Foundations of Business Management: Report on Operations

This report delves into the core principles of business management, focusing on operations management within a case study context. The report analyzes Feast, an online food delivery service, and its proposed "Night Drone Delivery" service. It explores key elements of the operation process, including forecasting, supply, scheduling, materials, and quality. The transformation process, encompassing input, transformation, and output, is detailed, along with resourcing strategies for human, financial, technical, and mechanical resources. Product/service delivery methods, capacity management, and quality management using TQM are also discussed. Furthermore, the report incorporates a personal reflection using Gibbs' Reflective Cycle to evaluate the development of key skills such as communication, teamwork, and ICT proficiency. The report highlights both positive and negative experiences during the module and activity, providing insights into personal growth and skill enhancement in a business environment.

FOUNDATIONS OF
BUSINESS
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
BUSINESS CASE...........................................................................................................................1
Overview of the Business Case..............................................................................................1
Elements of the Operation Process.........................................................................................1
Transformation Process..........................................................................................................2
Resourcing..............................................................................................................................3
Product/Service Delivery........................................................................................................3
Managing Capacity.................................................................................................................3
Managing Quality...................................................................................................................4
PERSONAL REFLECTION...........................................................................................................4
Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle.........................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Business Management is an amalgamation of several functions such as planning,
organising, staffing, directing, coordinating and controlling (Maak, Pless and Voegtlin, 2016),
which drives an organisation towards achieving its goals and objectives for business.
Furthermore, it is quite an imperative activity to ensure that each operation or project within the
company is being completed in an optimal and effective way possible. Therefore, in this context,
the report below is divided between two parts. The first part of the report addresses application
of operations management within an organisation, which undertakes demonstration of
understanding of business functions and management tools, along with their application within
the same. As for the second part, it takes into account development of key skills through personal
reflection.
BUSINESS CASE
Overview of the Business Case
Feast is an online food delivery organisation, which operates in the Food and Beverage
Industry within the UK and provides food items to almost all of its customers across 2 miles
radius within their localities. However, currently, due to excessive demand of food items at
home, the firm wishes to enhance its operations and provide its customers with a new service of
“Night Drone Delivery”, which would be delivery of food items by robot or air drones after
midnight till up to 5 mile radius.
Elements of the Operation Process
Depending upon the above case, there are several elements of the operation process which
are necessary to be taken into account. Some of these elements are explored below:
 Forecasting: The very first element of operations process in this regard is forecasting,
which requires appropriate anticipation of the resources, time and cost required to
commence and execute this process (Wilson, 2014).
 Supply: Another element of the process is arrangement of supplies, which is associated
with arranging suppliers for new equipments, as well as setting up a constant chain of
delivery with customers.
 Scheduling: Within this element, a proper schedule is prepared in regards to
development of the new products, as well as testing and arranging them for supplies.
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 Materials: Each operation process related to development of a new offering requires
technical and mechanical materials which contribute towards the structure, design and
overall body of the product (Dyllick, 2015).
 Quality: The last and most crucial element of this operation service is high quality, which
is related to durability, performance and relevance of the new product and service within
the sector.
Transformation Process
Every new product and service requires effective transformation in context of their
resources, techniques, as well as human resources to ensure that the overall process is consistent
and effectively accomplished as per the current requirements of the firm. For this purpose, there
are three basic components that are being taken into account and are discussed below:
 Input: This denotes the people, materials, technical and financial resources and so forth
which the firm has decided upon for the production of the new service. In relation to the
drone deliver, Feast is willing to adopt a team of human resources, a new manufacturing
unit for this service, technical resources like Automation and Artificial Intelligence.
Along with this, mechanical resources such as steel, aluminium, thermoplastics, lithium
ion batteries and so forth.
 Transformation Process: This is the overall transformation process, which in this context
is the overall product development of these new drones. It covers the overall stages such
as screening of the idea, sourcing of raw materials, hiring of human and technical
resources and indulging into systematic development and testing of the product in terms
of quality and performance (Fayolle, Verzat and Wapshott, 2016). However, within the
product development, the company will be adopting Principles of Lean Manufacturing to
produce these offerings in a sustainable manner. for instance, it will be taking into
account the what customers hold valuable, which in this case is effective and convenient
food service even in late hours. Furthermore, the firm will be mapping the value stream
and create a flow within operations, which would further be monitored until perfection is
achieved.
 Output: These are the final offerings which are produced by the firm. In case of Feast,
these would be the drones which would be providing food items to customers in a 5 mile
radius.
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Resourcing
For this operation of product development, there are several things that will be resourced
by the company. Some of the most prominent aspects are mentioned below:
 Human Resource: The new operation within the firm would be requiring a team of
human resources, which would be inclusive of technicians, software developers, factory
workers, managers, supervisors and auditors (Marabelli and Galliers, 2017). All these
individuals would be sourced through internal and external recruitment.
 Financial Resource: Since the project would be covered on a large scale, the firm will be
investing around £10,000, which would be sourced through retained earnings of the
company.
 Technical and Mechanical Resource: These resources are the ones that would be
supporting the development of these drones. As mentioned above, aluminium, batteries
and other essential alloys would be sourced from a range of certified suppliers for
development of the drone’s structure. Moreover, software with technology such as AI,
Automation and GPS locator would be formed to provide safety and quality to these
offerings.
Product/Service Delivery
There are several ways in which the delivery of food items will be managed. Since the
supply chain in regards to deliver the finished products (food items) to the customers associated
a direct link of the outlet and individual, depending upon the time required, the items would be
delivered either by the air drones, or through robotic drones (Kassean and et. al., 2015). Within
this process, the firm will be applying just in time inventory systems to ensure that the
manufacturing of these drones does not exceed the demand that would cause major issues in
inventory management. Moreover, Six Sigma would be appropriately adopted by the company in
context of managing and improving its supply chain in an appropriate manner, for which,
DMAIC would be used as the framework to enhance the performance.
Managing Capacity
There are several ways in which the capacity of human and technical resources would be
managed, which would be taking in several management practices. For instance, planning and
organising would be used to motivate and enhance performance standards of individuals in a
prominent manner which would be done through anticipating their training and development
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needs and fulfilling the same in an appropriate manner. In relation to the mechanical and
technical resources, the company will be adopting optimal and sustainable utilisation of each
resource on the basis of demand and regular performance testing of these materials and
equipment (Drucker, 2017).
Managing Quality
One of the most prominent approaches which Feast would be adopting in relation to
managing the quality of overall service delivery through drones is through application of Total
Quality management (TQM). This method is perhaps one of the best project management tools
that could be used to regulate the quality of each and every drone manufactured for service
delivery. TQM works on principle of continuous improvement, which in this context would be
the speed, security, performance, reliability and artificial intelligence of these drones which
would be continuously monitored and tracked to modify the same and gain better results (Total
Quality Management And Continuous Improvement, 2020). Moreover, every 2 months company
will be updating its software to ensure that its technical performance also enhances.
Conclusion
Therefore, in context of introducing a new product and service within the marketplace, it
is crucial that firms adopt Operations management like in the case of Feast. It is crucial to
determine approaches and tools to be used towards development and distribution of the new
offering, along with their proper resourcing. Moreover, it is imperative that project management
tools such as TQM, Six Sigma and Lean are used to that each offering is developed as per the
desired anticipation of company and customers (Bendell, 2017).
PERSONAL REFLECTION
The module and several activities within the same required me to practice and work upon
certain key personal and employability skills which, in my opinion, are very crucial to ensure
professional growth and effectiveness. These skills include communication, numeracy, ICT,
Problem solving and Working with others as a team. In addition to this, there were several
frameworks that were taught to us as well, Belbin and Tuckman’s model for teamwork and
Kolb’s learning cycle, which is considered to be one of the most appropriate frameworks for self
analysis and personal development. Hence, in order to reflect using these skills in this module as
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well as the activity above, I will be implementing Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle in order to reflect
upon these experiences prominently.
Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle
 Description:
This dimension of the model is related to description of the overall activity (Hartman,
DesJardins and MacDonald, 2014). In relation of the above module, I was required to work in a
team of few individuals and we were responsible towards working in an activity which required
us to investigate a business case company and develop a new product or a service using
operations management. The overall experience was very sound and needed us to work and
practice several of our core employability skills under different situations effectively.
 Feelings:
This section deals with the feelings of individuals throughout the experience. When the
module began, I was very anxious and eager to learn new skills, concepts and gain better
knowledge about how best I could furnish my existing skills. Moreover, as the module
progressed and I worked on the task above, I became very optimistic about my current academic
performance which saw immense progress in terms of skills from previous modules. Moreover, i
was also very much confident in relation to using these skills further in a professional manner
too.
 Evaluation:
This section is a detailed evaluation of the overall experience that denotes the positive and
negative aspects attached to the same (Hodgkinson, 2015). Throughout working within this
module too, there were times where the experience became positive, as well as negative.
In relation to the position experiences, I gained effective knowledge about how best
Tuckman’s team development theory could be applied in real world scenario and hence, I
implemented the same while forming the team for this module, which accelerated the collective
experience, as well as allowed each team member to share their knowledge and resources.
Another good experience related to this module was that each individual indulged in
implementation of Belbin’s Team roles, with which, it was very effectively determined that
which individual would fulfil each role within that model. Hence, the teamwork aspect
throughout the module was very positive for me.
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Another skill which contributed towards the same is working with ICT. There were certain
activities like the one above which needed me to operate on several Microsoft Office Programs
such as Microsoft Word, MS Excel and so forth, which were very much appropriately performed
by me throughout the module. In addition to these skills, my written communication has also
been very contributing towards making the experience positive for me. For instance, my reports
were very well structured and there was an effective understanding and flow within my
information which was at par with the required academic standards.
Apart from these positive experiences, there were certain negative ones as well. For
example, while my written communication was quite effective, I lagged behind in verbal
communication skill. The reason was because most of the time I had to communicate with the
team members and keep my point appropriately. However, public speaking has always been one
of the weakest points, which restricted me towards providing essential ideas. Another negative
experience was witnessed by me during the above activity was when the calculations were to be
performed in relation to distribution of resources, measuring of budget and so forth. Despite
being good in MS Excel, I found it complex to perform the calculative and numeracy activities.
In addition to this, there were times when the team faced several problems, such as inappropriate
information, or time constraints, which required me to take on these problems and solve them
appropriately. However, I panicked most of the time due to which, the performance standards
failed to meet the standard.
 Analysis:
This section is related to analysis of the overall experience of what sense does all of it make
(Erickson and Rothberg, 2015). I realised that operations management is very crucial for an
organisation to ensure appropriate accomplishment of certain projects and activities. Moreover, I
also realised that teamwork and communication are essentials to delivering good results and
enhance the flow of information towards enhancing the quality of presentations.
 Conclusion:
There are several things which could have been done differently by me to make this module
even better. For instance, I could have approached my mentors and assessors to provide me with
feedbacks which would have narrowed down my vision towards focusing on areas effectively in
which I am weak. Furthermore, I could also have taken appropriate training so that my
employability skills could have enhanced more. All these activities would have provided me with
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desired and crucial support which would have contributed in a better performance from my side
throughout the module, as well as the above activity.
 Action Plan:
This is the last section of the framework, which requires determination of activities that
would be done to improve the weaker elements of one’s competencies (Blaschke, Frost and
Hattke, 2014). There are various tasks which would be performed by me so that I become
effective in my employability skills which enhance the scope of improvement and prosperity in
my future academic and professional career. For instance, In order to enhance my verbal
communications skill, I will be undertaking seminars and conferences, which would allow me to
participate in verbal activities that would allow me to overcome my weakness and express my
points and knowledge in a better and effective manner. Another activity that would be performed
by me is undertaking workshops within the university to enhance my calculative and numeracy
skills. This would be done through several assignments that would be completed by me on which
I will be getting valuable feedbacks. Furthermore, in relation to increasing my problem solving
skills, I will be taking training with Simulation methods that will expose me through complex
and time bound situations, which will be contributing towards enhancing my competence
towards this skill.
CONCLUSION
Thus, it could be concluded from the information above that foundations of business
management are crucial for individuals and organisations to understand in relation to achieving
their corporate operations in an effective manner. it is crucial that operations management and its
different tools and principles associated with new product or service development and delivery
are effectively understood and implement so that new offerings could be developed with
effective resourcing, and with effective management of capacity and quality. In addition to this,
personal reflection enhances the scope of improvement within one’s key employability skills and
is imperative to ensure that future growth and prosperity is achieved in progressive manner.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bendell, J., 2017. Talking for change? Reflections on effective stakeholder dialogue.
In Unfolding Stakeholder Thinking 2 (pp. 53-69). Routledge.
Blaschke, S., Frost, J. and Hattke, F., 2014. Towards a micro foundation of leadership,
governance, and management in universities. Higher education. 68(5). pp.711-732.
Drucker, P. ed., 2017. The ecological vision: Reflections on the American condition. Routledge.
Dyllick, T., 2015. Responsible management education for a sustainable world: The challenges
for business schools. Journal of Management Development. 34(1). pp.16-33.
Erickson, S. and Rothberg, H., 2015. Big data and knowledge management: establishing a
conceptual foundation. Leading Issues in Knowledge Management. 2. p.204.
Fayolle, A., Verzat, C. and Wapshott, R., 2016. In quest of legitimacy: The theoretical and
methodological foundations of entrepreneurship education research. International Small
Business Journal. 34(7). pp.895-904.
Hartman, L.P., DesJardins, J.R. and MacDonald, C., 2014. Business ethics: Decision making for
personal integrity and social responsibility. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hodgkinson, G.P., 2015. Reflections on the interplay between cognition, action and outcomes in
industries and business markets: What have we learned so far and where might we go
next?. Industrial Marketing Management. 48. pp.12-25.
Kassean, H., and et. al., 2015. Entrepreneurship education: a need for reflection, real-world
experience and action. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research.
Maak, T., Pless, N.M. and Voegtlin, C., 2016. Business statesman or shareholder advocate? CEO
responsible leadership styles and the micro‐foundations of political CSR. Journal of
Management Studies. 53(3). pp.463-493.
Marabelli, M. and Galliers, R.D., 2017. A reflection on information systems strategizing: the role
of power and everyday practices. Information Systems Journal. 27(3). pp.347-366.
Wilson, J.P., 2014. International human resource development: Learning, education and training
for individuals and organisations. Development and Learning in Organizations.
Online
Total Quality Management And Continuous Improvement. 2020. [Online] Available Through:
<https://blogs.ramco.com/total-quality-management-continuous-improvement>
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