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UCAM/CIQ/203 Operational Challenges by Mediterranean Shipping Company Assessment 1B Answer

ELECTRONIC ASSIGNMENT COVERSHEET
Course/Unit Information
Course
CIQ Level 7 Postgraduate Extended Diploma in Business Management
Unit No.
203
Unit Name
Operations Management
Unit Code
UCAM/CIQ/203
Schedule Code
OMONL2006
LEARNING OUTCOMES AND ASSESSMENT FEEDBACK



Module Code & Title
UCAM/CIQ/203
Operations Management

Module Learning Outcomes
LO1
Know the various tools, techniques and apply suitable tools and techniques in different alternative scenarios of Operations Management
LO2
Apply information management techniques and evaluate them in context of operational functions to achieve competitive advantage and make the organization globally competitive
LO3
Apply and critically evaluate the importance of project management to given business situations (Using PERT / CPM)
LO4
Demonstrate operations strategy in domestic and global context, and evaluate how the use of technology has impacted the operational functions
Assessment Types
Marks
Marks Achieved

Assignment title
Operations Management
Read the following Scenario, and prepare a Report with the guidelines provided. 
Scenario: The learner is acting as an internal quality consultant for a chosen organization (preferably where the learner is currently working or any other chosen organization in mutual consultation with the instructor). The learner is required to look to explore supply chain strategies, operations management principles/ strategies and quality management systems within the organization against the organization’s long-term direction.
Assignment Task 1B
Presentation – [20 Marks]
Learners must design and present to the Board of Directors, a PowerPoint presentation, briefly answering the following questions.  
  • A brief   insight on the operations challenges currently faced by the organization and an overview of the operations performance criteria that matters most for the firm
  • Proposed operations strategy and solutions for the firm while giving examples of the successes of other organizations.
  • Highlight   the Macro and internal influences that also drove the need for a change in the current operations strategy. 
  • Supply chain and quality strategies, you think will contribute towards addressing the operations challenges and why you think they will 
  • What attributes the operations manager should have for a successful turnaround of the enterprise and how would these attributes also contribute to the corporate strategy of the firm.
GRADING AND RULES:
7-10 slides on PPT
10 minutes to present.
5 minutes for a Q and A session
You will be scored out of 20 with the marks distributed as follows:
PPT
(Quality of design, layout, images, overall appeal)
Content
Presentation Skills (Confidence, communication Skills, Posture, Voice Modulation)
Interaction/Q&A
Total
An important Caveat: If your slides includes extensive content then you are likely to go over your time. It is recommended to stay with bullet points and give an overview of them. Sometimes it might not be required to detail everything line by line, but to give an overview and speak around the data.  This requires practice but the approach will help you in delivering future presentations.
The Presentation (in PPT format for task 1B) should be submitted on LMS along with the assignment.


Answer

Introduction:

This assignment will discuss the Current operational challenges faced by the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). It will discuss the most important operational activities for the organization. It will discuss the internal and macro influences that also influence the organization about the need for a change in the recent strategy of the business operation. Moreover, it will discuss quality strategies and supply chain strategies to overcome operational challenges.

Challenges in the Business OperationChallenges in the Business Operation

Figure 1: Challenges

Source: (created by author)

MSC is the largest cruise company in the world. It operates its cruise line in South America and Europe. 

The MSC recently had faced the network outage issue at one of the company’s data centres. This issue disrupts the operations of the specific servers (Mediterranean Shipping Co., 2020). It creates a problem with customer service issues.

The company also faces the cargo declaration issues. It increases the risk for the ship operators and their valuable customers. The movement of the fake and counterfeit goods undermines the revenue of the top consumer’s brands. 

Most of the shipping lines of the company face serious issues and incidents at sea that damages the vessel of the ship. It causes the life loss of seafarers. It disrupts the entire operational activities of the organization (Mediterranean Shipping Co., 2020).

According to the above analysis, the MSC should focus on their transportation activities and business ethic to avoid the issues of transporting counterfeit goods. 

Proposal for efficient operational strategy

According to the above discussion, the MSC should focus on the operational strategy to improve their business operations. 

Operational management is responsible for the efficient planning of the resources, coordinating the resources, and controlling the business resources to effectively operate their business operations (Ignatieva and Gavrilenko, 2018).

The company can add value in several dimensions such as reliable transportation of goods, quality services by the cruise ship. 

The company can develop ethical agreements with its suppliers to reduce the chances of unethical business operations. 

The company can focus on the operations of its manufacturing centre to ensure the quality of its structure of the ship. It reduces the chances of the vessel damages of ships and reduces the chances of the life loss of seafarers.

The company can use the efficient information technology system such as Artificial intelligence system to provide better services to their customers. It would improve the experience of the customer by providing them with tailored information (Ignatieva and Gavrilenko, 2018).

As an example, the General Electric company improves its business operation by arranging the operation management leadership program for its employees. This program organized by the company to provide training to its employees about the technical knowledge and products by experienced leaders and seniors (General Electric, 2020).

The company can focus on the decision-making process of the operation management. The decision in operation management requires transparent business ethics, priority-based selection of tasks, redesigning the process to gain profit, systematically analyzing the risk, etc.

The company can also efficient tools and techniques for making an efficient decision in operation management such as Flow charts helps the organization by explaining the entire flow of their business programs (Berisha et al., 2017). Cause and effect diagram helps the organization to determine the root cause and sub cause of the particular issue.

Macro and internal influences on operational management 

Internal influences such as the Corporate objective of the organization focus on the performance and outcome of the entire business operation. 

The financial position, investment, and entire cost of the operation.

Human resources such as performance, knowledge, and skill of the workforce. Investment in employee training, workforce planning efficiency, etc.

Marketing issues such as continuous changes in the customer’s choice, attitudes, emerging trends in the market, etc (Cockayne,  Papalexi, and Jordan, 2016).

External influences such as Political factors, Governmental political interventions, transportation rate of the government, 

Economic factors: The income tax rate for cruise ships, fees, and expenses of port, charges, and tolls imposed by the governmental authorities, cost of immigration and naturalization.

Technological factors: security services, introducing innovative and creative technology for operating the operations of cruise ships. 

Social factors: changing choice and attitudes of customers, the pressure of the efficiency of competitors, 

Legal factors: Governmental law and regulations for business operations of cruise ships such as cruise vessel safety and security act, customer safety law, maritime law, etc. 

These above-declared internal and macro elements influence the MSC to bring changes in their operation management to avoid the unusual circumstances in their business operation. 

Strategies for managing the Supply chain and quality:

The company can digitalize supply chain activities to improve their business operations. The company can use the advanced robotics system and advance a big data analytics system to enhance the services of the supply chain. It helps the company to place a sensor in every activity and everything, it helps them to create networks everywhere and automate every process. It helps them to improve the performance of the supply chain system and enhances the customer satisfaction level.

The company can organize the training program for their employees that they can acquire the knowledge and experience from the senior and experienced employees (Tsai,  2018). It encourages them to acquire the knowledge from the supply chain and manufacturing site of the company about the new technologies and products itself.

Attributes of operation management:Attributes of operation management

Figure 2: Attributes

Source: (created by author)

Operation managers should be realistic. They should deliver constructive and hard feedback to suppliers and employees to empower them. Communication with staff and suppliers help them to get the exact reason for failure. It helps the operation manager to develop a proper strategic plan for achieving the business goals.

Effective supply chain management is essential for the operation manager to enhance the supply and demand of the raw materials along with the design of the products (Laari, Töyli, and Ojala, 2017).

The operation managers should look for efficiency in the operations. The operation manager should be flexible to adopt the necessary changes in the business operation. It helps them to increase the involvement of the employees in their work. 

The operation managers should maintain the business ethics and code of conduct of the business. It helps them to maintain legal activities in the business operation that reduces illegal issues, smuggling activities, etc. 

The operation manager should focus on the quality of the activities in the manufacturing site of the company to ensure the quality of the automated technologies in the cruise ships and sustainability as well.

Conclusion:

It concludes that the MSC should focus on the operational management of the business and implement a new information technology system to improve overall business activities. The company should digitalize the entire supply chain management system to improve the quality of their services. The company should implement automated technology like an artificial intelligence system for better customer service, data analytics system for improving the business operational services, etc.

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