Operation Management Practice in Tesco PLC

This report discusses the Total Quality Management practice in Tesco PLC's operation management, its impact on customer satisfaction, organisational development, and competitive advantage. It also evaluates the use of technology and supporting functions linked to this practice.

Operation and service
Management

Table of Contents
Introduction .....................................................................................................................................3
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................3
Determine single operation management practice within Tesco plc..........................................3
Critically evaluate how this operation management practice impacts to efficiency of the Tesco
plc ...............................................................................................................................................5
Evaluate how technology could be embedded in this process or how this has already been
achieved......................................................................................................................................6
What supporting functions are linked to this operation management practice and evaluate how
can they assist with ensuring organisational success?................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
References .....................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
Operation management is the administrative business practice to create the maximum level
of efficiency in the operations of the organisation. The operation management is the complex
process of converting and allocating the raw materials and labour into the finished goods and
services. In every organisation there is a operation management team that has role of balancing
the cost with the revenues in order to attain the highest net operating profit (Roy, Shah and
Gajjar, 2020). The present report will discuss about the operation management of the Tesco plc.
The company is British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered
at Hertfordshire, England, UK. The Tesco plc is the third largest retailer in the world in respect
of the gross revenues. The report will outline the operation management practice in the
organisation and how it impacts the business in regards of efficiency. The report outlines the use
of technology in operation management practice.
Main Body
Determine single operation management practice within Tesco plc
Tesco plc is the large size multi- activity based organisation that works in various
segments and work on large number of operations in the order to stay competitive.The operation
management includes the utilization of the staff, materials, equipments and technology in best
manner in order to meet the client needs in most efficient manner. There are different types of
operation management theories such as Six sigma, Total quality management etc. that are
concerned with the handling of production and business operations in the most efficient manner.
The Tesco plc is diversified into highly different segments such as retailing of books,
toys, petrol, telecom and internet services, electronics etc. In order to maintain the value created
by the company through its low cost and high quality products, the company has to effectively
manage its operations using different practices of quality management. One of the key practice
of operation management that quality manager of the Tesco plc utilize in its organisation is Total
quality Management. This operational management practice is the approach to manage the
quality of service and product for the long term success of the Tesco (Sun and et. al., 2018). In
context of the Tesco plc, all the employers and employees participate in this practice to improve

the processes, services and products. The TQM also help the Tesco in improving the quality of
their organisational culture.
The TQM (Total quality management) system of the Tesco plc is the customer focused
system that aims at the continual improvement of the employees. By implementing the TQM in
the Tesco, the company quality and operational manager develop different strategy to integrate
the quality disciplines in the culture and operations of the company. The TQM practice of
operation management consist of 8 principles that focus on maintaining and enhancing the
quality of the operations of the Tesco plc. The eight principles are discussed underneath:
 Customer focused approach: as per the Tesco plc the customers are king that ultimately
identifies the quality level.
 Total involvement of employees: when all employees are committed high performance
culture is integrated in Tesco leading to continuous improvement.
 Process centred approach is the fundamental rule of the TQM as when there will be
quality in the processes of the Tesco plc the products and services delivered will be
automatically in quality.
 Integrated system is must in order to align action at common goals, mission and vision of
the Tesco plc.
 Strategic and systematic approach is critical for the TQM in order to develop the strategy
as per the vision and mission of the Tesco plc and also to integrate the quality in strategic
formulation.
 Continual improvement process drives the Tesco plc towards the regular improvement of
employees’ skills, processes in creative and analytical way to make the firm competitive.
 Decision making is also part of TQM as the fact based decisions are more appropriate,
accurate and efficient for the Tesco plc to maintain and enhance its quality and
performance (Shaikh, 2018).
 In order to perform all the above principles, the most important principle or part of the
TQM is the effective communication in the organisational culture of the Tesco. The
Tesco plc maintain healthy, friendly and informational communication in their day to day
operations.

Thus, the successful implementation of the TQM by the quality department of the Tesco
plc had ensured that the company is able to provide the quality of the product and services
beyond the customer expectation.
Critically evaluate how this operation management practice impacts to efficiency of the Tesco
plc
The quality department of the Tesco has a responsibility of taking care of the activities
related to the quality of their processes, employees’ performance, operations quality in order to
deliver the customers with best quality services and products for higher satisfaction (Größler,
2020). The effective utilization of the Total quality management practice in the operation
management is helping in the company in several manners in terms of increasing the efficiency
of the Tesco plc. The company has implemented the respective operation management practice
to gain the competitive edge in terms of the quality, customer satisfaction, productivity and
profitability. Some of the key positive impact of the TQM on the efficiency of the operations,
culture, social, economic etc. of the Tesco plc are discussed below:
Improved efficiency of customer satisfaction: A major benefit of the TQM is on the customer
satisfaction. In case of Tesco plc, the company through the characteristics and principles of the
total quality management has effectively gained the higher efficiency on the customer
satisfaction as the long term competitive advantage. By TQM, the Tesco plc determines the best
strategy, assures the quality that could equate the expectation of the customers of the firm in
terms of price, service and product. For this company has implemented the TQM and its
applications into its pricing strategy, production process and into the customer service strategies.
For example, with this practice the company has reduced the waiting time of the customers
standing in queues for long for payment of products.
Increased efficiency in organisational development: the TQM practice of the Tesco plc work
best to improve the working culture of the company by addressing and educating the employees
of the Tesco regarding the quality and also by making the quality as the mission and main
objective of the company (Grover, Kar and Dwivedi, 2020). Thus, by this, the focus of
employees is on the quality of the products and services that leads to the proactive working
culture in Tesco plc. For example, it is seen in the Tesco plc that TQM has improved the
flexibility in the organisation and also fostered the effective communication between the
employers and employees.

Increased efficiency of Competitive advantage: The application of the TQM in the Tesco plc
has resulted into the increased efficiency of overall organisation activities which has bring forth
all benefits thereby making the company more competitive. Through TQM, the Tesco has
retained their competitive edge by reducing the prices, innovating new products as per the needs
of market and through improving the quality and features of exiting product. Thus, in Tesco plc,
the applications of the TQM has increased the better productivity and position in market through
quality as the strategic competitive advantage.
Thus, it is critically evaluated that in case of Tesco plc, the TQM has outstandingly
increased the efficiency of the company in every single aspect. Most importantly, the company
has gained more productivity in all the diversified areas and also the resources are effectively
planned and managed in each area without any wastage (Slack and Brandon-Jones, 2018). This
has helped the Tesco plc to gain the higher operating net income.
Evaluate how technology could be embedded in this process or how this has already been
achieved
In the today's complex global business environment there is the huge competitive rivalry
between the organisations of each sector. The organisations of the retail industry of UK are
facing heavy competition with the changing customer expectations and demands (Tönnissen and
Teuteberg, 2020). The company's like Tesco plc are using the key force of technology
advancements as the tool to meet the customers’ needs and to provide them satisfactory
experience. In the technologically advanced business environment, there is emergence of
different technology that are easing the processes, operations and their functions.
In case of implementing the TQM practice of operation management in the Tesco plc, the
company is currently using the technology and is also embedded with the technology in its
applications of TQM. The improvisation of technology in total quality management process will
help the Tesco to earn business achievements and organisation growth.
The IT technology is the necessity for every business which helps the company to better
performance. The ITOM (Information technology Operation Management) technology has a
huge scope of measuring the performance of the employees precisely and accurately in the Tesco
plc (IT operations management (ITOM),2021). This measurement of performance through
technology will help in the process of TQM of the Tesco as the information collected will be
more fast and accurate. The TQM and ITOM technology are interdependent on each other. In

Tesco the during the TQM process the technology increases the quality awareness and online
information related to the Tesco plc in the less cost, thus saving the operational cost.
In terms of technology there are communication and computational tools, advance DBMS
all which are the major part of the total quality management system (Lee and Tang, 2018) (Lee,
2018). The use of this technology in Tesco helps the members of the firm in development
through procedures and incessant relationship with the workers.
Tesco plc can effectively embed the IT technology along with the process of total quality
management by developing the application called Total Quality Management Information
System (TQMIS). This operation management digital application is the integration of IT
technology and TQM practice (Yu and et. al., 2020). This will help the company in easy
operational management as the information will be acquired, stored and manipulated fast and
processed automatically in the digital form. Thus, this will help the company in facilitating
growth in the employees’ productivity, enhance the purchasers commitment and most
importantly quality of service and product will be served.
However, it is evaluated that use of technology with the TQM process will help the Tesco
plc in completing their task before time with greater efficiency and also the cost will be saved.
The most important technology used by the Tesco plc with the TQM is the digital recording
system that automatically records, filters and manage the resources, their quantity, amount of
items deducted or used etc. (Liao and Chen, 2018). In Tesco plc, there are already the KPIs that
already measures the performance of the employees or the organisation. The results of the KPIs
when integrated with the TQM of the company will help the managers of the quality department
in effective analysis of the company's performance.
What supporting functions are linked to this operation management practice and evaluate how
can they assist with ensuring organisational success?
There are the different supporting functions that are related with the TQM operation
management practice which involves planning, controlling and implementing of the operations
and manufacturing of the organisation with the help of operation management department. The
integration of the different supporting functions with the operation management practices is
directly linked to the products and the implementation of the manufacturing and production of
products with the operational activities of the company (He, Mak and Rong, 2019). Tesco PLC
has installed a new digitalized in store system called Scan as You Shop and Self Check out

station within the organisation for which company requires to develop an operational plan that it
can effectively maintain and accomplish the desired quality of customer service at the brick and
motor store. The IT functions is one of the key supporting element that are linked with the TQM
practice of operation management in collecting storing and processing the huge amount of
information gathered from different areas in order to convert the information into productive and
usable data.
The transportation and logistics function of the Tesco PLC is also supportive towards the TQM
practice of the operation management. As the managers of the transportation and logistics
department work hand in hand with the operation management in order to you have effective and
quality based supply chain of the goods. This also assist in transporting the right amount of
goods at the right location among the right people in order to maintain the quality of service. In
Tesco plc the transportation and logistics functions are also highly related with the production
function of the operation management because they are required to produce the goods and the
next step of produced goods to plan the transportation of those goods in the warehouse or at the
right place in the right manner. Planning function of the quality management department is
supportive towards the total quality management operation practice as there is use importance of
planning when there is operation management within the Tesco PLC.
After analysing the different functions that supports the total management practice of
operation management of the Tesco PLC is analyse it is very important for the success of the
company because without the integration of the different functions of the department the
company cannot develop an effective strategy and cannot reach their goals (Iwamura and et. al.,
2019). In every organisation that develops and manufactures the products or has a huge line of
operations must integrate their different functions with management practices of the operations
in order to gain the best results.
However, the supporting functions of the Tesco plc are highly essential for to gain
effective quality in their operations and also have a requirement of optimally utilising their
resources in order to increase the net operating income.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above study, of the operation management is clear that in order
to maintain the effective management of the operations the companies must improvise effective
operation management practices and strategies. It is analysed that effective operation

management provides an organisation with quality products and services which satisfy the
consumers. Operation management is considered as the most important because it helps in
achieving the missions and visions of the organisation and also there is the effective production
that helps to reduce the cost of production and thereby increasing the profit margin for the
organisation. The Total Quality Management maximum profits and productivity in organisation.
Operation manager it is very essential to evaluate the practices that organisation currently using
in order to manage their operations so that the positive impacts can be enhanced and negative
results for bad impacts can be mitigated at the right time in order to have retain customers
through effective practices. Operation management is also highly related to the technology as
with the growing technology companies are offering several technical advancements into their
operation management systems to is the process of operation management also to reduce the cost
with the best results. It is analysed at various functions of the business are connected and
supportive towards the operation management so that the integration of different functions can
result in to effective operation management within an organisation.

References
Books and journal
Größler, A., 2020. System Dynamics and Operations Management. System Dynamics: Theory
and Applications, pp.273-284.
Grover, P., Kar, A.K. and Dwivedi, Y.K., 2020. Understanding artificial intelligence adoption in
operations management: insights from the review of academic literature and social
media discussions. Annals of Operations Research, pp.1-37.
He, L., Mak, H.Y. and Rong, Y., 2019. Operations management of vehicle sharing systems. In
Sharing Economy (pp. 461-484). Springer, Cham.
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Lee, C.K.H., 2018. A review of applications of genetic algorithms in operations management.
Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence. 76. pp.1-12.
Lee, H.L. and Tang, C.S., 2018. Socially and environmentally responsible value chain
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Tesco : A Digital Transformation,2021, [online], Available
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