Operations and Project Management Report: M&S Case Study Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of operations and project management principles, focusing on a case study of Marks & Spencer (M&S). It begins with an introduction to operations and project management, followed by a review and critique of the implementation of operations management principles within M&S, examining its strengths and weaknesses. The report then presents a continuous improvement plan based on the review, emphasizing strategies for enhancing efficiency and productivity. It also explores the stages of the Project Life Cycle (PLC) within a given project, including the necessary supporting documentation. Furthermore, the report evaluates the effectiveness of the PLC in practical application, offering recommendations for operational improvements. The report's findings and conclusions provide valuable insights into optimizing operations management within the retail sector.

Operations and Project
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PROJECT 1......................................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Review and critique of the implementation of operations management principles...............1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P2 Continuous improvement plan based on the review and critique of operations management
principles.....................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
PROJECT 2......................................................................................................................................6
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
P3 Stage of PLC to a given project, producing necessary supporting documentation for
completing the project.................................................................................................................6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
P4 Effectiveness of the PLC in application.................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
.......................................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Operation management refers to planning as well as implementation of operations in
service and production world involving forecasting of demand, stock control, production
planning, collaboration of supply chain and quality management. On the other hand, project
management is application on knowledge, process, skills, methods and also experience on order
to attain project objectives (Beringer, Jonas and Kock, 2013). This present report is based on
case study of Marks & Spencer. Under this mention report we will discuss about review and
critique of execution of operation management with in company. The plan of continuous
improvement depends on review as well as critiques of the principles of operation management
will also be mention under this report.
PROJECT 1
TASK 1
P1 Review and critique of the implementation of operations management principles
Marks & Spencer is an multinational retail company and it which is specialised in
selling home products, luxury food goods and clothing. This firm was established in year 1884
through Thomas Spencer and Michael Marks in Leeds. Company has 979 stores in United
Kingdom consisting 615 only sell the food items (Burke, 2013). Under this company, around
84,939 are working. This firm deals in the retail sector and provide better quality of services and
products to consumers. It is specialised in the clothing segment and it design attractive and
designer clothes.
Difference among operation and Operation Management
Operation Operation Management
It refers to functional series as well as tasks
which are included in single procedure.
These are the management areas which is
concerned with controlling as well as designing
production and redesigning the operation of
business in manufacturing of services and
products.
The objective is to manage the quality
programmes and develop better strategy to
The main aim of operation management is to
increase efficiency while manufacturing
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make improvement in effectiveness as well as
productivity.
services and products which satisfy
requirements of consumers.
It is a permanent procedure that explains
necessary resources in order to conduct the
business activities which are set through
Manager.
It is an ongoing function that needs to be
altered as well as modified on the basis of
marketing situations.
The operations management develop plans in order to meet the requirements of Marks
and Spencer as they have hire new store planner for the project so that we store layout will be
designed (Chen and et. al., 2011). This is an important factor in order to enhance sales of
business in attractive environment, the stores are operationally effective so that cost factor can be
minimized. There is coordination with all the departments which are interested in designing and
operations of store. There should be efficiencies in the operations so that final layout will meet
the requirements of buying groups, store and divisional manager as they are the most important
client. The requirements of customers should also be fulfils as they are plays most important role
in order to enhance overall sales and profitability of business.
Operation Management Principles
There are some principles of operations management which are given below:
Reality- It is necessary that operations management should focus on the issues instead of
techniques because there is not any tool that will present universal solution.
Organisation- The process in production interconnected. All components are to be
consistent as well as predictable in regards to attain same outcomes in terms of profit.
Accountability- In this, managers are expected to set metrics and rules to explain
responsibilities and rules of subordinates along with monitor that all objectives are meet or not.
From this, employees will able to give their better contribution (Cruz and Marques, 2011).
Passion- Passion of staff members of Marks & Spencer can main driven productivity of
firm. In case if it will not come naturally then it can instilled through employers.
These all are the principles of operation management and helpful in attaining the set aims
and increase productivity of company. It is essential for management of Marks & Spencer
organisation to implement these principles at workplace to manage the quality of operation and
also maximise profitability.
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TASK 2
P2 Continuous improvement plan based on the review and critique of operations management
principles
Continuous improvement refers to an ongoing effort to make improvement in services,
process and goods. It is related to any process or policy at workplace that aid to focus on rising
the way to complete tasks on continuous basis (Fleming and Koppelman, 2016). It can only be
done by incremental improvements on continuous basis or also through focus on attaining the
process of modify. It is set of activities which are designed to bring the ongoing and gradual
transformation to services and products by the constant review. It depends on Japanese Concept
known as Kaizen and it is a kind of philosophy related to continuous seeking methods for
improve the operations of company. It includes determining the excellent practice benchmarks
and also instilling employee ownership sense of procedure. It is helpful in minimising the quality
of services and products.
Lean principles encourage continuous improvement practices and is also based on
fundamental ideas of respect of individuals. It gives framework for developing effective and
efficient company. It permits managers to search inefficiency in Marks & Spencer and also
provide better value to consumers. The main focus of lean is on stock and speed. Lean
production is generic vision of Toyota Production system that focusses on waste sources such as
inventory, transportation, over production, defects, Work in Progress and over processing.
Improvements are to be made through working in order to minimize the wastage of Marks &
Spencer. There are five principles of lean:
Define value- Value is that consumers are ready to pay for services and products. It is
complex to find out the demands as well as actual requirements of consumers at market place
There are several technologies like demographic information, surveys, web analytics and
interviews which can assess to find about the valuable things for consumers (Gunasekaran and
Ngai, 2012). There are several techniques like demographic information, web analytics and
surveys which can be helpful in discover as well as decipher what consumers actually find.
Map value stream- It is related to determining and mapping value stream. Under this,
objective is to be use for value of consumers as reference point. Activities which can not add
the value to end consumers are regarded as wastage. Through eliminating and also minimising
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the unnecessary process, it is necessary for Marks & Spencer to know about needs of consumers
and also minimize the time of manufacturing products.
Create Flow- After eliminating wastage from value stream, given action is ensure that
flow of remaining steps are run in smooth manner without any delay and interruptions (Kerzner
and Kerzner, 2017). There are some strategies which ensure that flow of value adding activities
flow smoothly consists reconfiguring production steps, training employees, levelling out
workload etc.
Establish Pull- An inventory is regarded as largest wastage in any manufacturing system
of Marks & Spencer. Aim of pull based system is to limit the Work in Progress and inventory
items while assure that information and requisite materials are more available for smooth
working.
Pursue Perfection- Wastage are to be prevented by attaining these all given steps. In this
steps make the lean thinking and also process of continuous improvement as part of o Marks &
Spencer culture.
Continuous improvement plan and its effect
It is helpful carrying all all business operations in an effective manner. It help staff
members to generate the new thoughts as well as methods to turn this concept. The Continuous
improvement plan mention below:
Plan- It is a first steps and under this Marks & Spencer require to determine better
opportunities by develop effective plan for change.
Do- After develop plan, there is a need to execute change at small scale to analyse its
effectiveness.
Check- Use the data in order to analyse outcomes of change and identify where it made
any kind of difference (Lenfle and Loch, 2010).
Act- If change is successful, then company can execute it at large scale and assess result
on continuous basis. If alteration did not work then start cycle again.
These all steps are done or completed in successful manner at workplace then in this case
it will develop the positive result on Marks & Spencer and its activities and operations.
Principles of Continuous improvement plan
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Ideas from employees- It relies on staff members not on the top management to
determine the opportunities for the improvement purpose. It is more effective principle because
staff members are close to issues and use the better way to resolve them.
Incremental improvements are inexpensive to execute- Under this, focus of staff
members are on the small changes which cab achieved without more expense. Several ideas from
staff members include the eliminating process as compare to adding them. It is helpful in
minimize the effort (Mir and Pinnington, 2014).
Improvement is reflective- Feedback and review are the necessary aspect of continuous
improvement model. At the time of execute the improvement, open communication is necessary.
It is helpful in provide the better results and maintain the employee engagement.
Improvement is measurable and also potentially repeatable- This is not enough to make
any kind of modifications and make improvement. In context to attain the real improvement,
affect of change should be analysed. If change will applied in successful manner then it will be
helpful in resolve all issues. It will be helpful in providing the better Return on Investment.
Recommendation to improve operations
 Under this, Marks & Spencer should include its staff members in the process so that they
can give the better ideas as well as operation in context to improve operations.
 For make improvement in operations, company should implement the new machineries
and techniques at the workplace (Ogunlana, 2010).
CONCLUSION
From the above given report it has been concluded that operation management plays a
necessary role in producing products and manage their quality in better manner. Under this
report studied about the continuous improvement plan depends on review and critique of
activities of operation management.
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PROJECT 2
INTRODUCTION
Operation management is an ongoing function of company that perform tasks and
activities to manufacture services and products (Pade-Khene, Mallinson and Sewry, 2011). Every
stage of PLC to project, developing required supporting documentation for finishing project will
be discuss in this report. Under mention report will be given about the critique effectiveness of
project life cycle in application to selected project.
TASK 3
P3 Stage of PLC to a given project, producing necessary supporting documentation for
completing the project
The case study is based on Marks and Spencer's as they are making plans in order to
relocate themselves into Kendal as it is an important factor in order to enhance overall sales and
profitability of firms. There are plans for store development and offer high quality products to
customers so there business can be easily expanded. The development project consist of new
stores and extending the footage areas.
Project life cycle refers to the cycle by which product of each company goes by from the
introduction to eventual demise. In marketing product life cycle is a necessary concept and it
explains stages goods goes through first stage to the final. The main focus of every organisation
is to increasing sales and productivity of company by provide better quality of services and
products to consumers at market place. It will be helpful in attract the large number of consumers
towards company. In addition to this, it is a responsibility of manager is to implement to product
life cycle at workplace so that new products can be developed of better quality. Under this, there
are various stages adopted through manager for finish the project in given period of time. With
the help of using the technique of market research, Mark & Spencer organisation determine the
various ideas under which its business can expand in order to enhance the consumer base
(Pemsel and Wiewiora, 2013).
Steps in Project Life Cycle mention below:
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Project Initiation- It is a first stage of product life cycle and under this, firm determine
the issues, opportunities, requirements and also brainstorm methods to meet the needs of
consumers and solve any kind of issues. Under this, there is a need to Marks & Spencer
organisation to determine the need of consumers. Under this, proper response to requirement is
to be documented in business case with the suggested solution options. The feasibility study is to
be conducted for investigate about the every option to address objective of project and also
identify the final suggested solution.
Project planning- Plan is a helpful tool to conduct activities of firm in a systematic
manner. It helps to manager as well as staff members for achieving the tasks as well as activities
with in a given period of time. Under this stage, project solution is to be developed in detailed
manner and also required steps to meet with aims of project are to be planned. In addition to this,
team determined all work that is to be done (Ramasesh and Browning, 2014). Requirement of
resources as well as tasks of project are to be determined with strategy for developing them. It is
a duty of manager or top management to develop an effective project plan with activities and
proper time frame. Project plan is developed by outline the tasks, time frames and dependencies.
Project manager coordinate preparation of project budget through giving an estimation of cost
for equipment, materials and labour costs. Budget is helpful in control as well as monitor the
cost expenditure at the time of executing project.
Project execution- It is a third step in the product life cycle phrase. At this stage, project
plan is put in to the motion and also work of project is to be performed. In addition to this,m it is
necessary to maintain the control along with communicate as required at the time of execution.
Progress in regular monitor as well as proper judgements are to be made along with recorded as
variances from original plan. It is a duty of project manager is to keep the work on track, manage
the timelines, organise the team members and also work to be done on the basis of developed
plan. Implementation of develop deliverables satisfy needs of consumers. In context to this, team
leaders and managers make this to be happen through allocate the resources and also focus on
team members about achieving the assigned tasks. Under this stage includes the cost benefit
analysis. It is systematic approach to estimate the weaknesses as well as strengths of all
alternatives.
Project closure- It is a final stage in project life cycle and it is on the releasing final
deliverables to consumers, handle over project documentation to business, terminate the
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contracts to supplier, communicate closure and release the project related resources of project top
stakeholders. Under this, management divide the activities on the basis of set time frame so that
they can focus on attaining the set targets on given time period (Robichaud and Anantatmula,
2010). Team close the project when they are deliver completed project to consumers, interacting
completion to the stakeholders and also release the resources to the other projects. It permits
team to analyse as well as document project and also move on next one by take care the previous
project mistakes as well as success in order to develop the strong process along with the more
successful teams.
TASK 4
P4 Effectiveness of the PLC in application
Usually, the project management life cycle broken in to four different phrases like
initiation, planning, implementation and closure (Beringer, Jonas and Kock, 2013). It explains
stages of project that goes by as it process from begin to the finish. It is structured approach for
delivery of project, it permits each person to work on project in order to determine the progress
of project. It is helpful in organises the activities along with the operations in a systematic or
proper manner. It is a responsibility of manager to implement the plan at work place and team
members should follow all steps or rules of project management. It is necessary that company
should arrange the funds along with the resources in better manner. Project life cycle plan is
helpful in completing the project with in given period of time. It helps in increasing sales along
with profit level of firm.
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Models of Project Life Cycle mention below:
Adaptive Project Management Life Cycle- It is known as the change- driven method. It is
a combination of incremental and iterative models. Adaptive life cycle, involvement of
consumers is key related to the successful projects. Sponsor as well as consumers both form part
of delivery team. In addition to this, it relies heavy on feedback as well as ability of team for
doing work quickly. Collaboration and communication both are the paramount significant in
executing the project by using Agile methodologies (Burke, 2013).
Iterative Project Management Life Cycle- This kind of approach evolved for counter
current constraints in traditional approach mainly where there was any requirement to adopt
some modifications. Under this, process in every phrase are to be iterated in order to met with
the exit criteria.
Incremental Project Management Life Cycle- Under this, product and services is to be
developed over series of the incremental steps. In nature, it is cyclic and every cycle deliver the
added functionality. This process will be repeated till exit criteria for goods and services. It is
helpful in supporting the high interaction of consumers as well as prototyping in develop the
project phrase.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above given report that project life cycle is helpful in
maintaining the quality of products and their introduction at market place. Marks & Spencer
company produce goods on the basis of needs and demands of consumers. In this report studied
about the review and also critique application of product life cycle.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Beringer, C., Jonas, D. and Kock, A., 2013. Behavior of internal stakeholders in project portfolio
management and its impact on success. International Journal of Project Management.
31(6). pp.830-846.
Burke, R., 2013. Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey,
USA.Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H. R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to
planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Chen, C. and et. al., 2011. Smart energy management system for optimal microgrid economic
operation. IET renewable power generation. 5(3). pp.258-267.
Cruz, C. O. and Marques, R. C., 2011. Contribution to the study of PPP arrangements in airport
development, management and operation. Transport Policy. 18(2). pp.392-400.
Fleming, Q .W. and Koppelman, J. M., 2016, December. Earned value project management.
Project Management Institute.
Gunasekaran, A. and Ngai, E. W., 2012. The future of operations management: an outlook and
analysis. International Journal of Production Economics. 135(2). pp.687-701.
Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H. R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Lenfle, S. and Loch, C., 2010. Lost roots: how project management came to emphasize control
over flexibility and novelty. California Management Review. 53(1). pp.32-55
Mir, F. A. and Pinnington, A. H., 2014. Exploring the value of project management: linking
project management performance and project success. International journal of project
management. 32(2). pp.202-217.
Ogunlana, S .O., 2010. Beyond the ‘iron triangle’: Stakeholder perception of key performance
indicators (KPIs) for large-scale public sector development projects. International
journal of project management. 28(3). pp.228-236.
Pade-Khene, C., Mallinson, B. and Sewry, D., 2011. Sustainable rural ICT project management
practice for developing countries: investigating the Dwesa and RUMEP projects.
Information Technology for Development. 17(3). pp.187-212.
Pemsel, S. and Wiewiora, A., 2013. Project management office a knowledge broker in project-
based organisations. International Journal of Project Management. 31(1). pp.31-42.
Ramasesh, R. V. and Browning, T. R., 2014. A conceptual framework for tackling knowable
unknown unknowns in project management. Journal of Operations Management. 32(4).
pp.190-204.
Robichaud, L .B. and Anantatmula, V. S., 2010. Greening project management practices for
sustainable construction. Journal of Management in Engineering. 27(1). pp.48-57.
Online
6 Principles of the Continuous Improvement Model.2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://blog.kainexus.com/continuous-improvement/6-principles-of-the-continuous-
improvement-model>./
The Project Life Cycle (Phases). 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://opentextbc.ca/projectmanagement/chapter/chapter-3-the-project-life-cycle-
phases-project-management/>./
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