Operation & Project Management: Analysis of Mark & Spencer Strategy

This report examines the operations and project management strategies employed by Mark & Spencer, a multinational company headquartered in London. It covers the implementation of operation management principles, including reality, organization, success, fundamentals, accountability, causality, variance, managed passion, humility, and change. The report also explores the application of six sigma methodologies and lean management, focusing on DMAIC and DMADV for business transformation and continuous improvement. A detailed continuous improvement plan is presented, emphasizing cost reduction, quality maintenance through lean manufacturing, and the use of advanced technology. The effectiveness of this plan is analyzed using theories like six sigma and Kaizen, highlighting benefits such as employee engagement and reduced turnover. Furthermore, the report discusses the project life cycle, including initiation, planning, execution, and closure, and evaluates the rationale for project methodologies and tools used. It concludes by assessing the effectiveness of the project life cycle using relevant theories and models.

Operations and
Project Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
P1 Implementation of the operation management principles.................................................1
M1 Implementation of the operation management in relation to six sigma methodology and
lean management. ..................................................................................................................2
P2 Continuous improvement plan on the basis of the principles of the operation management.
................................................................................................................................................3
M2 Analysis of the effectiveness of the continuous improvement plan by using theories. . .4
D1 Apply appropriate theories or models to justify the continuous improvement plan for
achieving improved efficiency...............................................................................................5
P3 application of the different stage of project life cycle through different structure...........5
M3 Analyse the rationale for the project methodologies, tools used.....................................8
P4 The effectiveness of the Project Life Cycle using appropriate theories, concepts and
models.....................................................................................................................................9
M4 Analyse the theories, concepts and models in the Project Life Cycle.............................9
D2 Evaluate the Project Life Cycle through a practical and theoretical exploration of its
effectiveness and recommendations for improvement...........................................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Operation management refer to the process of managing the business practices in order to
create the high level of efficiency with in a business concern. It helps the organisation to convert
the raw material into the goods and services with the assistance of labour to get the maximum
profit. Whereas, Project management refers to the use of skills, knowledge, methods and
experience to attain the goal of a specific project. The purpose of the project management is
produce the end products which involves the process of initiating, planning and controlling and
provide benefits to the organisation (Choi and et. al., 2018) . In this report, Mark and Spencer has
been taken into considerations which is multinational company with headquartered in London,
UK. The company deals in clothing, home products, beauty products, food products and also
provide financial services as well. The report will cover implementation of the operation
management principle and six sigma methodology and lean management in relation to it. Further,
it will explain the continuous improvement plan and its effectiveness by using appropriate
theories. Besides, it will demonstrate the project life cycle and its effectiveness as well and
rationale for project methodologies, tools and leadership.
MAIN BODY
P1 Implementation of the operation management principles
Operation management has significant role in an organisation for which the manager
have to follow the principles in order to get the goals. In relation to Mark and Spencer, following
are the principles which are followed by the organisation:
 Reality: It is necessary for the operation managers to focus on the overall problem
without using any tools or techniques because there no such tools available which provide
universal solution. With reference to Mark and Spencer, the manager of an organisation
put emphasis in analysing the problem and provide an effective solution (WongYu and
Too, 2018).
 Organisation: The process in the operations are coordinated which needs elements to be
consistent and predictable so that it can achieve the profitable outcome. As regard with
Mark and Spencer, an organisation make effective coordination among all the activities
of the production which enable the organisation gain more profits (López-Ibarra, and et.
al., 2020).
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 Success: In relation to Mark and Spencer, a manager f the company is required to clearly
explain what are needed to be considered. It is necessary to have parameters to work
which can help in achieving the goals of the business organisation.
 Fundamentals: As regard with Mark and Spencer, the manager of the company have
good understanding to comply with the fundamentals of the production to get success. It
is necessary to provide accuracy of the inventory data, bill of material and other tasks that
are required top achieve goals (Haass and Azizi, 2019).
 Accountability: A manager of the Mark and Spencer make the subordinates responsible
by assigning them task and also measure their performance in order to check whether the
objectives are achieved.
 Causality: With reference to Mark and Spencer, it is needed by the manger to find out
the root cause of the problem and provide an effective solution by addressing them. When
the problem is ignored so it would continue to occur.
 Variance: Mark and Spencer encourages the slightest changes in the production process
when they occur. It is because of creative thinking which leads to the organisation toward
the success and provide better outcome (Ifaei, Farid and Yoo, 2018).
 Managed passion: Employees are the most valuable assist for the company as they help
the organisation in achieving the goals. In relation to Mark and Spencer, the manager of
the company motivates the employees to be more passionate at the work.
 Humility: The manager of the Mark and Spencer also ask for help in order to understand
the limitation that will allow in saving the time, money and assist in the production
activities.
 Change: Mark and Spencer also adopt this principle in order to adapt itself with the
changing trends and understand the customers, target clients which takes the company
step up ahead.
M1 Implementation of the operation management in relation to six sigma methodology and lean
management.
Six sigma is a great tool that is used by the business organisation in order to improve the
current process, products and services by eliminating the defects which can not be more than 3.4
defects per million units or events. In relation to Mark and Spencer, the company can use six
sigma methodologies for the business transformation which includes DMAIC and DMADV
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(Lee, 2018). DMAIC is considered as a data driven method which is used by a Mark and Spencer
in order to improve the existing products and services to enhance the satisfaction of the
customers. DMADV is a component of design of six sigma process which help in designing or
redesigning the process of manufacturing of the product and delivery of the services. This
method can be applied when an organisation is not bale to meet the needs of the customers.
Therefore, an organisation is required to keep measuring, managing and improving that can help
in preventing the operational problems. The operation management involves the lean
management which refers to the method of managing and organisation the work to make the
continuous improvement in the performance of the company. This helps the organisation in
producing the value for the customers through optimising the resources (Nickdoost and et. al.,
2022).
P2 Continuous improvement plan on the basis of the principles of the operation management.
Continuous improvement plan: - The continuous improvement plan is basically a set of
different activities which are developed in order to do improvement in the products, services and
processes by constant review and actions. It is impossible for management to carry out all the
activities in proper manner, some deviations may exist. It is very crucial for the manager of Mark
& Spencer company to identify all these deviations and develop proper strategies to overcome
form this (Brown, Bessant and Jia, 2018). These small deviations made a huge impact on the
functions of company due to the improvement plan management can face the negative impact of
these issues. Various efforts have to be made by the Mark & Spencer managers so that they can
track the deviations and improved them. In relation to the Mark & Spencer, the continuous
improvement plan has been discussed below: -
SOURCES PRINCIPLES OUTCOME
Cost Developing a huge chain The management Mark & Spencer
company deals in providing different
types services like bringing great
food, clothing and home ware as
well for million of customers on the
world wide basis. Under all these
things the cost of services provided
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by them plays a very crucial role. A
chain of supplying the services must
have to be developed by the
management so that they can
minimize their cost
Quality Lean manufacturing The management of Mark & Spencer
company must have to paid
emphasis on maintaining and
providing quality of services. The
customers of the company are very
quality sensitive so it is very crucial
for them. Advanced technology must
have to be adopted by the Mark &
Spencer management so that they
can effectively monitor the quality of
services (Bordoloi, Fitzsimmons and
Fitzsimmons, 2019).
According to the management of organisation, it is very necessary for the employees of
the organisation to implement the plan and different actions into effective terms. Continuous
improvement plan contribute has been developed by the organisation in order to overcome from
the problems. It assist the company in terms of qualitative services to their customers (Aanbari
and Kwak, 2018). Six sigma approaches act as supporting parameter in terms of improving the
quality of goods and services.
M2 Analysis of the effectiveness of the continuous improvement plan by using theories.
The effectiveness of continuous improvement plan helps the organisation in providing the
innovative solutions of the problems faced by the organisation of Mark & Spencer. There are
certain kinds of theories in support of this parameter such as six sigma, Kaizen which helps the
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organisation in order to resolve the problems into positive manner. This helps in reducing risk
that are inherent through any termination. The continuous improvement culture has proved in
terms of boosting employee engagement and help in reducing rates of turnover. This can lead
towards a greater sense of belonging with fewer reasons for employee to leave the company.
In this manner, the effectiveness of continuous improvement plan can be observed at the
organisational level which can be in terms of their effective services and increment into the
revenue level as well. This is the best way through which effectiveness of continuous
improvement plan can be observed into positive context (Shen, Mei andGao, 2020).
D1 Apply appropriate theories or models to justify the continuous improvement plan for
achieving improved efficiency.
Mark and Spencer can use six sigma model to make continuous improvement in the
production of the products and services to enhance the level of customer's satisfaction. This help
the organisation in decreasing waste and increase the efficiency of executing work. This model
enable the organisation to make focus on the quality while processing and increase the profit of
the company. Therefore, six sigma model enable the organisation to make continuous
improvement it is consisted of the qualified expert that work through a series of certification and
ideal for the organisation that is already structured.
P3 application of the different stage of project life cycle through different structure
Project life cycle is a point of view for entire project that is established through the steps
in order to complete a project. It helps in maintaining a momentum and focus which lead to
create a better results in high-level stages of completion. This is an ultimate goal for an
organisation or to project manager in order to complete given project with best utilization of
available resources. Project life-cycle is a sequence of stages through which a project will
progresses. For the purpose of project life cycle there are four phases that helps in building a
proper way for completing the project (Charles, Emrouznejad and Gherman, 2022). Which are
mentioned below.
Initiation- It is the starting of project which might includes various sub-activities such as,
identifying the scope, identifying project stakeholder, possibly initial costs, a feasibility study,
price and developing a business case with a timeline for work that needed to be done. In context
to Marks and Spencer the company can analyse their needs and than initiate a plan that will
prove to be beneficial in terms of success of the organisation. As firm need to concentrate of
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increasing its presence on digital platform, for which company can set their goals, scope and
resources in order to establish its global presence through online.
Project planning- As the project is approved from initiation phase the next step is
planning. This steps includes creating a plan for project, which involve tasks, resources.
Schedule and constraints on project. As the budget for this project is also being created in
planning stage. The project of Marks and Spencer required to have minimum budget of $1000 in
order to establish a strong base on online presence. This might also cause risks as there are other
companies which have strong online presence and are gaining more customers. In that case
company need to manage all their plans and ideas through maintaining their costs, reduce
wastage, timeline and enhance efficiency (Choiand et. al., 2018).
Project execution- In this step the project is where all work is finally executed. Leader
will begin their work and project manager will oversee that tasks are done with time manner and
whether the workflow is continue in smoothly. In context to Marks and Spencer project one thing
that need to taken into consideration is that before executing the projects company need to
develop a controlling and monitoring tool. They need to track every progress on timely to avoid
any chance of failure through managing the quality and mitigation risks it will ensure various
benefits in upcoming future.
Project closure- once the team has completed all their tasks and the project is signs off
through all deliveries. The project is then analysed for performance in order to determine
whether the goals of projects are completed. In contest to Marks and Spencer they need to get
positive outcome from this project. All activates must be closed in effective manner (Hair and
Sarstedt, 2021).
PROJECT PLAN-
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WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE-
Gantt chart
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M3 Analyse the rationale for the project methodologies, tools used
Project life-cycle provides a structure for delivery of project. It is very effective to
evaluate the project aims, methods and to carry out all activates. This is important in order to use
the tools and techniques that runs the work in a systematic manner. Techniques and risks that are
associated with objectives of the project. The project life-cycle phases have an immense
essentials for any project ongoing process. The project methodologies can helps in searching the
right ideas in relation to projects. The effectiveness in order to important decisions process for
collecting a resources and assist employees through preparing a plan that will help in meeting
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with the requirements of organisation (Picciotto, 2020). The Marks and Spencer needs to take
into consideration of using a proper project management as it is important such as software,
technology, smart gadgets to put them into control to oversee the performance of their
employees.
P4 The effectiveness of the Project Life Cycle using appropriate theories, concepts and models.
The project life-cycle helps in managing the distinctive stages, as these stages have an
important for planning and guide the phases that takes in order to complete a project. It helps in
providing a high level to ensure a project of their progressing as planned in project planning. It is
project management and their theories helps in understanding the concept of project and how the
manager can accomplish their project successfully. The project life-cycle give a structure for
approaching the delivery of the project. Which allows employees to come together and working
on project to identify and monitor the project that is in progressing whether there are any issues
with some particular aspects has to delivered successfully and with full efficiency. It is also
been clear that the activities and output in each steps is assigned for a specific responsibilities. It
provides a roadmap for team to follow to reach goals (Pan and Zhang, 2021). This will allow the
project manager to link the progress directly with each phase and then it can be recognize a
completion of each phaser. It includes the production of the project management plan and all the
subsidiary plan. Through avoiding risk factor and have a quality plan. The steps in project
planning methods helps in providing the evolution of the project that are being able to identify
areas that needed a attention at different times with risk management from the early stages and
have a project evaluation during the implementation stages.
M4 Analyse the theories, concepts and models in the Project Life Cycle.
Project life-cycle is an essential documentation that helps in planning, initiation,
executing and closure of any project. These phases have a important role for setting ideas and
objectives of the project in organisation. That help company to take lead in providing right
direction for their employees. There has been various crucial evaluation that project life-cycle
has an effective in order to take an initiative plans through analysing their scopes, mistakes and
scopes within process of project. This give assist through analyzing, designing and measure the
needs for wastage reduction and the company will be able to accomplish its targets.
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D2 Evaluate the Project Life Cycle through a practical and theoretical exploration of its
effectiveness and recommendations for improvement.
Mark and Spencer provides its company with the unique products that helps them to
achieve the targets. the company have adopted start up style in order address the
customer need and make changes according to customer demand in the market. This
helps in adopting the new technologies to make changes in project life cycle that
address the change in the company products and services. as the respective company
have global pace so it has to provide the quality services to the customer so its need to
make strategic change in project life cycle (Wua nd et. al., 2021).
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that Marks and Spencer is taking several factors
into consideration to implement operation management is proper way. As the company is also
taking helps of principles of operation management. From the six sigma methodology it is
concluded that is important tool for creating a smooth operation within the business. Through
understanding the lean management with the relation of operational management it helps
company to identify the tools and methods in better way possible. Which helps in internal growth
of the organisation. After understanding the analysis of continuous improvement plan it helps
improvising the employee performance rate and reduces the risk of termination of employee.
With the help of different theories of improvement plan it helps in building a strong base of
operation within business and build a relation with their employees. Lastly from understanding
the effectiveness of project life-cycle, tools, project methodologies and leadership it help
company to increase their sales, growth and development in their business operations.
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