the competition. One tool used by many companies to help maintain an advantage is the flow chart. This tool allows companies to diagram out all the processes needed to deliver their products. The flow chart diagram gives the visual flow of the work down to the simplest step in the process. It allows management to constantly review processes to see where bottlenecks occur and to help determine how they can improve the process.
Some of the best practices used by companies that lead in their industries include:
Breakeven analysis.
Benchmarking.
Reverse engineering.
Concurrent engineering.
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Questions to Consider
To deepen your understanding, you are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of the business community.
What are some characteristics of operations management decisions?
Select one operations management decision. Is this decision tactical or strategic? Why?
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Resources
SUGGESTED RESOURCES
The following optional resources are provided to support you in completing the assessment or to provide a helpful context. For additional resources, refer to the Research Resources and Supplemental Resources in the left navigation menu of your courseroom.
Library Resources
The following e-books or articles from the Capella University Library are linked directly in this course:
Aswathappa, K., & Shridhara Bhat, K. (2009). Production and operations management. Mumbai, IN: Global Media.
Plenert, G. J. (2002). International operations management. Copenhagen, DNK: Copenhagen Business School.
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Course Library Guide
A Capella University library guide has been created specifically for your use in this course. You are encouraged to refer to the resources in the BUS-FP4014 Operations Management for Competitive Advantage Library Guide to help direct your research.
Bookstore Resources
The resources listed below are relevant to the topics and assessments in this course and are not required. Unless noted otherwise, these materials are available for purchase from the Capella University Bookstore. When searching the bookstore, be sure to look for the Course ID with the specific –FP (FlexPath) course designation.
Reid, R. D., & Sanders, N. R. (2016). Operations management: An integrated approach (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Chapter 1, “Introduction to Operations Management.”
Chapter 2, “Operations Strategy and Competitiveness.”
Chapter 3, “Product Design and Process Selection.”
Chapter 11, “Work System Design.”
Assessment Instructions
SCENARIO
Consider the operations management aspects of the organization in the following scenario:Madero Bank is a regional U.S. bank. Madero Bank’s managers decided on a business strategy emphasizing customer service, rather than on some other dimension such as customer financials (providing higher interest rates on savings accounts, lower interest rates on loan, and so forth). To help the bank implement that customer service strategy, they conducted a survey of their customers, and found that the customers would like the bank to be open for more hours. As a result, Madero Bank decided to remain open until 7:00 P.M. on Fridays, and to be open from 9:00 A. M. to 4:00 P. M. on Saturdays.The expanded hours have presented challenges for Madero Bank’s operations management team, in staffing an adequate number of tellers to cover those additional hours without customers having to wait in long lines. Madero Bank’s managers are also considering additional approaches to support their customer service strategy, including the following:
Providing additional hours of telephone customer support (which would involve securing additional telephone lines, customer support representatives, and telephone and computer equipment).
Advancing the bank’s online banking functionality (including a redesigned Web site and the development of an app on each of the leading mobile platforms).
Redesigning the physical layout of the bank to better utilize high-contact areas (areas with significant customer traffic) and low-contact areas (areas with little or no customer traffic).
Offering service bundles for the bank’s largest personal and business banking customers, such as a predefined set of accounts, services, and reduced fees for platinum-level customers.
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT PROPOSAL
Using the scenario above, create a proposal in which you provide answers to the following questions:
How should operations management and associated improvements support Madero Bank’s strategy?
How might service bundles be utilized in support of this strategy? How do they relate to the initial purpose of the bank?
What are some of the key operations management decisions to be made at Madero Bank?
What operations management changes would you recommend, and why? (These changes could be related to hours, facilities, equipment, and personnel.)
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
Written communication: Written communication should be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
APA formatting: Any references and citations should be formatted according to APA (6th edition) style and formatting.
Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12-point.
Operations Management Scoring Guide
CRITERIA
DISTINGUISHED
Explain how operations management improvements support an organization’s strategy.

Explains how operations management improvements support an organization’s strategy and provides specific examples.
Explain how a service bundle relates to the initial purpose of a company.

Explains how a service bundle relates to the initial purpose of a company and provides specific examples.
Identify operations management decisions for an organization.

Identifies operations management decisions for an organization and discusses how they can positively or negatively affect the organization.
Develop recommended changes for an organization’s operations management function.

Develops recommended changes for an organization’s operations management function and justifies the recommendations.

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ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.