Operations and Project Management: Review, Critique, and Continuous Improvement Plan for MG Rover Group

This project focuses on operations and project management for MG Rover Group. Part one covers an implementation of operation management principles within the organization, analysis on how operation management meets the requirement of the company, and discussion of continuous improvement and its plan. Part two includes the title of the project, project life cycle, project methodologies, and effectiveness of PLC using theories and models.

Operation and Project
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
Introduction to an Organisation..................................................................................................3
Explanation of operation vs operations management.................................................................3
Review and critique of the implementation of operations management principles within the
chosen organization.....................................................................................................................4
Analysis of the extent to which the operations management of the organization in the case
study meets the requirements of the organization.......................................................................6
Discussion of continuous improvement as a philosophy and describe the Lean principles.......7
Prepare a continuous improvement plan based on the review and critique of operations
management principles within an organisational context...........................................................8
Analyze the effectiveness of a continuous improvement plan using appropriate theories,
concepts and/or models...............................................................................................................9
A continuous improvement plan, including your justified recommendations for improvement,
based on your review and critique of operations management principles within your
organization.................................................................................................................................9
PART 2............................................................................................................................................9
Project Title.................................................................................................................................9
Overview of Case Study..............................................................................................................9
Project Life Cycle.....................................................................................................................10
Building a case .........................................................................................................................11
Analysis of Project Methodologies and tools............................................................................12
Effectiveness of Project Lifecycle............................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Project management is an activity of using skills, knowledge and techniques in order to
accomplish the project goals in effective and efficient manner. The main role of project manager
is to plan, organise and direct the project of company by ensuring that it must be complete on
time, within scope and budget. Operation is one of the business function which aims to manage
the internal workings of Organisation (Vladimirovna and et. al., 2019). This project is based on
operation and project management and divided into two parts, review and critique of operation
management and project life cycle. Part one covers an implementation of operation management
principles within organisation, analysis on how operation management meets the requirement of
company and discussion of continuous improvement and its plan. Part second includes the title
of project, project life cycle, project methodologies and effectiveness of PLC using theories and
models. For accomplishing this project the chosen organisation is MG Rover Group.
PART 1
Introduction to an Organisation
MG Rover Groups is a car manufacturing company which is located in Birmingham,
United Kingdom. The Company was founded in 2000 when BMW sold the engine and car
making manufacturing assets of Rover group to Phoenix Consortium. Chairman of MG Rover
Groups is John Towers and chief designer of manufacturing firm is Peter Stevens. It consist five
cars they are Mini, Rover 75, MG F, Rover 25 and Rover 45. MG Rover had bought the business
from Phoenix Consortium as they were facing huge loss which creates huge impact on the
business performance. MG Rover has also formed a joint venture partnership with Shanghai
Automotive Industry Corporation in order to develop new technologies and model.
Explanation of operation vs operations management
Operation is a process of managing the internal workings of organization so that business
activities can be run in effective and efficient manner. It includes planning, coordinating and
organizing the overall resources for producing goods and services of Company. The main role of
operation manager is to make the plans for the betterment of the organization. They mainly focus
on ensuring smooth operation of business procedure (Nunes and et. al., 2018). Operation
manager plan and coordinate the overall activities of firm in order to improve the productivity,
performance and effectiveness. Operation management is an activity of designing and controlling

the production process, the function mainly focuses on planning and supervising the production
of products and services. There are various roles and responsibility of operation manager as they
design goods and services, develops location strategy, focus on quality management and
inventory management. Operation management is more concerned with converting labor and
materials into products and services in efficient manner so that business can earn maximum
profit. It is important in organization as it helps in controlling and supervising the goods and
services in effective way. In MG Rover Operation an operation management plays an important
role as it helps in administrating of business practices in order to create high level of efficiency
within business (Ding Pan and Wei, 2017). The operation manger of MG Rover develops
strategies for achieving organizational goals and objectives. Operation management helps in
improving the overall productivity of business and also they handle issues like maintenance,
design and operations of the system which is used by firm for production of goods and services.
Review and critique of the implementation of operations management principles within the
chosen organization
Operation management is a procedure of managing the machinery, labor, materials and
technology in order to provide high quality of goods and services to customers. It is all about
managing the every operations of business to support organizational goals and achieve the
desired target. They mainly focus on providing better results which includes faster delivery,
reduction in work in progress, better quality products, smaller inventories and enhancement of
workforce and equipment utilization. There are various principles of operation management
which must be followed by MG Rover as it helps them to avoid common thrive and problems.
Reality is a principle of operation management which must be implemented by MG Rover
Groups in its business activities as it helps in improving the performance and efficiency of
company (Kimmons and Loweree, 2017). The operation manager of MG Rover Groups must
focus on identifying the problems rather than focusing on techniques as there is no tool that helps
in providing solutions. By identifying the problem organization can work in effective and
efficient manner and achieve its goals and objectives.
Organization is also an operation management principle in which business activities must
be run continuously in order to increase its growth and profitability. There are different processes
which must be followed by Organization for achieving a great outcome. The production
activities of business are interconnected with operational activities due to which business can

earn huge profit. MG Rover Groups must also implement organization element so that they can
interconnect the production process with other elements in order to make them remain
predictable and consistent.
Humility is another principle of operation management which focuses on reducing the
errors. The operation manager of MG Rover Groups must implement humility principle in order
to identify the errors as it is costly process so managers need to understand that they also have
limitations (Laimiņa, 2018). By knowing the limitation they can save time and money and also
help production in long run. Managers of MG Rover Groups must treat themselves as an
ordinary person who can make mistake and don’t know everything.
Accountability is a principle of operation management in which managers are expected to
set rules and regulations in order to improve the performance and efficiency pf employees. It is
the responsibility of manager to ensure that their staff must have particular roles and
responsibilities in workplace so that they can work in effective manner and give productive
results. The Manager of MG Rover Group must also set metrics and rules while regularly
checking the objectives of company is being achieved.
Quality Control is also a principle of operation management that mainly focus of
providing excellent quality services to their employees. The operation manager of MG Rover
Group must have quality controls in place, they must have quality management team that can
measure the quality of its products ad services. There are various tools and techniques of quality
management which can help in improving the quality services such as total quality management,
lean principles, six sigma and many others.
Variance is one of the most effective principle which brings innovation in Organization.
MG Rover Groups must welcome the process of variance as it can be the source of innovation
and also enhance the efficiency of employees (Samejima and Akiyoshi, 2016). Through
variance creativity can be promoted and also company get better response to other forms of
variation.
Causality generally depicts that the problems which is faced by company are similar to
symptoms. By implementing the casualty principle MG over Group can can identify the problem
and remove the underlying cause as well. It is important for the managers to identify the root
cause of problem so that they get rid of problem forever.

Managed passion is also a principle of operation management which mainly focus on
passionate employees. MG Rover Groups must hire employees who are dedicated and passionate
about their work and contribute their best efforts in accomplishing the goals of business. The
passion of the staff leads to long term performance and growth of Organization. MG Rover
Groups must have motivated managers in its teams so that they can create a sense of passion in
their employees.
Change generally means adapting new things in business activities that helps in gaining
success and improving the performance of business. It is necessary for MG Rover Groups to
implement new theories and solutions so that they can embrace the change and gain long term
success. Organization must adopt modern change management methodologies such as kaizen, six
sigma and lean (Ćeha and Mitić, 2017). Through change management methodologies, MG Rover
Group can make decision on how to replace, augment and upgrade the existing production
management systems.
Success is last principle of operation management that depends on the happiness of
customer with the product and service they receive by Company. MG Rover Groups must focus
on keeping their customer happy in order to be successful and meet the goals. Customers are the
top priority of Organisation so it is essential to produce the products and services according to
their interest and taste.
Analysis of the extent to which the operations management of the organization in the case study
meets the requirements of the organization
The operation management of MG Rover Groups work on managing the operations and
process of business. Operation manager of company includes the product design, delivery
management, forecasting, supply chain management and quality control. They must have an
excellent coordination, organizational skill and people skill. The operation management of MG
Rover Group in case study meets the requirements by making an appropriate plan through which
they can make optimal use of resources. They focus on managing the goods and services, people,
information, resources and equipment. Through having operation management department, MG
Rover Groups can plan every single aspects of business such as productivity analysis. Quality
assurance, planning and improvement among others. The goal can be achieved by ensuring that
employees must complete the work in effective and efficient manner in order to maximize the
profit and growth of business (Tsukamoto, Sato and Tamura, 2017). Main objective of MG

Rover Group is to reduce the cost, improve the quality and enhance the productivity level of
business due to which they earn huge profit margin and increment in sales process. Operation
management helps in meeting the requirement as they focus on improving the overall
performance and efficiency of business. The functions of operation management gives various
benefits to car manufacturing company as it helps in increasing the quality of product and
services. Operation manger of MG Rover Group focuses on improving the quality of car features
and its other parts so that they can satisfy their customer and provide excellent quality of cars.
The effective operation management of company also increases the customer satisfaction by
fulfilling the needs and requirements of customer. It includes processes like stringent quality
controls, proper employee placement and proper planning that meets the need and requirement of
customer by providing quality products and services (Malyar and et. al., 2020). The operation
management of MG Rover Group also increases the revenue of company by producing high
quality products that matches the need and demand of customers and also attract more and more
people towards the brand due to which the revenue of company increases.
Discussion of continuous improvement as a philosophy and describe the Lean principles
Continuous improvement is a tool that improves the overall elements of Organization
such as tools, products, process and services. The improvement can be big or small which can
bring success for Organization. It is a method that identify the opportunity for gaining long term
success and remain competitive in Market. Continuous improvement as a philosophy mainly
focus on improving the safety, quality, workplace culture and productivity of business. The
Philosophy generally states that the way of life must be constantly improve no matter whether it
is working life, home life or social life. Through implementing this model in MG Rover Group,
they can achieve improvements by taking small steps instead of rigorous and drastic change. The
improvement under continuous improvement are incremental and small due to which it results
productive outcomes (Vidoni, Cunico, and Vecchietti, 2018). It is also a low risk and
inexpensive method to implement which mainly focus on improving the overall performance of
products and services.
Lean principles are the method through which company can create more value for people
with fewer resources. Through lean principle MG Rover Group optimizes the resources, energy,
people and efforts in order to create value to customers. There are few lean principles which
helps in increasing the performance and efficiency of company such as eliminating waste,

creating knowledge, delivering fast, optimizing the whole, building quality, defer commitment
and respect people (Prochnau, 2016). Lean principles helps in improving the process of
manufacturing cars on continuous basis and also the operation manager ensures that there must
be continuous flow of goods and materials for improving the operating performance of company.
MG Rover Group implements just in time method in its manufacturing process as it aims
to reduce flow times and costs within distribution of materials and production systems. The main
purpose of Juts in time is to reduce the flow times with production process and response times
fro customers and suppliers. It is an effective method as it reduce the waste and set up time
reduction.
Prepare a continuous improvement plan based on the review and critique of operations
management principles within an organisational context
Continuous improvement plan is an ongoing concept of making improvement in products,
process and services through constant measurement, action and review. The plan helps in
improving the elements of organization through which they gain success. Continuous
improvement plan helps in solving the problem and also improves the effectiveness and
proficiency of all process. It includes four step quality assurance method they are as follows:
Plan is the first step which identifies the opportunity and develop plan for change. In this
cycle, the factors are determined which requires improvement and also the measurement is
established for assessing the performance. MG Rover Group must plan the improvement
activities in order to gain positive results and outcomes.
Do is another step in cycle which implements the change process on small level. The MG
Rover Group must focus on implementing the change by measuring and capturing the data
through which company can assess the performance of its process.
Check is also a cycle of continuous improvement model in which the data is used to
analyse the change and determine its outcomes. MG Rover Groups must compare its actual
performance with planned performance so that they can understand the reasons for variance and
determine whether the change management process made difference.
Action is the last step in continuous management model that helps in implementing the
actions through which company can make improvements in its business activities. MG Rover
Group must also implement the change management process if it is successful and give better

results. If in case the change management process didn't work company must begin the cycle
again.
Through continuous improvement plan organization can identify the suitable and
effective change process that helps in gaining profitability and success. They must focus on
implementing continuous improvement plan as it helps in gaining competitive advantage by
improving the product, service and process. MG Rover Group can reduce cost, minimize the
waste, simplified the work process, increase the profit and improve customer satisfaction. BY
implementing the continuous improvement in its manufacturing process helps in developing and
improving workplace to become better.
Analyze the effectiveness of a continuous improvement plan using appropriate theories, concepts
and/or models
Continuous improvement process includes identification of problem, process analyses,
development of optimal solution, implementation of solution, study of result and standardization
of solution (Lientz and Rea, 2016). MG Rover Group must focus on implementing the
continuous improvement method as it ensures that the things can be done in more effective,
productive and efficient way. Through applying continuous improvement company can
challenge their staff to improve their knowledge and skill due to which they can stay ahead of its
competitors.
A continuous improvement plan, including your justified recommendations for improvement,
based on your review and critique of operations management principles within your
organization
Continuous improvement plan helps in improving the quality of its products and also
focus on reducing the cost and waste. There are various benefits of continuous improvement
such as it focus on customer satisfaction due o which the profitability and growth of MG Rover
Group increased (Xiao and et. al 2018). The disadvantages which may be faced by organization
while implementing continuous improvement plan is that the tool is implemented as an
incremental process.

PART 2
Project Title
The title of project is to reduce the movement of staff and help them to develop healthy
lifestyle.
Overview of Case Study
The Case study mainly focus on two objectives such as reducing the movement of
employees from premises during lunch break as it creates congestion issues and helping
employees to develop healthy lifestyle as it is the part of CSR activity and reduce the
absenteeism of staff. Line manager has asked to member of Project and Programme office to
analyse the business objectives to identify the feasible projects and creating congestion issues.
The project life cycle is also being implemented by reviewing the application of this concept and
providing theoretical arguments to justify the use of project methodologies within project. The
project focuses on proving healthy food to staff by cooking food in house. MG Rover Group
provides their employees in house cooking food benefits that helps in preventing from disease
and also employees get food on time.
Project Life Cycle
Project life cycle includes four phases that helps in achieving the objectives of project. It
depicts the journey of project from starting to end.
Initiation is the first stage in which the problems, opportunities and business need is
identified. The main goal of this project is to reduce the movements of staff in lunch breaks and
also develop healthy lifestyle for employees. Project initiation stage includes identification of
project objectives, establishing project scope, outlining project risk and submitting project
proposal (Bikitsha and Amoah, 2020). MG Rover Group must focus on starting the project of
cooking in house by identifying its goals and risk which are associated.
Project Planning is another stage of project life cycle in which the necessary ways and
steps is being provided in order to develop the meet the objectives of project. The planning phase
includes preparation of work breakdown structure, project schedule development, resource
planning, budgeting planning, risk management, procurement planning, communication planning
and quality planning. For providing in house cooking facility to employees it is necessary to
identify the resources that can help in improving the health issues and lifestyle of employees.

Project Execution is a process of implementing the plan into action, the role of project
manager of MG Rover Group is to keep work on track, manage timelines, organise team
members and ensure that work must be accomplished in effective and efficient manner. They
must implement the plan for providing in house cooking food to their employees so that they can
remain healthy and fit while working (Davis, 2016). The project manager must create task and
organise workflows, brief team members about the tasks, communicate with team members,
upper management and clients, focus on monitoring the quality of work and manage the budget.
Project Closure is the last stage of project life cycle which lay emphasis on final closure
of project. When the team members of MG Rover Group has completed the project they enters to
closure phase. In closure phase project manager provides final deliverables, determines the
success of project and realise project resources. If the project work is over it doesn't mean that
there job is done they also need to evaluate what did or didn't work within project (LiWenchao,
Ying and Shengjun, 2017). By providing food in house doesn't mean that the project is over
they have to continuously provide the food and monitor the quality of the food items by
analysing whether goal is met, documenting project closure, analysing team performance,
conducting post implementation and accounting used and unused budget.
Building a case
Name of Project: To provide healthy food to staff by cooking food in house
Vision and Mission: The Mission and Vision of project is to provide food that helps in
preventing from disease and staff can remain healthy and fit while working in Organization.
Executive Summary: The project is based on proving healthy foods to staff by making in house
food that saves the time and also reduce the movements in lunch breaks.
New Idea of Innovation: Organization is ringing organic food facility for employees in order to
prevent their employees from health issues and other problems.
Why is it an opportunity- It is an opportunity as due to COVID 19 people are demanding
organic food as compare to fast food.
how does it improve on what we already have? - It can help in reducing the movements of
staff during lunch breaks as they don't need to go outside the premises for eating food.
What resources do you need to bring it about – people, equipment, time, etc.?- The resources
which is required for completing the project is human resources and materials for preparing the
food.

What is the project plan?- It is a statement of work
What are the risks and the potential benefits?- Risk is the high cost and benefits is top earn
huge profit.
How will the cash flow work- Helps in maintaining the financial position.
Where and when are costs incurred and when do the benefits bring revenue back to offset
this?- The total amount invested in this project is 50000 in which the cost was invested in
providing training, hiring, purchasing raw materials, infrastructure and providing catering
services.
If the project is a new product or service in the market when will the project break even?
(no profit/no loss) – When company don't make or lose money, it generally occurs at growth
stage.
If it is a process change within the organization what will the savings be and when will the
project break even?- The savings of company will increases and break even point also occurs at
early stage.
Business Strategy for the project- The strategy is to provide healthy food to staff by offering
organic food items.
Advantages- Brand image increases and also eliminates movement of employees.
Limitations- High cost and food quality
Solutions for the limitations- Provide food at low price with high quality
Analysis of Project Methodologies and tools
Agile project management
Agile project management is an approach through which the project can be deliver
throughout its life cycle. It mainly focus on delivering maximum value by managing the time and
budget. The Principe includes the project breaks a requirement into smaller pieces, promotion of
collaborative workings, learning and adjustments at regular intervals and it also integrates
planning with execution (Chen and Chen, 2017). The advantage of agile project management is
to that it fixes and detects the issues and also provide immediate feedback. The disadvantages of
agile project management is that it is more difficult to measure the progress and also demand
more time and energy.
Lean methodologies

Lean methodologies is another tools of project management which mainly focus on
optimising the effort, resources and people of company towards creating value from customers.
There are different principle of lean methodologies such as creating knowledge, eliminating
waste, respect people, defer commitment, optimising the whole, respect people and deliver fast.
The advantage of lean methodologies is that it eliminates the waste and satisfy the employees
with their work (Wang and et. al., 2019). Disadvantage of lean methodologies is that it creates
low margin for error and sometimes workers also get frustrate.
Effectiveness of Project Lifecycle
The project life cycle helps in providing the structure for delivering the project and also
provide progressive evolution of the project. The main motive of project life cycle is to ensure
proper planning and execution of all stages. Effectiveness of project life cycle is that it keeps the
project within policy objectives of company that initiated the project. It also helps project
manager to check the processing of project so that they can control and link the progress of
project to each phase (Yevlanov and et. al., 2019). The managers in project management
mainly conduct research to determine the best process through which the project can be run in
effective manner.
CONCLUSION
From the above information it is being concluded that project management includes the
overall activities which is used to implement and run the project in smooth and efficient way.
There are different types of project management tools and methodologies which must be
implemented by Organisation in order improve the performance and efficiency of business. The
role of operation in businesses is to manage the process of creating goods and services.

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