BM563 Operations Management: Improving Efficiency at Morrisons

This report analyzes the operations management practices at Morrisons, a leading UK supermarket chain, with a focus on Total Quality Management (TQM) and its impact on efficiency. It critically evaluates how TQM principles, such as customer focus, employee commitment, and continuous improvement, are implemented at Morrisons to maintain product quality and customer satisfaction. The report also examines the role of technology, particularly Artificial Intelligence and social media, in enhancing TQM processes, highlighting both the benefits and challenges of their integration. Furthermore, it describes and evaluates the supporting functions linked with TQM, emphasizing their role in ensuring organizational success by fostering proactive actions, improving HRM practices, developing adequate communication systems, and increasing unity among stakeholders. The analysis provides insights into how Morrisons can leverage TQM and technology to optimize its operations and maintain a competitive edge. Desklib is a platform where you can find past papers and solved assignments for students.

Operation and Service
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Operation management practice within chosen organisation.................................................1
Critical analysis of the impact of operations management practice on efficiency of Morrison
................................................................................................................................................2
Evaluation of introduction of technology in the selected operations management processes4
Description of supporting functions linked with total quality management and evaluation of
their role in ensuring organizational success..........................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Operations management is defined as the branch of management which focuses on
designing and controlling production processes and redesigning business operations to facilitate
profitable production of goods and services (Pambreni and et. al., 2019). Morrisons is the
selected organization for this report. Morrisons is the fourth largest supermarket chain in United
Kingdom and was founded in the year 1899. This report looks at the operations management
practice of total quality management and critically analyses the impact of total quality
management in regards of efficiency. The ways in which technology can be embedded or is
being embedded in TQM is evaluated in this report. Supporting functions of TQM are described
and evaluated in this report.
MAIN BODY
Operation management practice within chosen organisation
Quality management is the practice of companies which help them to maintain the best
quality of their products and services. Every customer expects that they will but quality products
in affordable prices. In case of foods and beverages, quality products mean keeping food fresh
for longer period of time. In context of Morrison, they are famous for maintaining good quality
of their products specially their food products. Their most of the customers attracted toward this
brand because of their qualitative products.
Total quality management is the concept where companies focus on maintaining quality
of their products as whole which means companies focus on the factors which impact bad upon
their quality and formulate those strategies which will mitigate the effects of these factors
(Abbas, 2020). It consist of three types of marinating quality which are mentioned below-
 Maintaining quality at the time of production- Here, it is essential for a company to
focus their process and tools and machines of their manufacturing site which helps in
producing products. Producing defective products will impact badly upon organisational
image. In context of Morrison, they focus on their packaging process of food products
and keeping them in large refrigerators which help their eatable products to remain fresh
for longer period of time.
 Checking quality of product while handling it to customers- It is the duty of sales man
to check quality of product before it is purchased by their customers. in context of
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Morrison, their retail manager makes sure that their stores will have quality products and
they also check the quality of products personally while handling it to their customers.
 Deliver goods with right transportation- Sometimes products are manufactured with
good quality but when it is transported from one place to another then it gets damaged (Li
and et. al., 2018). In context of Morrison, they can use their own company’s trucks and
vans to deliver their products to those customers who ordered it through online more.
They make sure that the route and time should not become the reason for damaging their
products.
Key principles of TQM-
 Customer focus- This is the main principle of TQM, here companies mainly focus on
needs, expectations and wants of their customers and try to fulfil their needs. In context
of Morrison, they analyse needs and wants of their customers and make sure that they
will provide those quality to their customers which will help them to gain higher
customer satisfaction. Hence, quality is maintained for customers mainly.
 Total employee commitment- It is essential that each and every employee of
organisation should engage in focusing the quality of their products (Bouranta and et. al.,
2019). Maintaining quality of product and services is not only the work of single or a
group of employees but it is essential that each level of authority will engage them self in
maintaining quality of their products and services.
 Continual improvement- It is essential for every company that they will check and
control the quality of their products and services on continue basis. In context of
Morrison, their quality department always seek opportunity to improve their quality
regularly.
Critical analysis of the impact of operations management practice on efficiency of Morrison
The practice of Total quality management has beneficial impact on the efficiency of the
company. Total Quality management studies every area of operations management of operations
management from product planning to scheduling and monitoring results. The philosophy of
total quality management focuses on constant attainment of consumer satisfaction to through the
continuous improvement of all organizational processes. This drive initiated by total quality
management to attain higher consumer satisfaction and quality helps business firms foster
productive behaviour. Morrisons has adopted the practice of total quality management. This
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positively impacts the efficiency of the organization. The ways in which total quality
management improves organizational efficiency at Morrison are provided below: Lower product defects: One of the main principles of total quality management is to
ensure that the products manufactured correctly in first try (Borkovskaya, Degaev and
Burkova, 2018). This principle lowers product defects and at Morrisons and the company
is able to gain accurate results in first try from various manufacturing activities. This
supports increase in efficiency at Morrisons as time is not wasted in improving product
defects and high quality results are attained quickly. Cheeking wastage: Total quality management supports helps check non-productive
activities and wastage of any kind in the company. This type of regular checks support
Morrisons in minimizing wastage of time and resources. This has positive impact on
efficiency of the company as time and resources are optimally utilized. The company is
able to ensure effective resource planning so that every resource is divided and used by
the employees effectively. Effective progress review: Total quality management involves continuously reviewing
processes needed to build strategy for never ending improvement of the firm (Ladewski
and Al-Bayati, 2019). This continuous review of processes helps business firms meet new
and dynamic barriers and facilitate never ending growth of the company. Morrisons is
able to ensure that various business operations and process are reviewed continuously to
initiate regular development of business processes and operations. This leads to increased
efficiency at the company because business processes and operations are evaluated
continuously to minimize faults and ensure that change is introduce to face new market
barriers. Proactive actions: Adoption of total quality management at business firms helps in
taking proactive measures and actions to increase productive behaviour of the workforce.
The aim of total quality management is to achieve quality performance and improve
quality of service. This aim is achieved by creating an organizational culture which
includes taking proactive measures. Morrisons is able to develop proactive thinking and
initiate productive behaviour in employees. Improves HRM: Usage of total quality management in the company introduces changes
including changes in human resource management system that involves communication,
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involvement of employees, job design, training, performance, measurement and
evaluation, compensation, safety and occupational health, selection and career
development. These changes in HRM introduced because of total quality management
improve efficiency of employees by eliminating flaws in various human resource
management function. Morrisons is able to gain the benefit of this improvement caused
by total quality management and achieve high levels of productivity. Develops adequate communication systems: Total quality management helps enhance
collaboration sanctions, departments and levels of management which leads to creation of
adequate communication systems (Bacoup and et. al., 2018). Morrisons is able top
develop effective communication system and ensure better collaboration between teams
and departments. This improves organizational efficiency at Morrisons as departments
and managerial level maximise collaboration to ensure quick and faultless completion of
various business operations.
 Increases unity: Total Quality Management is an integrated system that forms an integral
unity that involves all stakeholders in the organization, with a focus on continuous
improvement activities. Result of continuous process improvement is better productivity.
In this way total quality management at Morrisons enhances integral unity of the
company and enhances productivity.
Evaluation of introduction of technology in the selected operations management processes
Digital and advanced technology is being used to adopt total quality management in
business firms. The evaluation of introduction of technology in this operations management
practice is provided below in relation to the UK based retail firm Morrisons:
Artificial Intelligence
This technology is defined as the intelligence which is demonstrated by machines instead
of natural intelligence present in Humans or animals (Saffar and Obeidat, 2020). This technology
is being used to enhance total quality management and enhance operations management in
business firms.
The practical application of methodologies and techniques of total quality management
leads bring various challenges to the company. These challenges are related to controlling,
analysing and interpreting organizational data to apply total quality management methodologies.
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The primary method in which Artificial Intelligence can be used by business firms to facilitate
effective application of total quality management methodologies is automation.
Quality inspection is an important element of total quality management which is time
taking activity and requires continuous usage of labour. This factor of total quality management
can be improved with the help of Artificial Intelligence as most of such quality inspections can
be completed by using sensors or measuring equipment.
The positive impact of Artificial Intelligence on total quality management is that it
provides more cost-effective and time saving method of conducting quality inspection and
provides business firms better results in comparison to completing quality checks through human
intervention (Zimon and Zimon, 2019). The negative impact of usage of Artificial intelligence
on total quality management is that the usage of AI technology does not improve with experience
and business firms have to make continuous upgrades to adapt AI to market changes.
In this way Artificial Intelligence is being used in total quality management as it acts as
cost effective replacement for quality inspection. Morrisons can utilize Artificial Intelligence to
automate various total quality management activities and decrease costs. The company will also
be able to ensure that large number of products and processes undergo total quality management
swiftly.
Social Media
This technology is being used in several functional areas of business firms such as
Human resources and Marketing. Social networks can also provide business firms beneficial
results in case of operations management. Total quality management can be improved by the
usage of social media as it helps the company become more consumer focused.
Social media helps business firms gain specific insight on the target consumer base easily
and at low cost. One of the main principles of total quality management is to make the company
more consumer focused and deliver quality service which exceeds consumer experience. Social
are being used to enhance this aspect of total quality management as they provide data on
consumer preferences and expectational This data can be utilised by the company to execute total
quality management.
In addition to this facilitation of inter-departmental communication and collaboration
across different managerial levels is an important part of total quality management. This is
because it eliminates formation of silos and increases interdepartmental collaboration and
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corporation. Social media is being used by business firms all over the globe to increase employee
collaboration and build better communication channels. This is because social media applications
can be used mire easily, enables informal communication and unites employees inside and
outside the company.
The positive impact of this technology on total quality management is improvement in
communication and better accessibility to accurate consumer data (Shrestha and Wang, 2020).
The negative impact of this technology on total quality management is that the collecting data
from social media exposes the company to cyber security risks.
Social media can be used by Morrisons to successfully implement total quality
management process and enhance operations management. The usage of this technology will
help Morrisons create consumer centric organizational culture, gain accurate consumer insights
and improve internal communication of the company. This will contribute to effective total
quality management.
Description of supporting functions linked with total quality management and evaluation of their
role in ensuring organizational success Quality planning: This is defined as the act of determining which factors are important to
a business operation,process or project and constructing guidelines to achieve the decided
factors. This involves constructing a quality plan which is a document specifying quality
standards, practices, resources, specifications and sequence of activities relevant to
specific product, service, process or project. This function of total quality management
helps Morrisons achieve business objectives because it helps the company determine the
quality standards for various business process, products and services. In addition to this
quality planning provides the respective company guidelines to attain quality standards
and factors in timely manner. Morrisons is able to attain quality objectives and offer
consumers quality service with the help of this function of total quality management.
Thus function of quality management helps the retail firm ensure optimal utilization of
resources so that the determined quality objectives are achieved. This is another benefit
of this total quality management function as it improves waste minimization. Quality assurance: Under this function of total quality management a systematic process
is utilized to determine if a product or service meets specific quality standards. This
function of total quality management helps business firms identify if any defects in the
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products or services and ensue that every consumer is given high quality commodities.
Morrisons is able to provide consumers bet products and services with the help of this
function of total quality management (Meng, Fu and Butler, 2017). This helps the
company attain organizational success by increasing consumer satisfaction and consumer
retention. This improves the profitability of the company which plays a significant role in
helping the firm attain organizational objectives. Quality control: The aim of this function is to review quality of products and service and
maintaining quality standards. This is an important function of total quality management
as it encourages quality consciousness and creates an organizational cultures which
focused around continuous improvement. The main benefit of this unction is that it
improves consumer satisfaction and production cost by undertaking control and
inspection over production processes, operations and costs. Morrisons is able to provide
consumers high quality products at low cost with the help of this function of total quality
management. The function increases profitably and helps build loyal consumers which
helps Morrisons attain business objectives by securing beneficial position for the
company.
 Quality improvement measures: This function of total quality management involves
taking proactive measures to take quality improvement measures (Manatos, Sarrico and
Rosa, 2017). This is an important function of total quality management as it has direct
impact on quality of various business processes, activities and projects. Morrisons is able
to ensure improvement in quality with the help of this function and attain quality
objectives in a timely manner
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CONCLUSION
From the above report it is determined that total quality management supports effective
operations management at enterprises. Total quality management enhances organizational
efficiency because it lowers product defects, helps check wastage, supports effective progress
review, and helps take proactive actions, improves HRM and develops adequate communication
systems. Social media and AI are examples of advanced technology which are being embedded
in total quality management have positive and negative impact on total quality management.
Quality planning, quality assurance quality control and quality improvement measures are
functions of total quality management which support organizational success.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Abbas, J., 2020. Impact of total quality management on corporate green performance through the
mediating role of corporate social responsibility. Journal of Cleaner Production, 242,
p.118458.
Bacoup, P. and et. al., 2018. From a quality management system (QMS) to a lean quality
management system (LQMS). The TQM Journal.
Borkovskaya, V., Degaev, E. and Burkova, I., 2018. Environmental economic model of risk
management and costs in the framework of the quality management system. In MATEC
web of conferences (Vol. 193, p. 05027). EDP Sciences.
Bouranta, N. and et. al., 2019. The key factors of total quality management in the service sector:
a cross-cultural study. Benchmarking: An International Journal.
Ladewski, B.J. and Al-Bayati, A.J., 2019. Quality and safety management practices: The theory
of quality management approach. Journal of Safety Research, 69, pp.193-200.
Li, D. and et. al., 2018. Impact of quality management on green innovation. Journal of cleaner
production, 170, pp.462-470.
Manatos, M.J., Sarrico, C.S. and Rosa, M.J., 2017. The integration of quality management in
higher education institutions: a systematic literature review. Total Quality Management
& Business Excellence, 28(1-2), pp.159-175.
Meng, F., Fu, G. and Butler, D., 2017. Cost-effective river water quality management using
integrated real-time control technology. Environmental science & technology, 51(17),
pp.9876-9886.
Pambreni, Y. and et. al., 2019. The influence of total quality management toward organization
performance. Management Science Letters, 9(9), pp.1397-1406.
Saffar, N. and Obeidat, A., 2020. The effect of total quality management practices on employee
performance: The moderating role of knowledge sharing. Management Science
Letters, 10(1), pp.77-90.
Shrestha, N.K. and Wang, J., 2020. Water Quality Management of a Cold Climate Region
Watershed in Changing Climate. Journal of Environmental Informatics, 35(1).
Zimon, D. and Zimon, G., 2019. The impact of implementation of standardized quality
management systems on management of liabilities in group purchasing
organizations. Quality Innovation Prosperity, 23(1), pp.60-73.
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