Operation and Project Management: A Case Study of Sainsbury plc

This report provides a review and critique of the implementation of operations management principles within Sainsbury plc, including a continuous improvement plan based on the review. It also discusses lean principles and six sigma.

OPERATION AND
PROJECT MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART-1............................................................................................................................................3
1.Introduction of Sainsbury plc.......................................................................................................4
2.An explanation of operation vs operations management..............................................................4
3.A review and critique of the implementation of operations management principles within the
chosen organization.........................................................................................................................4
4.An analysis of the extent to which the operation management of the organization in the case
study meets the requirement of the organization.............................................................................5
5.Discussion of continuous improvement as a philosophy and describe the lean principles
including six sigma..........................................................................................................................6
P2 Prepare a continuous improvement plan based on the review and critique of operations
management principles within an organisational context................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1
PART-2 PROJECT PORTFOLIO...................................................................................................2
OVERVIEW OF THE CASE STUDY-..........................................................................................2
EXPLANATION OF THE STAGES TAKEN BY THE PLC........................................................2
Project initiation-.........................................................................................................................2
Project planning-..........................................................................................................................3
Project execution.........................................................................................................................6
Project closure.............................................................................................................................7
BUILDING A CASE.......................................................................................................................7
ANALYSIS OF THE USED PROJECT METHODOLOGIES AND TOOLS.............................10
Project methodologies-..............................................................................................................10
Project management tools-........................................................................................................11
Project leadership-.....................................................................................................................11
REVIEW AND CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PLC IN
THIS PARTICULAR PROJECT..................................................................................................11
Performance management-........................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

PART-1

1.Introduction of Sainsbury plc
Sainsbury is ranked as the second largest supermarket chain in united kingdom. It has its
headquarters situated in London united kingdom. Currently, Company has a market share of
14.9% in the super market sector (Chambers, 2019). It was founded on 1869, which makes it
experience packed organization. Sainsbury has a diversified product portfolio of over 90000
products which includes grocery, food, meat, clothing, electronics, baby products, drinks, health,
entertainment etc. Sainsbury has recently acquired Argos which has further increased the product
line and profitability of the company. It has 180000 employees working under different
departments of the company. It makes company very cautious about any measure taken in
employees interest, as it can affect organization on large level.
2.An explanation of operation vs operations management
Operations can be understood as everything which happens in a company that keeps it
running and bring the profitability to the business. At Sainsbury operations are a cumulative term
which includes various process like manufacturing, selling in super market, product designing,
effective delivery of goods, inventory management, capacity planning etc. operation is an
umbrella of many actions which a business undertakes to flourish and enhance the market value
(Sannino and et.al., 2020).
On the other hand operation management can be defined as it is administration of
business actions and practices that creates the highest or optimum level of efficiency in the
organization. It basically looks after the task of converting labour and materials into services and
goods as efficiently as possible for the purpose of profit maximization in the organization.
Operation management at Sainsbury plc helps make the business process effective which foster
the revenue of the organization. Functions like manufacturing, inventory management, customer
satisfaction falls under this category.
3.A review and critique of the implementation of operations management
principles within the chosen organization.
At Sainsbury the operation management handles the conversion of inputs into outputs in
order to generate a better quality product and build a strong supply chain management. There are
basically two types of operation systems. First is opened and second is closed loop. The opened
operation management states the speedy and quicker method as an effective way and closed loop

states a monitoring process which ensures taking effective feedbacks which improve the quality
of goods and services of the organization. Sainsbury is a supermarket based company which has
recently hired more employees in various outlets, which can bring the customer satisfaction by
knowing their expectations (Do and et.al., 2021). Employees are the face of the organization as
they are once who directly interact with the customers therefore Sainsbury takes proper care of
the work environment and employees needs. Taylor's theory of scientific management says that
the environment can be reviewed by simplifying, optimizing and giving training to the
workforce, as skilled and trained labour can enhance the profitability of the business yet the cost
of training is a disadvantage to the business. Sainsbury depends on flexible specialization
phenomenon that closely engage in the distribution and production to mitigate the gap among
changing consumer demand.
4.An analysis of the extent to which the operation management of the
organization in the case study meets the requirement of the organization
Sainsbury's corporate structure is hierarchical which helps them achieve organizational
goals and objectives. Each department in the organization carry out different roles which are
important for overall completion of the process such as finance, marketing, operations, human
resource etc. these departments work collaboratively in the organization for effective work. The
main objective of the Sainsbury is to reduce the prices of the final products due to the reduction
in the purchasing power of the customers, as Covid-19 has negatively impacted the purchasing
power of the individuals (Murray and Caraher, 2019). For reducing prices they are adapting the
economies of scale strategy for the production. Also, they are trying to reduce any financial
activity which does not support the profit maximization in the company. Sainsbury has built a
huge brand image as its promise high quality goods at fair prices which is its USP (unique selling
point), therefore company is constantly trying to improve quality of the products to retain the
large customer base. Company is choosing to enter into new market and penetrating the products
in to the new market for the enhancement of the productivity by adapting the technological
advancement.
The operation management helps in providing support in terms of meeting the needs and
demand of the stakeholders. e.g. company hires more staff for the outlet which faces more rush
and queues to provide fast services to the customers. To deal with delivery issues they have
recently acquired Argos which has robust delivery system in the organization.

5.Discussion of continuous improvement as a philosophy and describe the lean
principles including six sigma
Continuous improvement is a vital part of the management which helps to determine
the challenges and flaws resulting in better quality products and services which satisfy the
customers. Continuous improvement is necessary for every task in the organization as ultimately
they are leading to the profit maximization. The first principle is that a business needs to avoid
fixing and start improving. And second is focusing on existing practices, third determines the
changing and challenging behaviour (Luo, Olsen and Liu, 2021). Fourth is, in case company is
not failing, it must not be trying for the improvement.
The primary goal of the lean method is to minimize and control the waste. There are
several methods which can be used to eliminate the waste in the production and operation
management process. Sainsbury follows Kaizen method of continuous improvement, this
specifies the optimization of resources by adapting the collaborative working style in the
organization. Just in time is another method of lean production which believes in making
products for the immediate demand rather than storing it for future. Kanban is another lean
method of production which ensures the monitoring of each process in the company to enhance
the production flow in the company. Kanban helps in visualization of the production process.
Control wastage is also very important as it controls the production waste in the organization. It
gives advantage in the cost (Akkas and Gaur, 2021).
Six Sigma and its effectiveness:
Sis sigma is the model which is used by the organizations to management the quality
factors. Firstly, Sainsbury would Define the project goals that what are those factors which are to
be achieved by the organization. At the same time some relevant aspects would be articulated. At
once when the goals, objectives are defined then some measures are to be fabricated. These are
quite essential since the performance can only be measured if there are well articulated measures.
Then the outcomes which are measured get analysed both positive and negative aspects are
evaluated. This would be helpful for the organization since it will give it deeper insights in
attempt to bring some better changes.
Then in the fifth stage of six sigma analysis improvements would be made. If Sainsbury
gets any form of discrepancy, then would strive to make some changes in its process and
performance in order to keep the organization profitable. At the end, in the final stage Control is

being imparted. This is the stage where some key decisions are made so can keep the
organization lucrative in nature.
P2 Prepare a continuous improvement plan based on the review and critique
of operations management principles within an organisational context
These are some models which can be applied in order to bring better continuous improvement
plan. With these regards these models are supposed to get used.
Kaizen: the organization can abide with the practise of eliminating the waste related issues so
the overall productivity of the organization can be enhanced. It helps organization to align with
continuous progress (Helmold and Samara, 2019)
Quality Circles: In this model the organization may go with quality circle model. It would be
very much helpful to improve the quality of the process. The organization can bring some
notions such as Plan, Do, Check, action. These all steps are very much viable to make the
organization thrive.
Benchmarking: It is the process of setting some goals for the performance. It paves the way
forward for the entity to measure the performance as accordance to the measures it has. There
may be multiple types of measures such as quantitative and qualitative.
TQM: The theory stands for Total Quality Management. The long term goals of an organization
can only be achieved if it is working on its overall quality in order to make the entire operations
productive.
SCM: It stands for supply chain management. In the present scenario where the organizations
are working in a very complex environment. In such predicaments they must align with SCM. It
not only eradicates the sense of confusion but also helps to fetch better operational efficiency.
ERP: This technique is being used by many organizations to manage their daily activities. This
in quite essential if the organizations are striving to have better internal management and external
efficiency of work. Then this becomes one of the best model to go with.
Value Engineering: This theory is being used by organizations to determine and making
improvements in the value structure of the organization. Sainsbury is engaged in retail sector so
it becomes very viable for the organization in order to reduce the additional cost and hiking the
offered value by the organization.
P2 Continuous improvement plan based on the review made above:

Keeping the above analysed models, and theories in mind the below framework is being used in
order to fabricate a continuous improvement plan. The plan is as-
Plan: There is strong need that organization plan something bigger, specifically after pandemics
there is great scope to widen its performance in the market so with this regard, some immediate
actions can be taken (Franco‐Santos and Otley, 2018)
Do: Then as per the plan, Sainsbury is supposed to take some actions which can establish better
position. Here, it will be formulating some theory and solutions to eradicate the roadblocks.
Check: The theories, models and plan which is made in order to deal with the prevailing
circumstances. There is need to check out them. It would be affective for the organization to last
for longer in the market.
Act: From the previous actions this is the time to take some key steps and act as accordance with
the requirements. It paves the way for continuous progress and making great development in the
market.
So, the above suggested plan can be taken into consideration in attempt to have continuous
improvement aligning with the market requirements.
M2 Effectiveness of continuous improvement plans:
The above continuous improvement plan can be assessed with the help of some theories and
models. These models and theories are quite essential for the act of measuring effectiveness. The
benchmarks would be set in order to assess the performance and appropriate changes will be
imparted. At the same time, by using SCM, the retail giant would ensure better supply chain in
the organization. On the other hands, by using TQM, Sainsbury will be helping its operational
performance in attempt to be highly productive and hiking overall quality related efficiency.
D1 Continuous improvement plan and justification along with some recommendations:
Sainsbury is abiding with “Taylor's Scientific management theory” the model is being
practised by the organization in order to make its both internal and external operations efficient
and highly inclined to scientific approach. This plan can be imposed with greater extend if some
key principles are taken into consideration. So here, some recommendations are extended to the
organization such as- Smart work analysis process, defining and delegating tasks more
efficiently, establishing stronger but proper hierarchy etc. (Koberg and Longoni, 2019)
At the same time the organization may also apply “Flexible Specialization” plan. Sainsbury is
working in retail sector where competition level is quite higher. This plan can be imparted by the

organization by making some key changes such as there is need to make the business process
flexible so can entire organization may work with greater flexibility.
CONCLUSION
Form the report above it can be summarized that the role of operational and
organizational management is highly prominent. The report also presented views on
implementation of operations management principles and the way they impact business
operations. Then a range of theories such as Kaizen, JIT etc. were evaluated. Six sigma model
was also applied. At the end of the report some key theories, models such as TQM, SCM and
ERP etc. got evaluated in order to fabricate a continuous performance management plan.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Akkas, A. and Gaur, V., 2021. Om forum—reducing food waste: An operations management
research agenda. Available at SSRN 3833026.
Chambers, R., 2019. Men and water: The organisation and operation of irrigation. In Green
Revolution? (pp. 340-363). Routledge.
Do, Q.N. and et.al., 2021. Supply chain agility responding to unprecedented changes: empirical
evidence from the UK food supply chain during COVID-19 crisis. Supply Chain
Management: An International Journal.
Luo, N., Olsen, T. L. and Liu, Y., 2021. A conceptual framework to analyze food loss and waste
within food supply chains: an operations management perspective. Sustainability. 13(2).
p.927.
Murray, S. and Caraher, M., 2019. Food retail and distribution: A focus on supermarkets. In
Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems (pp. 93-102). Routledge.
Sannino, G. and et.al., 2020. Cultural dimensions, Global Reporting Initiatives commitment, and
corporate social responsibility issues: New evidence from Organisation for Economic
Co‐operation and Development banks. Corporate Social Responsibility and
Environmental Management. 27(4). pp.1653-1663.
Koberg, E. and Longoni, A., 2019. A systematic review of sustainable supply chain management
in global supply chains. Journal of cleaner production. 207. pp.1084-1098.
Franco‐Santos, M. and Otley, D., 2018. Reviewing and theorizing the unintended consequences
of performance management systems. International Journal of Management Reviews.
20(3). pp.696-730.
Helmold, M. and Samara, W., 2019. Progress in performance management: Industry insights
and case studies on principles, application tools, and practice. Springer.
1

PART-2 PROJECT PORTFOLIO
OVERVIEW OF THE CASE STUDY-
A manufacturing organization is there which is situated in Midlands. The company is
having approximately 1250 employees. They are associated with either factory or office work.
The organization does not have any on site catering facility and with this respect it is striving to
bring such programme where it can offer it to its employees. There are multiple aims such as
preventing them to go outside the campus, providing them healthy food, affordable food so can
hike their overall performance and satisfaction. The project is inclined to fabricate a well-
articulated plan to address the perils associated with this issue. The project is undertaking the
plan “Cooking food in house” (Guo and Zhang, 2022)
EXPLANATION OF THE STAGES TAKEN BY THE PLC
Project initiation-
Title:
Cooking food in-house.
Brief Description:
This project is perusing the plan to cook food in house at office. It would be helping to provide
better food to employees and would help to reduce their absenteeism and can help to fulfil CSR
act of the organization.
Background:
The organization is a manufacturing entity and having no facility of in house food for employees
which is making them go out in lunch break. The project is striving to fulfil this wish along with
hiking CSR course of actions too.
Goals:
To topple the outing of employees in lunch-break and upholding role of the company to fulfil
Corporate social responsibilities. The main aim is to carry out project with greater skilfulness.
Scope:
The project would be covering all 1250 employees in this project and will be executing for a year
in the initial stage (Picciotto, 2020)
Impact on the business system:
2

If the project is carried out successfully then the company would be able to uphold its notions of
CSR and would also be able to hike the performance of employees along with greater
satisfaction.
Stakeholders:
The key stakeholders for this project would be Organization, Employees, Government, Society,
Non-government and non-profit making organizations etc.
Roles and Responsibilities:
The main role and the biggest responsibility of the project is to execute the intended stages of the
project in the most rationale manner so can satisfy all associated stakeholders.
Milestones:
The main aim of the project is to reduce absenteeism of employees, providing them better and
healthy food on affordable prices, satisfying CSR needs of the organization. So if these all areas
are getting green tick then it would be considered as biggest milestone.
Budget:
A fully-fledged budget is supposed to be prepared so can drive the expenditures in right manner.
It would be helpful for the organization to spend its amount in right manner. The budget is
supposed to present a picture of financial planning.
Constraints, Assumptions:
There are some constraints are set. Such as the budget of the organization, and allotted time
frame both are constraints to the pre-determined level (Pan and Zhang, 2021)
At the same time some assumptions are also taken into focus. For instance- There would not be
any type of price fluctuations, the organization will be able to carry out the plan as per intended
strategies.
Success measurements:
If the employee absenteeism comes down, if ROI gets up, if the organization experience better
goodwill in market due to higher alignment towards CSR, then by using these measurements it
could be summarized that it is notching up success.
Project planning-
Scope planning:
3

The project is having great scope. As it has been seen already that in the organization
around 1250 employees are working on different position so with this regard, the project would
be covering up all the employees under the project of cooking in house food for employees.
Preparation of the WBS:
4
Project
execution.
Project planning. Project Closure.Project
initiation.
 Brief
Description
 Background of
the case.
 Goals
 Scope
 Impact on the
business system
 Stakeholders
 Roles and
Responsibilities
 Milestones
 Budget:
 Constraints,
Assumption
fabrication.
 Success
Measurements
 Scope planning
 Preparation of
the WB structure
 Project schedule
structuring.
 Resource
planning
 Budget planning
 Procurement
planning
 Risk
management
 Quality planning
of the
performance.
 Communication
planning
 Project
deliverables
determination.
 Change requests
and working on
them.
 Performance data
collection and
management.
 Issue log
 Documentation
updating process.
 Deliverables to the
stakeholders
 Documentation of
the undertaken
project.
 Cancelling the
contracts with
suppliers.
 Releasing staff and
other equipment.
 Informing
stakeholders about
the closure activities.
Cooking food in house.

Project schedule development:
The schedule of the project would be lasted for a financial year. The activities are to be
performed as mentioned in the chart below-
Resource planning:
The resource plan is as-
Performer task specialization
Project strategist. Planning the tasks. Project management.
Budget manager. Planning of funds. Financial knowledge.
Project executor. Executing the project. Project management.
Other members of team. Coordinating project with the
manager.
General understanding of even
management.
Budget planning:
the budget for this project is as and these all essential aspects are determined in term of their
cost so can guide the project so the budgeted cost is as-
Particulars Budgeted cost (amount in £)
Planning of project. 50000
Stationary and documentation cost. 100000
Specialists salary. 500000
Cost of raw material. 1200000
Cook salary. 800000
Utensil cost. 180000
Plant cost. 250000
Project evaluation expenditures. 160000
Data management expenditures. 170000
Other costs 10000
Total budgeted cost of the project. 3200000
5

Procurement planning:
For in house cooking there will be need of some types of row materials. Pertaining to acquisition
or procurement of the row material there will be bid system. Quotations would be asked form the
vendors (Joslin, 2019)
Risk management:
The risk which may take place in this project are to be assessed. For fulfilment of the aim, a
well-structured risk management plan is to be fabricated. With this regard, a contingency plan
will be taken into place so can breech the gap taken place due to risk factors.
Quality planning:
The main aim is to satisfy the employees with affordable and healthy food. So, the quality of
food is to be checked out on regular basis. There will be a rating scale system, where employee
will be asked to rank the food quality. On the other hands the project manager will get reviews
on regular interval.
Communication planning:
For better communication, a well-structured hierarchy is to be practised. All associated people in
this project would report to their just immediate authority and they will be guiding the people
working under them.
Project execution
Project deliverables:
All the outcomes of the project will be taken into surveillance. The main aim is to ace success in
term of project outcomes. The key deliverables are extending better internal services to
employees, providing healthy and affordable food to them, fulfilment of CSR acts of the
organization.
Change requests:
The progress of this project is supposed to overlook on regular interval. Then if there are any
type of mismatches then some changes in the project would be requested in order to bring better
practises into action.
Performance data:
6

The performance of this project is supposed to get on papers. The all activities, including
expenditures and measurement data are to be recorded systematically so can hike the overall
performance (Beck, 2018)
Issue log:
This is too often to have some issues in execution of project tasks. The project will be following
issue log. It is helpful to deal with issues in a systematic manner. If some issues are their then the
issue log will guide to deal with them.
Documentation updates:
If any type of changes is inculcated, then it would be imparted in the documentation so can
provide utter information of the project.
Project closure
Post implementation review:
For the success of project, post implementation review is supposed to instilled. A review
process will be carried out. The main aim of this process is to evaluate the plan and execution,
the way it has been applied, it would also attempt to trace the areas with shortcomings.
If the project is imparted, then there is need to decipher that the activities are going in right and
pre intended direction or not. If they are not much handy and if there are any mismatches, then
with the help of post implementation review it can be dealt with.
BUILDING A CASE
Project name:
“Cooking Food in House”
Vision and Objectives:
To execute the project with intensive effectiveness and generating least cost without
compromising with quality.
Mission:
Reduction in the movement of working staff, and soaring CSR notion of the organization.
New Idea:
The project is offering a new idea where in house food is to be cooked. The main aim of the
project is to fulfil tow aims at the same time, the first aim is to satisfy the employees and
reducing their outing in lunch break time, and fulfilment of CSR role of the organization.
Opportunity:
7

The project will be opening opportunity to hike the morale of employees and their overall
performance.
Improvement scope:
There is great scope in term execution. With more investment and paying higher attention to
R&D better outcomes can be poured on.
Resources:
Cook, Suppliers, some equipment, Row material etc. are needed.
Project plan:
To present a fully-fledged project plan a Gantt chart is to be fabricated. Where all essential four
stages will be drowned deciphering activities are to be taken.
8

Risk and potential benefits:
There may be some risks such as higher prices may take place, at the same time inflation can
also be there, on the other hands some advantages such as better social recognition and high
validation will help the organization.
Cash flow work:
Cash flow would be managed and controlled by finance department.
Occurred cost and brought benefits:
9

The cost would be occurred as per the budgets and it will bring higher satisfaction to employees
along with increased performance.
Business strategy for project:
The main strategy to improve employee performance and getting them highly satisfied.
Conclusion, recommendations:
From the undertaken project is can be concluded that it has been a wonderful project. Yet some
improvements are recommended in order to make the project more affective such as in depth
research and development work.
Cost benefit analysis of the undertaken project:
Total cost of this project has been around 3200000, at the same time it is expected that it would
be revering higher profitability in different forms. Such as organization will be having high
performing teams. At the same time some social benefits would also come in the favour of the
organization.
Pros-
To make rational decision.
To perceive the project deeply.
Cons-
Takes time.
There may be discrepancies in the objectives.
ANALYSIS OF THE USED PROJECT METHODOLOGIES AND TOOLS
Project methodologies-
There are number of project methodologies for instance- Agile, Prince 2 and waterfall. In this
project Agile has been taken. This methodology was found the most suitable one for fulfilment
of the perceived aims.
Pros-
Affordable.
Flexible.
No requirement of high understanding.
Cons-
Not as efficient as Prince 2.
It is not absolute as Waterfall methodology.
10

Project management tools-
These are the tools used to make the project work simpler and handy. Here, WBS has been used
in order to carry out the project affectively (Weeden and Cornwell, 2020) There were multiple
tools but the best fit for this particular project was determined in order to make it feasible.
Pros-
Clear activities.
Helps in moving forward.
Cons-
Highly rigid.
It is outdated tool.
Project leadership-
This is an art of keeping all the project activities in an order. This helps project team to carry out
project with great efficiency.
Pros-
Assist a project to get executed.
Eradicate the barriers.
Cons-
It may hike the pressure on team.
If it is rigid then may take the efficiency down.
REVIEW AND CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF
THE PLC IN THIS PARTICULAR PROJECT
Performance management-
There are number of activities are performed. All those activities which are responsible for the
project are executed and pertaining to them some decisions are made for their better execution;
this process is known as performance management.
Pros-
For big project it is handy.
Help to get aligned with plan.
Cons-
If this is rigid then toppled to execution.
There may be dissatisfaction form employee side.
11

The project of cooking in home food, has accentuated all key notions such as targets,
milestones, deliverables, benchmarking etc. these all components made the tasks simpler and
paved the way to maximize final outcomes. All external and internal performance indicators
were used. For instance, some KPIs are used such as employee retention rate, their outing in the
time of recess etc.
In this project a well-structured project monitoring system was also followed in order to
keep a strong control on the project and making it thrive. There have been some tools such as
Gantt chart and WBS was used for such monitoring. The project has imparted both WBS model
and Gantt chart. In this project both reliability and validity factors were considered. It is essential
while executing evaluation process to ensure reliability and validity so can take out the best out
of the process.
12

REFERENCES
Guo, K. and Zhang, L., 2022. Multi-objective optimization for improved project management:
Current status and future directions. Automation in Construction. 139. p.104256.
Picciotto, R., 2020. Towards a ‘New Project Management’movement? An international
development perspective. International Journal of Project Management. 38(8). pp.474-
485.
Pan, Y. and Zhang, L., 2021. A BIM-data mining integrated digital twin framework for advanced
project management. Automation in Construction. 124. p.103564.
Joslin, R., 2019. Project Management Methodologies, Governance and Success: Insight from
Traditional and Transformative Research. CRC Press.
Beck, M. W., 2018. NeuralNetTools: visualization and analysis tools for neural
networks. Journal of statistical software. 85(11). p.1.
Weeden, K. A. and Cornwell, B., 2020. The small-world network of college classes: implications
for epidemic spread on a university campus. Sociological science. 7. pp.222-241.
13