Strategic quality and systems management

Pearson BTEC Level 7 Diploma/Extended Diploma Management & Leadership

in

Strategic

Strategic Quality and Systems Management Assessment Date for Submission: 29thMay2017(The submission portal will close at 23:59 HKT) Assessor Name: Kenneth Chang Remarks: Please note that all assignment must submit through Sun Space before the given deadline.

Assignment Brief As part of the formal assessment for the Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership programme you are required to submit an assignment for each module. Please refer to your Student Handbook for full details of the programme assessment scheme and general information on preparing and submitting assignments.

After completing the module you should be able to: LO1: LO2: LO3: LO4: LO5:

Understand the role of operations management in an organisation Understand the importance of managing quality in an organisation Be able to plan a strategic change in an organisation Be able to implement a strategic quality change in an organisation Be able to evaluate the outcomes of a strategic quality change in an organisation

Assignment Task You are a co-Director of a small clothing manufacturer in Hong Kong, producing high quality women’s clothing which is sold to independent designer stores in major cities within China. You have a small team of machinists working on exclusive designs which your in-house designer develops for each upcoming season. Currently, quality procedures are informal and what is deemed to be acceptable with regards to quality, left to individual machinists and their team leader to determine. Recently,

there has been an increase in the number of returns for faulty products whilst imported clothing from abroad of improving quality has been squeezing your profit margins and challenging your turnover.

Your partner and you have decided that since there are likely to be further factors impacting on the marketplace both now and in the foreseeable future and that given your management training, you should undertake a full environmental analysis and make proposals regarding the organisations future strategic direction. Because this is being written for yourself and your business partner, an informal report is required. You do not need to undertake extensive research into the women’s clothing sector where you live and / or work but do look at the environment generally and consider what the key issues are likely to be.

Task 1 a) With reference to your hypothetical organisation, explain the importance of effective operations management in achieving organisational objectives and consider, with reference to the literature and the case study, how you can evaluate the successof operations management processes in meeting overall organisational strategic objectives.

(Assessment Criteria 1.1, 1.2) b) Quality can be defined as “a distinctive attribute or characteristic possessed by someone or something” (Oxford English Dictionary online, 2011). With reference to the same case study, explain why quality management is important and how quality is likely to be managed. There is clearly an issue with quality within the organisation, with reference to the literature and the case study consider how you can evaluate the effectiveness of quality management processes in meeting organisational objectives?(Assessment Criteria 2.1, 2.2) Task 2 Identify an improvement (strategic quality change) that could be made to improve quality performance.

(Assessment Criterion 5.2) a) Outline a plan to as to how this improvement can be achieved. You might want to give consideration to:  The organisational objectives that the change would help meet  Current and proposed systems / process / technology  Strategic Objectives  Targets to be achieved  Physical and Human Resources required  The effect of the change to stakeholders and steps needed to be taken to manage this  Evaluation of change  Training required  How the effectiveness of the change will be evaluated  How you would monitor the implementation of the change (Assessment Criteria 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.3)

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b) With consideration to change management best practices, explain how you would implement

this change and embed a quality culture to ensure continuous improvement.

(Assessment Criteria 4.1, 4.2) Task 3 Explain how you would evaluate the outcomes of this change against likely organizational objectives and prior performance.

(Assessment Criterion 5.1) Formative Feedback Opportunity Students will be given the opportunity to receive formative feedback during the 'assignment workshop' sessions for this module.

Student Guidelines 1. You should write this assignment as aninformal report.

2. You must ensure that the submitted assignment is all your own work and that all sources used are correctly attributed. Penalties apply to assignments which show evidence of academic unfair practice.

(See the Student Handbook which is in the Induction Area). Please also refer to the ‘Guide to Unfair Practice in Assessment’ on the module page on SunSpace.

3. You MUST underpin your analysis and evaluation of the key issues with appropriate and wide ranging academic research and ensure this is referenced using the Bournemouth University(BU)Harvard system. The ‘My Study Skills’area contains the following useful resources; Study Skills Guide (containing a BU Harvard Referencing section) and a BU Harvard Referencing Interactive Tutorial. You must use the BU Harvard Referencing method in your assignment.

4. You should use diagrams and tables of figures where appropriate ensuring to reference their source using the BU Harvard Referencing method.

5. You are required to write your assignment within 3,500words in order for your research and summarising skills to be developed, and for effective time management. You are required to ensure that the assignment addresses all of the assessment tasks. In the interests of good academic practice, an assignment submitted with excessive word counts (i.e. more than 10% in excess of the limit) will be returned to you. You may be given a maximum of 48 hours to edit the work to reduce the word count to the permitted maximum. In the event that the submission is still regarded as excessively long then, in line with advice received from Pearson, we will be unable to accept it for marking and you will receive a Refer grade for Non-Submission.

The word count excludes the title page, reference list and appendices. Where assessment questions have been reprinted from the assessment brief these will also be excluded from the word count.ALL other printed words ARE included in the word count. Printed words include those contained within charts and tables.

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6. Your assignment should be submitted as a single document. For more information please see the “Guide to Submitting an Assignment” document available on the module page on Sun Space.

Recommended Additional Resources Textbooks Online E-Book recommended for this course – Fundamentals of Total Quality Management : Process Analysis and Improvement Dahlgaard, J. J.; Kristensen, Kai; Kanji, Gopal K. London : Routledge. 2002.

EBSCO Hoyle D (2007), Quality Management Essentials,1stEdition, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford Matthias T, (2013) Principles of Quality Costs Financial Measures for Strategic Implementation of Quality Management,Journal for Quality& Participation. Apr2013, Vol. 36 Issue 1, Special section p22 Thurer M, Principles of Quality Costs Financial Measures for Strategic Implementation of Quality Management,Quality Management Journal, 2013, Vol. 20 Issue 4, p52 Rao A S; Rao V G. (2013) Service Quality in E-Commerce and Strategic Advantage: An Empirical Assessment, IUP Journal of Business Strategy. Jun2013, Vol. 10 Issue 2, p50-66 Dror S, Sukenik Y, (2011) A Strategic Quality Framework Using QFD, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence. Oct2011, Vol. 22 Issue 10, p1057-1070 SMITH A D, (2011) Strategic Leveraging Total Quality and CRM Initiatives: Case Study of ServiceOrientated Firms, Services Marketing Quarterly. Jan-Mar 2011, Vol. 32 Issue , p1-16 Schafer S M. (2011) Implementing a Quality Review Process: The Need for Quality Control Review, Appraisal Journal. Summer2011, Vol. 79 Issue 3, p241-249.

Soltani E, Chau V S, Liao Y, (2012), A Learning Organisation Perspective of Service Quality Operations in the IT Industry, Strategic Change. Aug2012, Vol. 21 Issue 5/6, p275-284 MyiLibrary Slack et al, (2013) Operations Management, 7thed, Pearson Education Magazines, journals and newspapers Any quality management and operations management magazines and journals Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria

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In order to pass this unit, the evidence that the learner presents for assessment needs to demonstrate that they can meet all the learning outcomes for the unit. The assessment criteria determine the standard required to achieve the unit.

On completion of this unit a learner should: Assessment Criteria to Pass To achieve a pass you must meet all of the assessment criteria as stated below.

Failure to cover all of the assessment criteria will result in a referral grade and you will be required to re-submit your assignment.

Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria met

Further guidance on completion of your assignment can be found in the group learning space by your module tutor. For additional support please post questions onto the group learning space, or emailKenneth.Chang@sunderland.edu.hk

1

Understand the role of operations management in an Task 1 organisation

1.1 Explain the importance of effective operations management in achieving organisational objectives 1.2 Evaluate the success of existing operations management processes in meeting an organisation’s overall strategic management objectives

2

Understand the importance of managing quality in an Task 1 organisation

2.1 Explain the importance of effective quality management in achieving organisational objectives 2.2 Evaluate the success of existing quality management processes in meeting an organisation’s overall strategic management objectives

3

Be able to plan a strategic quality change in an Task 2b organisation

3.1 Plan a strategic quality change to improve organisational performance 3.2 Define resources, tools and systems to support business processes in a strategic quality change 3.3 Evaluate the wider implications of planned strategic quality change in an organisation 3.4 Design systems to monitor the implementation of a strategic quality change in an organisation

4 4.1 4.2 4.3

Be able to implement a strategic quality change in an Task 2b organisation Implement a strategic quality change in an organisation Embed a quality culture in an organisation to ensure continuous monitoring and development Monitor the implementation of a strategic quality change in an organisation

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Criteria Met For tutor use (you may wish to use this in your preparation for your assignment submission)

5 5.1 5.2

Be able to evaluate the outcomes of a strategic quality change in an organisation Evaluate the outcomes of a strategic quality change in an organisation Recommend areas for improvement to a strategic quality change that align with organisational objectives

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Task 3 Task 2