Detailed Analysis of Operations and Project Management at ASDA

This report provides a detailed analysis of operations and project management principles within the context of ASDA. Part 1 introduces ASDA, reviews the implementation of operations management principles, assesses their effectiveness, and discusses continuous improvement philosophies, including Lean principles. It then proposes an improvement plan using the Six Sigma methodology. Part 2 applies the project life cycle (PLC) to a case study involving managing an in-house project for staff health, building a case, and evaluating the pros and cons of PLC. The report concludes with recommendations for ASDA's operations and project management, emphasizing strategies to enhance efficiency, productivity, and employee well-being. Key topics include quality control, supply chain management, and the use of Kaizen and ERP systems.

OPERATION AND
PROJECT MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
An introduction to the chosen organization:................................................................................3
Review and critique of the implementation of operations management principles with in the
context of the firm “ASDA stores ltd.”:......................................................................................4
Analysing on what extent the operations management have meet the requirements of the
organization “ASDA”:.................................................................................................................5
Discussion of continuous improvement as a philosophy and describe the Lean principles:.......6
Providing with the improvement plan for the firm by using in the six sigma methodology in
the context of the firm “ASDA”:.................................................................................................7
PART 2............................................................................................................................................8
Applying project life cycle (PLC) to a given context:.................................................................8
Building a case:..........................................................................................................................12
Pros and cons PLC:..................................................................................................................16
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................21
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................22

INTRODUCTION
The following report is based on the Operations and Project management that deals with
day to day strategic business issues that have to be followed accordingly. The writings will be
presented in two parts that will critically review the effectiveness of operations management by
applying theories and models related to it along with the application of project life cycle on a
given topic and context respectively. The project life cycle will again be critically reviewed on
the basis of project methodologies, tools and learning theories that will clearly define the basis of
formation and planning of the project. The idea behind such an approach is to increase reliability,
stability of the performance that can minimize the human efforts in order to eradicate the errors
caused by the humans. At last the report will be concluded on the basis of conclusions as to what
all have been the base of the report and what all can be done to carry out the project successfully.
PART 1
An introduction to the chosen organization:
ASDA, formed by a group of farmers in the continent of UK, was established in 1965
with a vision of expanding in the global market with its services across the globe. The company
provides eatables and general merchandise having its roots in both online and offline modes to
attract and stimulate more customers by its products and services (Jones. and Comfort. 2019). It
is also famous and renowned in providing economical as well as the financial services that are a
must in an era of digitalisation. With such a strategy in process, the firm has chosen the best
marketing techniques of connecting with people through its effective distribution channels
spread worldwide. The reason behind choosing this firm is because it is the second largest firm
in UK and has satisfied uncountable customers, also it will be helpful to understand the
operations management concept with it.
Operations management, that is a management function connected with supervising,
controlling and managing activities of the good and services produced. This concept of
operations management is very helpful in creating a sustainable business performance rate that
can assist the firm in achieving the business goals and objectives (Bhattacharya. 2021). It also
helps in analysing what all factors can negatively impact the overall operational activities of the
firm. Being the largest supermarket chain, it is important for the firm to focus on the financial
crisis as the operational activities are dependent on this factor only. It is also said that ASDA
prevails on its value chain constantly as it is the most important fundamental of operations

management that can bring about a positive in change strategic management and competitive
advantage.
Review and critique of the implementation of operations management principles with in the
context of the firm “ASDA stores ltd.”:
There are several operation management principles that have been quoted below:
Reality: the operational management in the organization must focus on large problems not on
small part of the problems. This principle is titled with this because most of the peoples got stuck
in daily tasks assigned to them and struggles with their roles and responsibilities making difficult
for them to cop up with the realistic solution (Mišić, and Perakis, 2020)
Humility: management authorities in the company must understand all the limitations and might
avoid the trials and errors at all the costs. This can bring in positive outcomes for the long term.
Organization: all the elements required in the process must be predictable as the operation
management cannot be profitable without planning.
Accountability: the individuals managing the operations must be accountable for the
proceedings. Management authorities not checking in the things can cause the loss in the
organization (Lee, 2018).
Change: in the organization changes are operated as the operational issues and new solutions for
the changes adopted in the organization. The adoption of the new changes in the firm might arise
problems for the existing production management systems.
Quality control: this principle is the holistic process that includes following factors like
procurement, logistics, material management and warehousing in the organization. This involves
careful monitoring to have proper quality management.
Success: for the proper achievement of the success in the overall operations, the customers of the
firm must be happy from the end product served, and they should also be willing to come back to
the firm for more and if not this would be problem for the firm.
Knowing the competition: to have the optimized business operations, knowing the
competencies of competitors is one of the most crucial part and once it is done then the firm can
have in the competitive advantage.
Causality: problem in the operations represent itself with the signs before occurring, so it must
be identified and proper cure for the problem must be found to solve it. Not doing so even when
the problem is known can create the problems for the overall organizational process.

Consumer collaboration: in the last principle, it is determined to know the proper needs and the
wants of the customers by collecting the information from the market. This can help the firm in
improving the products and services. But if this is not done then it might be causing in the
problems and firm might be loosing in their customer base (Glock, and et.al., 2019).
Analysing on what extent the operations management have meet the requirements of the
organization “ASDA”:
Operation management is the process that helped the company to plan out the tasks, control and
supervise the manufacturing and the production process of the organization. Operation
management have made the things possible like in every sector of concern in the industry. This
management resulted in the effective way in the organization as it helped the firm to achieve in
the following things that are stated as below:
Product quality: the firm have achieved the proper product quality with the effective operation
management process and helped to achieve the quality of the product that is desired as per the
customer needs (Sutharsan, Prasad, and Vijay, 2020).
Productivity: this helped the firm to have the proper input output ratio and this also made the
management authorities to know about the appropriate input given by the employees. This
showed that the firm is operating at efficient levels.
Customer satisfaction: proper operations in the organization resulted in the good customer
satisfaction and in this way the customers made the organization thrive in the good ways, and
they are treated in the best way to have the proper satisfaction from their purchase.
Reduced operating cost: as the company achieved all various factors like productivity, product
quality and customer satisfaction. So with this all the cost incurred on the products have been
reduced this lead to have more revenues in the firm and only the proper operation management
made this possible for the firm to achieve it all.
Discussion of continuous improvement as a philosophy and describe the Lean principles:
Kaizen: kaizen is one of the important tool that helps in improving the quality, productivity and
safety and culture at work place. This process focuses on the application of small and daily
changes that would be resulting in betterment of the organization as a whole. The process
involves the following steps in them which are identifying the problem, analyzing the process,
developing an optimal solution, implementation of the solution, monitoring the results and
standardizing the solution to the problem. By adopting this principle the firm can have numerous

benefits like improved process, proper team work and ownership, etc (Amaro, Alves, and Sousa,
2019).
Quality Circles: this is one of the technique with in which the group of the performing the same
task meet up and identifies the problem analyze it and solves it. It consists of minimum of 3
members and maximum of 12 members. This process haves the following factors like
development with the overall enhancements' by utilizing human resource of the organization,
improving the quality of the products and satisfying the employees. Adoption of this method in
the organization gives in the proper abilities like improvement in the communication,
management and awareness of the employees, personal development, enhanced decision making,
improved motivation, opportunities for the individual development.
SCM: this process is related to the management of the goods and services, finances, and data of
the organization related to the overall goods and services offered by the firm. This helps in the
procurement of the raw materials to be delivered at the final destination. This process involves
few steps need to be followed like continuous flow, fast chain, efficient chain, agile formation,
custom configured and flexibility. There are two types of the management process which are
reactive supply chain management and data driven supply chain management. This process
provides with various benefits when adopted that are good collaboration with suppliers, better
quality control, strong cash flow, etc.
ERP: enterprise resource planning is the type of soft ware that helps organization to manage day
to day operations like accounting, procurement, project management, risk management, etc. this
contains the suite of soft ware that helps by automating the business functions like production,
sales, quoting, etc. this process can provide with the different benefits like enhanced business
reporting, better customer services, increased cash flow, better data and cloud security, etc.
Recommendations: the firm can adopt the quality circle that would be helping by making in the
process of operations easy and to develop the employees and organization as well in the whole.
This would be providing the firm with the numerous benefits and can help in its internal and the
external development. It can provide with improved communication, properly managed
employees, enhanced decision-making, and opportunities for the individual growth and personal
growth and with the overall organizational growth too.

Providing with the improvement plan for the firm by using in the six sigma methodology in the
context of the firm “ASDA”:
Defines: this term is considered to defining the problem, improving the activities for the
performance enhancement, project goals to be achieved and customer requirements. This can be
done by knowing the voice of the customers and valuing the stream maps (Singh, and Rathi,
2018).
Measure: this includes the process of performance with in the organization. This can be
evaluated by recording overall activities and doing capability analysis and using in the pareto
charts.
analysation:this is the process of identifying the root of causes and poor performance in the
organization. This can be overcome by using the root cause analysis and multi vary chart.
Improve: this is one of the process to eliminate the root cause and by addressing it. This all can
be solved by using the design of experiments and kaizen events.
Control: controlling is considered to the management of the overall improvement and the
management for the future process to be performed in the organization. The controlling can be
done by using in the quality control plan and statistical process control and mistake proofing
methods to make all the errors impossible or to use it in a way that the mistakes can be detected
in a whole (Costa, and et.al., 2018).
PART 2
Applying project life cycle (PLC) to a given context:
Project initiation:
Project Title:
Managing an in-house project to provide healthy food to staffs by cooking food in-house
in order to reduce staff absenteeism.
Brief description:
The responsibility of managing programme and project office, the task given is to plan
and execute the in house project in which the focus should be on understanding as to how the
organization can translate its business objectives into a real and specific developing goals.
Currently in this project life cycle, main task is to reduce staff absenteeism during the lunch

break hours by developing a healthy lifestyle with the help of cooking food in-house and to
provide the staff from leaving the premises.
Background:
The project is being done to reduce the staff absenteeism in an organization mainly
during the lunch break (Abou-Senna. and et.al., 2018). This is done to improve the congestion
issues that are causing road blockage in a particular area during the same time by the staff of the
organization. That is why the organization has now decided to provide the staff members with
healthy and reliable food products so that there will be no further issues like this in the future and
absenteeism will reduce.
Goals / Deliverables:
1. To ensure that there is no rate of staff absenteeism during the break hours.
2. To provide the staff with healthy food so that they do not leave the premises.
3. To ensure maximum worker participation in organizational activities to maintain the
societal relations.
4. To maintain their corporate social responsibility by stimulating the staff to not cause any
traffic related issues.5. To make sure that the staff members are not strived much to get a nutritious meal in order
to work for the organization.
Scope:
The scope of this project is to reach to full extent in providing the staff members with
healthy and nutritious food that will help them in achieving the overall organizational objectives
(Ray. and Smith. 2021). This project is being done to solve the major issues of traffic related
problems that are caused by the staff of an organization because of lack of eatables in the
premises.
Impact on other businesses and firms:
With such an effective step taken by the organization in relation with the staff members,
the other business systems can get encouraged by this act in terms of health and safety measures.
Safety not only in terms of traffic rules and regulations, but also for their own safety measures
about being fit and fine. From this the business units will be able to understand the importance of
treating their staff with nutritious food supply in order to control their activities.
Stakeholders:

The stakeholders of this project of in house cooking are the staff members who will be
the real consumers of the food being provided. Along with them, the food producers and
manufacturers also play a role in the section as they are the intermediaries between staff and
organization. Apart from these, public health organizations, and community groups who protect
the interests of public are liable to know the outcomes of this project.
Roles and responsibilities:
The roles and responsibilities of the organization is to ensure proper planning about this
project and to monitor the actions related to it. This is because the task is dependent on the safety
and health measures of the employees. Hygiene, fresh food products, etc. are the essentials
required.
Milestones:
Aim of the project is to eradicate the levels of staff absenteeism till the end of current
financial year so that there will be no sign of congestion issues and the project will continue till
the life span of the business.
Budget:
Particulars Amount in $
Raw materials 500
Inventory management 1000
Cooking Equipment 2500
Cleanliness measures 100
Total 4100
Constraints / Risks:
There might be the risk of contamination and spoiling of raw materials by some of the
natural calamities. Food safety will also be a concern while managing eatables for a large
population. Technical issues can also occur due to kitchen appliances.
Success measurements:
Constant feedbacks from the stakeholders, mainly from the staff members about how was
the food services provided them was. Also, the local area public can also be surveyed in relation
to the success of in-house cooking project for the staff of the firm.

Project approval:
The approval of in-house cooking project for staff will be approved by the board
members on consultation with the staff members. It will involve the acceptance of both staff and
the upper department as well as the functional managers who will be supervising the whole
project.
Project planning:
Scope planning:
The scope of project is limited to the activities of initiating, planning, execution and
closure of project for arranging the in supply of food measures to the staff.
Project schedule development:
The scheduling of project activities is done in an orderly manner starting from the
planning and designing of steps involved (Brunner. and et.al., 2019). Then those steps are being
divided into variants of tasks and sub tasks that are clearly defining all the sequence in which the
activities are carried out.
Resource planning:
The initial level of activities such as the planning and organizing of resources can be
efficiently done by a team of experts who will evaluate each and every task carefully. These can
be done at the day time when the resources will be easily available and an inspector will also be
hired to inspect the activities in a proper manner.
Budget planning:
Particulars Amount $
Resource cost 2000
Vendor's cost 1500
Quality maintenance cost 2500
Total 6000
Procurement planning:

The external analysis of the project will be done in this stage where the resources and
materials have been procured and optimised from. Information such as type of contracts and
sponsors that will promote the project will be mentioned and in this, written and standard
contracts will be taken.
Risk management:
Planning for possible risks and maintaining a planned outcome to overcome those risks
will be mentioned. Risks of safety in terms of technical issues have to be considered and secured
plans will be framed that will provide solutions. For in house cooking measures in an
organization, proper furnishing of floors and fresh raw materials will be maintained.
Quality assurance:
An acceptable food quality will be ensured to the staff members so that they will be
assured enough to utilise the in-house cooking efforts.
Communication planning:
The communication strategy will be classified in accordance with different stakeholders
such as digitally by social media and others can be personally introduced by the means of
meetings and gatherings.
Project execution:
Project deliverables:
The stakeholder provided the firm with changes such as raw materials and quality of the
food that will be used. With regard to this, the firm will make changes according to the change
requests of the stakeholders.
Performance data:
Category Deliverables Activity Cost Time taken
Raw materials Food items Procurement 500 2 months
Decision-making Outcomes Deciding on an
issue
100 1 month
Gathering of
stakeholders
Sponsors Inspection 250 2 – 3 months
Planning Project Execution of in 500 4 months

deliverables house cooking
Issue log:
The issues regarding various activities will be found and updated. In in-house cooking
methods, there can be lack of experience in cooking for a large population and plus certain
limitations regarding financial stability of the firm.
Documentation updates:
All the changes made will be documented in the project scope and project schedule areas
where everything will be properly mentioned regarding the changes.
Project Closure:
Now the project is being closed and is ready to be presented to the sponsors and
stakeholders. Now the in house cooking in premises will be open to all the staff members and
reviews will be collected. All the suppliers and vendors are being settled within the monetary
terms and the stakeholders are asked to inspect the project. At last, an implementation review
will be conducted to measure the success of project.
Building a case:
Name of the project:
In house cooking measures for the staff members in an organization.
Vision / Objectives:
 To provide staff members with effective and nutritious in food supplements in the
premises. To maintain the health and safety of both localities and staff of an organization.
Mission: To ensure sustainability in the relations between organization and its staff.
Executive summary:
The main motive of the project planned is to produce an effective in house eatery place to
the staff in an organization that can reduce the absenteeism of staff and employee turnover rates
during the lunch break hours.
Innovation ideas: