1 Choose an organisation that you work for, or are familiar with.- Briefly introduce the organisation and the products and services it provides.
2 Investigate your chosen organisation to evaluate how it is currently performing, and identify three operational areas that require change.
– Start off by briefly introducing your chosen organisation and explaining what 3 changes you have identified and why you believe they should be made
3 From the changes that you have identified, select one change that you want to make.
– Review the literature on project / investment appraisal and identify what methods / criteria can be used to do this. At least 4 academic references are required to underpin this literature review.
– From the review, choose the project / Investment appraisal criteria and evaluation method(s) that are appropriate for your changes and organisation
– Evaluate all proposed 3 changes, using the same evaluation methods / criteria, and from your analysis choose the change that you will plan to implement
4 Decide upon the approach you will take to manage and implement the change by putting forward a case for using both Radical Change and Continuous Improvement as the means for delivering the required improvements for the organisation, identifying the benefits and disadvantages of using each method.
– Review the literature on Radical Change vs Continuous Improvement and identify what criteria you could use to identify which improvement method should be used. At least 4 academic references are required to underpin this literature review.
– From the review, choose the criteria that are relevant for your change and organisation
– Evaluate your chosen change using the evaluation criteria and…
– Recommend your choice of improvement method(s), giving reasons for your choice – Radical Change, Continuous Improvement, or both, and why
5 Produce a draft Project Plan using MS Project, identifying all the tasks, timescales, dependencies, and resources that are required to implement the change.
– Outline the factors that you will consider when constructing your project plan, and apply them to create an initial draft project plan for your chosen change, using MS Project
– Explain the major phases of your draft project plan and provide details of the costs and timescales as calculated by MS Project. (full costing and resource capacity planning must be done using MS Project and this must be evidenced within your report)
6 Identify the potential risks to the successful implementation of your Project Plan, and what you would do to mitigate these risks.
– Review the literature on Risk Management within projects and identify what criteria you could use to identify barriers and risks, and what evaluation method(s) could be used. At least 4 academic references are required to underpin this literature review.
– From the review, choose the risk criteria that are relevant for your change and organisation, and an appropriate evaluation method.
– Critically evaluate your chosen change using the risk evaluation criteria and method to identify risks in your draft plan.
– Explain what alterations you have had to make to your draft project plan to mitigate the identified risks overcome them
7 Produce a final detailed Project Plan using MS Project, taking account of changes you have had to make as a result of your risk analysis, including an analysis of the impact of your proposed change on the organisation, identifying the costs, benefits and timescales as calculated by MS Project.
8 The full draft plan should be included in the appendices, and the full final plan as part of the main report.
In order to fulfil the requirements of your Personnel Development Plan (PDP) you must include a personal reflection on the process of managing your learning on this module. This does not count towards your overall mark or the word count.
The recommended text book for advice on referencing is Cite Them Right – the Essential Referencing Guide, by Richard Pears and Graham Shields, ninth edition, published 2013 by Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 978-1-137-27311-6
The assignment will be graded 50% for the report and 50% for the project plan.
The report should be 3,000 words +/- 10%.
The project plan is not included in the word count.
MS Project must be used to produce the project plan and to calculate the overall project timescales, resource usage, and project costs.
Tips on how to answer the assignment question.
1. Briefly introduce your chosen organisation
2. Explain what 3 changes to the operational performance are required, why they are needed, and the benefits that they would bring to the organisation, if implemented.
3. Critically review the literature on Project / Investment appraisal and identify a) the factors you are going to use, and b) the analysis method you are adopting
4. Evaluate all 3 changes using the factors and analysis method to choose the one change that you are going to provide a detailed plan for
5. Critically review the literature on Radical Change and Continuous Improvement to establish how you will evaluate which approach / approaches should be adopted for your change
6. Evaluate your change and establish whether a CI / RC or both approaches should be used
7. Construct a draft project plan using MS Project, showing the tasks, timescales, resources, and costs – full costing and resource capacity planning are to be done using MS Project
8. Critically review the literature on Project Risk and identify the risk factors and the analysis method that are appropriate to evaluate your project.
9. Evaluate your draft project for Risk using the chosen criteria and analysis method and identify the changes that need to be made.
10. Modify your draft plan to create your final plan showing the revised tasks, timescales, resources, and costs.
Notes
– Your draft and final project plan will need to contain a minimum of 50-55 tasks to achieve a good pass grade of 55% – 60%
– The draft project plan must be presented in full as appendix 1, but should be discussed and illustrated in summary form within the main body of the report
– The final plan must be presented in full within the main body of the report
Core Texts:
Slack N, Chambers S, Johnston R, (2013), Operations Management (7th Edition), Financial Times Pitman Publishing. (Although the 7th edition of Slack is recommended, any other of the editions will be ok to use.)
Essential Managers Project Management (2015), Dorling Kindersley
Supplementary texts:
Barton J., Emery M., Flood, R. L., Selsky, J. W. and Wolstenholme, E. (2004) A Maturing Systems Thinking Evidence From Three Perspectives Systemic Practice and Action Research Vol.17, 1,3-36
Burke R., (2013) Project Management Planning and Control Techniques, 5th edition, Wiley
Capon C., (2009) Understanding the Business Environment, 3rd Edition, Financial Times, Harlow, Prentice Hall
Clements J. and Gido J., (2014) Successful Project Management, 6th edition, Cengage Learning
Hammer, M., Champy, J., Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution (3rd Edition), Nicholas Brealey Publishing
Imai M., (2012) Gemba Kaizen: A Commonsense Approach to a Continuous Improvement Strategy 2/E, McGraw-Hill Professional
Jackson M. C., (2003) Systems Thinking: Creative Holism for Managers. Chichester. Wiley
Kerzner H. R., (2015), Project Management 2.0, Wiley
Lock D., (2013), Project Management, 10th edition, Gower
Maylor H., (2010), Project Management, 4th edition, FT Prentice Hall
Meredith J. R. and Mantel S. J., (2012), Project Management: a Managerial Approach, 8th edition, Wiley
Slack N., Chambers S., Johnson, R., and Betts, A., (2006) Operations and Process Management: principles and practice for strategic impact, Harlow, Prentice Hall
Slack N., and Lewis M., (2008) Operations Strategy, Second Edition, Harlow, Prentice Hall.
The marking guidelines for Level 6 are as follows:
Grade Element Descriptor Class
100
90 Knowledge The work is exceptional in that it is logically presented and error-free. It is creative and illustrates a thoroughly in-depth understanding of content as well as issues and problems. There is evidence of extensive reading and synthesis of primary research literature. FIRST
Criticality The work shows an exceptional, critical engagement with complex ideas and concepts. There is an outstanding appreciation of all of the relevant competing perspectives.
Application The work reflects an aptitude for applying knowledge in unusual and/or novel circumstances as well as to more typical work-based scenarios. Where appropriate, workable solutions to problems are offered.
Evaluation The work shows an exceptional level of evaluation and illustrates incisive conclusions based on that evaluation.
Communication The work is communicated with an exceptional degree of authority that comes close to that expected of a professional in the discipline.
89
80 Knowledge The work is excellent in that it is logically presented and almost error-free. It illustrates an in-depth understanding of content as well as issues and problems. There is evidence of extensive reading and synthesis of mostly primary research literature.
Criticality The work shows an excellent, critical engagement with complex ideas and concepts. There is an excellent appreciation of almost all of the relevant competing perspectives.
Application The work reflects some aptitude for applying knowledge in unusual and/or novel circumstances as well as to more typical work-based scenarios. Where appropriate, mostly workable solutions to problems are offered.
Evaluation The work shows an advanced level of evaluation and illustrates some solution-focused conclusions based on that evaluation.
Communication The work is communicated with an excellent degree of authority that comes reasonably close to that expected of a professional in the discipline.
79
70
Knowledge The work is extremely good in that it is logically presented and reasonably error-free. It illustrates an advanced understanding of content as well as issues and problems. There is evidence of some reading and synthesis of primary research literature.
Criticality The work shows an extremely good, critical engagement with complex ideas and concepts. There is an extremely good appreciation of almost all of the relevant competing perspectives.
Application The work reflects an attempt at applying knowledge in unusual and/or novel circumstances as well as to more typical work-based scenarios. Where appropriate, a few workable solutions to problems are offered.
Evaluation The work shows an extremely good level of evaluation and illustrates a few solution-focused conclusions based on that evaluation.
Communication The work is communicated with an extremely good degree of authority that sometimes comes reasonably close to that expected of a professional in the discipline.
69
60 Knowledge The work is very good in that it is mainly logically presented and reasonably error-free. It illustrates a good understanding of content as well as issues and problems. There is evidence of some reading of primary research literature. SECOND DIV 1
Criticality The work shows a very good, critical engagement with complex ideas and concepts. There is a very good appreciation of some of the relevant competing perspectives.
Application The work reflects an attempt at applying knowledge in unusual and/or novel circumstances as well as to more typical work-based scenarios.
Evaluation The work shows a very good level of evaluation and, perhaps, illustrates a few solution-focused conclusions based on that evaluation.
Communication The work is communicated with an occasional glimpse of authority that comes reasonably close to that expected of a professional in the discipline.
59
50 Knowledge The work is of a good standard in that there is an attempt to present it logically and it is reasonably error-free. It illustrates a good understanding of content as well as issues and problems. There is a little evidence of reading of primary research literature. SECOND DIV 2
Criticality The work has a fairly good level of critical engagement with complex ideas and concepts. There is a fair appreciation of some of the relevant competing perspectives.
Application The work reflects some attempt at applying knowledge in unusual and/or novel circumstances as well as to more typical work-based scenarios.
Evaluation The work shows a fairly good level of evaluation and, perhaps, illustrates a few solution-focused conclusions based on that evaluation.
Communication The work is communicated without very much authority. It requires development to come close to that expected of a professional in the discipline.
49
40 Knowledge Demonstrates a satisfactory level of knowledge, but with little evidence of reading of primary research literature. THIRD
Criticality The work has a fair level of critical engagement with complex ideas and concepts, but here is a little appreciation of the relevant competing perspectives.
Application The work offers limited application of knowledge in unusual and/or novel circumstances but is a little better concerning more typical work-based scenarios.
Evaluation The work shows a fair level of evaluation but rarely illustrates any solution-focused conclusions based on that evaluation.
Communication Although soundly presented, the work lacks authority. Due to some weaknesses in style, it does not come at all close to that expected of a professional in the discipline.
39
35 Knowledge The work is limited in that it is not logically presented and has errors. It illustrates little understanding of content as well as issues and problems. There is little evidence of any reading of primary research literature. FAIL
Criticality The work lacks much critical engagement with any ideas and concepts. There may be virtually no appreciation of the relevant competing perspectives.
Application The work demonstrates very little attempt at applying knowledge in unusual and/or novel circumstances and is little better concerning more typical work-based scenarios.
Evaluation The work shows inadequate evaluation and does not refer to any solution-focused conclusions based on that evaluation.
Communication The work is communicated in an unacceptable way. It is far from that expected of a professional in the discipline.
34
21 Knowledge The work is poor and has a number of errors. It illustrates virtually no understanding of content or of issues and problems. There is almost no evidence of any reading of primary research literature.
Criticality The work lacks critical engagement with ideas and concepts. There is almost no appreciation of the relevant competing perspectives.
Application The work makes almost no attempt at applying knowledge to any work-based scenarios.
Evaluation The work shows virtually no evaluation and hardly refers to any conclusions based around an evaluation.
Communication The work is communicated very poorly. It is not to any graduate standard.
20
5 Knowledge The work is extremely poor and has many errors. It illustrates no understanding of content or of issues and problems. There is no evidence of any reading of primary research literature.
Criticality The work lacks any critical engagement with ideas and concepts. There is no appreciation of the relevant competing perspectives.
Application The work makes no attempt at applying knowledge to any work-based scenarios.
Evaluation The work shows no evaluation and does not refer to any conclusions based around an evaluation.
Communication The work is incoherent and may be scant or severely under-length.
4
1
Z
(0) Nothing of merit in submitted work.
Where no work has been submitted the NS notation will apply.
Z designates work where an academic offence has occurred or been suspected.
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