Tesco Operational & Project Management: Analysis and Strategies

This report provides an analysis of operational and project management practices at Tesco, a British multinational groceries and general merchandise company. It covers key aspects of supply chain management, including the application of the Resource-Based View (RBV) theory, a comparison of supply and demand side strategies, and an overview of different types of supply networks such as virtual, partnership, vertical integration, and traditional/contractual systems. The report also discusses the differences between lean and agile supply chains, the concept of the decoupling point, and the bullwhip effect. Furthermore, it examines Tesco's approach to quality management, including the use of tools like check sheets and Pareto charts, the GAP model of quality, and different types of quality costs. The Sandcone model is also explored in the context of manufacturing capability development. Finally, the report highlights the relationship between Tesco's Operations department and Human Resource department, emphasizing the importance of coordination for smooth and effective business operations.

Operational and
Project Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT..........................................................................................1
Operational area of the company................................................................................................3
Relationship of Operations department with Human Resource department...............................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Operations management is related with the business practices which is used to create
highest level of efficiency by converting the raw materials into products so that the organisation
can maximize their profits. Operations management includes the fuller utilisation of resources
including the staff, technology or the equipment(Hutto, 2020). On the other hand, project
management is the use of tools and techniques so that organisation can deliver something
valuable to people. It is the application of processes, methods so that the objectives of project can
be achieved according to the specific criteria. But there is similarity in both the project and
operations management which is to make the budget schedule, staff management and the skills
development. Every organisation has to work in both the aspects including the project and
operations management because the companies have to deal with different projects on a daily
basis and apart from this have to develop variety of products with the utilisation of raw materials.
Tesco is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise company which was
established on 1919 and is having its headquarters in London, UK. This report will cover the two
operational areas including the use of theories and different concepts. It will also cover the inter-
relation of human resource department with other departments within the organisation.
MAIN BODY
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Theory of supply management
The theory that has been applied is Resource-Based View (RBV) which states that
companies must produce products or services according to the resources available in to the firm.
According to this theory resources are considered as essential factors in the supply chain
management.
Supply vs Demand Side
The supply side in supply chain management describes the process where producers or
manufactures make sure that products are available in the market when their potential customers
need them. An effective supply management includes reducing costs related to shipping,
purchasing and carrying inventory(Fateev and Zaporozhets, 2021). For instance, in order to meet
demands or needs of customers Tesco implement various strategies such as make-to-order,
maintaining excess inventory or buy-to-order. The company make sure that for effective supply
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chain management its different departments such as operations, logistics, supply chain and others
have constant as well as granular coordination.
Demand side in supply chain management is described as the procedure where companies
supply their products or services according to demands of customers. The demand side of supply
chain management could have significant impact on profitability as supply side. For instance, the
selected company in order to understand demands of customers along with their buying patterns
invest in research and development department. In order to gain insights about demands of
customers the company is required input from marketing, sales, customer services and
merchandising.
Types of Supply Networks
Virtual: This supply chain network is defined as the system which is operated through
electronic links and characterised through its inherent flexibility to easily as well as quickly
adopt modifications occurs in business environment. This system of supply network is a
combination of computer based an organised supply network. The main advantage that virtual
supply will network provide Tesco is that it focus on outsourcing and give the firm more flexible
distribution channel (Monroe and Haug, 2021). The disadvantage that this type of supply
network will provide to selected firm is that the suppliers face trust and loyalty issue.
Partnership: This supply chain network is described as the system which includes more
than two legal entities to come to an agreement so that they could work together. These suppliers
include common interest, procedure, objectives and competitive information. The advantage that
this system will provide to the selected organisation is that it helps the firm n sharing burden of
roles and responsibilities. The disadvantage that this system will provide to the firm is that it
does not possess rights to take any decision on its own basis.
Vertical integration: This supply chain network is described as the process where
companies combine their factors sub-system together into a single aggregated system. This
procedure of integration is based on functionality of companies generally be creating information
silos. The advantage which this supply network to the firm is that it tightly control experience of
users and provide quick integration of important vendors (Kedziora, Kraslawski and Kärri,
2017). The disadvantage that this system will cause to the selected firm is that it is becoming
expensive over time due to innovative functionalities being regularly executed by vendors.
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Tradition/Contractual: This supply chain system is defined as the process where
vendors supply raw materials to the producers. This supply chain network is mostly adopted by
various firms in the market. The advantage that this supply network will provide to the selected
firm is that it helps in generating trust and loyalty. The disadvantage that this process will
provide is that it is very time consuming process.
In context to Tesco, the company has adopted Virtual supply chain in order to provide
them trust and transparency among its customers and partners. The respective company will
encourage its suppliers to share their thoughts about what improvement its products or services
require. Some main suppliers of the respective company includes General Mills, Mars and
Princes and Kellogg.
Lean vs Agile
The lean supply chain focus on cutting costs through manufacturing high quality products
with low variability. On the other hand, an agile supply network mainly focus on responding to
demands of market with small, customized batches of products.
De-coupling Point
This factor in supply chain is described as the area that break downs the manufacture line
to lean production system and agile manufacturing system (Lorenz, Bäckert and Heck, 2020).
According to this component companies produce products according to the specifications
provided by their potential clients.
Bullwhip Effect
This effect is describes as a distribution channel where demand forecasts yield supply
chain inefficiencies. This effect generally refers to enhancing swings in inventory according to
response to shifts in demands of customers as one shifts further up in the supply chain.
Selecting a Supplier
The selection of supplier in the respective company is based on how many quality raw
material they could provide to it so that they could manufacture and offer better products to
consumers. The company always seeks for high quality products and does not focus on just
making business with brand business (Chapelle, 2019). The respective also provide opportunities
to new suppliers in the market.
Operational area of the company
Quality management
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Quality management is the process in which organisation has to check that all the activities and
tasks needs to be maintained at desired level. This main objective of quality management is that
the products which are delivered to consumers ensures good product quality at best price. Their
are some tools of quality management which is used by Tesco-
 Check sheet- This is the tool which is used to make the analysis of data which is
collected and that information is used for variety of purposes.
 Pareto chart- This chart used to signify the factors which are of most important to
Tesco.
Quality shows the parameter and makes the decision that whether the product which is being
produced is meeting the superiority and is not an inferior product. Total quality management is
the effort which is made by the management of an organisation and also the employees that they
have to ensure the long term loyalty of consumers and providing them the satisfaction with the
product which they are producing(Meredith, Shafer and Mantel Jr, 2017).
Characteristics of quality-
 Reliability- It shows the likelihood of a product that will work for a specified amount of
time and until that time the product will not fail. Tesco products which they provide to
consumers exists for a longer duration and this is the reason because of which consumers
rely on the products of Tesco.
 Durability- It is the life of product which the Tesco provides of longer time period. The
products which are sold by Tesco are of durable in nature(Chapman, 2019). Performance- It refers to the characteristics of a product which makes the measurement
of attributes and the individual aspects of measurement.
GAP model of quality-
Gap 1: Gap between management perception and customer expectation: This is the gap
which arises when the management of a company is not able to make the identification that what
are the needs of consumers and provide them the product without making proper analysis. This
arises because of lack of communication which is not usually incorporated in Tesco as all the
things gets easily communicated.
Gap 2: Gap between service quality specification and management perception: This is the
gap which arises when the management of the organisation makes the identification what
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consumers requires but will not be able to set the standard in performance. The products which
are provided by Tesco always meets the standard so that consumers can be satisfied (Sinuany-
Stern, 2021).
Gap 3: Gap between service quality specification and service delivery: This gap arises in the
services of employees which can be because of lack of training or their incapability to work
according to the standards. Tesco at times has to face such type of situation because of
employees unwillingness to perform their duty.
Gap 4: Gap between external communication and service delivery: Consumers expects more
specially when the companies make huge statements and this gap arises when the company is not
able to fulfil the criteria of consumers. Tesco always gives statements about the product delivery
but many a time they failed in delivering the same.
Gap 5: Gap between experienced service and expected service: This gap arises when the
customers makes the mistake of understanding the service quality in a wrong way. This happens
most of the time in the case of consumers which at times has to be faced by the organisation.
Types of quality cost-
 Appraisal cost- This cost is made when the organisation makes any measurement or
conduct the activity of inspection so that they can determine the quality requirements.
 Prevention cost- This relate to the activities which are planned before the operations
which has to be conducted to provide good quality of food (Kivinen, 2020).
 Internal failure cost- These are the expenses which has to be paid by the organisation of
any of the defects which is identified before the development of a product. External failure cost- This is the expenses which is incurred by the organisation after the
products have been delivered to consumers.
Sandcone model
It suggests that for the shorter period of time it is possible that the capabilities can be exchanged
one against the another. To develop a manufacturing capability of the organisation the resources
of the organisation has to be given the priority in terms of quality after which the efforts of
quality are expanded then in this case the attention must be made on the production system and
then later on the flexibility. In which the Sandcone model is not applied in every cases of the
organisation.
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Relationship of Operations department with Human Resource department
Operations department of the Tesco company maintains a regular and well coordinated
relationship with Human resource department in order to make business operations smooth and
effective. The Operational department take accountability in various aspects related to
functioning of HR department. The Operational department helps HR division in selected
company through providing data of talented and skilful candidates so that they could hire from
them in order enhance productivity for company(Kerzner, 2018). The respective department also
assist in HR managers in making policies that could help in providing safe and secure
environment to employees. The Operational department also discuss with managers about what
safety and health policies they could execute so that employee engagement could be increased in
the company. The respective department also aid the HR department in providing quality
products to the potential clients of the company through analysing new market trends and
understanding needs of customers. This department also helps HR division in making positive
working environment for employees where they could feel valued and develop a sense of
belonging. Through executing laws and regulations which could enhance engagement of
employees and conducting feedback survey among employee helps HR department in improving
workplace environment of the company (Aguilera and Ruíz, 2019). The Operational department
also assist the respective division in designing job description according to the vacant position in
an attractive way so that more candidates could get attracted towards company.
The work related employee stress could be reduced through creating a positive work
culture environment at workplace so that employees could develop a sense of belonging. The
stress of employees could be reduce in the respective through providing them rewards and
appreciation (Tikhonov, 2019). The Human Resource Department of the respective must create
an open communication platform for employees where they could express themselves without
any hesitation. More meeting should be organised in the company where HR manager must take
feedbacks from employees about what they are feeling and what improvement they want within
workplace. The HR department of the selected could also provide flexible working to its
employees in order to make them comfortable and reduce their stress. The respective department
could also boost moral of employees through providing them incentives, bonus, rewards and
other appreciation so they could perform better in their job role. These all measures will assist
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the Human resource in minimizing stress among employees and enhance their engagement as
well as productivity in the company.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion it has been analysed that supply chain management in a
company helps it in managing its supply management effectively and efficiently. It has been
estimated that companies form their supply network based on supply side and demand side. It
has also been observed that various types of supply network assist companies in controlling their
procedure of supply. From this report it has also been evaluated that it is very essential for
companies to maintain their quality of products so that they could gain competitive advantage in
the market. From the above theory of supply management it has been observed that the design of
supply management procedure must be according to resources available in the company. It has
also been evaluated that from GAP model, firms are able to understand demands of customers in
order to provide them satisfaction. It could also be concluded from the above report that it is very
important for operations department of organisations to maintain a constant and positive
relationship with Human resource department so that business operations could be managed
efficiently.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aguilera, J.T. and Ruíz, N.L.T., 2019, March. Operational Excellence: Concept Review and
Meaning Restructuration. In Proceeding of the International Conference on Industrial
Engineering and Operations Management Bangkok, Thailand 2019.
Chapelle, A., 2019. Operational risk management: Best practices in the financial services
industry. John Wiley & Sons.
Chapman, M.E., 2019. Implementing an Injury Prevention Program and its Impact on
Warehouse Operations.
Fateev, N. and Zaporozhets, I., 2021. Mechanisms of operational portfolio management of
projects in shipbuilding and ship repair. Economics & Education, 6(1), pp.56-59.
Hutto, G., 2020. Bootstrap Statistics. Operations Management Presentations.
Kedziora, D., Kraslawski, A. and Kärri, T., 2017. Reengineering of offshored IT helpdesk
operational model for transitional optimisation. International Journal of Management
and Decision Making, 16(4), pp.375-406.
Kerzner, H., 2018. Project management best practices: Achieving global excellence. John Wiley
& Sons.
Kivinen, S., 2020. Enhancing Operations Management Efficiency and Employee Experience
Through Data.
Lorenz, R., Bäckert, L. and Heck, J., 2020. Principles of Operational Agility: A Case Study of a
Swiss Telecommunication Company. Die Unternehmung, 74(2), pp.173-186.
Meredith, J.R., Shafer, S.M. and Mantel Jr, S.J., 2017. Project management: a strategic
managerial approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Monroe, R.W. and Haug, J.C., 2021. Assessment of Telework in a Federal Agency at the
Operational Phase. Public Organization Review, pp.1-18.
Sinuany-Stern, Z., 2021. Operations research and management science in higher education: an
overview. Handbook of Operations Research and Management Science in Higher
Education, pp.3-34.
Tikhonov, G.V., 2019. Operational Production Management Model of Competitive Products in
Mechanical Engineering. TEM Journal, 8(4), pp.1137-1142.
ONLINE
Trade-off Models, 2021 [online] Available through:
<https://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/research/dstools/trade-off-models/>.
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