Operations and Project Management: A Case Study of ASDA Stores Ltd.

OPERATION AND
PROJECT MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
An introduction to the chosen organization:................................................................................3
Review and critique of the implementation of operations management principles with in the
context of the firm “ASDA stores ltd.”:......................................................................................4
Analysing on what extent the operations management have meet the requirements of the
organization “ASDA”:.................................................................................................................5
Discussion of continuous improvement as a philosophy and describe the Lean principles:.......6
Providing with the improvement plan for the firm by using in the six sigma methodology in
the context of the firm “ASDA”:.................................................................................................7
PART 2............................................................................................................................................8
Applying project life cycle (PLC) to a given context:.................................................................8
Building a case:..........................................................................................................................12
Pros and cons PLC:..................................................................................................................16
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................21
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................22

INTRODUCTION
The following report is based on the Operations and Project management that deals with
day to day strategic business issues that have to be followed accordingly. The writings will be
presented in two parts that will critically review the effectiveness of operations management by
applying theories and models related to it along with the application of project life cycle on a
given topic and context respectively. The project life cycle will again be critically reviewed on
the basis of project methodologies, tools and learning theories that will clearly define the basis of
formation and planning of the project. The idea behind such an approach is to increase reliability,
stability of the performance that can minimize the human efforts in order to eradicate the errors
caused by the humans. At last the report will be concluded on the basis of conclusions as to what
all have been the base of the report and what all can be done to carry out the project successfully.
PART 1
An introduction to the chosen organization:
ASDA, formed by a group of farmers in the continent of UK, was established in 1965
with a vision of expanding in the global market with its services across the globe. The company
provides eatables and general merchandise having its roots in both online and offline modes to
attract and stimulate more customers by its products and services (Jones. and Comfort. 2019). It
is also famous and renowned in providing economical as well as the financial services that are a
must in an era of digitalisation. With such a strategy in process, the firm has chosen the best
marketing techniques of connecting with people through its effective distribution channels
spread worldwide. The reason behind choosing this firm is because it is the second largest firm
in UK and has satisfied uncountable customers, also it will be helpful to understand the
operations management concept with it.
Operations management, that is a management function connected with supervising,
controlling and managing activities of the good and services produced. This concept of
operations management is very helpful in creating a sustainable business performance rate that
can assist the firm in achieving the business goals and objectives (Bhattacharya. 2021). It also
helps in analysing what all factors can negatively impact the overall operational activities of the
firm. Being the largest supermarket chain, it is important for the firm to focus on the financial
crisis as the operational activities are dependent on this factor only. It is also said that ASDA
prevails on its value chain constantly as it is the most important fundamental of operations

management that can bring about a positive in change strategic management and competitive
advantage.
Review and critique of the implementation of operations management principles with in the
context of the firm “ASDA stores ltd.”:
There are several operation management principles that have been quoted below:
Reality: the operational management in the organization must focus on large problems not on
small part of the problems. This principle is titled with this because most of the peoples got stuck
in daily tasks assigned to them and struggles with their roles and responsibilities making difficult
for them to cop up with the realistic solution (Mišić, and Perakis, 2020)
Humility: management authorities in the company must understand all the limitations and might
avoid the trials and errors at all the costs. This can bring in positive outcomes for the long term.
Organization: all the elements required in the process must be predictable as the operation
management cannot be profitable without planning.
Accountability: the individuals managing the operations must be accountable for the
proceedings. Management authorities not checking in the things can cause the loss in the
organization (Lee, 2018).
Change: in the organization changes are operated as the operational issues and new solutions for
the changes adopted in the organization. The adoption of the new changes in the firm might arise
problems for the existing production management systems.
Quality control: this principle is the holistic process that includes following factors like
procurement, logistics, material management and warehousing in the organization. This involves
careful monitoring to have proper quality management.
Success: for the proper achievement of the success in the overall operations, the customers of the
firm must be happy from the end product served, and they should also be willing to come back to
the firm for more and if not this would be problem for the firm.
Knowing the competition: to have the optimized business operations, knowing the
competencies of competitors is one of the most crucial part and once it is done then the firm can
have in the competitive advantage.
Causality: problem in the operations represent itself with the signs before occurring, so it must
be identified and proper cure for the problem must be found to solve it. Not doing so even when
the problem is known can create the problems for the overall organizational process.

Consumer collaboration: in the last principle, it is determined to know the proper needs and the
wants of the customers by collecting the information from the market. This can help the firm in
improving the products and services. But if this is not done then it might be causing in the
problems and firm might be loosing in their customer base (Glock, and et.al., 2019).
Analysing on what extent the operations management have meet the requirements of the
organization “ASDA”:
Operation management is the process that helped the company to plan out the tasks, control and
supervise the manufacturing and the production process of the organization. Operation
management have made the things possible like in every sector of concern in the industry. This
management resulted in the effective way in the organization as it helped the firm to achieve in
the following things that are stated as below:
Product quality: the firm have achieved the proper product quality with the effective operation
management process and helped to achieve the quality of the product that is desired as per the
customer needs (Sutharsan, Prasad, and Vijay, 2020).
Productivity: this helped the firm to have the proper input output ratio and this also made the
management authorities to know about the appropriate input given by the employees. This
showed that the firm is operating at efficient levels.
Customer satisfaction: proper operations in the organization resulted in the good customer
satisfaction and in this way the customers made the organization thrive in the good ways, and
they are treated in the best way to have the proper satisfaction from their purchase.
Reduced operating cost: as the company achieved all various factors like productivity, product
quality and customer satisfaction. So with this all the cost incurred on the products have been
reduced this lead to have more revenues in the firm and only the proper operation management
made this possible for the firm to achieve it all.
Discussion of continuous improvement as a philosophy and describe the Lean principles:
Kaizen: kaizen is one of the important tool that helps in improving the quality, productivity and
safety and culture at work place. This process focuses on the application of small and daily
changes that would be resulting in betterment of the organization as a whole. The process
involves the following steps in them which are identifying the problem, analyzing the process,
developing an optimal solution, implementation of the solution, monitoring the results and
standardizing the solution to the problem. By adopting this principle the firm can have numerous

benefits like improved process, proper team work and ownership, etc (Amaro, Alves, and Sousa,
2019).
Quality Circles: this is one of the technique with in which the group of the performing the same
task meet up and identifies the problem analyze it and solves it. It consists of minimum of 3
members and maximum of 12 members. This process haves the following factors like
development with the overall enhancements' by utilizing human resource of the organization,
improving the quality of the products and satisfying the employees. Adoption of this method in
the organization gives in the proper abilities like improvement in the communication,
management and awareness of the employees, personal development, enhanced decision making,
improved motivation, opportunities for the individual development.
SCM: this process is related to the management of the goods and services, finances, and data of
the organization related to the overall goods and services offered by the firm. This helps in the
procurement of the raw materials to be delivered at the final destination. This process involves
few steps need to be followed like continuous flow, fast chain, efficient chain, agile formation,
custom configured and flexibility. There are two types of the management process which are
reactive supply chain management and data driven supply chain management. This process
provides with various benefits when adopted that are good collaboration with suppliers, better
quality control, strong cash flow, etc.
ERP: enterprise resource planning is the type of soft ware that helps organization to manage day
to day operations like accounting, procurement, project management, risk management, etc. this
contains the suite of soft ware that helps by automating the business functions like production,
sales, quoting, etc. this process can provide with the different benefits like enhanced business
reporting, better customer services, increased cash flow, better data and cloud security, etc.
Recommendations: the firm can adopt the quality circle that would be helping by making in the
process of operations easy and to develop the employees and organization as well in the whole.
This would be providing the firm with the numerous benefits and can help in its internal and the
external development. It can provide with improved communication, properly managed
employees, enhanced decision-making, and opportunities for the individual growth and personal
growth and with the overall organizational growth too.