Marks and Spencer Operation Management Assessment Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of operation management within Marks and Spencer (M&S), a multinational British retailer. It begins by outlining the company's operational objectives, which include maintaining product quality, reducing production costs, and ensuring timely delivery. The report then describes M&S's diverse customer base, focusing on their expectations regarding product quality, speed of service, and value for money. The main body of the report delves into the processes and strategies employed by M&S to achieve its operational objectives, including Total Quality Management (TQM), supply chain management, and lean manufacturing. It examines how these processes impact the company's ability to meet customer needs and achieve its operational goals. The report also identifies factors that hinder the company in achieving its objectives. Finally, the report concludes with recommendations for improving M&S's operational efficiency and effectiveness, focusing on areas such as waste reduction, process optimization, and customer satisfaction. This analysis aims to provide valuable insights into M&S's operational strategies and offer suggestions for enhanced performance.

PGBM03 OPERATION
MANAGEMENT
ASSESSMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
Description of the customers and their expectation...............................................................4
Process and how they hinder the accomplishment of the operation objective.......................5
Analysis of the process and the recommended changes.........................................................7
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION...............................................................................8
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................8
Recommendations..................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Operation management is the department of company which deals in producing the goods
and services for the use of the consumers to satisfy their needs and objectives. This department is
the one which control, manages and administers the whole process of manufacturing and creating
the goods and services for the use of the ultimate consumers (Reid and Sanders, 2019). For the
present report the company taken is the Marks and Spencer group plc. This is a multinational
British retailer established by Thomas Spencer and Michael Marks founded in the year 1884.
This company has its headquarters in London, UK.
The present report will start by outlining the different consumers of the company and
what they expect from the company. Further the discussion will be done on the different process
and procedures for ensuring that the operational work is carried in with efficiency and
effectiveness. Next the factors which hinders the company in achieving the operation objectives
are discussed. In the end some of the recommendations will be provided to the company so that
they can improve the operation of the company.
Operation management role within Marks and Spencer
The major role of operation management within M & S is that the main goods and
services are produced by the operation department of the company. As M&S is a retail business
the main role of operational department is many. Such as first is the role of managing the
employees and ensuring that the employees are placed on right position and are performing right
task. Also, it is the duty of operation department of marks and spencer that they need to identify
the latest trends going on in the market and needs to convey these to the production team so that
the products and services can be modified in accordance with the trends going on within the
market.
Another role of this department is to ensure that the inventory is managed in time. This is
because of the reason that if the inventory will not be provided on time then how the goods and
services will be manufactured in time by the operation department (Jain and Bhatnagar, 2017).
Also, another role of operation department is to ensure that the finished good are delivered to the
consumers on time and in proper condition.

MAIN BODY
Description of the customers and their expectation
The company works with the motive of delivering the best good and services to the
consumers. Therefore, the most important criteria for the success of the company is the
satisfaction of the consumers (Webb, 2017). This is majorly due to the fact that the consumers
are treated as the king of the market if they like the products and services of marks and spencer
then the company will automatically get success in its working. Thus, the main work of the
company is to attract the consumers with the products and services produced by the company.
The major consumers of the company are the external people to the company. The major target
audience for the company is the youth of the county. This is because of the reason that they only
follow the culture of shopping from the supermarket. The main aim of the operation department
of marks and spencer is to attract these consumers so that the sales of the company are increased.
The company only works with the intention or motive of satisfying the needs and desire
of the consumers. This is because of the reason that the company will automatically earn profits
if the consumers are satisfied with the products and services of the company. It is so majorly due
to the fact that if the consumers are satisfied with the product and services then by default they
will use the product again and again and this will increase the popularity and goodwill of the
company and also the profits of the company.
The consumers are paying money in exchange of the goods and services used of the
company. Therefore, they expect the best products and services in exchange of the money which
they are paying to the company. Thus, the main aim or objective of the operations department of
marks and spencer is to provide the superior quality of goods and services to the consumers. The
maintenance of quality is also necessary because of the reason that the competition is very tough
and to face this the best criteria is to focus on the quality. This is because of the reason that the
consumers mainly differentiate among the different products in the basis of quality only. Also,
one more reason for which the consumer prefers the quality product is that they are paying for
that product so they also expect that what they get in return must be of more value than the
amount paid. Thus, the main operation objective to is maintaining the quality of the goods and
services (Kavousi‐Fard, Niknam and Baziar, 2015).
Another objective of operation department is that speed that is the pace at which the
inventory is passed in to the operation department. This whole process needs to be done with

speed because of the reason that if the inventory is not provided in time to the production or
operation department of the company then the production will not take place on time and the
finished products will not be on time provided to the ultimate customers (Wild, 2017). Thus, this
is another objective of operation department of marks and spencer to speed up the process of
production and to deliver the best quality products and services to the consumers.
Another operational objective of the operation department of marks and spencer is to
reduce the cost of production. This is because of the major reason that the cost of producing the
goods and services is very high and this can be very tedious for the company to arrange for the
money. Therefore, it is another objective of the company to reduce the cost wherever possible for
the company.
In short, the three main operational objectives of marks and spencer is the maintaining
quality, reducing the cost and completing the process of production on time and with speed. The
different criteria used by consumer in assessing the satisfaction are the order winning criteria and
the order qualifying criteria. The order winner criteria are the one in which the products and
services have some competitive advantages like quality, delivery, product design, flexibility and
many other benefits. On the flip side the order qualifiers are the advantages which the company
need enjoys in comparison with the competitors of the same business. Under this the consumers
compare the product and services of marks and spencer with the competitor and then if they like
it then they prefer the products and services.
Process and how they hinder the accomplishment of the operation objective
From the above discussion it is clear that for successful running of the business and
operations of marks and spencer it is very necessary for the company to attain all the three
discussed operational objectives. For this the company can use many different types of process
and strategies to achieve those objectives. These different types of process are used to achieve
different types of operational objectives. The various kinds of process and strategies used by
marks and spencer for attaining operational objectives are as follows-
Total Quality Management- this is the strategy which is used by the company in order to
manage the quality of the products and services of the company (Hsu and Chao, 2017). The
company needs to lay emphasizes on the quality mainly. The quality is defined as some
standards or parameters which are being set by the company and the actual performance needs to
be compared and the performance needs to be up to the mark. This is due to the fact that quality

is the only parameter which decides the success of the company. Therefore, it is very necessary
for marks and spencer to maintain the quality of the goods and services (Shidaganti and Prakash,
2017).
The TQM is the process which is consumer oriented as it aims at improving the quality of
the goods and services. This system makes sure that all the activities of the business are allied in
the same direction and no activity or the employee is deviating from their work. This is so
because of the reason that the quality of the product depends on all the activities which are
involved in the production or operation of the product.
This is due to the fact that if any of the activity is not performed in the intended manner
than the quality of the final product will be impacted with this. The maintenance the quality will
help marks and spencer to increase the goodwill of the product in the market and this will also
help the company in committing towards continuous improvement in accordance with the
changing environmental trends and taste and preferences of the consumers.
Supply chain management- for achieving the second operational objective that is speed
and time of production the strategy used by marks and spencer is use of effective supply chain
management. The supply chain is defined as the whole system of all the raw materials which are
used by marks and spencer in order to produce the goods and services. Hence, this supply chain
management ensures that the raw materials are effectively and timely so that the production can
go on time and the products and services are managed to deliver to the ultimate consumers on
time. The major advantage of using supply chain management by marks and spencer is that this
system reduces the operating cost for the company.
The underlying reason behind this fact is that the supply chain management system
ensures that the raw materials are brought as and when required and this reduces the cost of
storing the raw materials within the company. Therefore, this system saves the cost for marks
and spencer for storing the cost. Also, the supply chain management ensures that the final goods
and services are timely delivered to the consumers so that they can consume the goods and
services and satisfy their needs. This is also, helpful in increasing the consumers as the consumer
will like the fact that the products and services are delivered ion time and this will help in
retaining the existing consumers and also to attract more of the consumers (Shayeghi and
Shahryari, 2017).

Lean manufacturing- this is a tool which is used in order to fulfil the operational
objective of reducing the cost. This is a tool which helps in minimizing the cost of the company
by reducing the unnecessary wastage from the process of producing the goods and services
within the company (Hitt, Xu and Carnes, 2016). The waste is an activity which does not add any
value in the company output and is also not relevant for the consumers. Therefore, it is beneficial
to reduce or remove such activity from the production process. This is because of the reason that
if these wastages are removed than the company will not have to pay for it. And thus, this will
reduce the cost of the company. this method can also be defined as the identifying the defect in
the manufacturing, designing of the product, distribution system and all the other related work
and activities.
The lean approach helps marks and spencer in attracting more of the consumers and
retaining them because of the reason that consumers like the fact that the company is working in
minimizing the wastages which reduces the extra cost of the products and services of the
company. Also, these reduction of wastages helps the company in continuous improvement. This
is because of the fact that for eradicating the wastages of the company they time to time evaluate
the market conditions and then compares it with the actual working and then which are not
relevant to the trends going on in the market are removed from the production process (Nepal
and Chotiyaputta, 2016). These wastes can be in many different forms like overproduction,
changes in inventory, transportation, over processing, changes in taste and preferences of the
consumers and many other changes which impacts the whole production process.
This system of lean manufacturing helps marks and spencer in increasing the productivity
and efficiency of the business. This is majorly because of the reason that eradicating the waste
activities reduces the time of the production and this time can be used in some other relevant
work or activities (Copil, Truong and Dustdar, 2015). Another benefit to marks and spencer for
using the tool of lean manufacturing is that when the waste is reduced then it is easier for the
company to manage the work effectively and efficiently. This is majorly because of the reason
that the now for the company the wastage have been eradicated and now the company just have
to focus on the working areas of the business only.
Analysis of the process and the recommended changes
The operation management is very important department for the company as the whole
business is dependent on the operation department only that is the goods and services which are

being produced within the company. Therefore, it is very necessary for the company to use
different strategies and tools to develop the business to earn more profit. For this marks and
spencer is using the strategies of Total Quality Management, Supply chain management and lean
manufacturing. All these three strategies help the company in managing its work optimally and
with efficiency. This is majorly because of the reason that all these three tools or strategies helps
the business in continuing with the operations of the company om time and with superior quality.
With the implementation of these strategies the overall work and efficiency of marks and spencer
is enhanced.
Also, the use of these kinds of strategies increases the morale and confidence of the
employees. This is majorly because of the reason that with the implementation of the strategies
the goodwill of the company increases and this motivates the employees to work with more
efficiency and effectiveness. Also, these strategies help in accomplishing the operational
objectives of marks and spencer with efficiency and effectiveness. This is majorly because of the
reason that all the three strategies cover the three objectives that is TQM for quality, Lean
manufacturing for cost reduction and Supply chain management for timely delivery of goods and
services to the consumers (Bazargan, 2016).
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Conclusion
From the analysis and evaluation of the above report it was concluded that operation
management is very necessary for the successfulness of the company. This is majorly because of
the reason that operation management is the department of the business which is dealing with the
creation of goods and services in which the company deals in. Now if the goods and services are
not good and effective than the other department will not be able to work effectively. For
instance, if the operations that is manufacturing is not done properly then how the marketing
department will know that how they have to market those products within the market. Thus, it is
very necessary for the company to have effective and efficient operation management within the
company.
The present study started by outlining the role of operation management and its
contribution to the company. Next discussion was done on the consumers of the business and
what output they expect from the company. Also, different criteria of identifying satisfaction
level of consumer was discussed like order winning criteria and order qualifying criteria. Further

the different operational objectives were outlined such as focus on quality, speed and cost
reduction was discussed. For achieving these different objectives different tools and strategies
have been used such as total quality management, lean manufacturing and supply chain
management. In the end the analysis of these process and some recommendation was
highlighted.
Recommendations
The first and foremost recommendation for the company is that the company must make
use of the approach of just in time. This is an approach which will help marks and spencer to
complete the time of operation before time. This is majorly because of the reason that this
method of production reduces the time in between the production stages and also the time which
is taken from the suppliers till the product to reach to the ultimate consumer.
Another recommendation for marks and spencer is to keep the company updated with all
the latest trends and customer going on in the market. This is a major recommendation because
what the company is preparing is not in trend then the consumers will not like the products and
this will become obsolete. Hence, it is necessary for the company to timely do the market
research and then implement the changes found within the business environment.
One more recommendation is to train the employees. This is majorly because of the
reason that there are many new and advanced technology and different strategies are coming
very frequently. These strategies and technologies need to be made understand to the employees.
This is because of the reason that the employees are the ones who will implement these strategies
and techniques into practice. Thus, it is recommended to marks and spencer to provide time to
time training to the employees so that they can cope up with the latest trends.
Another recommendation is that the company must set some target for the operation to be
completed within certain time frame and with some set standards of the quality. This is majorly
because of the reason that if some standards will be set then it will provide a direction to the
operational staff that in which direction they need to go and achieve the work. Also, these
standards will motivate the employees to work with that much efficiency and effectiveness that
they work more better even from the standards of work set.

REFERENCES
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