Operations & Project Management

This report discusses the implementation of operations management principles within Morrisons, the operations management of the company, and the continuous improvement plan. It also provides an overview of the HS2 project, its importance, cost benefits analysis, and target market.

OPERATIONS & PROJECT
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
Company overview......................................................................................................................3
Operations management VS operation........................................................................................3
Implementation of operations management principles within Morrisons...................................4
Operations management of company will help to meet requirements of business......................5
Continuous improvement as philosophy and lean principles......................................................6
Continuous improvement plan based on review of operations management principles within
firm...............................................................................................................................................9
Two justified recommendations which improve operations functions........................................9
PART 2..........................................................................................................................................10
Overview of HS2 project...........................................................................................................10
Importance of project, cost benefits analysis of projects and target market .............................10
Project plan................................................................................................................................11
Work break down structure........................................................................................................11
Gantt Chart.................................................................................................................................13
Leadership, tools and project methodologies required within HS2 project...............................14
Review effectiveness of project life cycle.................................................................................15
Differences between small scale project and HS2.....................................................................15
Different techniques used to ensure scope, quality and tenure in project implementation........15
Evaluate PLC prepared with theoretical and practical frameworks...........................................15
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
Project and operation management is the two most important management of company
that helps to achieve set goals and objectives. The current report is based on Morrison
organization and HS2 project. This study define operations management Vs operation,
implementation of operations management principles in context of firm and continuous
improvement plan. This report define lean principles, six sigma and justified suggestions by
using continuous improvement principles.
Furthermore, it clarified project life cycle in relation to HS2 project, Gantt chart, work
break down structure and use of correct technique to assure quality, tenure and scope in project
implementation.
PART 1
Company overview
Morrisons is fourth biggest chain of supermarkets in UK, it was founded by William
Morrison in 1899. Company employs more than 110,000 workers and serves around 12 million
consumers per week, as it helps to increase its profit margin. The chain of its supermarket has
seen steady progress in sales and also praised at awards ceremony for developing & improving
shopping experience of its target consumers. In 2018, at the end of February firm annual
revenues increased from around 16.32 billion to some 17.23 billion. With its headquarter in
Bradford, company supermarkets preponderantly found in north of nation at which stage they
took over safeway supermarkets and its presence significantly expanded throughout home town.
As on one of the last retailer to venture into online realm, firm teamed up with purely
online retailers Ocado in order to launch their own online service. In north of England, bulk of
Morrisons outlets was done, but their takeover of safe way allowed them to gain a wider foothold
in South and Midlands. Firm operates different vertically integrated model, manufacturing
substantial proportion of their own fish, vegetables, meat and baked products from sites across
United Kingdom.
Operations management VS operation
Operations transform data and resource inputs into desired services, products or
outcomes, and also deliver value to consumers. It means division of company that carries out
major operating and planning functions (Kang and et.al., 2016). Operations are ongoing
performance of functions and activities, they follow firm procedures to manufacture repetitive

services and products. It is permanent in nature, manufacturing, accounting, marketing, financing
and production are examples of operations that help business to achieve set objectives. It does
not produce new items, but they are essential to sustain and maintain overall system. It is used to
run continuous model of business and reach at gaols.
Whereas, operation management handle the range of operations within company, it refers
to the most important part of administration concerned with delivery and production of products.
The objective of operation management is to utilize resources, to satisfy consumers needs and to
extent possible (Keahey, Riteau and Timkovich, 2017). Conversely, it is used to mean that
branch of business which deals with department both provision of services and production of
goods to people. It entails all the acts include in material, maintenance, quality management,
process and product design. It focused on procedures and how they can be used so that there is
minimum wastage of accessible resources.
Implementation of operations management principles within Morrisons
There are 10 principles of operations management implement in context of company that
will be applied by operations managers (Holweg and et.al., 2018).
Reality-
Before taking any action, manager will focus on reality of situation, they consider
problems not methods, because there are no other tools that cater universal solutions. It is
beneficial for success of Morrisons operations.
Company-
Manufacturing procedure are interconnected with other functions, all the components
predictable in order to gain competitive advantages and achieve same results in profits.
Fundamentals-
Complying with all the common fundamentals of business is the responsibility of
operations manager within Morrisons because this is the way to gain success of production and
helps to deliver quality products.
Accountability-
Manager in company is accountable to set metrics and rules, they identify
accountabilities of workers and consistently recheck objectives are achieved or not.
Variance-

Variance of procedures will be encouraged by manager because when its managed
appropriately, differences will be sourced of creativeness.
Causally-
Sometime, after making the best efforts some issues will still arise that impact on
operations of company. Manager in supermarkets plays their role, they find out root cause of
problem as that they won't get worse.
Managed passion-
Increasing motivational level of staff is one of the biggest task, so operations' manager
will be able to inspire and encourage workers to be passionate about their work at workplace.
Humility-
It is very important for manager to position themselves as normal person who does not
know everything and also makes mistakes.
Success-
In Morrisons, managers have to be capable to justify define what they consider successful
and effectively, so that employees in work area will have parameters to perform with in
procedure of achieving objectives.
Change-
All the staff members in Morrison learnt to adapt to organizational and market changes,
because it is beneficial for growth and long term success of business as well as their employees.
All the above operational principle has been implemented in context of Morrison in order
to strengthen their brand image and increase productivity level rather than before. By
implementing these principles organization enhance their staff motivational level and encourage
them to contribute in achieving business aims and objectives which is quite beneficial for firm in
term of increasing profitability more than Morrison competitors.
Operations management of company will help to meet requirements of business
At extreme level operation management of Morrison help to meet its business
requirements in effective manner (Takagi and Tamura, Fujitsu 2019). It is area of administration
concerned and focused on designing and controlling procedure & activities of production. In
additional with this, it includes accountability of assuring that firm range of operations are
effective in term of utilizing as few assets as needed and better in terms of meeting the needs of

consumers. It mostly concerned with organizing, planning and supervising in contexts of
manufacturing of products.
Morrison always try to satisfy their target market by providing quality services and
goods, in that case operations department and its manager make contribution at high level. They
always focus on controlling and managing the quality of items that will be delivered to its
consumers (Hill and Hill, 2017). In order to gain better results and fulfil the needs of company,
operations managers within management provide inspired leadership for business, they make
important strategies, policies and planning. By managing the budget operations department and
its team members save time and money that will be used for further essential activities. It helps
to review line goods in budget to identify whether there are loss costly ways to done specific
task.
Continuous improvement as philosophy and lean principles
Continuous improvement is ongoing and hard efforts to improve quality of items and
services, these attempts seek incremental over time and breakthrough all at once (Pieters, 2017).
It is considered as one of the most effective practice of re-examining overall process of business.
It helps Morrison to consistently progress within retail sector and allow them to achieve its
objectives. By adopting this practice in company, Morrisons will be able to gain competitive
advantages and develop inclusive culture at workplace.
Lean principles cater frameworks for developing an effective company, it allows manager
to discover inefficiencies in its firm and deliver better value to consumers (Gambatese, Pestana
and Lee, 2017). Here, continuous improvement plan is created on the basis of objective, plan and
target market. The objective to chosen firm it to improve their consumer’s services, increase
customers satisfaction level and increase productivity. They target women’s because they take
decision in family for purchasing groceries rather than men.
Identify value-
Value is what consumer are seeking to pay for, it is difficult to discover current needs of
clients. By using qualitative and other techniques Morrisons will uncover what target market
need, how they want products to be provided and cost that people can afford.

Illustration 1: 5 Lean Principles
(Source: Five Principles of Lean, 2019)
Map value stream-
This is the second phase of lean principles, determining and mapping value stream will
help to achieve organizational goals.
Create flow-
With the value stream map in hand, manager can move into third of lean principles, they
create flow by analysing above stages in production procedures.
Established pull-
According to this stage, operation management teams will consider consumers
perspectives on final items, effectively looking at all the operations of Morrisons in revenue on
value stream maps.
Pursue perfection-

After considering all above stages, manager identifies areas of implements and
improvement meaningful change, seeking effective procedures to bring the best value to target
market.
Six sigma-
Six Sigma and lean complement each other, lean support Six Sigma delivering better
outcomes than what will usually be achieved by it individually or Lean.
Define-
At this phase, management have access to some existing information that presents an
ongoing issues. They define issues by developing relevant problem statement, team refine data
while data gathering.
Illustration 2: Six sigma
(Source: What Is Six Sigma ,2018 )
Measure-
After identify problem, measurement is important stage, it is critical throughout life of
work and as team centred on data collection initially they have two considers, determining start
point and looking for clues to comprehend root cause of act.
Analyse-
This stage is often connected with measure phase, as information is gathered, operations
manager consist of different individual who will collect varied sets of additional info. After
verifying detailed process maps created in above stage, people will be able to pain points within
company. They determine value of each stage by performing analysing procedure.
Improve-
After identify, measure and analyse causes of issues, operation management take action
to improve process and minimize problems in effective manner. The efforts of workers at this
phase are to create as many ideas as possible based on idea that from quality and quantity.
Control-

After implementing solutions, manager maintain and keep controlling the overall
business process for betterment in the future.
Continuous improvement plan based on review of operations management principles within firm
Identify improvement chances-
To increase revenues and gain competitive advantages, Morrison operations management
team identify market growth opportunities, They have to choose the best and suitable procedure
for betterment that will help to achieve its above and further objectives.
Analyse-
Operations manager, have to identify problems in all the functions of company and
measure overall procedures in systematic manner, that help to solve issues and overcome
barriers.
Action-
It is considered as set of actions and activities taken to response identified issues by
implementing above stages of Six sigma. Operations management and its team member develop
plan and implement it in order to improve further processes.
Outcome-
This stage state findings and results of actions in logical sequences, operations
department confirm actions taken to achieve target.
Standardize solution-
With the phase, operation manager assure effectiveness of implemented plan and assure
improved level of practices is maintained effectively.
Plan for future-
After passing all above stages, operations manager evaluate effectiveness of its team and
other employees' performance, set target for production improvement.
Two justified recommendations which improve operations functions
Operations function refer to all actions which focus on manufacturing services and
products for consumers. It is very important to improve as it helps to gain positive results for
company and increase its revenue rather than before.
 Morrisons recommended following the two principles of continuous improvement which
is quite beneficial for its operations and other functions. Firm suggested focused on
consumers, identify specific people set whom they want to serve.

 Management must understand the needs of target market, prioritize tasks and strive to
deliver desired betterments.
 Company generally have long termed goals for overall outcomes, to some extent yearly
compensation ties to achievement of these aims. However, to improve operation
functions, organization recommended setting specific aim, incorporate feedback and
deliver reinforcement.
PART 2
Overview of HS2 project
High speed 2 (HS2) is new high speed railways project line under development, which
will run between Birmingham and London, Leeds and Manchester (Bonard, Richards and
Mudiganti, 2019). Route is referred to as Y network since it is roughly in shape of Y letter. It is
one of the biggest and most important transport infrastructure project build in UK. Its long
distance journeys will cater a low carbon alternative to plane or car. It will be greener term to
travel from one place to another, providing some of the lowest carbon emissions each passenger
Kilometre.
Importance of project, cost benefits analysis of projects and target market
Significance-
HS2 project is very important as it helps to reduce carbon emission that impact on current
climate contribute to change it that have serious consequences for people and their environment.
It is about improving connections between two major cities and offering latest, efficient services
that local people can rely on (May and Tyler, 2016).
Cost benefits analysis of project-
In term of cost, high speed 2 project is cost benefit as it helps to save money use while
travelling from one point to other. It will be beneficial to London that rest of nation, it will have
further advantages beyond railways, by releasing capacity to enables renaissance of rail saving
carbon. The UK government determine benefits in term of cots of this project by using cost
beneficial analysis, that represent it is valuable in point for taxpayers for invest.
Target market-
Residential and local people of London as well as Birmingham who travel for
employment purpose and came out at home to buy things.

Project plan
Initiation-
In relation to high speed 2 project, initiation is the primary stage of PLC in which the
need of project, issues, opportunities, benefits and brainstorm approaches will identified by
project manager. They set clear objectives, identified feasibility as well as deliverables for HS2
project. After making clear picture of further process, the document is sent it to high authority for
approval (Prušková, 2017). Morrison wants to improve their consumers services and satisfaction
level by implementing PLC stages.
Planning-
Manager take approval for further activities and practices conducted by its team and other
stakeholder. They make plan and move forward on the basis of project initiation and work, this
project is very important part of DFT. Project manager develop plan, create work flow structure,
financial plan, gather resources required in this project and measure risk.
Project execution-
After passing above two stages, it's time to turn plan into action and implement it within
systematic manner. Project manager evaluate team practices and activities that is going on track,
organize skilled group and assure that everything is going to complete according to the actual
plan.
Project closure-
After passing project initiation, planning and execution, project manager come to last
stage which is closure. At this stage final outcomes as failure or success of project will be
presented. Once manager and its team has completed work on high speed 2, they enter closure
phase, in which they cater findings with better outcomes as success of completing project.
Work break down structure
Task
Mode Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
Auto
Scheduled Initiation 12 days Tue 14-01-
20
Mon 27-01-
20
Auto
Scheduled Develop business case 8 days Tue 14-01-
20 23/01/20
Auto Assign project manager 2 day 24/01/20 Thu 23-01- 2

Scheduled 20
Auto
Scheduled Develop project charter 2 days Fri 24-01-
20
Mon 27-01-
20 3
Auto
Scheduled Planning 4 days Fri 24-01-
20
Wed 29-01-
20
Auto
Scheduled Perform primary planning 4 days Fri 24-01-
20
Wed 29-01-
20 3
Auto
Scheduled Develop WBS 1 day Fri 24-01-
20 Fri 24-01-20 3
Auto
Scheduled Plan schedule 1 day Tue 28-01-
20
Tue 28-01-
20 4
Auto
Scheduled Planned resources 2 days Tue 28-01-
20
Wed 29-01-
20 4
Auto
Scheduled Plan budget 2 days Tue 28-01-
20
Wed 29-01-
20 4
Auto
Scheduled Execution and control 11 days Mon 27-01-
20
Mon 10-02-
20
Auto
Scheduled Manage communications 2 days Thu 30-01-
20 Fri 31-01-20 5
Auto
Scheduled Manage procurement 8 days Thu 30-01-
20
Mon 10-02-
20 6
Auto
Scheduled Track and manage changes 2 days Mon 27-01-
20
Tue 28-01-
20 7
Auto
Scheduled Execute project tasks 2 days Wed 29-01-
20
Thu 30-01-
20 8
Auto
Scheduled Closeout 1 day? Thu 30-01-
20
Thu 30-01-
20
Auto
Scheduled Document closeout 1 day Thu 30-01-
20
Thu 30-01-
20 9
Auto Transfer project 1 day Thu 30-01- Thu 30-01- 10

Scheduled 20 20
Gantt Chart

Leadership, tools and project methodologies required within HS2 project
Demographic leadership-
This leadership style is needed within High Speed 2 Project because it helps to achieve
set objectives by project manager and gain success of work.
Digital communication tools-
During High speed 2 project planning and implementation, project manager use different
communication tools that helps to communicate all the members participate in work. Web
conference, smartphone and email are source of communication that has been used in this project
to discuss plan and guidance.
Prince 2 methodology-
This methodology is used in High speed 2 project in order to complete it in systematic
manner (Hughes, Dwivedi and Rana, 2017). Prince 2 methodology is process based on
techniques that centring on firm and organize overall project and its activities, it is used from

beginning to end of HS2. This methodology will help to improve communication practices
between all group members and with external stakeholders.
Review effectiveness of project life cycle
Project life cycle stages is beneficial in context of HS2 project, it caters structured
method for delivery of work, this permits manager working on project to determine how it is
progressing. It clearly defines outputs & functions for each stage, aids communication and
support define roles within project that is understood by all team members.
Planet framework model has been used in High speed 2, after analysing the all elements
and factors. It is used in order to generate what is known as project case as presented.
In context of PLC application, it caters a structure for project delivery, improves
communication between group members, and makes people able to track the progress across
firm. On the other hand, project life cycle is effective only after completion of last phase, it
consist with high risks & uncertainty. It critiqued that PLC application provides a proper frame
for project delivery on time with positive results.
Differences between small scale project and HS2
High speed 2 project life cycle is very different from other small scale projects in UK,
HS2 is one of the biggest plan of UK government that required a lot of efforts and professionals.
On contrary, FINA -RET is small scale project which does need more attention because it takes
short period to complete.
Different techniques used to ensure scope, quality and tenure in project implementation
Varied types of techniques available within market, that project manager will use to
measure quality, assure tenure and scope. Benchmarking is the best technique or process of
measuring performance and effectiveness of overall project. It helps to gain independent
perspective about how well people perform as compared to other project team, it also supports to
ensure quality of work.
Evaluate PLC prepared with theoretical and practical frameworks
Project life cycle is refer to 4 step procedure that is following by mostly HS2 project
manager while moving though phases of completion. Aim of PLC is to manage work and keep
practices systematically. It helps manager to link growth directly to each stage and recognize
completion of all stages. Steps within project life cycle also provide an comprehension of

evolution of work, being able to determine areas that require high attention at varied times such
as risk management.
CONCLUSION
From above analysis of this report, it has been summarized that operation management
helps Morrison to increase its productivity, profitability, improve flexibility and reduce costs to
meet rapidly changing consumers needs. By following Lean principles and Six sigma
organization gain competitive advantages and improve business process effectively.
Furthermore, in context of HS2 project, projects manager apply project life cycle stages and
follow till the end of completion, that helps to provide effective outcomes. By using
benchmarking techniques, it easy for manager to assure quality and other elements.

REFERENCES
Book and Journals
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moderates the effects of workplace diversity?. Journal of Organizational
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Hill, A. and Hill, T., 2017. Essential operations management. Macmillan International Higher
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University Press.
Hughes, D.L., Dwivedi, Y.K. and Rana, N.P., 2017. Mapping IS failure factors on PRINCE2®
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management and continuous improvement in production systems. International Journal
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management platform for multi-cloud environments. In Proceedings of the10th
International Conference on Utility and Cloud Computing (pp. 39-46).
May, T. and Tyler, J., 2016. HS2 and the railway network: The case for a review. Web nd
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Pieters, G.R., 2017. The ever changing organization: Creating the capacity for continuous
change, learning, and improvement. Routledge.
Prušková, K., 2017. THE MUTUAL RELATIONS BETWEEN LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT
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Takagi, H. and Tamura, N., Fujitsu Ltd, 2019. Operation management device and method. U.S.
Patent 10. 177. 971.
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